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

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

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind sharing, what was the procedure?

Nothing of any relevance to the mostly male audience here, but, sure, I'll bite. I was breastfeeding my newborn and one breast was hurting like a bitch. A nurse checked me, which involved looking at my breast, announced I didn't have an infection and shrugged and walked off. I was in my twenties and had a lot of baggage from being molested as a child. I felt humiliated showing her my tits and then got zero help. But…

How long ago was that? I had my son three years ago, and breastfeeding was pushed pretty heavily at the hospital, with lactation consultants galore.

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

#372
Cordwainer Smith, Norstrilla and his short fiction. The Dead Lady of Clown Town especially, as well as Scanners live in Vain.

He's an amazing writer. He actually criticized transhumanism before it existed. What good is it to have a 300 year old perfect body when you feel middle-aged and unwanted on the inside, and man secretly being taken care of by the animal-humans that he made is so poignant. His works were startling to me, really not like a lot of science fiction of the time.

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

#373
Calvino, Invisible Cities — human life is so rich in complexity and detail that an infinite number of projections can be constructed to study slices of it, that are each worthy of their own story

Hesse, Steppenwolf — read this at an angst-filled time; the way this book builds and reconciles the conflict between two personalities that goes on within the main dude's head was extremely cathartic to my own life

Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — introduced me to the inherent absurdity present in the modern world, technology, the scale of the universe, the condition of our own existence, etc, and how making light of it helps you grapple with it and live with it

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

#374

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").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author

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

#376
Riverworld by Philip José Farmer. It was a magnificent adventure and exploration of different philosophical ideas, especially for a teenager. It left me with the impression that even simple things can be mysterious and part of a bigger plan.

The star rover by Jack London. It helped me put in perspective some difficult moments and be a little bit more resilient. I also liked how much humanity and dignity the main character has, despite being held in jail in horrible conditions. I can say the same things about Papillon by Henri Charrière.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Fueled my imagination and even gave me a semi-fantastical narrative to live by.

Ficciones by Borges. Like others said was mind opening.

Poésies by Arthur Rimbaud. A bit to play it off - and get laid - but on a more serious note I liked the rebelliousness and the romantic sense of infinite in his poems. I can still recall some bits of that "infinite".

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

#377
post #103

Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our time. I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it…

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…

> The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts

Try to read this as Chinese literature and not apply Western standards. TBP is not about individual people but civilizations. Similarly, if you read Tale of Genji expecting a plot, you will be disappointed. But that doesn't mean it will be forgotten in 10 years.

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

#379

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").

When I read

> ender's game is nazi apologia

in your comment, I was pretty sure that there would be a point in the quoted article where the author went from reasonable background/description, to instantly jumping to a completely nonsensical argument, and I was not disappointed.

> The difference between Peter and Ender is not in what they do, but in what they are

What? That's incredibly dumb.

This like saying a serial killer, and someone who shot a person who shot at them first, are the same thing. You can't just ignore context because it's convenient to your argument. By this reasoning, anyone who's not an avowed pacifist -- who wouldn't even fight back against naked aggression -- is equivalent to the worst murderer.

Maybe Ender went too far, but he did act in self-defense, against other kids who tried to maim or even kill him. Peter killed animals because he wanted to. That is nowhere close to the same thing.

Like, does the author of this piece seriously believe that self defense is never justified or something?

> Ender is “kind” and “good” even when his actions seem to belie that characterization.

Ender is ruthless against those who go out of their way to threaten him, that's true enough, but in the context of the story he has an awful lot of threats to his life for a little kid! Brutally fighting back is completely understandable. What else would you even expect him to do, in that situation?

If you're gonna find fault with the story here, pointing out that the adults are all complicit in letting Ender be abused, sure that's bad and dumb. But given that they're doing that, blaming Ender for desperately fighting back is utter nonsense.

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

#380

the feed: A Novel had a big impact on me as a teen, it's a relatively short read Amazon has turned it into a Prime Video Original, which I have yet to watch since Episode 1 didn't strike me as great. Edit: I think the best sci-fi fiction book I have ever read is Red Rising, it is a newer book.

There's a lot of better stuff out there than Red Rising . It's very stilted, the characters are flat, and the story is predictable.

Man, the negativity in this thread is hilarious
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