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Best of all time book lists can get repetitive, I'm asking for your top five to ten
I think the most interesting and individual suggestions come not from someone's absolute favorite book, but from the contenders, the runners up. These are more likely to reflect a niche interest or unique perspective imho. Anyway, if you are willing, please name some of your best lifetime book experiences.
Let's go Sci-Fi!
Dune: Well, that's an obvious one. I give it special praise because of its depiction of how local culture can be heavily influenced by the local environment, which is a concept that I did not expect to see so in-depth in a 1964 sci-fi novel, in the very roots of Ethnoecology as a science.
Hyperion: A masterpiece of storytelling. The characters are distinctly characterized from each other, and you can't help but like all of them, to the point where choosing a favorite is very difficult. The sequel is also a good book, but the mystery involving the first book's worldbuilding is unparalleled in a Sci-Fi novel.
Anathem: I loved the plot and the worldbuilding. The characters may fall kind of flat, but the premise is very original and interesting.
Childhood's End: It is often difficult to give an answer to a puzzle that is built throughout a whole novel in a satisfactory and yet unpredictable way, and this one is one of those rare cases. It is a short read, and I recommend it to anyone.
Eversion: Another short novel. Because it is a recently published novel, it nails some sci-fi concepts right where our current technology could be in some decades. It is a refreshing and original story that also involves a properly developed mystery.
Yeah, Hyperion is really good. The sequels do well and don't break the original too much with retcons, but nothing matches the frame story style of the first book. Dune is another one I've read a few times, the way it all comes together at the end is so satisfying.
Here are some old 60s-70s sci-fi books I've enjoyed:
The Mote in God's Eye - in the far future, first contact with seemingly backwards alien race.
Gateway - humans discover an asteroid in the solar system that has space ships that go to different unknown places. Trial and error exploration ensues, which often ends in tragedy.
Ringworld - this one is a bit silly, and the sequels are bad (sex vampires? really?), but it is still an enjoyable story.
Solaris - another exploration of space one, questions the scientific method, the nature of communication, how unique humanity might be, and a whole bunch of themes. Might not be everyone's cup of tea though.
Fortunately, I've not read any of your recommendations yet, so thank you for providing me 4 new interesting novels to look up :)
Here are my top 5 from the last year or so in no particular order:
This is how you lose the Time War : Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
The Secret History - Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.
Gnomon - From the widely acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World and Tigerman, comes a virtuosic new novel set in a near-future, high-tech surveillance state, that is equal parts dark comedy, gripping detective story, and mind-bending philosophical puzzle.
Embassytown - In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak—but which speaks through her, whether she likes it or not.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.
As far as niche representatives go:
Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism - The tradition of Chan Buddhism―more popularly known as Zen―has been romanticized throughout its history. In this book, John R. McRae shows how modern critical techniques, supported by recent manuscript discoveries, make possible a more skeptical, accurate, and―ultimately―productive assessment of Chan lineages, teaching, fundraising practices, and social organization. Synthesizing twenty years of scholarship, Seeing through Zen offers new, accessible analytic models for the interpretation of Chan spiritual practices and religious history.
Born to Run - solated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.
Why We Sleep - n this “compelling and utterly convincing” ( The Sunday Times ) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night.
Roadside Picnic - Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.
Passport to Magonia - Our age has generated, and continues to generate, mythical material almost unparalleled in quantity and quality in the rich records of human imagination. More precisely, people have very frequently reported the observation of wonderful aerial objects, variously designated as flying saucers, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and so on. But investigators have neglected to recognize one important perspective of the phenomenon: the fact that beliefs identical to those held today have recurred throughout recorded history and under forms best adapted to the believer's country, race, and social regime.
Emissaries from these supernatural abodes come to earth, sometimes under human form and sometimes as monsters. They perform wonders. They serve man or fight him. They influence civilizations through mystical revelation.
These matters are the subject of Passport to Magonia, Jacques Vallee's seminal master-work that changed our understanding of the UFO phenomenon. An instant classic when first published in 1969, the book remains a must-have resource for anybody interested in the topics of UFOs and alien contact, as well as those fascinated by fairy folklore and other paranormal encounters.
This looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation!
Thank you so much for the post! I've only read two of these, but the rest sound just like my cuppa. Going to grab a few at the library this week.
Roadside Picnic makes for a great audio book. Robert Forster does an excellent job narrating.
This is how you lose a time war was such a surprise for me. It’s a totally novel concept, really well executed, and it’s a fascinating plot also.
I picked it up on a whim, just browsing through a bookstore and was totally blown away.
Definitely agree it should be on this list
Embassytown is so. fucking. good. Mieville is one of my favourite authors and I love all his books, but Embassytown is by far my favourite.
I don't know if these are exactly my top ten, but if not they are close:
Just a few off the top of my head:
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. It's. Um. Well, it's an experimental postmodern frame story. It's a series of inter-related short stories and commentaries on the nature of reading and writing and to suggest it's anywhere near that simple is doing it quite a disservice.
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. On the surface a sort of horror story, underneath a sprawling, twisting, confusing, baffling, wonderful, terrifying exploration of humanity and literature and more. If it were a TV show it would be Twin Peaks.
Embassytown by China Mieville. Oh man this book. Mieville is one of my favourite authors but this is my favourite book of his by far. He delves deep into the nature of communication, of language - both written and spoken - and the fundamental issue of making ourselves understood. It's so fucking good. Just go and read it. Then go and read the Bas-lag series too.
Not a book, a series. The Culture by Iain M Banks. Banks was so great. Not just his vast, galactic-scale ideas but his joy at writing them down. His writing sparkles, his plots dive and twist and turn like swallows on the wind. The Culture is the ultimate example of Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism and it is glorious.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Yet another sci-fi story about langauge. This time the language of poetry, and the language of architecture. Martine is the most exciting and technically skilled writer of sci-fi I've encountered since the late great Iain M Banks (shout out to Ann Leckie, second most exciting). This is such a good book. Huge world building but maintains a human-scale with it. Highly recommended.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A long-term terraforming project goes... unexpectedly. It's hard to go too far into this without spoilers but it's a really fresh take on sci-fi, the author has a background in biology. He also manages a fantastic move towards the end where the reader ends up supporting an unexpected side in the final battle. Again, spoilers. It's a great book, just read it.
I'm a sci-fi fan, so most of my favorites are in that genre. Here's a few of my favorites!
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson - This series absolutely captivated me when I was younger, it follows the members of Mars's first permanent colony, from the initial voyage to the red planet all the way through the full terraforming of Mars. It's not a space opera, and can be a little heavy of the exposition, but Robinson aimed to write a series covering ever aspect of what a hypothetical terraforming of Mars would look like.
Blindsight by Peter Watts - An interesting take First Contact sci-fi trope. What if the simple act of communication with an alien intelligence is considered a hostile act? Does intelligence require sentience?
The Expeditionary Force Series by Craig Alanson - Earth is invaded by a seemingly hostile race, only to be rescued by another alien race that is only interested in how it can exploit humanity as cannon fodder. How does humanity survive in a galaxy that is at best indifferent to it's existence? The series follows Bishop, a former U.S. Army grunt that stumbles upon and partners with Skippy, a powerful ancient alien AI with an inflated ego. The charm in this series is definitely in the interactions between Skippy and his human companions, but I thoroughly enjoyed the galactic lore Alanson built in his fictionalized Milky Way.
The Remaining Series by D.J. Molles - Zombie fiction closer to 28 Days Later than The Walking Dead. It follows Captain Lee Harden, a member of a secret government program called Project Hometown, a program created to rebuild America in case of a total societal collapse. A virus sweeps across America in a matter of weeks, leaving it's victims either dead or extremely violent.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - Stephenson set out to write an engrossing hard sci-fi story about how Humanity could possibly avoid an extinction level event on Earth and succeeded. Earth's moon is struck by what is assumed to be a wandering micro-blackhole, leaving humanity with only two years before debris falls into Earth's atmosphere, superheating it and rendering life on earth impossible. Incredibly depressing, and I feel like the final act wasn't as amazing at the first two, but still an amazing piece of hard sci-fi.
