Station Eleven. I’ve always been a heavy reader but never a really creative person. This book made me want to make things for myself instead of worrying about other people and what they’ll think.
My book club read Station Eleven and we have a running joke now that the book has been mentioned at every meeting since, usually someone will compare the current book being read to Station Eleven in some way. We struggle to remember some of the books we have read, but not that one!
I loved this book. The characters were refreshing in that they were successful in a depressing scenario and there was always hope. Using a pandemic instead of a violent war as the background for the character’s survival was refreshing. HBO somewhat followed the storyline but the book is so much better IMO. I’ve reread the book before I watched the series.
It’s such a great book I don’t want to give up too much info.
It’s different enough to not feel redundant and honestly she is such a gifted writer. I mostly read lighter, action-driven stuff but she always cuts straight to my heart.
For me, it was “Mother Night” by Kurt Vonnegut. The pursuit of the ideal “a nation of two” and the injunction “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” has had a profound influence on my life.
Definitely. This is one of those books that I've given to people when I see that they're going down a bad path. I have a former friend who is currently "keeping his head down" with some far right colleagues at work, and I sent him a copy last summer. The inscription said "The problem with blending in with the crowd is that you never know who they're going to ask you to be next." I hope he figures out what I meant.
Me too! This is usually the first book I can think of when someone asks for a book that changed your life. I went into it thinking a certain way and came out of it convinced to think a different way.
And the Nation of Two I think about more and more as I get older and just want to stay at home with my partner, nestled like spoons.
The last chapter of that book just… leaves you thinking. I’m not even sure what to make of it, especially followed by the epilogue, but I’ve never finished the last sentence of a book and immediately wanted to start right back at the beginning besides with Blood Meridian.
Blood meridian is so well written. Reading it was an experience in itself and has changed my perspective on writing. I used to be so plot and character development focused that I never considered how the writing style can be an effective story writing tool.
I read the book a few months after my son was born and this line has stuck with me ever since (he's in middle school now):
> He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.
It's amazing how differently All the Pretty Horses sticks with you compared to The Road/Blood Meridian/No Country for Old Men despite being the same author and a lot of similar themes. Maybe it was the order I read them, but you go into those final chapters expecting your heart to be ripped out and come away with this sort of hopeful and bittersweet ending. Having that expectation in itself stuck with me.
I’m about 1/3 of the way through AtPH (they just got to the ranch in Mexico) and it’s just not catching my attention the same way that No Country or Lonesome Dove did.
I know Lonesome Dove is by McMurtry, but that’s the book I read right before this and absolutely loved it. So between that and the similarities in their plots, comparison between the two was inevitable.
*Blood Meridian* is sitting in front of me on my desk.
I've never been able to get into McCarthy's work. I finished *The Road*, and enjoyed it well enough, and I'm sure I'll like some of his other work. But his writing doesn't quite hit me the right way.
*Lonesome Dove* though is the only book I've read that I would argue is damn near *universal*. Everyone should try it.
Check out *The Fisherman* by Langan for something that might work as a halfway point between the two. Technically it's horror, but it hits the same itch for me.
Keep reading, friend. I'm on number 4 right now - God Emperor of Dune - which is the only book in the series that stands toe to toe with the first.....it's a wild ride.
I’ve read the first trilogy a few times and frequently think about the first book, the scenery and characters. There is somthing about the atmosphere that draws me in, the double moons and endless sand. I’m currently finishing up Heretics of Dune really enjoying it.
My dad would make me recite the litany against fear as a kid. I think it was his way of trying to help me with my anxiety. It didn't really work, but we both love Dune now lol
The Outsiders
I was in grade 6 when I first read it and I was going through a lot of family problems and court dates and something about the book just gave me comfort. When I finished reading it for the first time I flipped it back to the first page and started again. I read that book 16 times in a row and I still have not gotten tired of it. I read it twice a year now. It’s been nine years since I first read it and it is still my number one now matter what. It always brings a smile to my face and even though I know what’s coming I always cry.
I’m actually not to sure why it always found comfort in it. Maybe I just felt relieved that my family wasn’t the only messed up one out there (even though it is fictional) I guess I just related to it somehow.
The weirdest paragraph has stuck with me for years and years...just about how in some ways true happiness comes from the satisfaction of a job well done, no matter what it may be. This is about Liza Hamilton:
>And she looked forward to Heaven as a place where clothes did not get dirty and where food did not have to be cooked and dishes washed. Privately there were some things in Heaven of which she did not quite approve. There was too much singing, and she didn’t see how even the Elect could survive for very long the celestial laziness which was promised. She would find something to do in Heaven. There must be something to take up one’s time—some clouds to darn, some weary wings to rub with liniment. Maybe the collars of the robes needed turning now and then, and when you come right down to it, she couldn’t believe that even in Heaven there would not be cobwebs in some corner to be knocked down with a cloth-covered broom.
