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

[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.

[topherclay@lemmy.world]

n9d was not very memorable for me so I think I probably agree with your taste overall. if you're really only going to read one more then I would make sure not to skip The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I think Ghostwritten is one of his earliest books and I think it really shows.

It's really really interesting to imagine a different order to read these stories when you think about which little overlaps you would or would not be able to appreciate.

One of my favorite things about his books is that all his gimmicks with the overlapping characters and the horologist stuff doesn't really matter all that much if the story is just otherwise also extremely well-written. so the "gimmicks" really do feel like a bonus and not like the main point.

[abbotsbury@lemmy.world]

2001: A Space Odyssey touched me in that special place between science, religion, and spirituality.

It was always hungry, and now it was starving. When the first faint glow
of dawn crept into the cave, Moon-Watcher saw that his father had died in the
night. He did not know that the Old One was his father, for such a relationship
was utterly beyond his understanding, but as he looked at the emaciated body he
felt dim disquiet that was the ancestor of sadness

In their explorations, they encountered life in many forms, and watched
the workings of evolution on a thousand worlds. They saw how often the first
faint sparks of intelligence flickered and died in the cosmic night.
And because, in all the galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than
Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the
fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.

[idunnololz@lemmy.world]

Not one book but an entire series: Goodnight Punpun.

[drmoose@lemmy.world]

A lot but here are the most recent ones (all non fiction)

Immense World : How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
Essential for understanding how other creatures live in our world and insight on how ours evolved to what it is right now.

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Chur
Really great intro to practical ethics that is incredibly accessible as far as ethics books go. Everyone should at least skim this.

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine
Best introduction to in my opinion the most important philosophy branch of western culture - Stoicism!