Here are the few that immediately come to mind without thinking too hard about it.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
This book was so entertaining when I first read it I immediately started it a second time. I still reread this one every year since discovering it (from the author himself, via Reddit). If you're a fan of deep character studies dressed up in an incredibly smart and creative narrative, do yourself a favour and check this out immediately.
God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
I love all six of Frank's Dune books but this one really stands out from the others. What would life be like for a tyrannical godlike being? God Emperor sets out to examine this type of moral philosophy and still feels fresh even to this day.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
If you haven't figured it out by now I am really attracted to the type of sci-fi with incredibly philosophical themes at their core. It still amazes me how well this book examines what an anarchist utopia could look like and how freedom might be viewed differently in such a world.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
I love the world of Area X and all the ways the author tries to unpack what is the unknown to humans on both a personal and social level. Going back and reading this post-COVID and I gained an appreciation of how well this story depicts social isolation and the different impacts it can have on an individual level.
A few suggestions in no particular order. I tried to avoid super-popular and obvious (although great) suggestions like Stephen King, Tolkien, GRRM, etc. Some of these titles are a few decades old and you may have already read them, but they're among my favorite books and authors :
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Ava's Man by Rick Bragg
Into the Wild and Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd
Will Not Attend: Lively Stories of Detachment and Isolation by Adam Resnick
Lots of environmental literature in mine, in no particular order:
I was surprised by the monkey wrench gang - I read it for a school assignment on the history of environmental terrorism, and was thoroughly impressed. It was a really interesting and fun read, also recommended
Travels With Charley is great. In it, Steinbeck who wrote great but depressing books like Grapes of Wrath, comes across as someone who would be tremendous fun to have a drink with as well as an astute social comentator. I enjoy travel narratives, but this is the best one I have read so far.
Ed Abbey! It's been so long!
I can't speak for a lifetime (so many years and my memory isn't that good) but my recently most-enjoyed top five:
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
and some very close runners-up:
Hild: A Novel by Nicola Griffith
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Genesis by Guido Tonelli (non-fiction?)
Vagrant Viking by Peter Freuchen (autobio)
Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Poisonwood Bible would be in my top five also.
Going Postal would be fifth or sixth depending on my mood, but it's definitely up there.
In no particular order, here's a list of novels that have stuck with me over the years:
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
One-Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Blindsight by Peter Watts
Seveneves and Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
And a few short stories/novellas:
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe
In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker
Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place; Soldier's Home; and all of the Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway
I'd include my reasoning for each book, but I'm already way over what you asked for, and it doesn't matter anyway. You can't go wrong with any of these.
That's a fantastic idea for a thread. Books are (and always have been) my number one hobby and it's super exciting (but also really tough) to create a top 10 list. What's included in this list probably depends a little bit on my current mood, but I'm pretty confident concerning my choices overall.
1. Cloud Atlas
I enjoy all Mitchell books in general, but I especially love Cloud Atlas because of the overall mood, the constellation of stories and their overall pacing. It shows how capable Mitchell is of switching characters, writings styles, and even genres. It might just be the best book I ever read. (And please don't judge Cloud Atlas if you've only seen its horrible movie adaption.)
2. The Silmarillion
My mother bought me the Lord of the Rings book set when I was nine years old, and they are probably the books I re-read the most. However, I re-read the Simlarillion even more. The first time was exhausting, the second time was intersting, the third time everything finally started to make sense, and the fourth time I realized I keep forgetting most of the stuff.
As a side note, I won't include other Tolkien books in this list because then it'd be a very monotnous and short one. The same goes for Mitchell's and George R. R. Martin's books.
3. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1)
Spoilers ahead
The moment Ned died, I knew that this was not going to be just another fantasy story. But unlike many others, I don't think Martin kills off characters just to kill them of. He kills them off when it makes sense. He does so to increase tension or to prove a point.
I don't know if Martin's ever going to finish the series, but I read A Song of Ice and Fire several times, and I really love it. What a wild and well-thought-out series.
