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Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#971

Post by downut »

slothtrop wrote: post #314
downut wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting. I never had a problem ploughing through Pynchon, and as I mentioned I bounced off Ulysses in my early 20s. I am right now in the last pages of my 1st reread of Gravity's Rainbow. I have to say I prefer Joyce now. And I think I liked my recent read of Against the Day over GR, an unexpected development. Gotta say though, GR is still awesome. Fearless.

I rank GR and V highest, with AtD and Mason & Dixon close seconds. I like the layering of themes in GR and the whole fever-dream deliver of it. I will probably revisit Joyce.

Yeah, as I endure into old age I think I prefer a stronger narrative arc which AtD has vs. the layered cacaphony of GR. I was doing a lot of er "mind altering additives" at the time when I was reading GR with a fresh young brain. Might be a young person's book. Highly recommended for young people! It's anchored in WWII which might seem like eroded history but hmm it seems our history decides to recycle itself.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#972

Post by airstrike »

pawelmurias wrote: post #840
airstrike wrote: post #283

Picking a "favorite" is generally hard. I once learned that the best way to phrase this question is in the form of e.g. "What are some of your favorite books?" so the responder doesn't have to force rank their all-time-favorite in their head, which can feel taxing. So I'll name two: I'm actually a bit surprised to not see "Brave New World" mentioned yet. That was a life-changing experience to my teenage self And sinc…

The vision in "Brave New World" seems so unrealistic and far fetched that for me to treat it as any sort of warning or deep insight.

I don't think it's meant to be taken that literally... it's still very useful in a thought-provoking wya, especially the first third or so of the book

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#973

Post by yinzer-solomon »

bloopernova wrote: post #36

Non-fiction: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer. US Navy destroyers, escort carriers and destroyer escorts face off against Japanese cruisers and battleships. The Japanese had many times the firepower of the US, yet incredibly brave US sailors and airmen attacked anyway. Incredible story of courage under terrible conditions and odds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Stand_of_the_Tin_Can_…

I'll belatedly second the recommendation of the "City Watch" series. I found "Night Watch" to be particularly enjoyable.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#974

Post by gcj »

tb_technical wrote: post #142

"The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." Not because I remember anything about it, or believe anything it espouses, or even like it all that much, but because it's a useful filter for obnoxious people in meatspace. If someone I don't know too well asks me what my favorite book is, I say Atlas Shrugged. If they react inappropriately, I'll be cordial and treat them with respect,…

Go ahead and say Mein Kampf then. If people react in "bla bla bla" way you can go ahead and judge them for not taking the time to think you might actually be playing mind games and not being a total idiot. :D

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#975

Post by gcj »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #228

Anna Karenina. Nothing mind-blowing. I didn't see a light in the sky. I read a lot, fiction and non-fiction. When I read Tolstoy, I remember thinking "What sort of dark magic is this?" He drew characters in a way I haven't seen since. I _knew_ these people. I remember this book, decades later. I remember a lot of what I've read, but Tolstoy was the man. I have no idea how or why his magic worked.

I feel like Tolstoy and Dostoyevski have produced all the great insights we could possibly have on the human soul.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#977

Post by simonebrunozzi »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #362

These threads often end up, with everyone trying to prove they are literary scholars. I prefer junky fantasy books. I'm really too old and cynical to give a damn what y'all think of me. I probably liked David Edding's Belgariad series, along with the Mallorean series, the most. I reread them, regularly, and go through all ten books, in a couple of weeks. They are an easy read. Also, Glen Cook's Black Company books ar…

> I prefer junky fantasy books. I'm really too old and cynical to give a damn what y'all think of me.

I love this.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#978

Post by agigao »

danenania wrote: post #358
agigao wrote: post #306

- The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann - The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil - The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago - Moby Dick - Herman Melville - The War of the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa - The War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy etc. I can't do "The" xD

> The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago Have you read Blindness? I liked The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but personally I liked Blindness a lot more.

Nope, I've not read anything else by Saramago, yet.

But thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely take that journey before the year is over.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#979

Post by xolve »

dmonitor wrote: post #502
joshdavham wrote: post #446

The best books I read last year were the "Three Body Problem" books by Cixin Liu. It's a science fiction series about aliens, space travel and the universe and they're easily the best books I've read in a while. I genuinely can't remember the last time I got that absorbed in a series. I'd read until the early hours of the morning and sometimes just sit at the edge of my bed for like 20 minutes just contemplating the…

I was interested in the series until I heard the worldbuilding bit about how the aliens have FTL 12-dimensional supercomputers the size of an atom that can cause hallucinations and interfere with particle accelerators from orbit. Author basically just gave the antagonists god-powers to prove some kind of point about how hopelessly pathetic humans are?

I didn't mind some science fantasy like this. And I like how the author took this step to solve for lag in communication and it added to the speed and thrill of the story.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#980

Post by xlii »

WillAdams wrote: post #848
xlii wrote: post #806

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t disagree, but such succinct description is robbing the story from its value. For me it was coherent (and back then I knew Tolkien lore well). Stark contrast between believable realities gave me plenty of space for wandering thoughts. E.g. both are work of fiction, so no ultimate proof of truth can be found, but what are the elements that make world real; who stumbled more in their story?

Each story was very much a product of the society in which its author lived. Tolkien grew up in a country with a state-funded news agency which had honest information as a core driver and was trusted by the population, while Yeskov's country instead had the goals of the party and was viewed with distrust and disdain and resulted in widespread cynicism. Tolkien was a scholar with a mastery of language few have reached…

Late response but a clarification - The Last Ringbearer was translated to couple languages, and it seems that only English didn’t get proper release due to the authorization (yet its still available for free and approved by Yeskov).

I checked because I have official print somewhere and last time I checked I couldn’t read Russian ;)

Still it’s somewhat interesting that French, German and Spanish editions can exist freely in their native laws while English publisher holds the gates.

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