331–340 of 599 posts
Three body problem. I couldn’t recommend this trilogy enough.
Probably the worst novel I've ever read. The author has no feel for character development, dialogue, pacing, etc. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but anyone who thinks this is a decent novel has never read anything good.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged. I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imaginati…
https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu....
tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").
Edit: oh, and since I don't think anyone else has mentioned them yet ... Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, and Grendel by John Gardner. Their impact on me was less specific so harder to explain, but they're great books that get mentioned on HN now and then. Another one that kind of blew my mind is The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann by Angela Carter.
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This guy samurai sword fights. Your list includes Moby dick, which stands out to me as pretty different (much more intense read) than the rest. What'd you get out of it?
I think a lot of people overestimate Moby Dick. It's actually a pretty funny book in many places. There's a fart joke in the first 3 pages! Still, melville had a lot to say about human nature, abolitionism, philosophy, xenophobia... name a pressing concern of american life in the modern age and you'll find echoes of it here, too.
"For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but the blankets between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air. Then there you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic crystal. "
I don't really see why book recommendations can't just be "books you enjoy". But if you're specifically looking for "books that affect your outlook on life", you might try reading through Peanuts. It's a comic strip, but there's a lot going on in there.
Agreed. No specific book has every "changed my life", or specifically been the source of positive impacts. But reading stories is fun, and something I do constantly. Currently I'm re-reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Every year or two I re-read Dune, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Amber, and Steven Brust's Taltos series. Always a pleasure. My recommendations would probably echo those already poste…
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I could have written the same. Would also include The Name of the Rose, The Remains of the Day, Dune, the Master and Margarita, Candide. Probably others.
not GR? your name is, uh, evocative
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I found all 3 books to be vastly overrated and mediocre at best. I would bet money that in 10 years, few will even remember them. The translation doesn't help, but the issues with the books go beyond it. It's obvious that Cixin Liu is not a good writer. The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts and his pacing and framing of ideas awful. I feel that there is merit in his imagination but it'd be better presented in a…
Counterpoint: I can absolutely imagine myself re-reading TBP series multiple times; I've already re-read it once since reading it a year and a bit ago.
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It must say something about a person which among Hesse's work resonates the most. I read Demian which has a more ruthless Randian will-to-power tone to it, and the Glass Bead Game. Haven't yet touched Siddhartha.
I read all three of these in college and I know Demian and Glass Bead Game meant a lot to me. You should check out Siddhartha.
- The Worlds of Chrestomanci and _everything_ else by Diana Wynne Jones; it was this and 'Chronicles of Narnia' which first introduced me to fantasy as a child. Really great fun, have re-read most of her books over the years. There's something there for everyone.
- Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix; read this in my youth, deals a lot with death, undead things, and magics concerning death. Its not depressing, rather it gave me the feeling of being life re-affirming!
- The Riddle-Master trilogy Patricia McKlippet; refined high fantasy series, lacks the prosaic good v. evil, instead focuses on rationality and chaos.
- The Incal series by Alexandro Jodorowsky; when I first read this, I kept finding all these crazy parallels with other stories (books, film, tv, etc.) and then I realized that this was the source (e.g. The Fifth Element is based on this). An absolutely mouth dropping, eye-popping, mind-bending tale! Great pencil/ink to boot as well.
- The World of Edena by Moebius (because of course!); amazing, along the same vain as 'The Incal', but much 'finer' - less mind-bending, more more contemplative.
- The Dark Knight trilogy by Frank Miller; an epic right up there with Beowulf IMHO.
- Watchmen by Moore and Gibbson; genre setting with an amazing story; and 'Before Watchmen' omnibus adds to it as a modern contrast.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged. I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imaginati…
whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that person https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.... tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").
Not everything Google-able is true.
Many authors are difficult.
Ender's Game is a great story.