Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#31

Post by jger15 » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:27 PM UTC

Enjoyed:

- Chocky - John Wyndham

- Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

- The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti

- The Executioner Weeps - Frederic Dard

- The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei

- The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars

- Ms Ice Sandwich - Mieko Kawakami

- Such Small Hands - Andres Barba

- The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura

- Ties - Domenico Starnone

- Trick - Domenico Starnone

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#32

Post by mindcrime » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:33 PM UTC

Past Tense - Lee Child

The Forbidden Door - Dean Koontz

The Crooked Staircase - Dean Koontz

The Outsider - Stephen King

Sleeping Beauties - Stephen King & Owen King

The Fallen - David Baldacci

Zeroes - Chuck Wendig

The Supernatural Enhancements - Edgar Cantero

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#33

Post by habosa » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt.

I read a lot of fiction (30+ novels a year) and this book really blew me away.

Oh and by the way, it's not about Samurai or Japan or anything like that. If you're interested in thinking about the nature of intelligence / learning while reading some beautiful prose, get this book.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#34

Post by izacus » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

Foundryside from Robert J. Benett - it's a fantasy novel where magic system is based upon reverse engineering power words and jealusly keeping them secret from other trade organizations. Magic in that world is literally intellectual property and is compiled into huge dictionaries which aren't far from being programs. The whole "feel" of the world is very victorian - something akin to Dishonored if anyone played this.

The prose is very readable, the characters pretty awesome and it's just such a very fresh take on fantasy.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37173847-foundryside?fro...

And The Verge ("Foundryside is a cyberpunk adventure wrapped in an epic fantasy novel"): https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/23/18148907/foundryside-rob...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#35

Post by michelledepeil » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:38 PM UTC

I read Infinite Jest for the first time this year, and it's incredible. I recognise at the same time it's not for everyone, but the story, writing style, humor and sheer specific knowledge on so many subjects employed in this book are incredible.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#36

Post by sballin » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

East of Eden (John Steinbeck) is one of my new favorites of all time. Once you get past the opening descriptions of valleys and farms, the story is relatable, gripping, and unexpected.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#37

Post by AlexCoventry » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #19

Certainly not published in 2018, but I read and really enjoyed Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought series, which begins with Fire Upon the Deep .

A Deepness In The Sky is an all-time favorite of mine.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#38

Post by AlexCoventry » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:49 PM UTC

davycro wrote: post #6

I enjoy easy page-turner sci/fi or fantasy because it helps me unwind after a stressful day at work. Some of my favorites this year: - Vengeful and Vicious by VE Schwab - Collapsing Empire by Scalazi (late 2017, but close enough to 2018) Not released in 2018, but still fun and new to me this year. - The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown

I found the Red Rising books to be stilted, narcissistic and implausibly Manichean, FWIW. I made it through the first one, the second one was just too plagued by characters making implausible choices and the protagonist scoring implausible successes.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#39

Post by AlexCoventry » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

The Power by Naomi Alderman.

Can't remember whether it was this year or last year, but Walter Jon William's Metropolitan series is great, too.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#40

Post by AlexCoventry » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 7:54 PM UTC

gradys wrote: post #15

Permutation City by Greg Egan - Hard sci-fi about what might happen if we could scan human minds in sufficient detail to simulate them in computers. Best treatment of this topic I've ever seen. Diaspora by Greg Egan - Takes the idea much, much further. What might happen to humanity if virtualized "human" minds embodied in robots or not embodied at all became the two most common ways for people to be. Also, fascinatin…

It's from a couple of years ago, but his Clockwork Rocket series is incredible. It's about a universe in which the spacetime metric is Riemannian instead of Einsteinian.