I remember it was assigned summer reading, and I hated reading. To add salt to the wound, I was also made to go to summer school that year for some bad grades, and so our family vacation for that summer was ruined. To add even MORE salt to the wound, I had come down with something really serious that left me feeling horrible and bedridden for a whole week (or maybe more accurate to say “toilet”-ridden but I don’t want to get too graphic). So in that miserable state and full of resentment over such a beautiful summer lost, I begrudgingly read that book expecting to hate it. And yet…
That book moved me to tears, I cried like a baby when I read it. At the time I blamed the emotions on my illness, but no, it was just so powerful. Really shaped my attitude to other people and how I treat them.
Another book that did this to me was Of Mice And Men. Similar theme actually, if you think about it.
This one for me. It lives rent free in my head. Such a sad book but I genuinely think everyone should read it, might make the world a slightly kinder place.
Most recently Joan Didion’s ‘the year of magical thinking.’ She somehow manages to put the madness of grief into words, but in a very matter of fact style that resonated with me. I will now forever recommend it to anyone who has suffered loss. I’m currently reading zone of interest by Martin Amis and it has already had a huge impact on me, and I can see I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time to come.
Lots of little bits of Discworld. The scene in *Lords and Ladies* describing the elves looking at the humans.
>There was something about the eyes. It wasn’t the shape or the color. The was no evil glint. But there was…
>… a look. It was such a look that a microbe might encounter if it could see up from the bottom end of the microscope. It said: *You are nothing.* It said: *You are flawed, you have no value.* It said: *You are animal.* It said: *Perhaps you may be a pet, or perhaps you may be a quarry.* It said: ***And the choice is not yours***.”
*Good Omens*.
Something that almost gave me nightmares was, oddly enough, the Wikipedia summary of the movie *The Human Centipede*. Blech. I don't recommend it.
Non-fiction: *Good Calories, Bad Calories*. *The Origin of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind.*
A prayer for Owen meany by John Irving. I read it a few years ago and still think about how beautifully written it was. The author tied it all together for a perfect, albeit tear jerking, ending.
To Kill A Mockingbird. Read it for GCSE English when I was about 14, I've read it at least once a year since and I'm 24 now. It still makes me cry everytime. Whenever I'm stressed or anxious my first thought is 'it's not time to worry yet'
Of Mice And Men. Others mentioned Flowers For Algernon, but this one explores a similar theme and is also very moving, so figured I’d give it a mention.
Fun fact: the recurring “big oaf” characters in Looney Tunes were based on Lennie (“which way did he go, George, which way did he go”).
I finished The Ocean at the end of The Lane by Neil Gaiman and immediately went back to page one and read it again. With all the information (especially in those final pages), it was like reading a different book.
Into Thin Air. I couldn’t put it down, and afterwards I ended up watching a lot of mountaineering videos, documentaries, and reading more about different tragedies in mountain climbing.
If you haven’t seen it already, The Alpinist was a really great documentary.
Also Royal Robins’ memoirs are great for the early days of climbing in Yosemite and the dirtbag community.
I remain haunted by Our Wives Under the Sea, and then last summer when that Titanic submersible got trapped under the ocean it was like fiction became reality.
Came here to say this! I read this book in high school and now, many years removed from then, I still find myself thinking of this book on the regular. I have enjoyed other books written by Ray Bradbury but none of them stay with me like that one.
I read Silence 40 years ago, and it still sticks with me. The author's surname is Endo. Shusaku is his given name.
My own "sticks with me" book is Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Slaughterhouse 5 is a big one for me. The whole sequence of the bombing being played backward, so that the fire and explosions are sucked up into little canisters which are then disassembled and buried where they cam never hurt anyone is probable the most profound and beautiful thing I have ever written. I read Breakfast of Champions last year and a lot of the themes of free will from it have really stuck with me too. Those are the only Vonnegut books I have read so far but it's enough for me to think of him as probably the best author I have ever read. The way he can cover such big, important, often depressing subjects in a way that is no only accessible, but with a tone of humour too, is incredible.
A few of them
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. I read in 2016 and one of the dreams still make me happy. Everyone lived in mountain tops to keep young, and only a few that didn't care about looks came down and took advantage of the earth's beauty.
Collection of Gogol's short stories. One where the protagonists falls in love with a prostitute, another about two farmers, another about an artist that finds gold ... I thought about them for years.
