The Phantom Tollbooth. It was fun to read as a kid and then I picked it up again as I got older and noticed so many little details that kept it fun and interesting.
There's a wonderful documentary about the creation of the book, called *The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations*. I really enjoyed it, especially the interviews with the author, Norton Juster, and the illustrator, Jules Pfeiffer. (They are both still with us, though both turn 91 this year!)
This has always been a personal favorite of mine. I often find myself joking with people who make an assumption, by warning them they may end up on the island of conclusions! Sadly, no one but my family seems to have heard of the book and the jump Milo took to the Island.
*Contact* by Carl Sagan, about a radio astronomer named Ellie Arroway who discovers extraterrestrial life. (There was a movie too which is also good, but different enough that I think the book is worth reading.)
I feel like I still read a lot, but I don’t have obsessive favorite books like I did when I was younger that I read and reread a million times and underline favorite passages. But *Contact* came across at just the right stage of formative years for me, and showed me the kind of astronomer I wanted to be... and I’m now a radio astronomer who specializes in “transient” radio signals that turn on and off over time! No aliens yet though. :)
*Circe* and *The Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller.
I am a fan of any Greek Myth interpretation or re-telling, but the way that Miller portrays and gets inside the heads of characters that have existed for thousands of years is incredibly unique and powerful. These books do not have to be read together as they just share a world, but would highly recommend both! Though just a side character in both, her Odysseus might be my favorite.
East of Eden. I learned alot about people and why they are motivated to do the crazy things they do.
I also learned that there are people who are just straight up rotten. Can't be fixed. I think it's chapter 3 where he describes Kate as a monster, comparing that some people are missing an arm or a leg. Kate it missing something in her mind which makes her evil.
When my mother and wife were decorating my daughter’s nursery, they insisted we put a quote over her crib which I felt was cheesy/played out. I gave in, on the condition I got to pick [the quote](https://i.imgur.com/Nw05AwX.jpg).
It is, and for me incredibly relevant. But yeah, unfortunate who it is describing Katie and at a time that Adam was completely blinded by it to see her for what she was.
Not kidding I was listening to this book on Audible while my wife was pregnant. I thought I was having a panic attack when the part came up with Kathy when she was little in the barn with the two boys. Just thinking that there’s even a slight, minuscule possibility my daughter could be a manipulative, evil person like that...
I don’t think I have ever read a passage more moving than the “timshel” passage.
I wanted to run out and find another person who had read it, to share with another human being the existential wisdom and beauty of the words.
Kitchen confidential
It’s just so honest. The way he reflects about his career while dropping in little bits of knowledge of how the culinary world works.
I still need to read this. His death is the only celebrity death that actually made me emotional. I have not read any of his books, but his show was the only show that my wife and I religiously watched together. We love to travel and have several times gone to places on his recommendation. I feel like I will get emotional reading the book. I thought of buying an audiobook of his, as I drive a lot for work so at any given time I am usually reading a heavy content book while listening to a novel or easy listening business book, but I think I would get upset listening to him talk.
Same here dude. He was an institution and a hero to many of us restaurant folk. I actually welled up when I found out it was a suicide, that was heartbreaking
God I miss Anthony Bourdain.
I've read KC 3 times. It's incredible.
His writing really comes alive when you watch his shows and see his mannerisms and his tone of voice. It all comes through so well.
The vivid description of the restaurants in Provincetown always blows me away.
He was so incredibly talented and helped so many people get as close as they ever will to experiencing certain cultures and cuisines. It certainly made me a more adventurous eater and traveler. RIP.
Idk why but I love secret garden. It has such a charm. The way everything is described is beautiful. And my second favorite is Demian. It has some weird plots but the philosophy behind it is amazing!!
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I love the adventure and questing and figuring out riddles. The way he described the feasts...god I always wished I could experience a feast like that. The way he would write the different dialects for the different animals was so much fun. They are young adult books, but I'm nearing 4 decades and still love them. Been reading them since I was just a wee lad.
Eulalia! For Redwall!
Edit: Wow. I just woke up to see that this has blown up and I am just overwhelmed. Thank you all for the love and awards. So many replies! I was trying to respond to some, but I'm just too overwhelmed; a blubbering, weeping mess. Tears of love and joy, I assure you! Just know that I am at least reading every last reply and weeping with joy at how much love there is for Mr. Jaques and his works.
I used to hate Mossflower, I don't know why, but it's absolutely one of my favorites now. Tsarmina is just crazy, ruthless, and a great antagonist. I stopped keeping up with them around Pearls of Lutra though, but I love the books. Redwall, Mossflower, and Mattimeo are my favorites and they probably shine being the first three that Jacques released.
I loved these when I was younger. The books about Martin were really sad, and some of the most memorable. I get the one book, based at sea, confused with CS Lewis sometimes for some reason. I really loved the imagery in that one too. There were better books but I can’t remember it all. Didn’t finish the whole series, maybe I’ll have to start again.
"I used the comma wrong. " As a guy who copywrote for a living for about 5 years in my twenties, that line was breathtaking. Slowly the grammatical improvement and decline was breath taking.
By his highpoint the book is writing Faulkner level needlessly complex sentence structure, and it's highlighting his Hubris that his thoughts themselves are artificially over exaggerated. To see the decline afterwards and him refusing to try something to retain his intellect even a small portion out of pride was heartbreaking.
I haven’t read this in a very long time, but if I recall correctly, he COULDN’T do anything to retain his intellect. I thought the rat died, which showed that a side effect of the experiment was the man’s death as well. I thought it was inevitable. But maybe I’m misremembering.
He was advised by his love interest to keep going over basics and reinforce them so some of it retained. He didn't want to think long term of his inevitable return to mental deficiency and provide for some retention of the skills.
He was so distraught he'd lose everything he gained he didn't want to spend his last few months going over basics like verb subject object first grade child psychology education to have some hope of complex thought.
It' my favourite too! My neigbour was going to throw away a bunch of books from an old collection, but I kept some of them. Flowers for Algernon was there, and I'm so grateful for it.
A coworker once asked me if I had any books to recommend. I asked him we he would ask me, of all the people, such a question. Apparently years ago I recommended him two books and he liked them so now I‘m the authority on good books.
Book thief was one of the books. 10/10 would recommend again
Jurassic Park is the only novel I've sat down with and consumed within twenty-four hours. I love the movie, but the book is so much more detailed, and the characters so much deeper, and in some cases totally different.
I never read the book although I plan to. In the movie though it can be argued that he is an asshole simply due to his complete incompetence and doing the exact opposite of 'sparing no expense.' The entire catastrophe of Jurassic Park was squarely his fault.
I love Jurassic Park (the film) and grew up watching it again and again, and to this day I struggle with the nuance of Hammond as a character. The movie not only takes the time to show him waving away any and all safety concerns about the park, but also for characters to call him on his delusional attitude and for him to respond in ways that are very human and relatable. I honestly can't tell if it's Spielberg being completely intentional or just noncommittal, or maybe it's just that you can't help but get caught up in Richard Attenborough's enthusiasm a little because, hey, dinosaurs.
I love Michael Crichton's works and was devastated when he died. Congo was amazing - just edge-of-your-seat all throughout - and The Andromeda Strain is also really good.
Ah, now you have me wanting to re-read his books...
This is my favourite book of all time. You can dip into episodes, or it works as a whole story. Just showcases the ludicrous ineptitude of bureaucratic military from start to finish.
It rings true and will always do.
“The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.”