4. Fahrenheit 451
This book left a lasting impression on me when I was young. It helped me understand why good people do evil or stupid things, and how people's thoughts can be controlled. As much as I love 1984 and Brave New World, I love Fahrenheit 451 even more. Probably because I read it first.
5. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies and the book's even better. Especially the ending is unexpectedly moving and thought-provoking. It's another book that can be re-read over and over again. There are so many novel ideas and clever observations packed into such a short book. I love it.
6. Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1)
My love for fantasy novels has worn off over the years, but I still love science fiction. And there's so much attention to detail and clever world building in here that I'm even willing to ignore that annoying belter dialect. There is not a single bad book in The Expanse series and the first one's what got me hooked.
7. Persian Fire
This is neither the best nor the most accurate history book out there. But it's good, it's entertaining, and it's a great entry point to history in general. I used to mainly read fantasy and science fiction books, but more than ten years ago I switched to history books because of Persian Fire and Mike Duncan's podcast The History of Rome.
8. Sapiens
This book has been subject to much criticism and it's heavily opinionated. However, I agree with much of what Harari has to say. And it's the book that finally convinced to stop eating meat. That's why it was truly live changing for me, in a good way.
9. 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear
It's a German thing and I wouldn't recommend reading this book in any other language. It's a witty and whacky story where you never know what's a lie and what's not. Also, you never know what's going to happen next. It's one of those books that's amusing for children and amazing for adults. I like the book Rumo even more, but you really need to read Captain Blue Bear first if you want to enjoy it.
10. Dune
I loved the video game Dune 2 and the old Dune movie we had on VHS when I was a child. I could never really get into the all the other Dune books (although I repeatedly tried to). However, the first book's a timeless classic with a clever spin on the hero's journey.
I really appreciate asking for top few books rather than a favourite all-time book. I never know what to choose when people ask me that - there are too many of them, god dammit! Plus, favourites are such a fluid thing, at least for me. Anyway, here are some books that come to mind for me right now:
Ducks, Newburyport, by Lucy Ellman. An absolutely incredible book, a stream-of-consciousness novel that's absolutely all-encompassing. Told from the perspective of a mother in Ohio who makes some money for herself by baking pies, it manages to be absolutely vital and current. I loved this book as someone who's never been able to finish Ulysses (will probably give it another go someday) because it made me realise that novels can be "experimental" and feel relevant to my own life and experiences.
The Skin Chairs, by Barbara Comyns. Comyns is a great writer who I wish was better known, she had a real eye for the strangeness of the everyday. The Skin Chairs looks at the world through a child's eyes as she and her family have to adapt to a new life after her father dies. It has a really gothic feel to it, sort of like a more English Carson McCullers book.
The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton. A superb, sprawling historical novel which pulls you in with its multiple narrative strands and the mystery at its heart. I love historical fiction and this is one of my favourites because of the way the story is told.
The Western Wind, by Samantha Harvey. Speaking of historical novels, this one is also fantastic. Focusing on a few days in a village in medieval England, it gives a real sense of what it would be like to be alive at that time. In a similar vein to The Luminaries, it centres around a mysterious death.
Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. One of Steinbeck's less well-known books. East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath are incredible but I love this book for its slightness. Focusing on a street in Monterey it tells the stories of the people that live there. It's a novel with a real honesty and humanity to it.
I’m working my way through a 100 books list, Cannery Row is one of the Steinbeck books on there and I’m pretty stoked. At this point I think I’m about 15% through the list, working on reading The Outsiders with my little brother and Anna Karenina.
These Silent Woods - A beautifully written thriller about a father raising his daughter in a remote cabin in the woods. It was so oddly heartwarming and I fell in love with the characters. Bonus points for the audiobook.
I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy's memoir about her struggles as a childhood actress. I didn't know who Jennette McCurdy was before starting this book and I still loved it.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - A memoir about working at a crematory.
Lark Ascending - Quick dystopian read with LGBTQ elements.
Good Inside - Specifically for parents. Just... read it. It's wonderful.
I'm a big fan of both sci fi and dystopian futures, so my top two are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
I love Blade Runner (the final cut is my preferred release) and The Road movies, but the bleakness in both books at points is just physically palpable.
