Reading the right books is great. 95% of published books are garbage (much like 95% of TV). I've read an awful lot of books, and finally realized that very few books are worth the time to read.
"Oh my god, they're not going to do predictable thing __X__ are they? Bwahaha"
"Hahahaha, this dialog is completely unbelievable"
"Welp, that unwinds all the interesting things happening in that character's arc."
A couple things that laughter can't even redeem:
- Incessant deus ex machina. The prose can be good, the dialog believable, the world interesting, and the characters likable... but if all the problems just get waved away in some random unpredictable way, that's infuriating.
- Even worse: when a POV character has an ace up their sleeve the entire time that could have been played at any point to avoid all the conflict, and the only reason why we're in suspense is that POV character didn't share that with us.
These books give me hope I could write a book.
I’m not sure where the disconnect lies, between the people that view this as a huge problem with nonfiction and the rest. I don’t think it’s book selection, because I’ll often read a book where I felt the last half was 90% rehashing, and in the reviews no one else will mention that the author ran out of interesting things to say halfway through.
Here are the books I've read in the last 4 months, not in order:
* Frank Herbert - Dune
* J.R.R. Tolkein - The LotR trilogy + The Silmarillion
* Stephen King - 'Salem's Lot
* Stephen King (short story) - Jerusalem's Lot
* Stephen King (short story) - The Night Flier
* Stephen King (short story) - The Children of the Corn
* Stephen King - The Stand (uncut version)
* Stanisław Lem - The Cyberiad
* John Whyndham - The Day of The Triffids
* Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic
* Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep
Okay, so... Dune was a re-read ahead of the film release. LotR was a re-read that was provoked by some conversations I had with a group of friends (who form a loose book and movie club) after we discussed the Dune film and books / universe.
Lots of comparisons were being drawn to LotR (both the books and the film adaptations) and I wanted to confirm that my memory of Tolkein's prowess and effectiveness as a writer were accurate (they were).
I had never read Stephen King before this year and I found that I quite liked him. I started with 'Salem's Lot and Jerusalem's Lot because of the TV series Chapelwaite (an adaptation of Jerusalem's Lot -- I am a fan of horror film and television) which I want to watch.
I really liked King, so I pushed a little deeper. I'll come back to him later this year.
The books that remain are Sci-Fi books that I had either had on my own backlog (Roadside Picnic and A Fire Upon the Deep) or were recommendations that I saw in HN comments (The Cyberiad and The Day of the Triffids).
edit/ There were probably between 4 and 6 books that I started, read a few chapters of, and put down in this time frame, too, FWIW.
If you ask me at different times I'll give different answers, but some are just on top:
War of the Worlds, Lord of the Rings, The Mote in God's Eye, Replay, Earth Abides, 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, 2001, Nothing Like It In The World, Reach For The Sky, Winnie The Pooh, The Last of the Mohicans, The Hunt for Red October, With the Old Breed, Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman, Moby Dick, Shogun, Romeo and Juliet
I envy anyone reading these for the first time!
Business oriented: try your hand at any of the best books on x, by forbes. Google the list "forbes list of best books". Its prob circa 2010ish. They put books on leadership (annapurna, great read), entrepreneurship, product (beijing jeep), etc etc. Some really solid stuff
Pulitzer lists: Just go on wikipedia anf look at winners by year. For example, controversial but interesting : guns germs and steel.
Reco engines: I think i used tastekid a loog time ago. Type in a book, it would give you recommendations on books you might like. With advances in ML, I'm sure there are tons of engines doing the same now
Sorry, but ick. A less popular viewpoint of this is "Triumph of the West" by Roberts. "Connections" by Burke is very good, too.
A habit I’ve picked up is to follow the deaths of famous authors (the NYT will feature one on regularly on their home page). When that happens, I like to read about their life and oeuvre and pick up one of their most famous books, which is usually both very interesting and worthwhile.
You can also just go to Barnes and Noble and wander around. Find the genre you like, poke around, and you’ll probably recognize some of the titles or authors, which is often a good sign.
If you have some favorite authors, look up their lesser known books! The fact that you liked their other work is a good sign.
Over time, you will develop a long list of books on your list so you can start getting more selective. Check the Goodreads reviews. Try to understand how this book fits into the bigger picture and whether it or the subject seem significant to you.
Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong early on. Imagine you were just being exposed to film/tv for the first time and you ask for recommendations. ‘I dunno, Breaking Bad? The Godfather? Titanic?’ Even though there’s a lot of trash out there, the best books, like the best movies, are easy to find and there are tons of rankings and compilations.
Don't just read books because they have a good reputation in general.
This is just like the great of life - don't fear failure.
Reading a book you wind up hating is way better then spending that time trying to optimize your process to avoid bad books.
If you do want to look for more promising things, reading is still your best tool.
I used to use what I called the two-minute test:
At a bookstore or library, pull a book off the shelf, read it for two minutes, then put it back.
Often you'll find you really don't want to put it back.
If so, then give it a shot.