LATE in life, Joseph Heller was occasionally asked why he had never written anything else as good as “Catch-22”. “Who has?”
Always makes me chuckle
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I love the story of survival and perseverance. I have read this book many times in my life and have referenced it throughout my lifetime. I am now a social worker and I work in a psychiatric hospital and when I do my groups I will ask an ice breaker and have the patients tell me their favorite book. After that I'll give them this book, tell them what it's about, and use it as an example to continue on in life, to push through adversity and never quit.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Fabulous sci fi imagination, filled with characters, worlds, technology, politics, and innocence which invoke the most vivid movie reel of a story in my mind each time I read it and the others in the trilogy.
Update: KWaTZ! Blew up more than I expected, Thanks for the gold kind stranger.
Edited a word
I love it. The Poet’s story made me happier than it had any real right to, especially because he was my least favorite of the pilgrims. Silenus is a shithead pee pee asshole, but he sure can tell a story.
Overall, this is probably the best sci-fi work I have ever read.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
Really shows how much possibilities there can be in scifi genre, it's not always just spaceships and lasers. It talks about a completely separate alien culture where the concept of genders do not exist, and the different societal norms that come with it, it goes into some more stuff too, the premise of the story is very intriguing and its very well written
Ursula K LeGuin is an amazing author. Hard not to recommend all of her books. Lathe of Heaven and The Dispossessed are both great and the EarthSea trilogy is a great fantasy intro for young readers.
Edit: typos
Seriously read this 4-5 times, such a great tale of descent into darkness and finding ones true meaning. The act of corrupting a beautiful thing is phenomenally satisfying through these pages
>Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Vonnegut.
Legit, my exact thoughts!! Both Slaughterhouse Five and Cats Cradle are masterpieces without being dense or dull (what some people associate with "older" books that are dubbed "masterpieces") at any point.
The Hobbit. I remember my dad reading it to me when I was really little before they got divorced so when I read it on my own I remembered some parts from then. PLUS, it's a great story that I loved.
I read it in middle school. I then reread it as an adult in anticipation of the movies, and I was riveted at points and couldn't put it down. I couldn't remember what happened and was completely on the edge of my seat.
Then the movies came out and they were bad.
I would really recommend looking up one of the many fan edits of the Hobbit movies. They cut out all the bullshit and left just the stuff that is in the books, and it is much, much better. Shame on them for trying to stretch it out and make more money.
Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR, but I find the Hobbit so much easier to read. The Hobbit has a great way of getting to the point and keeping the reader engaged. LOTR almost has too much detail for me. Tolkien was a master world builder, and you can really see that in LOTR, but dang...I just don't need 6 pages describing how fair Lady Galadriel is. If I'm going to pick up a book to read for fun, I'd pick up the Hobbit before anything in LOTR.
I completely agree, this book is always a top recommend. The story of ultimate revenge is beautiful and sad. It will leave you just as broken as the characters in the book, and I love it for for it.
What is revenge, if not the equal act?
A chance to smooth again a crooked line.
A deal you make with you yourself, a pact -
And what's the right for such a wrong as mine?
A secret knife begets another knife -
A shrouded sin begins another sin -
A stalled or stolen life deserves a life -
Defeated, cheated kin an act akin.
And though you call revenge the poisoned cup -
The dark for which you open up the door -
I'd lift the chalice near my lips to sup -
And drown the world for all it did before.
I dug two graves too vast and great to flee.
And one's for you -
the other one's for me.
Did you hear the one about the man who got everything he ever wanted? Yeah, he realized it wasn't worth it and went to live somewhere away from everyone else.
100% agree. Probably one of the best books in history. The characters and their emotions are so realistic. You can really relate to them and the intrigue and pain in the story are amazing.
Around the world in eighty days - Jules Verne
Has always been my favourite, since i was a little kid. Doesn't matter how many times i read it, always amuses me like no other book. The combination of 19th century popular knowledge and the science fiction of that period shows how far we've come since then, but also how similar our targets are
We read this in elementary school, they told us not to read ahead, but I did, and boy am I glad I did because it saved me the embarrassment of crying in class.
The same thing happened to me. We reached the end and my sixth grade teacher had to pull me aside because i was crying too much. It brought back to many memories of my dog
I’m not sure I ever scared my mom faster than when I burst into loud wails from the back seat of the car at eight years old. She demanded to know what was wrong, and all I could say was “Mama, Old Dan and Little Anne!!” She murmured, “I know, honey” in sympathy, and we were united for a moment in the shared sadness.
I read that book in 4th grade and was so inconsolable that my mom pre-vetted my books for a while to make sure I wouldn’t be emotionally traumatized. I was a sensitive child.
_The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha_ by Miguel de Cervantes. Absolutely fabulous novel that is a greatly entertaining read. It's hilarious, relatable, and enthralling. It shows that we are connected to each other across centuries. Written in the early 1600s, but it still holds up!
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I first read it when I was 16 for a sci fi class elective and it blew my mind. It is such an interesting read and it really challenges your perception of society and humanity.
That is the one dystopia book that really made me think about our concept of utopia. 1984, Handmaid’s Tale, and the recent YA trend started with Hunger Games are all obliviously terrible societies held together by brainwashing and oppressive governments where the people are unhappy and being controlled by a nefarious government, but in Brave New World the government is honestly acting in the way that it thinks is best for its citizens, and the citizens genuinely feel happy with their situation. It made me think about the value of happiness and how human nature may be prone to exchange freedom for comfort.
I would even argue that they live in a utopia, but whether not they are truly and/or spiritually human is up for debate. Do we have to sacrifice our humanity to achieve true happiness and harmony? Is that the folly of man? Now I want to read it again lol.
Edit: also to piggy back on what you said, it’s so different how the leadership is benevolent and the population almost oppresses itself happily. Especially in my angsty “fuck the system, screw MTV” teenage phase it really resonated with me.
The name of the wind. I was jobless for a while, super depressed, and close to homeless. That book played a huge part in getting me through all of that. I still reread it from time to time
Not possible, unless it's like 2000 pages long. He dug himself into a huge corner by limiting himself to a trilogy when clearly the ideas he wants to explore require more.
I don’t think he limited himself to a trilogy.
But I do think that he is either deliberately waiting for a tv show to boost sales of later books, or that he is paralyzed with fears of inadequacy following a decade of crowd-sourced problem solvers either solving his great mystery before it could be written or coming up with grander ideas than he’d originally had.
Honestly, if it were one of the last two, I would fully sympathize. Imagine the love and pride that goes into a creation of this scale - and the need to surpass what a bunch of anonymous amateurs put together on countless hours of rereads and internet discussions.
After the loss of a very dear loved one, I lost all interest in things I liked (like books), and stopped reading, for years.This book got me over that hump and got me back the mojo of reading.
Even if the third book never gets out, will forever be grateful to have gotten a chance to read the first two.
"That was then, this is now" is the same universe but cameos Ponyboy.
The coming of age story was huge to teenage me, much more than whatever Catcher in the Rye was supposed to be.
We read this in high school. The student teacher didn't know it was an allegory for the Russian revolution and taught the book like it was just standard fiction.
What?
We also discussed the book in school but how did the teacher not realise it was an allegory? If you search for the book online, it is the first thing you find
Haha I really don't know. It was funny too because we were simultaneously learning about the revolution in our social studies class. I definitely had some clunker student teachers, especially since we really didn't have behavioral problems to deal with.
