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

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#51

Post by michelledepeil » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 8:56 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #47

michelledepeil wrote: post #35

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.

It's one of my long-time goals to read this book. I read the first few chapters and it was amazing, but sadly life intervened and I couldn't continue. I'm curious - did you read it on its own, or did you read some kind of resource along with it? I've seen recommendations to read it alongside websites/books that help understand it.

I read it on its own, on an ebook reader where the annotations don't work (bad android app). Generally I only have to look up the occasional word or two to get some of the word jokes (my favourite being "[making his exam by] a single dento-dermal layer", meaning "the skin of his teeth")

I am reminded of the foreword, the author of which I forget, who said that it clearly isn't a breeze to read, you have to put in actual effort to understand the damn sentences. This is totally true, if I let my mind wander as with any other book, I have to go back and re-read it.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#52

Post by fitzroy » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 9:13 PM UTC

Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff Brilliant. It's considered "literary fiction" but I found this book to be an absolute page-turner, much more so than what is usually described as a "page-turner". The summaries / back-cover marketing copy can't do it justice.

Florida - Lauren Groff Sublime, poetic, haunting collection of short stories.

Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang Exhalation - Ted Chiang Being released in May 2019 (I got an advance copy), but many of the stories are previously published and/or available online. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" is just wonderful. Ted Chiang's work is the definition of economy in storytelling. Absolutely quality over quantity.

The Three Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End - Liu Cixin I’m not sure how fulfilling it would be to just read the first one. They really feel like a single (big) novel. Worth it.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O - Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland Kind of Stephenson-light(?). Smart, entertaining and seems destined to be a TV series.

The Secret History - Donna Tartt A bit slow to get going. Lots of Greek, snow, and booze at a private liberal-arts college in Vermont.

The Grownup - Gillian Flynn (short story)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#53

Post by p0d » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 9:24 PM UTC

‘The man I think I know’ by Mark Gayle. No kingdoms at war or cyborgs. Just a good read about male friendship with an interesting starting point.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#54

Post by janderit » Sun, Dec 23, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

aaachilless wrote: post #28

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie (the Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and the Last Argument of Kings). They're quite dark but surprisingly funny and maybe the most readable novels I've ever read. Absolute page-turners.

Also the next 3 books on the same universe are great: Best Served Cold, The Heroes & Red Country.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#55

Post by mrfusion » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 3:08 AM UTC

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #20

Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson. This is my first foray into high fantasy, and i absolutely loved these books. I also enjoyed sci-fi novel, The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I liked the mistborn series even better. Check it out. I still can’t figure out how they’re related though.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#56

Post by lukewrites » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 8:29 AM UTC

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami was my favorite of the year. I'd highly recommend it.

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry ran a close second, and I'm in the middle of Wolf Hall and quite liking it, too.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#57

Post by tdalaa » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 9:31 AM UTC

I have thoroughly enjoyed The Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells also very good, except the price for book 2+ are ripoffs at $12 for only 150-170 pages.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#58

Post by nfg » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 9:53 AM UTC

edanm wrote: post #47

michelledepeil wrote: post #35

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.

It's one of my long-time goals to read this book. I read the first few chapters and it was amazing, but sadly life intervened and I couldn't continue. I'm curious - did you read it on its own, or did you read some kind of resource along with it? I've seen recommendations to read it alongside websites/books that help understand it.

I also read it this year (as part of a book club) - one thing I’d note is I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the footnotes worked in the ebook. I had made an attempt with a hardcopy about ten years ago and found juggling two bookmarks a major pain. It’s not without its flaws but well worth the effort to read, and once I got properly going I didn’t find it difficult or a drag at all.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#59

Post by strikelaserclaw » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #55

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #20

Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson. This is my first foray into high fantasy, and i absolutely loved these books. I also enjoyed sci-fi novel, The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I liked the mistborn series even better. Check it out. I still can’t figure out how they’re related though.

that is where i'm going next :)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?

#60

Post by jackschultz » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

Almost a day late, but I'll throw this in here if people come by later looking for more suggestions.

From this year, I read all but two of the Haruki Murakami books and all short stories. I love his writing style (great translations), and the fact that the stories are about not all the time realness. Kafka on the Shore is a great starting book. Also Norwegian Wood is another example, though this strayed away from the magical aspect I like of his.

Another from this year was The Dubliners, collection of short stories from James Joyce. I was stuck in Dublin during a snow storm this past spring, so I'm sure this lead me to like the stories more, but I swear they're amazing and I haven't found anything else like them. They're all tiny points in people's lives, and the things that happen make differences for the people or are also easy to remember and not forget. Get one with reference notes in the back too.

Besides those, Love in the Time of Cholera was another one way up on my list. Similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I think I prefer slightly more, but reading both is interesting to read since Cholera was written 20 years after Solitude and we can see how the author changed over time.

Overall though, my absolute top tier books are East of Eden, Catch-22, and My Struggle (Knausgaard). 1000% read those. I like including these so if somebody reads this and likes these books as well, they can somewhat trust my other suggestions.