Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?
There are many threads that discuss one’s favorite programming or technology or startup related books. I’d love to hear from the community what fiction books they enjoy!
- The Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
- Watchmen by various
- Star Trek: Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane
- The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
- Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
- Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean
- The Cthulhu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils by James Lovegrove
- Contact by Carl Sagan
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Top 11? :-)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Dune by Frank Herbert
Permutation City by Greg Egan
Blindsight by Peter Watts
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Story of your Life and Others and Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Chiang in particular is an excellent writer who explores interesting concepts using speculative fiction. A lot of his stories stuck with me, like the one about lookism. Egan also writes excellent stories with very well thought-out and consistent worlds, though the character writing and plotlines is not that strong.
I suspect that people who like Permutation City may also like Glasshouse by Charles Stross.
The Hitchhiker's Guide series is undeniably first for me. Aside from the hilarity and great writing it's also very nostalgic for me. One Christmas my dad gave me the Hitchhiker's collection, Going Postal, and Catch 22, all great books.
Permutation City by Greg Egan. Found out about it from an HN comment. If you're interested in scifi about AI and brain simulation, this is it.
Also looking at my bookshelf I've got to throw in Multiversity by Grant Morrison (and 8 great artists). It's a graphic novel but it's just so darn good. If you're not a comic-book superhero fan, it might not be too great. If you are, it's a great meta story and really rewards analyzing it for symbolism. Grant Morrison really knows how to treat comics as their own unique medium. Each chapter is supposed to be the #1 issue to a new comic series (in different canon universes drawn by different artists), except a DC multi-verse event tangles all their stories together.
Mostly anything from the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance%E2%80%93Union_univers...
with the exception of the 'Mri Wars / Faded Sun Trilogy', 'Merovingen Nights', Morgaine Cycle, Foreigner Universe, and none of her Fantasy.
Much from Kim Stanley Robinson, no matter if early or recently. Most memorable though, 'The Years of Rice and Salt'.
Probably almost anything (Post-)Cyberpunkish from anyone. Steam- or Dieselpunk? Err no, thx.
Some stuff from Stephen Baxter and Gregory Benford.
Rameez Naam's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy
All of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Suarez_(author)
Much of Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson.
Oryx and Crake and following from Margaret Atwood.
Anything from Iain Banks. 'The Color of Distance' from Amy Thompson.
Peter F. Hamiltons 'Greg Mandel Trilogy' and 'The Night's Dawn Trilogy', his later stuff didn't engage me that much.
The Blade Runner sequels from K.W. Jeter.
Some Philip K. Dick, there is too much of it!1!!
Gateway and following from Frederik Pohl.
Some of Poul Anderson, John Varley, Jerry Pournelle, Vernor Vinge (Deepness in the Sky, etc)
And so much more...
Mostly agree, but I actually enjoyed the Chronicles of Morgaine.
- Use of Weapons
"I could try composing wonderful musical works, or day-long entertainment epics, but what would that do? Give people pleasure? My wiping this table gives me pleasure. And people come to a clean table, which gives them pleasure. And anyway" - the man laughed - "people die; stars die; universes die. What is any achievement, however great it was, once time itself is dead? Of course, if all I did was wipe tables, then of course it would seem a mean and despicable waste of my huge intellectual potential. But because I choose to do it, it gives me pleasure. And," the man said with a smile, "it's a good way of meeting people. So where are you from, anyway?"
- The Crow Road
"It was the day my grandmother exploded"
1. Adventures of Huckelberry Finn
2. Little, Big
3. Winter's Tale
4. Titus Groan
5. Gormenghast
6. Titus Alone
7. Dune
8. The manuscript found in saragossa
9. The Three Musketeers
10. A Scanner Darkly
11. The Man in the High Castle
12. Do Androids dream of Electronic Sheep
13. Ubik
14. Valis, basically almost every book by Phil Dick.
15. Life on the Mississippi.
16. The Garden of Forking Paths
17. Dhalgren
18. The Gods of Pegāna, basically all the fantasy work of Dunsany.
19. The Lathe of Heaven. Anything by LeGuin.
20. Their Eyes Were Watching God
21. The Master and Margarita
22. The Gulag Archipelago
I can't tell if you mean all of PKD not otherwise mentioned goes in that spot, or if VALIS is every PKD book. Or both.
- Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss(waiting on the third book....)
- Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (also waiting on the rest of the series...)
