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Comment by marai2 | Hacker News Reader

Walter, it would be great if you could share your list of good books!

If I could only remember them all!

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!

I agree! I'm a voracious reader but I am very put off by books that I find to be, to borrow the phrase, "garbage." I spend a lot of time curating my reading list, as a result, and I'm always on the lookout for solid recommendations.

Hey Scruple, it would be great if you could share your reading list or recommendations.

Hey there. I'm not sure where I'd start, to be honest. My wife and I recently had our 3rd child. As a result, I've been opting for easier reading material over the last ~4 months. I don't really maintain reading lists, or lists of reading recommendations. But, I do endorse the books that I read and enjoy.

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.

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