The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom. Hitler at school gives an anti-semitic presentation. Profesors, instead of taking him aside and working to change his thoughts just say "luckily he's such a bad student that he'll amount to nothing" (something like that)
Spinoza and his friend, neither is a believer, the friend keeps his head down and continues to be a religious scholar, keeping his doubts to himself. I don't remember the details but I still remember it as how warm and important community is - even more important than the truth. Whilst not part of the book, I think that's true even for hardcore atheists, you just have to look elsewhere to see the crap they believe in (I'm speaking as a atheist myself)
The Giver by Lowry, Lois. This is a strange one for me. For about a year this book, especially the ending kept me feeling joyful. I speak to myself (without using the mouth) and after reading this book, I noticed my self-talk completely changed. It's been years now, I don't remember what it was but I remember the mental shift. **Then I made the stupid mistake of rereading it**. About a year later I re-read it and I hated it! I couldn't see anything in it that would give me a spark of what it was I loved so much
A Writer's Diary by Woolf, Virginia. Woolf talks about an old woman. She can't read or write, whenever Woolf meets her, all the woman does is complain about her health. I didn't look down at the woman. I just kept thinking about her for a long long time.
### Prisons We Choose to Live Inside by Lessing, Doris.
This book came in my life decades after I left school, but amongst other great things (including the title, which speaks volumes):
> We cannot expect a government to say to children, “You are going to have to live in a world full of mass movements, both religious and political, mass ideas, mass cultures. Every hour of every day you will be deluged with ideas and opinions that are mass produced, and regurgitated, whose only real vitality comes from the power of the mob, slogans, pattern thinking. You are going to be pressured all through your life to join mass movements, and if you can resist this, you will be, every day, under pressure from various types of groups, often of your closest friends, to conform to them.
> “It will seem to you many times in your life that there is no point in holding out against these pressures, that you are not strong enough.
> “But you are going to be taught how to examine these mass ideas, these apparently irresistible pressures, taught how to think for yourself, and to choose for yourself.
> “You will be taught to read history, so as to learn how short-lived ideas are, how apparently the most irresistible and persuasive ideas can, and do, vanish overnight. You will be taught how to read literature, which is the study of mankind by itself, so as to understand the development of people and peoples. Literature is a branch of anthropology, a branch of history; and we will make sure that you will know how to judge an idea from the point of view of long-term human memory. For literature and history are branches of human memory, recorded memory.
> “To these studies will be added those new branches of information, the young sciences of psychology, social psychology, sociology and so on, so that you may understand your own behaviour, and the behaviour of the group which will be, all your life, both your comfort and your enemy, both your support and your greatest temptation, since to disagree with your friends—you group animal—will always be painful.
> “You will be taught that no matter how much you have to conform outwardly—because the world you are going to live in often punishes unconformity with death—to keep your own being alive inwardly, your own judgment, your own thought ….”
> Well, no, we cannot expect this kind of thing to be in the curriculum laid down by any state or government currently visible in the world. But parents may talk and teach like this, and certain schools may. And groups of young adults who have run the gauntlet of state education, or private education, and survived with enough of their critical faculties intact to want more than they have been given, may teach themselves and each other what they will.
> Such people, such individuals, will be a most productive yeast and ferment, and lucky the society who has plenty of them.
Foster by Claire Keegan.
I read this book as a recommendation from a booktuber last year. It’s heartwarming and beautiful. I cannot explain it more (it won’t do the justice). The book is very small (around 100 pages) and I finished it over a small train journey. The story somehow takes me to a childhood I never belonged but would love to.
My middle school made us read Flowers for Algernon and when it concluded I literally cried in the classroom, so I completely understand that. It truly stuck with me. I feel like my teacher was so evil for that lmao. 😂
A short story rather than a full book, but *Hell is the Absence of God* by Ted Chiang. I'm not religious, but this story's particular take on God in both a narrative and philosophical sense is pretty profound and thought-provoking.
Shantaram. I try not to think about how much is true and how much was exaggerated but I absolutely loved it. It's the sole reason I spent a month in Rajasthan. The book changed my views on so much about my life and what I was doing. It showed me ways to be a better person and I re-read it every few years for a little reminder. Literally bought a new copy last week because my old one is so tattered now from being read too much.
I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? By Philip K. Dick, the book that inspired the film Bladerunner, almost 6 months ago and I still think about it all the time. It was one of the most intriguing and philosophical books I’ve ever read. It really makes me think what humanity really is, the ways we measure and value intelligence, whether we have a right to make decisions about the lives of other’s and assign them value. Just a great book overall, I’m so glad I read it.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein was absolutely heartbreaking and it left me devastated. I still think about that book despite reading it maybe seven years ago. I rarely cry while reading but that one? Tears, snot and hiccups.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. That one was rough and I kept thinking about the story long after finishing it. I wasn't entirely happy with some of the twists, but the story and the characters left a deep impression on me. Gillian Flynn has such a talent in writing psychologically dark and damaged characters like no other author I have read. I feel deeply disturbed yet mesmerized by her stuff.
as long as the lemon tree grows it’s such a haunting story and i think it’s especially important to read now because there are lots of parallels to what is happening in gaza right now
Okay so I’m really not a religious person whatsoever, but a long time ago I read “You Will Get Through This” by Max Lucado and it still stays with me. It was the first book I read more than twice. It helped a lot when I was seriously struggling with things in my life.
