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

[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!

[outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

'Blindsight' and 'echopraxia' have had some of the longest reach in me, as far as books i read in adulthood.

Horror, but philosophical horror. It's so good.

[rmuk@feddit.uk]

My opinion of Discworld is that it was always social/historical satire first, fantasy second - and I even more so as the series progressed. And, to be clear, I don't mean that as a criticism, but as a compliment. Discworld could have been written as any one of a hundred different genres and still have been superb, but by making it fantasy Pratchett made it all the more timeless.

GNU pTerry

[rmuk@feddit.uk]

Unauthorized Bread by Cory Doctorow. Based on a few true stories and set five minutes in the future, telling the story of the poorest in society, the arbitrary restrictions put on them and, the namesake, the way their lives are controlled by corporate surveillance and physical DRM enabled by disinterested legislators. It's a short story from one of his collections.

[wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works]

Oh, no, the only ones I haven't read yet are ghostwritten and number9dream.

And I agree with the order notes. My very out-of-order sequence was Cloud Atlas (the movie introduced me to the book), then Slade House, Black Swan Green, Bone Clocks, Thousand Autumns, Utopia Avenue.

And I agree that reading the bone clocks before thousand autumns didn't actually make Marinus and the Anchorites make less sense without Enomoto and Dejima for context.

However, if I had read Utopia Avenue without any of the others (except Slade House and Black Swan Green), I think I would have had no idea what was going on. As it stands, the main reason I want to read ghostwritten is because I feel like I'm missing out on the context of "the Mongolian" from Utopia Avenue. I think that, in the same way that Cloud Atlas acted as a bridge into his world, Utopia Avenue was almost a culmination of his works thus far. I think that, without them, Jasper de Zoet's character and, for that matter, the whole story, would have been nigh-incomprehensible to me.

[sunsofold@lemmings.world]

Growing up? Stranger in a Strange Land

MIchael's way of viewing the world felt so natural to me, and yet so different from almost anyone else around.

[mellowsnow@lemmy.world]

Was not familiar with this one - thanks for the rec. I'll look into it!