In no particular order here some of my favorite books. They may be a bit cliché, but I'm not the best read individual. These have all been really life changing, thought provoking, deep experiences to read at the times in my life when I read them.
Tom Robbins - Jitterbug Perfume. Fantastical silly stuff, but felt deep when I was 18. I still use Robbins as my excuse for loving baths (as opposed to showers).
Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions. Definitely should be required coming-of-age stuff, and I think most folks still encourage treating it that way. While we're in that territory...
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums. Story about young Jack starting up a job as a fire watcher in the PNW. Cute in his normal fashion, but a bit mysoginist by modern standards.
For the New Intellectual - Ayn Rand. The only book of hers I'd recommend besides We the Living, which is also good. Basically all the core ideas in the two horrific tombs she wrote, but distilled.
The Landlady - Feyodor Dostoevsky. Short, intense, and a great intro to FD. Loved it so much it propelled me through his others. Crime and Punishment is good, and I so is The Idiot. Karamazov didn't quite do it for me, but that might've been my fault.
Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka. I feel like Gregor Samsa more often than I'd like to admit, and Kafka's just the best at conveying that anxious, trapped, and desperately depressed feeling. Sometimes reading a book that makes those feelings so literal helps coping with them.
East of Eden - John Steinbeck. Currently my favorite book. Loved every bit of it. Read Grapes of Wrath first, but EoE is better. Something about the American ethos and mythos just shines in his stuff, especially as someone whose grandparents were a part of that generation. When I want to tint the dustbowl era rosy, Steinbeck is the key. Also rage against the machine's ghost of old tom joad finally made sense.
Those are what came to mind right away. These were the big ones to me. Not necessarily the most fun, but the most impactful.
Ghost of Tom Joad was from Renegades - RATM's covers album. It was originally a Springsteen song, which should make it make even more sense because Springsteen is basically Steinbeck in leather.
Regardless, East of Eden is brilliant.
I didn't know that! That's awesome. I've never been into Springsteen, but maybe I should give him a chance. The ratm cover is one of my favorite songs.
I'm not sure I could even have a single favorite book, but these always seem to be bumping around when I try to think of one:
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
Moby Dick or, the Whale by Herman Melville
Any of the Mulliner or Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse may have been the single greatest prose stylist of the English language. He doesn't get the respect he deserves because he wasn't a literary writer, "only" a popular writer.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
Here are mine.
Bel Canto is a beautifully written book by Ann Patchett about a musician in a hostage situation.
The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien and The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen are books featuring different perspectives about the Vietnam war.
Lions of Al Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay is historical fantasy with some truly grand themes and moral questions. Honor, shame, regret, nostalgia, love, it's all there along with a badass woman lead who is a doctor.
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon is a very satisfying first contact story if like me you root for the underdog. It's accessible science fiction.
Up the Down Staircase is about a school teacher in an urban public school. It's funny.
All Creatures Great and Small is my cozy comforting story about a veterinarian in Yorkshire. Several series have been made from these books.
Master and Commander and sequels by O'Brien are naval fiction featuring a great friendship between the captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin who is a doctor, scientist, collector and spy.
The Heart's Invisible Furies is sad and funny about a gay man in Ireland. It is a coming of age story and more.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is a funny memoir about South Africa, race, poverty.
The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks is about his neurology patients.
I've always known what my number one favorite was, but I've never thought higher than that. After much introspection, I think I've come up with the 5 books that have stuck with me the most:
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin.
A rich and complex interweaving of story and fable, poem, artwork, and music, it totally immerses the reader in the culture of the Kesh, a peaceful people of the far future who inhabit a place called the Valley on the Northern Pacific Coast. The author makes the inhabitants of the valley as familiar, as immediate, as wholly human as our own friends or family.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.
Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Henry Dorsett Case was the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
The Integral Trees by Larry Niven.