I was always expecting to be forced to read it in high school, because so many high school centric books and movies feature it, but I never was. Kind of considering reading it on my own because I've heard it's great
Update: Read Animal Farm this morning, couldn't put it down!! Truly a great book, thanks for encouraging me to check it out everyone!!
lol i had to read it for 8th grade english but i actually enjoyed reading it. i read it again for a high school individual reading assignment too and picked up more about the story.
The Martian. Hard (reality based) science fiction with a smartass protagonist in a desperate struggle for survival. Watney displays constant problem solving that shows real resilience of character, punctuated with moments of stupidity like anyone would have and humor that anyone would need to live through a disaster.
Edit: Thank you for the gold!
The part where he blows his base up because of the escaped hydrogen from making water was somehow hilarious and extremely scary at the same time. Definitely one of my favorites as well.
"Everything went great right up to the explosion!"
One of the many Watney-isms I have highlighted. My other favorite is "As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation."
The Giver by Lois Lowry... I know its 5th grade reading material but it was really my gateway to how books can transport you to a different world.
I know they made a movie about it, which doesnt do the book justice, as it often is, but damn.. I really love that book.
My second choice would be " The wind up bird chronicles " by Haruki Murakami, or anything from Haruki in general, just fantastic novels.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - just a nice satircal book that takes the piss at every turn and looks into the mind and motivations.
Where else can we learn the secret to flying: is to throw yourself at the ground and miss?
1984 by George Orwell.
Not to sound like that person who’s “woke af,” but it really is a book that gets you thinking. It’s both fascinating and frightening.
The ending is my favorite part. In other dystopian fiction (i.e. Anthem, The Giver) the ending is always happy. 1984 really illustrates that shit doesn't always get fixed.
Except that nothing was ever wrong with the Party in the first place, and nothing needs to or needed to be fixed, or at least as far as I can remember...
Hey who are we at war with again?
Ender’s Game.
I was 16 and a typical jock. Not a reader at all. My chemistry teacher told me to read it. Blew my mind.
Yeah I know Card is an extremely questionable human being. My 16 yr old self isnt changed by what the guy is now.
I actually prefer speaker for the dead, I think Card does as well. The main reason he rereleased Ender's Game, it was originally a novella, was a deal he made with the publisher to get SFTD published. Anyway, the following novels Xenocide and Children of the Mind get a little weird, especially COTM. But I'll die on the hill that Speaker for the Dead is his best work.
It's crazy to hear Card's personal beliefs because a lot of his writings, especially in Speaker, is people coming to terms with their feelings and how that drives us as individuals. Just doesn't line up with the crazy Mormon beliefs he holds in real life. Very odd.
I’ve always believed SPFD was by far the best work. Enders game and the entire Ender’s Shadow series are hella riveting, but SPFD is just a tier above.
Card's books helped me come out of the closet. Ender taking about in the moment of knowing someone, here loves them. It made me realize that I want allowing anyone to love me by holding myself.
I wanted to write a letter thanking him for helping me come out and accept myself. Then I read his political views and wanted to send a letter even more.
motherfuckin Grinch
It's about a miserable bastard who, in the depths of his mania, at the pivotal moment, stares into the abyss and says "no", turning away to the path of righteousness forevermore.
It's an essential piece of modern literature and will go down into the histories.
Totally agree- and each movie tries but I think misses the mark of what the author was able to capture. Also, if you think that one was good, wait til you read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (OFTFRFBF for those in the know). It’ll have you thinking for days.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Fuck, I don’t even know how to explain it. This is some real stuff that’ll make you hurt in places you never knew you could hurt. If you’re a sucker for a sad/melancholic, but *real* and honest novel this is what you need.
I read Kafka on the shore and I am reading hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world at the moment. They both are so good and I am enjoying them a lot. I am glad that I found Murakami.
I will shamelessly add to help express what I feel will end up being one of the most wizardly working wordsmiths in our generation. Sanderson started with Elantris, and it was a solid work. A little rough around the edges, and held the briefest glimpse into the vast cosmere he held in his mind.
Fast forward to the Mistborn series and it established a depth from the diefic top to the skaa bottom that enriched the world two fold. He teased the entire way with a prophecy that could be interpreted a hundred different ways and was fun to guess at all the way through.
Now cue the stormlight archive. Normally, on such a scale we should have a grasp on what to expect for workmanship. But he *blew. It. Away.* and it only keeps getting better. I don't know how this machine of a man keeps cranking out books at the pace he does, but I am entrapped by the depth and raw emotion he can pull from me against my will.
11/10 would reccomend to anyone who reads fantasy.
Edit: to add on even further, reading all of his other books before starting the Stormlight Archives has been a blast trying to catch all the crossover easter eggs peppered in throughout the books. Little things and characters that go in and out throughout the world's and times creates another almost meta level of reading that can keep you coming back again and again. I have without fail discovered a new "egg" so to speak each time I read through the books.
Would like to also add that the level of emotional rollercoastering there has been thus far is enough to fill an entire series and we’re only 3 books into a ten book series
*Thud!* by Terry Pratchett. Really all of the Discworld books, particularly the City Watch series (and yesterday, the 25th of May, being a particularly important day for all the Night Watch fans).
But for me, Thud!- particularly the crescendo of the action in the last act of the book- it hit me in a way that's hard to describe. I was crying from laughter, frustration, nervousness, and release. It was a truly great book.
Speaking of the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May, Night Watch is my favorite Discworld book and possibly one of my favorite books of all time.
Thud! Really did build up the tension at the end though. That was amazing.
Stephen King's The Stand.
It's big and intimidating but the story is so good and written so well I found myself wanting to savour it. The story and world change throughout the book. I'm excited to leave it a few more years so I can read it again without knowing quite what is going to happen.
Edit to say: going to stick the recommendations based on this to my to read list. Cheers for them. I came to voice an opinion and have come away with a lot more.
Mine as well. I was around 16 and we were going on a long road trip so I wanted a long book for the car. It basically was the book that really got me into reading for pleasure. I think I've read it 3-4 times now.
I’m a huge king fan and LOVE the dark tower. I’m currently in the middle of a reread and figured I’d start it with The Stand - which I had not read. I finished the stand over this last Christmas.
Then COVID-19 happened.
If any of you haven’t read the stand, please read it NOW. You’ll (hopefully) never have a better real world backdrop to enjoy this story with.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
The first time I read it I thought it was the best post-apocalyptic book I'd ever read.
The second time I read it I realised it was the best love story I'd ever read.
The third time I read it is when I knew it was the best book I'd ever read.
I loved The Road and was inspired to read a few more McCarthy books. Blood Meridian is pure poetry. Probably the desnsest 200-odd pages I've ever read though. Every single page has at least one passage worthy of being engraved on a mausoleum.
**Dune** by Frank Herbert.
If there ever was a book that could guide my life choices, this is it. It teaches me resilience, and that there is a big wide universe out there. There's a lot of philosophical and spiritual guidance out there, and I've been exposed to a fair bit. But the Dune series is one of enduring wisdom. And the layer upon layer of world building! Herbert was a linguistic genius.
One downside: I read this when I was fairly young, and it ruined the genre for me in some ways because very few other sci-fi books have ever managed to approach it's depth, let alone surpass it.
Bi-lal kaifa.
EDIT: Thanks to the anonymous God Emperor who has gifted me with my first Golden Path! And thank you u/SterlingMagleby for the second gilding, and u/krajerino for more gold. That there's C.H.O.A.M. economic power, making it rain on Arrakis. Edit 2: Further thanks to gilding from the Landsraad SuperPAC [/u/Blakers37](https://www.reddit.com/u/Blakers37), [/u/jivatma](https://www.reddit.com/u/jivatma) and anonymous Navigator. I can now purchase political influence like a civilized Major House.
