Which book(s) left a lasting impression on you?

[melsaskca@lemmy.ca]

Crime and Punishment.

[ramsgrl909@lemmy.world]

This was my answer as well. It's an amazing book amd I always recommend it.

[jhex@lemmy.world]

... "does the gentleman want his head smashed?"

[prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

I'd say it contains some existential horror...

[prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

Another great short story that I never see mentioned is "Teddy" By J.D. Salinger.

There is also a Dave Eggars short story that always stuck with me from his one collection called, "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned."

Also, almost forgot, "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce is also fantastic.

Top three short stories imo.

Edit: Yikes... without spoiling anything, I just realized that there is a (kind of dark) theme connecting all of those. Should I be worried?

[prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

I loved 1984, but when I was younger, I always found Orwell's treatise on language that takes up a big chunk in the middle to be dull and far-fetched.

Boy was I wrong...

[thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

Oh it was not a good book. Made by someone who's donated actively to organization that want to make me dead for existing. It was a shit book but the only novel.i ever read.

[sylence@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Time Enough for Love was my favourite book as a young man. Tried re-reading it recently and really struggled. I feel like the last 20 years of social progress has really dated Heinlein's language especially (less so his ideas). Was a shame.

[widdershins@lemmy.world]

I won't disagree but I was under the impression the guy wrote at least 4 other Slaughterhouse books. With a title like Slaughterhouse I believed the book series was packed to the gills with blood and guts.

[wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works]

Especially after he explicitly tells Job that he is the progenitor of all evil and is proud of that fact.

[wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works]

• A Canticle for Leibowitz
• Cloud Atlas
• 1984

[unfortunateshort@lemmy.world]

"80,000 Hours", because not only does it teach you something about wealth, humanism and fulfilling careers, it also highlights imminent dangers that receive little (scientific/regulatory) attention and points out that everyone can do something without being rich or a genius.

Although I somewhat dislike their frequent measure of 'impact' in terms of money, the book puts quite a few things into perspective, and I can accept that you need to quantify things to do so. I particularly like that they encourage you to think about problems from different angles, and them pointing out that you can have a very real impact on the overall wellbeing of any living creature, pretty no matter what you do.

[tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Agreed. Several of his books have suffered the same fate unfortunately.

That said, the ideas do still ring very true... Albeit, many of them are the ideas I wish were more fantasy.

[joedyrt@lemmy.ca]

Alll those, yes.

[bilbobargains@lemmy.world]

The Trial

[fedegenerate@lemmynsfw.com]

Tigana

A book about loss. Loss of family. Loss of country. Loss of culture. Loss of all things. It's beautifully written, and the theme of loss doesn't mean a somber tone throughout, the found family is strong.

[topherclay@lemmy.world]

I have loved all of David Mitchell's books but Cloud Atlas was the perfect one that I started with that made me want to see everything else he read. I just love the structure of it so so much.

[wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works]

Absolutely. Since I'm not really into the music scene, I thought I wouldn't enjoy Utopia avenue, but I honestly think it's my second-favorite of his works. I am about to start Ghostwritten, though will probably stop there, because I really don't think number9dream is for me. I'm really not a fan of unsatisfying stories or bildungsroman, and I've read that n9d is both. What's your take?

I enjoyed Black Swan Green, in spite of its bildungsroman plot, but It wasn't my favourite (though it wasn't my least-favourite, because that dubious honour has to go to Slade House, which I read before the Bone Clocks, and which I expected to have a MUCH better puzzlebox feel. I felt betrayed when I realized that the alchemical symbology and map of the house on the inside cover of my first-edition copy was all meaningless, especially when the climax was just a deus-ex-horologia before I knew who Marinus was)

[2ugly2live@lemmy.world]

• The Bell Jar
• Between Two Fires
• The Troop (I just not over Newton )
• N0S4A2

[jackbydev@programming.dev]

This was a short story, but I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream left me in a depressive state for a few days. Based purely on the feelings I got involved I wouldn't recommend it. It's not necessarily bad though. It's just... Intense I guess.