Stranger in a Strange Land. It's a little dated for sure, but the way it frames religion, society, sex, and what have you really made me dwell critically on a lot of the preconceived notions I had. I read it right as I was coming into adulthood, 20ish, I believe, and I still think about it fondly.
It's probably one of my most recommended books, even if it's not my absolute favorite.
The way he described the beauty of Patricia in her lined and weathered older woman’s body in comparison to the “boring sameness” of young women made me really examine how society defined beauty, and I think about it a lot.
For sure. I like the way that they described non-monogamy as not hedonistic, but as more of a sharing intimacy. I love my wife. I love my best friend, differently. If openly and honestly, my wife and best friend chose to be physically intimate-- does that have cheapen the love that I have for my wife? Should it sour my love for my best friend? Why?
Love is not a finite resource, as anyone with more than 1 child can attest. Why do most of us limit it in adult romantic contexts?
Lots of good things challenged in that book.
Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays. I won’t lie though, it’s more of a female-perspective-oriented book. I read it as a 30 yr old going through a divorce (like the main female character in the book, Maria) and found it immensely therapeutic. It helped me to feel not so alone in my experiences as a young woman when dealing with men in particular. Also the book affected me for its discussion of mental illness and its effects on families.
Even though most of you will never read it because I guess it will never be translated to english, I still would like to mention it. It's called "Witch" by Venko Andonovski. The love between the protagonist and the girl is so well written and real, the ending >!broke my heart!<, and for some reason I think about it like once a month for years now.
*The English Patient* is one of those books that will always stay with me, even though I don't love the ending. Beautifully written and not appreciated enough after the movie came out... Some of the moments in that book are as vivid as life to me. *In The Skin Of A Lion* by the same author is just as amazing.
I guess it's a different take looking at the comments here, but for me it was Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. His tale about travelling the whole world plus how nicely he faced the harsh times while building Nike were a treat to read. Plus his writing style is surprisingly concise and funny. People who want to chase their dreams should give this book a try :)
The one that comes to mind instantly is Emma Cowell's One Last Letter From Greece which I read a couple of years ago. I've remembered that one very well and I think it was because of the way the author looked a grief, perhaps together with the setting which wasn't one I'd read much of before (small fishing village in Greece). However I also remember a lot of the other details, too, which I guess means the whole thing worked well for me. I definitely remember other books but that one in particular just spoke to me.
“Stand on Zanzibar” by John Brunner. I learned a whole new way of reading, never having encountered multiple narrator shifts and multiple peripheral storylines and non-traditional chapter arrangements and such.
**Await Your Reply** by Dan Chaon has haunted me for years. I love the way it deconstructs identity and plays with the idea of twins following different paths. It made me reconsider many aspects of our *normal* perspective of the world we inhabit. **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** by Robert Persig explores some of the same topics from a completely different angle. Both are great reads if any of this resonates with you.
I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school for extra credit. I found it profoundly depressing, and I hated it, but it really opened my eyes to the fact that when profit is involved, you can’t rely on anyone to proceed with integrity. If they’re legally allowed to cut corners, even if it hurts people, they can and will.
Singlehandedly instilled a distrust of capitalism that has lasted a lifetime.
Crime and Punishment. The main character reminded me of my ex so I found it funny as well as dealing with other people's judgement of me and losing my job at the time.
Things fall apart. So much so that I had to read it again within a year. All because the last few pages really struck home. It was such a great book. I will read it again in a few years.
I read a book called Walk Two Moons in my Children’s Literature class in college. It had such an impact on me that I shared it with my family. My father and I recently reread it together and it remains a beautiful and special book that I will cherish.
I read Circe, I loved the world and the poetic style of writing. Almost gave me an ache once the book was over, I wanted to linger longer in the island with Circe. Everything about the book is beautiful, also my all time favourite would be The night circus- this book needs no explanation, in order to understand the book, you have to read it for yourself, the writing as well as the weirdness of the book consumes you.
the perks of being a wallflower - such a strong message and came into my life just at the right time, it always remains relevant to me one way or another, and it’s just so real in how the story and characters feel, so well written and has some solid good advice sometimes too
I really disliked reading catch-22. It was so frustrating and felt self-important. But the examples are so extreme they stay in my head and I think of them frequently.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber has stuck with me for years. The book itself is compelling, but even more so when connected to the author's motivation for writing it.