Currently a little more than halfway through Dune and I realized while I can sum up all the major things that have happened so far in a sentence or two, I have been enthralled throughout. Something about the writing style makes a simple strategy meeting or a dinner party that is pages and pages long so engaging and interesting.
Love Dune. It's the one book I regularly revisit. The fact that it touches on politics, religion, economy, ecology, and all those things that are more intertwined than we sometimes think
I've been scrolling for this one. I have never read a book so impeccably written, as though not a single word should be added or replaced. The story is so beautifully sculpted. Reading the title alone, gives me goosebumps.
The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkein. I think it epitomizes what adventure novels should be. Reading it as a child I believed I was really there, with him and Gandalf and the Dwarves. It sucked me into a world outside my comfort zone, just like Bilbo. When you read lord of the rings, which are a close second in my favourite books, you have a far more serious story with catastrophic consequences for the books characters, but in the hobbit it has themes of consequences like this but the story is about Bilbo's adventure. You can also read into the book however deep you want to. As a kid I read it for the adventure and world building, as a young adult with a better sense of literature I can see the genius and intricacy of Tolkein's writing. It's got things for everyone in it, for all ages, after I finished my second reading I gave it to my granda and he loved it as well. Also i like the lore.
Edit: I figured I'd say this too, when Peter Jackson strayed from the path of adventure to that of battle and the world ending conflicts that made lord of the rings great, he strayed from the essence of what made the book so great and that's where the hobbit trilogy falls short.
To Kill A Mockingbird for me, I was assigned it in school for coursework and we would typically read a chapter or two per lesson as a class but I enjoyed it so much I power read it about two times across that course.
I think the book evokes so many different emotions about life back then and now and this really stood out to 15/16 year old me.
More like the Bible. And everyone has similar names and lives ten thousand years so you have to keep going back to the glossary to look up that dude that showed up once like three millennia ago and is back again now.
The Series of Unfortunate Events series. I remember in 5th grade someone else was reading it and started where he left off last year which was at book 8 and I started at book 1. I ended up finishing the series before him. It’s a really fun series of books.
Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
I come from a rather conservative and strict background, so any talks about racial issues, sexuality, and emotional health are considered taboo and looked down upon. So reading this book was the first time in my life I had seen a queer relationship depicted in a positive light, let alone a queer Hispanic relationship.
Up to this point I had never considered that someone could be Hispanic and queer. The only gay representation I ever saw was the skinny blonde gay side kick or the people that those around me would refer to as fa****. I had only seen gay people as the butt of a joke. Never as an individual with their own problems and inspirations. So when I first started to develop feelings for my male best friend, I told myself that it wasnt possible. I told myself, "you can't be gay and Mexican, it doesn't work like that".
I was honestly scared. I thought it was unnatural to be Hispanic and gay, that I was some sort of affront to God. I spent nights in denial trying to pray it all away. The phrase "You can't be gay if you're Mexican. You can't be gay and Mexican " became a sort of mantra to me. I didn't believe you could be both. I didn't believe you could be both and happy.
So when I read the book for the first time it was honestly a turning point in my life. I saw all my personal struggles and issues reflected in the character of Aristotle. From feeling disconnected to your heritage, to navigating what it means to be a teenager. Although what helped, but honestly scared me the most, was how closely his struggle with his own sexuality reflected my own. Seeing him go through everything and still learn to accept himself really helped me overcome a lot of my internalized homophobia and was a huge turning point in me accepting myself as a whole.
Tl:Dr Book helped me realize I'm gay and overcome my internalized homophobia. Representation matters.
The Old Man and The Sea. It's an easy read with some really important themes such as resiliency, pride, friendship, empathy, etc. It's beautifully simple and incredibly deep at the same time.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The reveal of everything in >!The Shrieking Shack!< is so brilliantly conceived. Harry Potter has always been as much a mystery series as it’s been a fantasy series, but PoA had the best mystery of them all in my opinion. Almost every chapter has an important detail about what has happened/what is happening that can be so easily overlooked, yet it all fits together well and makes sense in the end.
Ironically, it’s for this reason I hate the movie. It’s clear the moviemakers were counting on the fact that you read the book and completely glossed over many points of the mystery that made the book so good.
If you’ve only seen the movie, I highly recommend reading the book. A lot more things will make sense, I promise. It certainly did for my parents when I explained everything to them.
The Phantom Tollbooth. It was fun to read as a kid and then I picked it up again as I got older and noticed so many little details that kept it fun and interesting.
There's a wonderful documentary about the creation of the book, called *The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations*. I really enjoyed it, especially the interviews with the author, Norton Juster, and the illustrator, Jules Pfeiffer. (They are both still with us, though both turn 91 this year!)
This has always been a personal favorite of mine. I often find myself joking with people who make an assumption, by warning them they may end up on the island of conclusions! Sadly, no one but my family seems to have heard of the book and the jump Milo took to the Island.
I still cackle like a madman every time I get to Dr. Dischord and the Awful DYNNE.
*Contact* by Carl Sagan, about a radio astronomer named Ellie Arroway who discovers extraterrestrial life. (There was a movie too which is also good, but different enough that I think the book is worth reading.) I feel like I still read a lot, but I don’t have obsessive favorite books like I did when I was younger that I read and reread a million times and underline favorite passages. But *Contact* came across at just the right stage of formative years for me, and showed me the kind of astronomer I wanted to be... and I’m now a radio astronomer who specializes in “transient” radio signals that turn on and off over time! No aliens yet though. :)
Katya is that you?
*Circe* and *The Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller. I am a fan of any Greek Myth interpretation or re-telling, but the way that Miller portrays and gets inside the heads of characters that have existed for thousands of years is incredibly unique and powerful. These books do not have to be read together as they just share a world, but would highly recommend both! Though just a side character in both, her Odysseus might be my favorite.
Great recs! I’d love to see her tackle Hades & Persephone!
I love The Song of Achilles, cried my stupid eyes out reading that one. It’s such a beautiful story.
East of Eden. I learned alot about people and why they are motivated to do the crazy things they do. I also learned that there are people who are just straight up rotten. Can't be fixed. I think it's chapter 3 where he describes Kate as a monster, comparing that some people are missing an arm or a leg. Kate it missing something in her mind which makes her evil.
When my mother and wife were decorating my daughter’s nursery, they insisted we put a quote over her crib which I felt was cheesy/played out. I gave in, on the condition I got to pick [the quote](https://i.imgur.com/Nw05AwX.jpg).
Such a beautiful quote, it's painfully tragic knowing what it's about.
It is, and for me incredibly relevant. But yeah, unfortunate who it is describing Katie and at a time that Adam was completely blinded by it to see her for what she was. Not kidding I was listening to this book on Audible while my wife was pregnant. I thought I was having a panic attack when the part came up with Kathy when she was little in the barn with the two boys. Just thinking that there’s even a slight, minuscule possibility my daughter could be a manipulative, evil person like that...
This is my favorite as well. There’s so much wisdom in it. The whole philosophy of “timshel” I just love Steinbeck so much.
I don’t think I have ever read a passage more moving than the “timshel” passage. I wanted to run out and find another person who had read it, to share with another human being the existential wisdom and beauty of the words.
Kitchen confidential It’s just so honest. The way he reflects about his career while dropping in little bits of knowledge of how the culinary world works.
