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Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

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Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#13

Post by jodrellblank »

dannykwells wrote: post #2

I feel like it would be nice to have a "rising" category - most of these are from heavy hitters/already famous. However, very cool - any thoughts for other categories (SciFi, etc.)?

https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/ is a sub for SciFi, and has occasional compilation and recommendation threads, and a wiki with some more links in it.

Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#14

Post by omarhaneef »

This is a fine list. I think the algos are probably reasonable and so forth.

The reason I can say that is because it reads pretty much like a greatest hits of fantasy fiction list.

It would be interesting to normalize it in various ways:

Most read book per unit time that has passed since it was released. (Contrast NK Jemisen’s work from last year with Martins work from the 90s with Tolkien etc)

Most commonly read book that is not on the amazon list. (Most surprising book on the list)

Most widely read book that doesn’t have a tv show or movie.

And perhaps other smart variations that you and other readers might think of.

Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#15

Post by rohan1024 »

dvasdekis wrote: post #6
matthewtoast wrote: post #4

This is great. Any plans to add other genres (sci fi, espionage, mystery...)?

Yes please! This is great. Another request for Sci-Fi from me! :)

I have heard good words about The Expanse. I haven't read the books but have seen the show and I think it's fantastic.

Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#16

Post by hug »

jodrellblank wrote: post #13
dannykwells wrote: post #2

I feel like it would be nice to have a "rising" category - most of these are from heavy hitters/already famous. However, very cool - any thoughts for other categories (SciFi, etc.)?

https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/ is a sub for SciFi, and has occasional compilation and recommendation threads, and a wiki with some more links in it.

Speculative Fiction, not science fiction.

Fantasy is more than welcome there.

Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#17

Post by rohan1024 »

This is great tool to see what everyone is reading but I would refrain from choosing books solely on the ranking shown here because its always better to choose your own books, movies, music, battles,etc,. rather than aggregators or recommendation systems dictating what is good. I am not saying that this tool is doing the same but as a user we all need to be aware of the bias that naturally comes with these kind of services [0].

In rather harsh words of Arthur Schopenhauer

“The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.”

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17939766

Re: Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading

#20

Post by aetherson »

russellbeattie wrote: post #18

Oof! I'm sorry, but Neil Gaiman's writing is... unpleasant. Purposefully so. A lot of people seem to like this, but I'm definitely not one of them.

Could you describe what you find unpleasant about it? I'm not the biggest Gaiman fan but that's not the criticism I associate with him.
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