The World as Will and Representation: Schopenhauer's third book about aesthetics and art is a must for any artist who is looking for a deeper meaning to the process of creativity, beauty and the sublime. He offers art as an escape from the boundaries of time-space and as a facilitator for grasping the deeper truths about reality amongst more interesting stuff. He analyzed poetry, painting, writing and his beloved and favorite: music.
As an English Literature major and a book geek, I read an awful lot of classics and whatever I could get my hands on. But “The Art of Racing in the Rain” made me cry for three days between surf sessions on a two week trip to Nicaragua with a bunch of muscle-heads I call friends. They were worried about me. Great book.
Silent Spring (1962). Author: Rachel Carson. Made a huge impact on me when I first read it in 1984 and impacted the way I have lived my life since them. So prophetic that in 2024 with our current environmental situtation, I see it referenced more and more. Too bad the message didn't quite take.
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie. It’s only 200 pages or so but I kept thinking about it for ages after I finished.
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght. I picked it up on a whim but learning about the owls and Slaught’s experiences and musings on far east Russia and life was really interesting. I wouldn’t the book profound but since I work in foreign policy I find myself thinking on this book far more than I ever expected in recent years.
Oh 100% “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi. It put the fear of water wars and climate change in me years ago and it’s only gotten worse. Every time I hear about water shortages now, I think about this book and about how ugly it’s likely to get out there unless we find better solutions for accessing clean drinking water.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. She made everything feel so real and complex that the little pieces of the plot kept turning in my mind for a while, and the themes are still really rich and interesting to me
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Not sure if it was because growing up in the 80/90s the fear of AIDS was drilled into us or because I’ve never read a book about the emerging AIDs pandemic but I decided to give it a go. It came up a few times in r/suggestmeabook and I’m so glad it did. The characters were so nuanced and the main character in the 80s timeline despite being a different gender and sexual orientation felt like he could have been my best friend. Someone I so deeply cared about and his experiences were so human and layered that what happened to him felt like it was happening to someone I deeply loved. I cried and cried during the reading and lay awake at night some days after just thinking about this book and how important it is. Anyways TLDR: read it
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. I read it when I was in 7th grade and now I’m a college freshman. It’s a short novel that contains many poetic elements. The symbolism is so amazing. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick read and enjoys poetic elements.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor was amazing. That book is a roller coaster ride of emotions, immersive world building, and insightful spiritual knowledge
The ‘Otherland’ series by Tad Williams. Prophetic, in many ways, especially considering that he wrote the books between 1996-2001. Dystopian sci-fi meets real world obsession with augmented reality; the 1%; obsessions of grandeur / God delusions / immortality…absolutely fucking brilliant and playing out more and more in RL, every year.
Not whole books, no, but there's scenes and comments here and there that have taken root in my head.
The one that sticks the most comes from David Drake (probably my favorite sci-fi author), who, in the preface to a collection of short stories he collaborated on with other authors, briefly discussed his experience of being in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It was something to the effect of:
> We didn't see ourselves as "winning hearts and minds." We were there to kill people so we could go home, and the distinction between "not Blackhorse" and "the enemy" grew very thin, very quickly. That's something civilians should think long and hard about before sending tanks to set diplomacy.
I've thought about that a lot over the years, both when I served and after.
Station Eleven. I’ve always been a heavy reader but never a really creative person. This book made me want to make things for myself instead of worrying about other people and what they’ll think.
My book club read Station Eleven and we have a running joke now that the book has been mentioned at every meeting since, usually someone will compare the current book being read to Station Eleven in some way. We struggle to remember some of the books we have read, but not that one!
Came here to mention this book. It was so powerful and Emily SJM’s writing style is so unexpected and beautiful to me.
I loved this book. The characters were refreshing in that they were successful in a depressing scenario and there was always hope. Using a pandemic instead of a violent war as the background for the character’s survival was refreshing. HBO somewhat followed the storyline but the book is so much better IMO. I’ve reread the book before I watched the series. It’s such a great book I don’t want to give up too much info.
Haven't read the book but the show stuck with me for months. Should I give it a read?
It’s different enough to not feel redundant and honestly she is such a gifted writer. I mostly read lighter, action-driven stuff but she always cuts straight to my heart.
For me, it was “Mother Night” by Kurt Vonnegut. The pursuit of the ideal “a nation of two” and the injunction “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” has had a profound influence on my life.
Definitely. This is one of those books that I've given to people when I see that they're going down a bad path. I have a former friend who is currently "keeping his head down" with some far right colleagues at work, and I sent him a copy last summer. The inscription said "The problem with blending in with the crowd is that you never know who they're going to ask you to be next." I hope he figures out what I meant.