When leaving Earth, the crew of the spaceship Discipline was prepared for a routine assignment. Dispatched by the all-powerful State on a mission of interstellar exploration and colonization, Discipline was aided (and secretly spied upon) by Sharls Davis Kendy, an emotionless computer intelligence programmed to monitor the loyalty and obedience of the crew. But what they weren’t prepared for was the smoke ring–an immense gaseous envelope that had formed around a neutron star directly in their path. The Smoke Ring was home to a variety of plant and animal life-forms evolved to thrive in conditions of continual free-fall. When Discipline encountered it, something went wrong. The crew abandoned ship and fled to the unlikely space oasis.
My top 5 as someone interested mainly in sci-fi and philosophy are:
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - Vonnegut is my favorite author and it’s a fun & quick read. A perfect mix of absurdism and an amazing adventure. I’d honestly recommend almost any Vonnegut.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - This book caught my eye by chance due to the title and red cover and I immediately fell in love. After this book I read two more Ishiguro’s. It’s about an AI (so topical) friend that’s in a toy store waiting to be chosen by a child. Ishiguro throughout his books plays with the idea of an unreliable narrator, melancholy, spirituality, faith, and endings that aren’t so clearly happy or sad.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Stoicism is the closest thing I have to a religion and it’s helped me get through tough times.
Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleinman - I’ve always heard of different schools of philosophy or this philosopher so this book was really helpful in connecting all the dots together. A non-fiction fun version of a textbook that will introduce you to different schools of thought, movements, experiments, notable figures, etc.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - My favorite of American classics that are generally part of a school’s curriculum. And who can forget that iconic ending?
I don’t see Kazuo Ishiguro mentioned often. I read Never Let Me Go and loved it. Remains of the Day is sitting on my shelf but haven’t read it yet. Need to do that soon.
I haven’t heard of Klara and the Sun. I’ll have to pick that up!
The Remains of the Day is one of my all-time favourites. It's masterfully written and surprisingly hard to put down for a slow-paced novel about a stuffy butler. If you're a fan of dry humour, it's also very funny.
One of those books that put me in a slump for weeks afterward, it was so moving.
Oh you have no idea! I think this will be the first book I read when I am through with my Brandon Sanderson binge, thank you.
I hope you enjoy it!
I love your username, btw; Sazed is one of my favourite characters from Mistborn.
I have a few books I can re-read anytime. They are:
If you liked Fast and Furious (the first one), you may want to have a look at book by Craig Lieberman, technical advisor and source of the Supra and other cars in the movie (it was his Supra that was the star of the show). He has Yutube channel where he talks basically about the sae things you could find in the book, if you prefer video format.
Also books that Die Hard 1 and 2 movies are based on were great!
My favourites vary over time depending on my mood, even if I haven't read them in years they'll become a favourite again because of current circumstances in my life.
Consistent front runners though, include:
Mister God This is Anna by Fynn
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (25th anniversary edition)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Some of my favorites through the years in no particular order.
The First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Probably my favorite fantasy author that has finished a series of books. I found this recommended as something to read after finishing A Song of Ice and Fire.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. One of my favorite books growing up.
Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar by Maurice Leblanc.
Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Unfortunately another fantasy series waiting for the next novel.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King was my introduction to his work as I’ve never been a huge horror fan.
Not necessarily the absolute best books i've read, but a list of books that i'd love to have with me as a castaway. Listed in no particular order:
Cryptonomicon [Neal Stevenson]
God Emperor of Dune [Frank Herbert]
Small Gods [Terry Pratchett]
The Name of the Rose [Umberto Eco]
The Foundation Series [Isaak Asimov]
The Unbearable Lightness of Being [Milan Kundera]
Shogun [James Clavell]
The Hobbit [JRR Tolkien]
East of Eden [John Steinbeck]
Notes from Underground [Fyodor Dostoevsky]
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons - I love the cool, calm demeanour of the heroine against the melodrama of her surroundings.
A Tree Grows Brooklyn by Betty Smith - I loved how the novel focused on multiple generations of women. As I've aged it's been very interesting to revisit and see where my perspective has changed to reflect the older women and where it still stands stubbornly with 11 year old Francie!