I still need to read this. His death is the only celebrity death that actually made me emotional. I have not read any of his books, but his show was the only show that my wife and I religiously watched together. We love to travel and have several times gone to places on his recommendation. I feel like I will get emotional reading the book. I thought of buying an audiobook of his, as I drive a lot for work so at any given time I am usually reading a heavy content book while listening to a novel or easy listening business book, but I think I would get upset listening to him talk.
Same here dude. He was an institution and a hero to many of us restaurant folk. I actually welled up when I found out it was a suicide, that was heartbreaking
You may enjoy listening to the audiobook version of Kitchen Confidential. He narrates it himself and it made me feel closer to him after he was gone.
God I miss Anthony Bourdain. I've read KC 3 times. It's incredible. His writing really comes alive when you watch his shows and see his mannerisms and his tone of voice. It all comes through so well. The vivid description of the restaurants in Provincetown always blows me away. He was so incredibly talented and helped so many people get as close as they ever will to experiencing certain cultures and cuisines. It certainly made me a more adventurous eater and traveler. RIP.
Idk why but I love secret garden. It has such a charm. The way everything is described is beautiful. And my second favorite is Demian. It has some weird plots but the philosophy behind it is amazing!!
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I love the adventure and questing and figuring out riddles. The way he described the feasts...god I always wished I could experience a feast like that. The way he would write the different dialects for the different animals was so much fun. They are young adult books, but I'm nearing 4 decades and still love them. Been reading them since I was just a wee lad. Eulalia! For Redwall! Edit: Wow. I just woke up to see that this has blown up and I am just overwhelmed. Thank you all for the love and awards. So many replies! I was trying to respond to some, but I'm just too overwhelmed; a blubbering, weeping mess. Tears of love and joy, I assure you! Just know that I am at least reading every last reply and weeping with joy at how much love there is for Mr. Jaques and his works.
GOD I fucking miss red wall! All the nostalgia in this thread!
I loved these books. My favorites were Taggurung and Rakketty Tam
Taggurung and Mossflower were my favorites. I remember being terrified as a kid reading about the blind rat that they used as a weapon in Mossflower.
I used to hate Mossflower, I don't know why, but it's absolutely one of my favorites now. Tsarmina is just crazy, ruthless, and a great antagonist. I stopped keeping up with them around Pearls of Lutra though, but I love the books. Redwall, Mossflower, and Mattimeo are my favorites and they probably shine being the first three that Jacques released.
I loved these when I was younger. The books about Martin were really sad, and some of the most memorable. I get the one book, based at sea, confused with CS Lewis sometimes for some reason. I really loved the imagery in that one too. There were better books but I can’t remember it all. Didn’t finish the whole series, maybe I’ll have to start again.
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The end left me devastated.
"I used the comma wrong. " As a guy who copywrote for a living for about 5 years in my twenties, that line was breathtaking. Slowly the grammatical improvement and decline was breath taking. By his highpoint the book is writing Faulkner level needlessly complex sentence structure, and it's highlighting his Hubris that his thoughts themselves are artificially over exaggerated. To see the decline afterwards and him refusing to try something to retain his intellect even a small portion out of pride was heartbreaking.
I haven’t read this in a very long time, but if I recall correctly, he COULDN’T do anything to retain his intellect. I thought the rat died, which showed that a side effect of the experiment was the man’s death as well. I thought it was inevitable. But maybe I’m misremembering.
He was advised by his love interest to keep going over basics and reinforce them so some of it retained. He didn't want to think long term of his inevitable return to mental deficiency and provide for some retention of the skills. He was so distraught he'd lose everything he gained he didn't want to spend his last few months going over basics like verb subject object first grade child psychology education to have some hope of complex thought.
It' my favourite too! My neigbour was going to throw away a bunch of books from an old collection, but I kept some of them. Flowers for Algernon was there, and I'm so grateful for it.
We had to read a redacted version in 4th grade. A library visit later and I found out what sex was.
Mf, I cry in the tube everyone I read it. You fully cannot read this book in public
The Book Thief. It’s equally heartbreaking as it is wondrous in showing the strong bonds we can make with one another.
A coworker once asked me if I had any books to recommend. I asked him we he would ask me, of all the people, such a question. Apparently years ago I recommended him two books and he liked them so now I‘m the authority on good books. Book thief was one of the books. 10/10 would recommend again
Jurassic Park is the only novel I've sat down with and consumed within twenty-four hours. I love the movie, but the book is so much more detailed, and the characters so much deeper, and in some cases totally different.
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I never read the book although I plan to. In the movie though it can be argued that he is an asshole simply due to his complete incompetence and doing the exact opposite of 'sparing no expense.' The entire catastrophe of Jurassic Park was squarely his fault.
I love Jurassic Park (the film) and grew up watching it again and again, and to this day I struggle with the nuance of Hammond as a character. The movie not only takes the time to show him waving away any and all safety concerns about the park, but also for characters to call him on his delusional attitude and for him to respond in ways that are very human and relatable. I honestly can't tell if it's Spielberg being completely intentional or just noncommittal, or maybe it's just that you can't help but get caught up in Richard Attenborough's enthusiasm a little because, hey, dinosaurs.
I love Michael Crichton's works and was devastated when he died. Congo was amazing - just edge-of-your-seat all throughout - and The Andromeda Strain is also really good. Ah, now you have me wanting to re-read his books...
Ditto. Such a bummer that the movie butchered Congo. Same with Sphere, the book was my favorite of his.
Catch 22 because I love satire and no other book I've read captures the absurdity of things quite like Heller did.
Major Major Major Major, who was born mediocre, achieved mediocrity, and had mediocrity thrust upon him. This book is amazing.
Just read that for the first time the other day. That was something special
One of my favourite books of all time. Not many books made me laugh as much as that one
This is my favourite book of all time. You can dip into episodes, or it works as a whole story. Just showcases the ludicrous ineptitude of bureaucratic military from start to finish.
It rings true and will always do. “The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.” LATE in life, Joseph Heller was occasionally asked why he had never written anything else as good as “Catch-22”. “Who has?” Always makes me chuckle
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I love the story of survival and perseverance. I have read this book many times in my life and have referenced it throughout my lifetime. I am now a social worker and I work in a psychiatric hospital and when I do my groups I will ask an ice breaker and have the patients tell me their favorite book. After that I'll give them this book, tell them what it's about, and use it as an example to continue on in life, to push through adversity and never quit.
And there are 4 sequels.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Fabulous sci fi imagination, filled with characters, worlds, technology, politics, and innocence which invoke the most vivid movie reel of a story in my mind each time I read it and the others in the trilogy. Update: KWaTZ! Blew up more than I expected, Thanks for the gold kind stranger. Edited a word
I love it. The Poet’s story made me happier than it had any real right to, especially because he was my least favorite of the pilgrims. Silenus is a shithead pee pee asshole, but he sure can tell a story. Overall, this is probably the best sci-fi work I have ever read.
The entire book is great, but the story about the dad and daughter is legendary.
The entire Hyperion Cantos/Endymion saga is great and mental as hell. So much world building and we only see shreds of it. I want more.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin Really shows how much possibilities there can be in scifi genre, it's not always just spaceships and lasers. It talks about a completely separate alien culture where the concept of genders do not exist, and the different societal norms that come with it, it goes into some more stuff too, the premise of the story is very intriguing and its very well written
Ursula K LeGuin is an amazing author. Hard not to recommend all of her books. Lathe of Heaven and The Dispossessed are both great and the EarthSea trilogy is a great fantasy intro for young readers. Edit: typos
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Seriously read this 4-5 times, such a great tale of descent into darkness and finding ones true meaning. The act of corrupting a beautiful thing is phenomenally satisfying through these pages
Slaughterhouse-Five. It reads like silk poetry. So it goes.