- The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu - the first book was ok but I really liked the second - The Dark Forest
- Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
- House In the Cerulean Sea
- How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Others that I like: The Rosie Project, The Books of Babel, A long way to a small Angry Planet, Wool/Shift/Dust, Lockstep, All the Light We Cannot See, Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, Earth Abides, Project Hail Mary, The Martian
Also, check out https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumentality_of_Mankind
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
- The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
- The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
- Watchmen by Alan Moore
- From Hell by Alan Moore
- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series by Alan Moore
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Immortality by Milan Kundera
- first 3 books in the The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
- The Dark Half by Stephen King
- The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
- Coalescent by Stephen Baxter
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
> The reason you haven’t heard about it is because they passed on it in June. So it’s no longer an HBO Max project. It’s reverted to Paramount. And Kennedy/Marshall.
* Spider series by W. Michael Gear
* Forbidden Borders series by W. Michael Gear
* The Change series (aka Emberverse) by S.M. Stirling (first 6)
* The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
* Dream Park by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes
* In The Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn
* Me by Thomas T. Thomas
* A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman
* Merchant Princess series by Charles Stross
* Daughter of the Empire series by Raymond E. Fiest and Janny Wurts
* Ecolitan series by L.E. Modesitt Jr
* Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson
* The Game is Life series by Terry Schott
* The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jum Butcher
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Cov...
Some people love it, some hate it.
Also by the same author, The Gap Cycle:
A Canticle for Leibowitz was one of them.
It's a masterpiece. Not just of sci-fi/fantasy but of literature. I have to be careful: if I pick it up and start reading I tend to sink into it and read until the end. In a sense, it's a bog-standard sword-&-sorcery novel, but you don't notice it. I shudder still at the memory of the analeptic alzabo...
- - - -
Dune, of course. I reread it every year or two, just for pleasure. (Don't get me started on that latest movie attempt. Not a complete failure, but very disappointing. At least it gets people to buy the book.)
- - - -
Beyond those two specific books I have favorite writers, Larry Niven and Vernor Vinge are probably my favorite authors (in case it's not clear when it comes to fiction I only read sci-fi and some fantasy. I don't see the point of non-sci-fi fiction. Just read history, eh?)
Neil Gaiman's Sandman dramatic audiobook (part I) is so good. I feel so lucky that while looking up the link to the book that I just discovered Part II was published in 9/2021. Highly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/The-Sandman/dp/B086WQ7J62
Confessions, by Jaume Cabré
I'll just quote a Goodreads review [1] I agree with:
> I've never read anything quite like this, such is its artistry and guile. Like a thief in the night it sneaks then all of a sudden it falls upon you like an avalanche. Truly it is a once in a decade novel, and why it is not world famous is a mystery to me.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4010685836?book_show_a...
The Shipkiller, by Justin Scott – dated but a great revenge adventure.
And of current releases I really enjoyed Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The Bobiverse series[2] by Dennis E. Taylor is a great fun read or audiobook (I've done both!).
The Xandri Corelel[3] series by Kaia Sønderby. I read both books and immediately started looking around to see if there were more.
I Am Not a Serial Killer[4] by Dan Wells was an enjoyable surprise.
The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Of older vintage that I find I've revisited over the years are:
The Chrysalids[5] by John Wyndham.
The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire which comprise The Tripod Trilogy[6] by John Christopher.
And the oft mentioned Dune by Frank Herbert is a book a reread every few years. Love the first book, don't care for the rest that much.
Favourite authors in general would have to include the following: Robert Sawyer, Timothy Zahn (when he's not writing Star Wars stuff), Michael Connelly, and Harlan Coben. Always enjoyable reads.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295861-the-first-fifte...
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse
[3] https://www.goodreads.com/series/199207-xandri-corelel
[4] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7617119-i-am-not-a-seria...
[5] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/826845.The_Chrysalids
I saw the film adaptation¹ in a local cinema without knowing anything about it beforehand and was very pleasantly surprised by this gem of a film. Thanks for the reminder; I must check out the book.
¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Not_a_Serial_Killer_(film...
The Harry August book is somewhat similar to another one that I also very much recommend. It's called "Replay", by Ken Grimwood
- Diaspora by Greg Egan
- Pushing Ice by Alastair Raynolds
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
- The Price of Nothing by R. Scott Baker
- Blindsight by Peter Watts
Swallows and Amazon series. Stranger in a Strange Land, The Man In The Maze, Tau Zero, Asimovs Foundation series. All Jane Austen's work: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northhanger Abbey.
The first in the series is Consider Phlebas but I enjoy all of them.
They are cheesy in spots but the quality of the universe that Banks builds over 9 books makes up for it.