The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers - this introduced me to the concept of epistolary novels and I've read it over and over. Related reads: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - some of the most memorable characters I've ever read, each silly in such a broad variety of ways, I love to revisit them over and over.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman - I was obsessed with fairy tales and mythology as a kid, and this story completely reawakened that obsession and into a really delightful world of reimagined stories. Related reads: pretty much anything else by Gaiman; The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo; Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik.
One Man's Wilderness by Dick Proenneke - there's something inherently alluring about reading the story of someone withdrawing from everyday life to live a remote and quiet (not easy) existence. I was hooked from the time I read My Side of the Mountain in grade school. Related read: An Island To Oneself by Tom Neale.
It is going to a mixed of Non-fiction and fiction books
With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge. This is more a memoir of Sledges time in the marines during the Pacific Theater of World War 2. Granted some of the phrases that he uses are dated, but the imagery that he uses just really pulls you into the battles that he was part of and what he had seen. This was also what the HBO's show The Pacific was based on.
The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir by Telford Taylor. This one is weird, the reason for this is that it is marketed as a memoir but he also mixes in some history that surrounds the events that he talks about. He goes into details the events that had lead up to the formation of the tribunal, the evolution that the Soviets had with the Western Powers prior to the Iron Curtain and after the formation of it.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. One of my favorite books while growing up.
The Murderbot Series by Martha Wells. This one is just a bunch of novellas that follows the story of a SecUnit that had hacked it's own governor module. And despite the name it had gave itself, Murderbot, it really just wants to be left alone, so that it can watch it's dramas. Wells also does a great job of writing a character that is genderless, its a bot, arguably better than the main character in Lock In by John Scalzi.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Does Paolini considers this his best work, not really. Did I read all of it while growing up, yes. Arguably the less polished book series that I had read, but it was just a really fun read, while growing up. And granted Paolini had wrote Eragon while he was 15.
You might be interested in I will Bear Witness Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1933 to 1945. as a German jewish man who was spared the camps for several reasons including bombs destroying Gestapo records, he tells a unique story. It's not as fast paced, because it is an actual diary, but I found it fascinating
The Martian (Andy Weir) My favourite science fiction novel by far, I have probably read it around a hundred times.
A Storm of Swords (GRRM) In my opinion this is the best of A Song of Ice and Fire which is my favourite series.
1984 (George Orwell) A Fantastic dystopia book.
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
Fire & Blood (GRRM) A great in universe history book that despite having some dull moments is great at building the world of ASOIAF.
If you haven't yet read Shogun, I strongly recommend it to any Game of Thrones fan. thank you for your book list.
Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, is the book I cannot live without. I don't know what to call it genre-wise. My favourite edition calls it "a subtle and beautiful meditation".
The Cinnamon Peeler which is a book of collected poems by Michael Ondaatje.
The Postcard which is an experimental academic nonfiction text by Jacques Derrida with some extremely fictional aspects.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is perhaps my favourite novel.
Bring Up The Bodies, the second volume in Hilary Mantell's Wolf Hall trilogy, though I love the whole trilogy. It's a curiously restful, contemplative book given the subject matter involves Henry VIII etc.
A Lover's Discourse by Roland Barthes is my other favourite experimental academic text, and gloriously romantic.
An Artist Of The Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro is a book I keep coming back to because of the beauty of his prose and the delicate poignancy of how he unfolds his layers of memory and denial.
I always have A. de St Exupery's The Little Prince on my bookshelf, the old translation from the French which contains the line "I will make you a present of a secret".
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.: An all too real glimpse into the more sad and violent parts of life.
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer: A true story about one of the most disastrous Everest ascents.
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I truly enjoyed this start to finish, I know it’s a little controversial any time I see reviews, but highly recommend.
Captain’s Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
I also really like Captain's Courageous although I think I prefer Kim by Kipling.
There is something very special about a good coming of age story.
I'll name a few books that have stuck with me over the years.
The Trial by Franz Kafka. This is without question, the most frustrating novel I have ever read. I tore through it and fumed for weeks after. But I've never forgotten its effect on me.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. I love LeGuin's prose. It is effortless to read, and this one is a classic "what if" science fiction story. What if there was only one sex, instead of two in the human race. How would that change society? It is a great idea, explored in the midst of a tragic love story.