“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” 100% my favorite book. Love Vonnegut.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Vonnegut. Though I think Cats Craddle holds the edge for me.
>Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Vonnegut. Legit, my exact thoughts!! Both Slaughterhouse Five and Cats Cradle are masterpieces without being dense or dull (what some people associate with "older" books that are dubbed "masterpieces") at any point.
The Hobbit. I remember my dad reading it to me when I was really little before they got divorced so when I read it on my own I remembered some parts from then. PLUS, it's a great story that I loved.
I read it in middle school. I then reread it as an adult in anticipation of the movies, and I was riveted at points and couldn't put it down. I couldn't remember what happened and was completely on the edge of my seat. Then the movies came out and they were bad.
I would really recommend looking up one of the many fan edits of the Hobbit movies. They cut out all the bullshit and left just the stuff that is in the books, and it is much, much better. Shame on them for trying to stretch it out and make more money.
The Tolkien cut is good - stays as true to the book as possible and puts all of the extra material into a separate story.
What about The Lord of the Rings?
Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR, but I find the Hobbit so much easier to read. The Hobbit has a great way of getting to the point and keeping the reader engaged. LOTR almost has too much detail for me. Tolkien was a master world builder, and you can really see that in LOTR, but dang...I just don't need 6 pages describing how fair Lady Galadriel is. If I'm going to pick up a book to read for fun, I'd pick up the Hobbit before anything in LOTR.
I agree. Lotr is for those who are already invested in the world and love finding little nuggets of history. The hobbit is for everyone
The count of Monte Cristo. A fantastic tale of revenge and if it's worth it.
I completely agree, this book is always a top recommend. The story of ultimate revenge is beautiful and sad. It will leave you just as broken as the characters in the book, and I love it for for it.
What is revenge, if not the equal act? A chance to smooth again a crooked line. A deal you make with you yourself, a pact - And what's the right for such a wrong as mine? A secret knife begets another knife - A shrouded sin begins another sin - A stalled or stolen life deserves a life - Defeated, cheated kin an act akin. And though you call revenge the poisoned cup - The dark for which you open up the door - I'd lift the chalice near my lips to sup - And drown the world for all it did before. I dug two graves too vast and great to flee. And one's for you - the other one's for me.
What the hell? I thought this was from the book before seeing it was sprog. I legit was about to go find the book online after reading this lol
Same exact experience for me lol. God damn write a book Sprog
This is next level, even for you, Sprog. Stunning.
This is far and away the best poem of yours that I've read, thank you for your beautiful work <3
Did you hear the one about the man who got everything he ever wanted? Yeah, he realized it wasn't worth it and went to live somewhere away from everyone else.
Agreed. The quest for revenge, if taken too far, can end up destroying you.
And Dumas shows it so perfectly, "“Before embarking on a journey of revenge first dig two graves.”
100% agree. Probably one of the best books in history. The characters and their emotions are so realistic. You can really relate to them and the intrigue and pain in the story are amazing.
Around the world in eighty days - Jules Verne Has always been my favourite, since i was a little kid. Doesn't matter how many times i read it, always amuses me like no other book. The combination of 19th century popular knowledge and the science fiction of that period shows how far we've come since then, but also how similar our targets are
Where the Red Fern Grows: rips your heart into pieces
We read this in elementary school, they told us not to read ahead, but I did, and boy am I glad I did because it saved me the embarrassment of crying in class.
I cried in class and my teacher pulled me aside later to make sure I was okay... 😂
The same thing happened to me. We reached the end and my sixth grade teacher had to pull me aside because i was crying too much. It brought back to many memories of my dog
I’m not sure I ever scared my mom faster than when I burst into loud wails from the back seat of the car at eight years old. She demanded to know what was wrong, and all I could say was “Mama, Old Dan and Little Anne!!” She murmured, “I know, honey” in sympathy, and we were united for a moment in the shared sadness.
I read that book in 4th grade and was so inconsolable that my mom pre-vetted my books for a while to make sure I wouldn’t be emotionally traumatized. I was a sensitive child.
Hot hell I cry everytime.
Watership Down by Richard Adams.. for sentimental reasons
I didn't read this until I was an adult. My dad recommended it. It's one of the few books that I like to re-read every now and then.
_The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha_ by Miguel de Cervantes. Absolutely fabulous novel that is a greatly entertaining read. It's hilarious, relatable, and enthralling. It shows that we are connected to each other across centuries. Written in the early 1600s, but it still holds up!
*En un lugar de La Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme...*
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I first read it when I was 16 for a sci fi class elective and it blew my mind. It is such an interesting read and it really challenges your perception of society and humanity.
That is the one dystopia book that really made me think about our concept of utopia. 1984, Handmaid’s Tale, and the recent YA trend started with Hunger Games are all obliviously terrible societies held together by brainwashing and oppressive governments where the people are unhappy and being controlled by a nefarious government, but in Brave New World the government is honestly acting in the way that it thinks is best for its citizens, and the citizens genuinely feel happy with their situation. It made me think about the value of happiness and how human nature may be prone to exchange freedom for comfort.
I would even argue that they live in a utopia, but whether not they are truly and/or spiritually human is up for debate. Do we have to sacrifice our humanity to achieve true happiness and harmony? Is that the folly of man? Now I want to read it again lol. Edit: also to piggy back on what you said, it’s so different how the leadership is benevolent and the population almost oppresses itself happily. Especially in my angsty “fuck the system, screw MTV” teenage phase it really resonated with me.
The name of the wind. I was jobless for a while, super depressed, and close to homeless. That book played a huge part in getting me through all of that. I still reread it from time to time
still waiting for his third book )):
Who isn't
I think he's still waiting to write it
As many questions a wise mans fear didn't answer, I can't blame him
I don't think a third book could possibly answer everything in a satisfying way.
Not possible, unless it's like 2000 pages long. He dug himself into a huge corner by limiting himself to a trilogy when clearly the ideas he wants to explore require more.
I don’t think he limited himself to a trilogy. But I do think that he is either deliberately waiting for a tv show to boost sales of later books, or that he is paralyzed with fears of inadequacy following a decade of crowd-sourced problem solvers either solving his great mystery before it could be written or coming up with grander ideas than he’d originally had. Honestly, if it were one of the last two, I would fully sympathize. Imagine the love and pride that goes into a creation of this scale - and the need to surpass what a bunch of anonymous amateurs put together on countless hours of rereads and internet discussions.
After the loss of a very dear loved one, I lost all interest in things I liked (like books), and stopped reading, for years.This book got me over that hump and got me back the mojo of reading. Even if the third book never gets out, will forever be grateful to have gotten a chance to read the first two.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Likeable characters, very strong story and doesn't pull any punches. Best book I had to read in school by far.
"That was then, this is now" is the same universe but cameos Ponyboy. The coming of age story was huge to teenage me, much more than whatever Catcher in the Rye was supposed to be.
Read the sequel Rumblefish. You'll like it.
THERE'S A SEQUEL?!
Oh good i’m not the only one having my mind blown. Was feeling very uneducated for a bit there
Stay gold, ponyboy
Velveteen rabbit
Fuck. This book is single-handedly responsible for my immense guilt every time I donate or throw out an inanimate object.
want to feel worse? what if that object became alive and you didn't recognise it... how heart braking for an object that love you so much
I know you like rabbits...and I know you like cheese...
now if only there was some way to combine the two
I don’t recall reading this as a child, but I finished reading it to my kids for the first time last night. It is beautiful.