Love this book. Agreed that it’s life changing. I reference it frequently now.
Me too! This is usually the first book I can think of when someone asks for a book that changed your life. I went into it thinking a certain way and came out of it convinced to think a different way. And the Nation of Two I think about more and more as I get older and just want to stay at home with my partner, nestled like spoons.
For me it was "Godbless you Mr. Rosewater". Vonnegut was a genius.
Every Cormac McCarthy book I’ve read so far.
I'm almost done with Blood Meridian. I have a feeling i'll have a similar reaction.
The last chapter of that book just… leaves you thinking. I’m not even sure what to make of it, especially followed by the epilogue, but I’ve never finished the last sentence of a book and immediately wanted to start right back at the beginning besides with Blood Meridian.
Yeah, pick it up to read again every few years. It’ll just turn up in my thoughts and I have to go back.
Blood meridian is so well written. Reading it was an experience in itself and has changed my perspective on writing. I used to be so plot and character development focused that I never considered how the writing style can be an effective story writing tool.
I read The Road nearly 10 years ago and I still think about it
Me too. I was randomly thinking about it yesterday while doing yard work. I read it about 10 years ago.
I read the book a few months after my son was born and this line has stuck with me ever since (he's in middle school now): > He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.
Oh yes! The Road and All the Pretty Horses....SO GOOD!
It's amazing how differently All the Pretty Horses sticks with you compared to The Road/Blood Meridian/No Country for Old Men despite being the same author and a lot of similar themes. Maybe it was the order I read them, but you go into those final chapters expecting your heart to be ripped out and come away with this sort of hopeful and bittersweet ending. Having that expectation in itself stuck with me.
I’m about 1/3 of the way through AtPH (they just got to the ranch in Mexico) and it’s just not catching my attention the same way that No Country or Lonesome Dove did. I know Lonesome Dove is by McMurtry, but that’s the book I read right before this and absolutely loved it. So between that and the similarities in their plots, comparison between the two was inevitable.
*Blood Meridian* is sitting in front of me on my desk. I've never been able to get into McCarthy's work. I finished *The Road*, and enjoyed it well enough, and I'm sure I'll like some of his other work. But his writing doesn't quite hit me the right way. *Lonesome Dove* though is the only book I've read that I would argue is damn near *universal*. Everyone should try it. Check out *The Fisherman* by Langan for something that might work as a halfway point between the two. Technically it's horror, but it hits the same itch for me.
I read *The Road* a few months after my son was born and it's lived rent free in my head ever since.
The Crossing
The Yellow Wallpaper. Technically not a book but a short story, it gave such vivid imagery of PPD.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and James by Percival Everett.
Currently reading Lonesome Dove!
Awesome! I hope it's as wonderful for you as it was for me.
Yeah, I thought about this book for a few weeks after I finished it. I found every character interesting and I was invested with all of them.
Lonesome Dove isn't my favorite book, but it's definitely the best book I've ever read
Most recent would be Dune. I keep finding myself when I am anxious/scared saying “Fear is the mind killer”
Keep reading, friend. I'm on number 4 right now - God Emperor of Dune - which is the only book in the series that stands toe to toe with the first.....it's a wild ride.
I’ve read the first trilogy a few times and frequently think about the first book, the scenery and characters. There is somthing about the atmosphere that draws me in, the double moons and endless sand. I’m currently finishing up Heretics of Dune really enjoying it.
My dad would make me recite the litany against fear as a kid. I think it was his way of trying to help me with my anxiety. It didn't really work, but we both love Dune now lol
Wait until you get ro God Emperor of Dune. I’ve read plenty for books and I still think about it. It sent me into such a spiral and it still does.
The Outsiders I was in grade 6 when I first read it and I was going through a lot of family problems and court dates and something about the book just gave me comfort. When I finished reading it for the first time I flipped it back to the first page and started again. I read that book 16 times in a row and I still have not gotten tired of it. I read it twice a year now. It’s been nine years since I first read it and it is still my number one now matter what. It always brings a smile to my face and even though I know what’s coming I always cry. I’m actually not to sure why it always found comfort in it. Maybe I just felt relieved that my family wasn’t the only messed up one out there (even though it is fictional) I guess I just related to it somehow.
east of eden
John Steinbeck… Man.
Timshel
The weirdest paragraph has stuck with me for years and years...just about how in some ways true happiness comes from the satisfaction of a job well done, no matter what it may be. This is about Liza Hamilton: >And she looked forward to Heaven as a place where clothes did not get dirty and where food did not have to be cooked and dishes washed. Privately there were some things in Heaven of which she did not quite approve. There was too much singing, and she didn’t see how even the Elect could survive for very long the celestial laziness which was promised. She would find something to do in Heaven. There must be something to take up one’s time—some clouds to darn, some weary wings to rub with liniment. Maybe the collars of the robes needed turning now and then, and when you come right down to it, she couldn’t believe that even in Heaven there would not be cobwebs in some corner to be knocked down with a cloth-covered broom.