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells. A great strength of this author is the detail of her settings, and how easily the reader becomes immersed in the world she builds. In this novel, she creates a country similar to late 19th century England, with the addition of magic. Lots of fun.
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. This time travel novel may be one of the darkest I've read. It hammers you, chapter by chapter, with little relief. That may not seem like much of a recommendation, but it is unforgettable science fiction. I find myself thinking back to passages even now, over a quarter of a century since I last read it.
Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. The prose style in these two novels is not for everyone. Peake can spend two pages describing a room. If you can get into the rhythm of the books, you'll be rewarded. One interesting thing about his writing is his deliberate, slow pacing. Most books have natural highs and lows, building tension to a climax, then starting again. Not so with Peake. He increases tension in tiny increments, until it is nearly suffocating by the end.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. What a contrast this one is, compared to her more serious works. This is a lighthearted romp, traveling back in time to Victorian England.
Just one addition (all my others have already been mentioned):
The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady. This is a novella instead of a novel, so you might have to hunt it down in a collection. It’s kind of a nostalgic ghost story, but the writing is absolutely beautiful.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune took hold of my heart and never let it go. This book teaches its readers that it's ok to be different, that we should celebrate it, and that we shouldn't be afraid of something just because we don't understand it. Klune is one of my favorite authors and while this is the only one of his on this list, I want to give Under The Whispering Door an honorary spot.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is one of those novels that will haunt your mind long after you've read it. I couldn't put it down!
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is making the list because of the grip it had on me when I was reading it. I heard some people say that the first half was too slow, but I don't agree. It was subtle, yes, but we got plenty of nerve-racking content.
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree is a newer addition to the favorite list. I love all things cozy so of course I had to pick this up, and it did not disappoint!
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is one of few high fantasy books that I completely understand. With a lot of world building and multiple POVs I tend to become confused, but not with this one. It's the only book on this list that took me months to finish because I just didn't want it to end. As the 11th Doctor once said: I hate endings.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (and by extension the whole Wayfarers series) – This book hit me at the exact right time in my life and I love it. It’s just so kind and humane. I rarely re-read a book, but I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read this one.
This Is How You Lose the Time War – Beautiful and poetic. I knew nothing about it other than the blurb on Amazon, and it absolutely blew me away.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – One of those foundational sci-fi books for me. Still great.
God Emperor of Dune – The way it deals with Leto II’s prescience and the sacrifices involved is super compelling.
Slaughterhouse-Five – Hard to chose which Vonnegut to list, but I this one is my favorite of his. I think it was the first book I read that played with its narrative structure like that.
It's hard to come up with a short list, largely because my memory is terrible. But...
The more I think about this, the more I want to change/rearrange it, so I'm going to stop thinking about it so that I actually post it.
Thanks! We have several favorites in common, specifically My Name is Asher Lev, I Claudius, Catch 22.
You didn't ask but based on this list, I think you might like The Heart's Invisible Furies, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Because Internet Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch, The Things They Carried, Good Soldier Svejk. I look forward to seeing you around the ~books group.
The Things They Carried was recommended to me a long time ago. I've always meant to read it but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I do find that I have to gear myself up for reading books about war experiences (and they only seem to get harder as I get older).
Thanks for the recs! It's a lot interesting-sounding stuff, and I don't come across a lot of people with similar tastes, so that's nice. :)
The Gretchen McCulloch book you mentioned reminded me of another that should maybe be in my list: The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher. Another one that may belong in the list: Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale.
Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb.
The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E Feist.
The Dragonbone Chair by Tadd Williams.
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.
A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin.
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
The Shattered Sea Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.
Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.
LotR/The Hobbit by Tolkien.
Dracula by B. Stoker.
Thanks! If you haven't tried Shogun, I think it has a lot in common with ASIAF and it is a book I love. Lions of Al Rassan has heroic action and emotional range that feels a little bit like LOTR, although nothing quite compares to Tolkein.
Thanks for the recs!
Cheers mate.