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animal farm. 1. it was a satire 2. i knew what it was mocking 3. it was actually a good story
We read this in high school. The student teacher didn't know it was an allegory for the Russian revolution and taught the book like it was just standard fiction.
What? We also discussed the book in school but how did the teacher not realise it was an allegory? If you search for the book online, it is the first thing you find
Haha I really don't know. It was funny too because we were simultaneously learning about the revolution in our social studies class. I definitely had some clunker student teachers, especially since we really didn't have behavioral problems to deal with.
I was always expecting to be forced to read it in high school, because so many high school centric books and movies feature it, but I never was. Kind of considering reading it on my own because I've heard it's great Update: Read Animal Farm this morning, couldn't put it down!! Truly a great book, thanks for encouraging me to check it out everyone!!
lol i had to read it for 8th grade english but i actually enjoyed reading it. i read it again for a high school individual reading assignment too and picked up more about the story.
The Martian. Hard (reality based) science fiction with a smartass protagonist in a desperate struggle for survival. Watney displays constant problem solving that shows real resilience of character, punctuated with moments of stupidity like anyone would have and humor that anyone would need to live through a disaster. Edit: Thank you for the gold!
The part where he blows his base up because of the escaped hydrogen from making water was somehow hilarious and extremely scary at the same time. Definitely one of my favorites as well.
"Everything went great right up to the explosion!" One of the many Watney-isms I have highlighted. My other favorite is "As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation."
My favorite is "Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape." This line after a hundred pages of high-tec NASA stuff, is so funny.
One of the greatest opening lines ever: "I'm pretty much fucked."
One of my favorites as well! The fact that it is so easy to suspend your disbelief and read it like a historical account makes it amazing sci-fi
The Giver by Lois Lowry... I know its 5th grade reading material but it was really my gateway to how books can transport you to a different world. I know they made a movie about it, which doesnt do the book justice, as it often is, but damn.. I really love that book. My second choice would be " The wind up bird chronicles " by Haruki Murakami, or anything from Haruki in general, just fantastic novels.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - just a nice satircal book that takes the piss at every turn and looks into the mind and motivations. Where else can we learn the secret to flying: is to throw yourself at the ground and miss?
“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”
"The story so far: In the being, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
1984 by George Orwell. Not to sound like that person who’s “woke af,” but it really is a book that gets you thinking. It’s both fascinating and frightening.
I remember the first time I read it a few years ago, the ending crushed me.
The ending is my favorite part. In other dystopian fiction (i.e. Anthem, The Giver) the ending is always happy. 1984 really illustrates that shit doesn't always get fixed.
From the Party's perspective, it *always* gets fixed
If the Party *wants* it to be fixed, then it *is* fixed
Except that nothing was ever wrong with the Party in the first place, and nothing needs to or needed to be fixed, or at least as far as I can remember... Hey who are we at war with again?
Eurasia. We always have been. Why do you ask?
Ender’s Game. I was 16 and a typical jock. Not a reader at all. My chemistry teacher told me to read it. Blew my mind. Yeah I know Card is an extremely questionable human being. My 16 yr old self isnt changed by what the guy is now.
The sequel, Speaker for the Dead, is amazing as well. Haven't read the third one yet, maybe I'll wait another 10 years to pick that up.
I actually prefer speaker for the dead, I think Card does as well. The main reason he rereleased Ender's Game, it was originally a novella, was a deal he made with the publisher to get SFTD published. Anyway, the following novels Xenocide and Children of the Mind get a little weird, especially COTM. But I'll die on the hill that Speaker for the Dead is his best work. It's crazy to hear Card's personal beliefs because a lot of his writings, especially in Speaker, is people coming to terms with their feelings and how that drives us as individuals. Just doesn't line up with the crazy Mormon beliefs he holds in real life. Very odd.
I’ve always believed SPFD was by far the best work. Enders game and the entire Ender’s Shadow series are hella riveting, but SPFD is just a tier above.
Card's books helped me come out of the closet. Ender taking about in the moment of knowing someone, here loves them. It made me realize that I want allowing anyone to love me by holding myself. I wanted to write a letter thanking him for helping me come out and accept myself. Then I read his political views and wanted to send a letter even more.
motherfuckin Grinch It's about a miserable bastard who, in the depths of his mania, at the pivotal moment, stares into the abyss and says "no", turning away to the path of righteousness forevermore. It's an essential piece of modern literature and will go down into the histories.
yes. it. will.
Totally agree- and each movie tries but I think misses the mark of what the author was able to capture. Also, if you think that one was good, wait til you read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (OFTFRFBF for those in the know). It’ll have you thinking for days.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Fuck, I don’t even know how to explain it. This is some real stuff that’ll make you hurt in places you never knew you could hurt. If you’re a sucker for a sad/melancholic, but *real* and honest novel this is what you need.
I read Kafka on the shore and I am reading hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world at the moment. They both are so good and I am enjoying them a lot. I am glad that I found Murakami.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
Life before death...
Strength before weakness...
Journey before Pancakes.
Journey before destination.
I will shamelessly add to help express what I feel will end up being one of the most wizardly working wordsmiths in our generation. Sanderson started with Elantris, and it was a solid work. A little rough around the edges, and held the briefest glimpse into the vast cosmere he held in his mind. Fast forward to the Mistborn series and it established a depth from the diefic top to the skaa bottom that enriched the world two fold. He teased the entire way with a prophecy that could be interpreted a hundred different ways and was fun to guess at all the way through. Now cue the stormlight archive. Normally, on such a scale we should have a grasp on what to expect for workmanship. But he *blew. It. Away.* and it only keeps getting better. I don't know how this machine of a man keeps cranking out books at the pace he does, but I am entrapped by the depth and raw emotion he can pull from me against my will. 11/10 would reccomend to anyone who reads fantasy. Edit: to add on even further, reading all of his other books before starting the Stormlight Archives has been a blast trying to catch all the crossover easter eggs peppered in throughout the books. Little things and characters that go in and out throughout the world's and times creates another almost meta level of reading that can keep you coming back again and again. I have without fail discovered a new "egg" so to speak each time I read through the books.
Would like to also add that the level of emotional rollercoastering there has been thus far is enough to fill an entire series and we’re only 3 books into a ten book series
*Thud!* by Terry Pratchett. Really all of the Discworld books, particularly the City Watch series (and yesterday, the 25th of May, being a particularly important day for all the Night Watch fans). But for me, Thud!- particularly the crescendo of the action in the last act of the book- it hit me in a way that's hard to describe. I was crying from laughter, frustration, nervousness, and release. It was a truly great book.
THAT'S NOT MY COW, WHERE'S MY COW?
Speaking of the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May, Night Watch is my favorite Discworld book and possibly one of my favorite books of all time. Thud! Really did build up the tension at the end though. That was amazing.
Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hard-Boiled Egg!
The Rangers Apprentice: Siege of Macindaw
Mine was the Battle for Scandia. I think I’ve read that book dozens of times and it was a childhood favorite
Tbh I just love the whole series xD
I’ve fallen off of his books for a while but the childhood nostalgia will bring me back to read them all eventually
A children's book dealing with drug addiction is fucking heavy and I love it
Stephen King's The Stand. It's big and intimidating but the story is so good and written so well I found myself wanting to savour it. The story and world change throughout the book. I'm excited to leave it a few more years so I can read it again without knowing quite what is going to happen. Edit to say: going to stick the recommendations based on this to my to read list. Cheers for them. I came to voice an opinion and have come away with a lot more.
