Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It raised the bar 2 or 3 times higher than it was previously. Brilliant novel.

It's been a while since I read it, and I only completed the first two books, but there are a few issues I recall having. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

The most glaring issue I remember was how the countries of Earth were essentially a united front for 450 years. They came up with a single plan - and a very strange one at that - and then carried it out for the next half-millenia with little dissent or deviation. Given the author of the book is Chinese, this struck like a plot element that's ideological in nature - the ruling class can't be seen as bickering or divided.

The only people opposed to this were effectively a death cult dedicated to wiping out humanity in the strange hope that a race of genocidal aliens would somehow be better custodians of our planet. While I imagine that there would be some people who felt this way, it strained belief that the alien sympathisers would be so organised and competant.

I'm usually pretty forgiving of novels with weak characterisation but interesting situations, but I didn't think the Three Body Problem succeeded in this aspect either. Obvious solutions were passed up or not discussed, for example, if there are only a few sophons on Earth and they can't travel faster than the speed of light, why not build many particle accelerators and perform experiments simultaneously? The final twist was also pretty heavily hinted at throughout the novels, so the latter half of the second book was just a case of waiting when it would be revealed. Frankly it could have been carried a lot sooner as well - why wait a century for verification when it costs nothing to call the alien's bluff immediately?

The books felt like the author had an idea that would have worked well for a short story that was expanded to the length of two novels. In a short story a lot of the details could have been glossed over, but when expanded out the author was forced to explain the intermediate steps.

> _The Chronicles of Prydain_

Always happy to see Lloyd Alexander get a mention these days -- somehow it seems in the recent YA explosion he's gotten almost criminally neglected.

The main character being cast into diferent bodies over the course of the story making me contemplate what makes us the person we are and the final monologue at the end, reflecting on whether it is ethical to betray people even if it makes them happier. The value and importance of being honest and true to yourself, even if the truth is hard and hurts.

1) The Pilgrim's Progress, and 2) The Holy War - John Bunyan