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

I loved this book too - curious how it impacted you?

I read it far to early in my life. About 14 or so. definitely loved it.

lately I've been reminded that The Plague by Albert Camus had an influence on me. I was unfamiliar with existentialist philosophy before reading that (in translation, for a high school English class).

I think it is not possible to compare. The book is an epic experience and a teaching (that also takes time). The film is a good film. I saw it after reading the book. The effect is the same as reading Mario Puzo and after seeing the movie The Godfather (great movie but the book is another story)

Great? Well, I'm not going to suggest _all_ of these are masterpieces of social/personal observation. I'm going to error on the side of entertainment--books which were moving and memorable to me on the drop of a hat (or HN post :^)

(here are a few in no particular order)

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Palahniuk, Chuck. Diary (2003).

Horror genre. Artist in a community conspiracy--not the 'social machine' sort of conspiracy, but the more personal and creepier 'family horror'. EWWW.

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Stephenson, Neal. The Baroque Cycle (2003, 2004).

This is a story of the dawn of science through the network of scientists surrounding the Royal Society of London. I read these non-fiction books around the same time, so the total effect was very moving:

- Berlinski, David. Newton's gift : how Sir Isaac Newton unlocked the system of the world (2000) [its surprising just how many books have the same theme of 'the system of the world']

- Aczel, Amir D. Mystery of the aleph : mathematics, the kabbalah, and the search for infinity (2000) [this largely concerns Georg Cantor]

- Swetz, Frank J. From five fingers to infinity : a journey through the history of mathematics (1994) [This is a collection of short essays, primarily for and by teachers. I don't have formal training (past some college courses) in mathematics, so YMMV].

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Jong, Erica. Fear of Flying (1973).

From Wikipedia: "Fear of Flying is a 1973 novel by Erica Jong which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured in the development of second-wave feminism." (thanks to my GF Martina for that recommendation back in the day).

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The entire works of Willian Shakespeare. When I don't feel like suffering anything too personal or too timely, Bill just connects.

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PLUS1 Not fiction, but frack it. They're good

- Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential (2000)

- Buford, Bill. Heat. (2006)

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PLUS2. I read an article (New Yorker? 2005?) by a retired professor who had the habit of writing a brief review/book report after finishing each book (and he would grading it, too!).

I adopted a similar practice, because I wanted to remember my thoughts of each book in more specific terms. And I was practicing my touch-typing skills. I can say after 15 years I have a good collection of grep searchable text files and much better typing skills.

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Plus3. Astronaut Scott Kelly recommends keeping a journal as a means of wellbeing during this time of self-isolation [1].

I can't think of a better way to start than writing a few sentences about a moving reading experience.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-coron...