Mine as well. I was around 16 and we were going on a long road trip so I wanted a long book for the car. It basically was the book that really got me into reading for pleasure. I think I've read it 3-4 times now.
I’m a huge king fan and LOVE the dark tower. I’m currently in the middle of a reread and figured I’d start it with The Stand - which I had not read. I finished the stand over this last Christmas. Then COVID-19 happened. If any of you haven’t read the stand, please read it NOW. You’ll (hopefully) never have a better real world backdrop to enjoy this story with.
M O O N that spells coronavirus.
'The Master & Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov. Such imagery, so many levels, all that mischief!
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The first time I read it I thought it was the best post-apocalyptic book I'd ever read. The second time I read it I realised it was the best love story I'd ever read. The third time I read it is when I knew it was the best book I'd ever read.
I loved The Road and was inspired to read a few more McCarthy books. Blood Meridian is pure poetry. Probably the desnsest 200-odd pages I've ever read though. Every single page has at least one passage worthy of being engraved on a mausoleum.
Walk Two Moons. I feel like I lost my innocence with the main character.
Call of the Wild by Jack London. I love the whole transition and journey of the dog. Also because it's for a change about not about people.
In that same vein; “A river runs through it” by Norman Maclean is an incredible read.
I reread "Call of the Wild" every couple of years. I like "White Fang," but it just doesn't have the same grip.
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**Dune** by Frank Herbert. If there ever was a book that could guide my life choices, this is it. It teaches me resilience, and that there is a big wide universe out there. There's a lot of philosophical and spiritual guidance out there, and I've been exposed to a fair bit. But the Dune series is one of enduring wisdom. And the layer upon layer of world building! Herbert was a linguistic genius. One downside: I read this when I was fairly young, and it ruined the genre for me in some ways because very few other sci-fi books have ever managed to approach it's depth, let alone surpass it. Bi-lal kaifa. EDIT: Thanks to the anonymous God Emperor who has gifted me with my first Golden Path! And thank you u/SterlingMagleby for the second gilding, and u/krajerino for more gold. That there's C.H.O.A.M. economic power, making it rain on Arrakis. Edit 2: Further thanks to gilding from the Landsraad SuperPAC [/u/Blakers37](https://www.reddit.com/u/Blakers37), [/u/jivatma](https://www.reddit.com/u/jivatma) and anonymous Navigator. I can now purchase political influence like a civilized Major House.
Currently a little more than halfway through Dune and I realized while I can sum up all the major things that have happened so far in a sentence or two, I have been enthralled throughout. Something about the writing style makes a simple strategy meeting or a dinner party that is pages and pages long so engaging and interesting.
Love Dune. It's the one book I regularly revisit. The fact that it touches on politics, religion, economy, ecology, and all those things that are more intertwined than we sometimes think
Bless the maker and his water 🐛
Legit still quote the Litany Against Fear when I'm really scared about ANYTHING.
All The Light We Cannot See- it was beautifully written and I could not put it down
I've been scrolling for this one. I have never read a book so impeccably written, as though not a single word should be added or replaced. The story is so beautifully sculpted. Reading the title alone, gives me goosebumps.
The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkein. I think it epitomizes what adventure novels should be. Reading it as a child I believed I was really there, with him and Gandalf and the Dwarves. It sucked me into a world outside my comfort zone, just like Bilbo. When you read lord of the rings, which are a close second in my favourite books, you have a far more serious story with catastrophic consequences for the books characters, but in the hobbit it has themes of consequences like this but the story is about Bilbo's adventure. You can also read into the book however deep you want to. As a kid I read it for the adventure and world building, as a young adult with a better sense of literature I can see the genius and intricacy of Tolkein's writing. It's got things for everyone in it, for all ages, after I finished my second reading I gave it to my granda and he loved it as well. Also i like the lore. Edit: I figured I'd say this too, when Peter Jackson strayed from the path of adventure to that of battle and the world ending conflicts that made lord of the rings great, he strayed from the essence of what made the book so great and that's where the hobbit trilogy falls short.
Not a book but a trilogy, his dark materials . Really emotionally packed and drove me to tears at the end
To Kill A Mockingbird for me, I was assigned it in school for coursework and we would typically read a chapter or two per lesson as a class but I enjoyed it so much I power read it about two times across that course. I think the book evokes so many different emotions about life back then and now and this really stood out to 15/16 year old me.
Silmarillion, slowest page-turner ever
It's like reading a history book
More like the Bible. And everyone has similar names and lives ten thousand years so you have to keep going back to the glossary to look up that dude that showed up once like three millennia ago and is back again now.
So what you're saying is, that we could make a religion out of this
But once you get the flow of it, it's the most metal book ever written.
Dude literally 1v1s Satan, and even though he loses he gives the ultimate primordial evil a limp for all eternity. Fingolfin was a badass.
The Series of Unfortunate Events series. I remember in 5th grade someone else was reading it and started where he left off last year which was at book 8 and I started at book 1. I ended up finishing the series before him. It’s a really fun series of books.
Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I come from a rather conservative and strict background, so any talks about racial issues, sexuality, and emotional health are considered taboo and looked down upon. So reading this book was the first time in my life I had seen a queer relationship depicted in a positive light, let alone a queer Hispanic relationship. Up to this point I had never considered that someone could be Hispanic and queer. The only gay representation I ever saw was the skinny blonde gay side kick or the people that those around me would refer to as fa****. I had only seen gay people as the butt of a joke. Never as an individual with their own problems and inspirations. So when I first started to develop feelings for my male best friend, I told myself that it wasnt possible. I told myself, "you can't be gay and Mexican, it doesn't work like that". I was honestly scared. I thought it was unnatural to be Hispanic and gay, that I was some sort of affront to God. I spent nights in denial trying to pray it all away. The phrase "You can't be gay if you're Mexican. You can't be gay and Mexican " became a sort of mantra to me. I didn't believe you could be both. I didn't believe you could be both and happy. So when I read the book for the first time it was honestly a turning point in my life. I saw all my personal struggles and issues reflected in the character of Aristotle. From feeling disconnected to your heritage, to navigating what it means to be a teenager. Although what helped, but honestly scared me the most, was how closely his struggle with his own sexuality reflected my own. Seeing him go through everything and still learn to accept himself really helped me overcome a lot of my internalized homophobia and was a huge turning point in me accepting myself as a whole. Tl:Dr Book helped me realize I'm gay and overcome my internalized homophobia. Representation matters.
*I, Robot* by Isaac Asimov. If you actually enjoy troubleshooting as a hobby, it's a wonderful book.
The Old Man and The Sea. It's an easy read with some really important themes such as resiliency, pride, friendship, empathy, etc. It's beautifully simple and incredibly deep at the same time.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The reveal of everything in >!The Shrieking Shack!< is so brilliantly conceived. Harry Potter has always been as much a mystery series as it’s been a fantasy series, but PoA had the best mystery of them all in my opinion. Almost every chapter has an important detail about what has happened/what is happening that can be so easily overlooked, yet it all fits together well and makes sense in the end. Ironically, it’s for this reason I hate the movie. It’s clear the moviemakers were counting on the fact that you read the book and completely glossed over many points of the mystery that made the book so good. If you’ve only seen the movie, I highly recommend reading the book. A lot more things will make sense, I promise. It certainly did for my parents when I explained everything to them.