Sort of like a novel version of Star Trek. I wish I could read them again for the first time.
It’s a fun story where the main character gets to relive part of his life. Even though I can’t replay in my own life, the story still gave me a lot to think about and helps me live happily (and prevent too much existential dread from creeping in).
* Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapledon
* Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak
* The Gap (series), by Stephen Donaldson
* The Golden Apples of the Sun, by Ray Bradbury
* Tau Zero, by Poul Anderson
“We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Insane to think this book has been written in 1920.
- Catch-22
- Dune
- The Dispossessed
- Illuminatus!
- Kafka on the Shore
- Use of Weapons
- Blood Meridian
- The Book of the New Sun
- A Deepness in the Sky
- From the New World
Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco.
Here by Richard McGuire
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Trilogy of the Void by Peter Hamilton
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
This Book is Full of Spiders::: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
The Mars trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson
Hyperion Cantos, Dan Simmons
The Collector, John Fowles
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Anything by Dalton Fury (RIP)
One Second After by William Forstchen
Black Autumn by Jeff Kirkham
- Neuromancer by William Gibson
- The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
- False Memory by Dean Koontz
I think a good case could be made for a handful of others also. Specifically:
- Nineteen Eighty Four by Orwell
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Foundation by Asimov
- The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
are all strong contenders as well.
Earnest hemmingway, the old man and the sea
Have read many times, I like short books!
Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy
First Among Equals, by Jeffrey Archer
The Baroque Cycle trilogy
Anathem
The Princess Bride (even better than the movie)
The Odyssey by Homer
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
A Fire Upon the Deep
An Instance of the Fingerpost
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Shadows of the Apt
Murderbot
Imperial Radch
Youjo Senki
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Altas Shrugged & The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
1984 - George Orwell
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis Taylor
Culture Series (especially Surface Detail & Use of Weapons) - Ian M Banks
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
- The War of the End of the World (1981) - Mario Vargas Llosa
Favourites among the books I’ve read lately.
Other than that, there are plenty to enjoy some serious fiction from authors such as:
- Homer (watching Troy is way too far from the book)
- Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain is top pick among his works
- Robert Musil - The Man Without Qualities I think is one of the finest pieces of literature
- Albert Camus - pick any of his works, but the shortest is considered to be the finest - The Stranger (~ 80-100 pages)
- Herman Melville - Moby Dick was a wonderful journey I enjoyed thoroughly
- Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace is a book that will raise the bar for fiction, I couldn’t start a new one for a month after finishing it, tried but I was still living in the book. I remember taking a vacation at work to finish the book, couldn’t put it down. Was working as a Java dev at The Ministry of Internal Affairs, must have been 20 or 21 yrs old.
- Dostoevsky - bot reading any of the big five is a missed opportunity: The Demons (one of the finest political fiction work), Brothers Karamazov (Will drain you from emotions), Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Notes from Underground
- Oh, Cervantes - Don Quixote was the book took me 2 years and some more life experience when it started to tick in my mind the depth, importance of the book, perhaps it was 24 or 25.
- And so on, it will be useless to list them all, and many will slip from my mind :)
One important realization an decision I made at the age 18 was that I had to ask around, listen to people who know world literature inside out and follow their suggestions. The reason? At first I wanted to read everything, but pretty quickly that started to sound like a dumb idea which ignored reality and life longevity. Next decision was to read finest of the written works. And the strategy worked.
Books or authors I didn’t enjoy much?
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 100 Years of Solitude - finished it this month and the story felt like the one I’ve already experienced before, emotions I’ve had. If I had read it 8-10 years ago, I would have been dazzled l, but at the age of 29, not much.
- Kafka - The Tower was an awful translation, I felt that, which isn’t authors fault. The next book went smoothly but nothing groundbreaking.
- Ishiguro - mediocre
- Turgenev - mediocre, again
- Calvino - despite my love and respect towards a very good friend, his suggestion didn’t work for me, the book felt like - the author knows too well what’s he’s writing and that’s not a good thing. At first author writes and then he reads it as a reader just to find out what he has written. Calvino and many many more know what they’re writing and hence the mediocrity. - etc.
My next friend will be Ulysses, dragged it a bit too long and finally 2022 is a good year to read it.
Software engineering takes awful a lot of time and energy that it leaves a narrow path to reading something other than technical books and documentation, but the path exists and with discipline we can still enjoy finest pieces of philosophy and literature.
P.S. Many of the printed products are marketed and sold as “books”, but book is a title ought to be earned.
Roadside picnic