Either David Copperfield by Charles Dickens or Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Both are very long novels that get better and better with every page.
Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
61–70 of 156 posts
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#62by Tariq Rashid
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Neural-Network-ebook/dp/B01EER4Z4G
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-First-GAN-PyTorch-ebook/dp/B085Z96M9PRe: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#63Daemon series by Daniel Suarez: I can’t believe I slept on this book for so long. It would have altered my worldview fundamentally if I had read it at a younger age. Mind Hunter: Somehow even better than the show. A Brief History of Intelligence: Packed with so much knowledge about the evolution, mechanics, and different forms of intelligence. One of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
The Daemon series along with the Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman are two of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy series.
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#64Reentry by Eric Berger. It came out in October. It's a follow up to his book Liftoff from 2021. Great books for space nerds. Makes me really admire what Space X has accomplished while also eliminating any desire I had to work for them.
Liftoff was super interesting. The start of SpaceX and the Falcon 1 is an incredible story. Didn't know about "Reentry", will have to check it out!
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#65“On Tyranny,” by Timothy Snyder
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#66Flatland 1884 by Edwin A. Abbott
when I first read it, felt like it was written in the modern era. Was surprised to find afterwards that it was written in the victorian period.
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#67Best one was Something Happened by Joseph Heller (Catch 22 guy). Worst one was 1Q84 by Murakami (so far).
Catch 22 is one of the funniest (while still having depth) books ever! Have never looked into his other books, will have to check it out
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#68Helen DeWitt wrote another novel after The Last Samurai, Lightning Rods. It's a very different book, but definitely worth a try! Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#69The End is Always Near, Dan Carlin
A quick read on many points in history when things looked grim and it must have seemed like the end of society was coming --an interesting read not necessarily mind-blowing.
Re: Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?
#70Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. If you're into Jewish history/legend, Baba Yaga, intergenerational trauma, or just good books, I would find it difficult to recommend it more. It's well-told and well-paced (note: do not read at night if you have something to do in the early morning the next day). As you would expect from a book drawing heavily on Jewish history, it can be difficult to read.
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. Excellent book that handles time travel and its implications reasonablly well. She also wrote a shorter, "children's" book series under a pen name; quotes from it appeared in Middlegame. It's called the Up-and-under series. I've only made it through book one so far, as I lost book two, but so far it's been good!
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. It's been on my list of books to read for ages and it is in fact excellent, if difficult. I'm planning on reading some of her--allegedly much less dark--books about the sea next, because I've heard she can be very poetic and in Silent Spring it shines through sometimes, but not often.