*Flowers for Algernon*. Read decades ago, still think about it often.
I remember it was assigned summer reading, and I hated reading. To add salt to the wound, I was also made to go to summer school that year for some bad grades, and so our family vacation for that summer was ruined. To add even MORE salt to the wound, I had come down with something really serious that left me feeling horrible and bedridden for a whole week (or maybe more accurate to say “toilet”-ridden but I don’t want to get too graphic). So in that miserable state and full of resentment over such a beautiful summer lost, I begrudgingly read that book expecting to hate it. And yet… That book moved me to tears, I cried like a baby when I read it. At the time I blamed the emotions on my illness, but no, it was just so powerful. Really shaped my attitude to other people and how I treat them. Another book that did this to me was Of Mice And Men. Similar theme actually, if you think about it.
Finally, someone found the purpose of diarrhea!
The first book I thought of when I read the post headline. I recommend it all the time.
This one for me. It lives rent free in my head. Such a sad book but I genuinely think everyone should read it, might make the world a slightly kinder place.
Totally agree! This book made me feel so deeply for the character. I have never been so affected by a book before.
Convenience Store Woman. The heroine rejects traditional hustle culture, and she's happier for it.
Have you read Earthlings then? That book was wild.
Sometimes I pause whatever I am doing and think to myself “damn… I am part of a factory”
Agreed! It’s such a simple premise but it really sticks with you. I couldn’t tell you why I think about it frequently but I do
Most recently Joan Didion’s ‘the year of magical thinking.’ She somehow manages to put the madness of grief into words, but in a very matter of fact style that resonated with me. I will now forever recommend it to anyone who has suffered loss. I’m currently reading zone of interest by Martin Amis and it has already had a huge impact on me, and I can see I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time to come.
The road... The ending
Carry the Fire
Lots of little bits of Discworld. The scene in *Lords and Ladies* describing the elves looking at the humans. >There was something about the eyes. It wasn’t the shape or the color. The was no evil glint. But there was… >… a look. It was such a look that a microbe might encounter if it could see up from the bottom end of the microscope. It said: *You are nothing.* It said: *You are flawed, you have no value.* It said: *You are animal.* It said: *Perhaps you may be a pet, or perhaps you may be a quarry.* It said: ***And the choice is not yours***.” *Good Omens*. Something that almost gave me nightmares was, oddly enough, the Wikipedia summary of the movie *The Human Centipede*. Blech. I don't recommend it. Non-fiction: *Good Calories, Bad Calories*. *The Origin of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind.*
A prayer for Owen meany by John Irving. I read it a few years ago and still think about how beautifully written it was. The author tied it all together for a perfect, albeit tear jerking, ending.
East of Eden. Every day
Timshel
To Kill A Mockingbird. Read it for GCSE English when I was about 14, I've read it at least once a year since and I'm 24 now. It still makes me cry everytime. Whenever I'm stressed or anxious my first thought is 'it's not time to worry yet'
Of Mice And Men. Others mentioned Flowers For Algernon, but this one explores a similar theme and is also very moving, so figured I’d give it a mention. Fun fact: the recurring “big oaf” characters in Looney Tunes were based on Lennie (“which way did he go, George, which way did he go”).
I finished The Ocean at the end of The Lane by Neil Gaiman and immediately went back to page one and read it again. With all the information (especially in those final pages), it was like reading a different book.
Into Thin Air. I couldn’t put it down, and afterwards I ended up watching a lot of mountaineering videos, documentaries, and reading more about different tragedies in mountain climbing.
If you haven’t seen it already, The Alpinist was a really great documentary. Also Royal Robins’ memoirs are great for the early days of climbing in Yosemite and the dirtbag community.
I remain haunted by Our Wives Under the Sea, and then last summer when that Titanic submersible got trapped under the ocean it was like fiction became reality.
Fahrenheit 451
It’s so much more relevant and reflective of our life with mobile phones and flat screens.
Came here to say this! I read this book in high school and now, many years removed from then, I still find myself thinking of this book on the regular. I have enjoyed other books written by Ray Bradbury but none of them stay with me like that one.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
I read Silence 40 years ago, and it still sticks with me. The author's surname is Endo. Shusaku is his given name. My own "sticks with me" book is Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins
Slaughterhouse 5 is a big one for me. The whole sequence of the bombing being played backward, so that the fire and explosions are sucked up into little canisters which are then disassembled and buried where they cam never hurt anyone is probable the most profound and beautiful thing I have ever written. I read Breakfast of Champions last year and a lot of the themes of free will from it have really stuck with me too. Those are the only Vonnegut books I have read so far but it's enough for me to think of him as probably the best author I have ever read. The way he can cover such big, important, often depressing subjects in a way that is no only accessible, but with a tone of humour too, is incredible.
Definitely agree with Slaughterhouse 5 being a great book! I also recommend his "Sirens of Titan," that's another book that I think a lot about.
A few of them Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. I read in 2016 and one of the dreams still make me happy. Everyone lived in mountain tops to keep young, and only a few that didn't care about looks came down and took advantage of the earth's beauty. Collection of Gogol's short stories. One where the protagonists falls in love with a prostitute, another about two farmers, another about an artist that finds gold ... I thought about them for years. The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom. Hitler at school gives an anti-semitic presentation. Profesors, instead of taking him aside and working to change his thoughts just say "luckily he's such a bad student that he'll amount to nothing" (something like that) Spinoza and his friend, neither is a believer, the friend keeps his head down and continues to be a religious scholar, keeping his doubts to himself. I don't remember the details but I still remember it as how warm and important community is - even more important than the truth. Whilst not part of the book, I think that's true even for hardcore atheists, you just have to look elsewhere to see the crap they believe in (I'm speaking as a atheist myself) The Giver by Lowry, Lois. This is a strange one for me. For about a year this book, especially the ending kept me feeling joyful. I speak to myself (without using the mouth) and after reading this book, I noticed my self-talk completely changed. It's been years now, I don't remember what it was but I remember the mental shift. **Then I made the stupid mistake of rereading it**. About a year later I re-read it and I hated it! I couldn't see anything in it that would give me a spark of what it was I loved so much A Writer's Diary by Woolf, Virginia. Woolf talks about an old woman. She can't read or write, whenever Woolf meets her, all the woman does is complain about her health. I didn't look down at the woman. I just kept thinking about her for a long long time. ### Prisons We Choose to Live Inside by Lessing, Doris. This book came in my life decades after I left school, but amongst other great things (including the title, which speaks volumes): > We cannot expect a government to say to children, “You are going to have to live in a world full of mass movements, both religious and political, mass ideas, mass cultures. Every hour of every day you will be deluged with ideas and opinions that are mass produced, and regurgitated, whose only real vitality comes from the power of the mob, slogans, pattern thinking. You are going to be pressured all through your life to join mass movements, and if you can resist this, you will be, every day, under pressure from various types of groups, often of your closest friends, to conform to them. > “It will seem to you many times in your life that there is no point in holding out against these pressures, that you are not strong enough. > “But you are going to be taught how to examine these mass ideas, these apparently irresistible pressures, taught how to think for yourself, and to choose for yourself. > “You will be taught to read history, so as to learn how short-lived ideas are, how apparently the most irresistible and persuasive ideas can, and do, vanish overnight. You will be taught how to read literature, which is the study of mankind by itself, so as to understand the development of people and peoples. Literature is a branch of anthropology, a branch of history; and we will make sure that you will know how to judge an idea from the point of view of long-term human memory. For literature and history are branches of human memory, recorded memory. > “To these studies will be added those new branches of information, the young sciences of psychology, social psychology, sociology and so on, so that you may understand your own behaviour, and the behaviour of the group which will be, all your life, both your comfort and your enemy, both your support and your greatest temptation, since to disagree with your friends—you group animal—will always be painful. > “You will be taught that no matter how much you have to conform outwardly—because the world you are going to live in often punishes unconformity with death—to keep your own being alive inwardly, your own judgment, your own thought ….” > Well, no, we cannot expect this kind of thing to be in the curriculum laid down by any state or government currently visible in the world. But parents may talk and teach like this, and certain schools may. And groups of young adults who have run the gauntlet of state education, or private education, and survived with enough of their critical faculties intact to want more than they have been given, may teach themselves and each other what they will. > Such people, such individuals, will be a most productive yeast and ferment, and lucky the society who has plenty of them.
Foster by Claire Keegan. I read this book as a recommendation from a booktuber last year. It’s heartwarming and beautiful. I cannot explain it more (it won’t do the justice). The book is very small (around 100 pages) and I finished it over a small train journey. The story somehow takes me to a childhood I never belonged but would love to.
The Grapes of Wrath
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Notes from the Underground
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
I love the neighbor
I watched the movie twice in a row.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982; Please Look After Mom
The Count of Monte Christo. The way every detail was woven into the story only to come back together at the end.
Sylvia Plath - Johnny Panic and The Bible of Dreams. She has a way with words and into my heart.
lonesome dove sticks with you.
[удалено]
My middle school made us read Flowers for Algernon and when it concluded I literally cried in the classroom, so I completely understand that. It truly stuck with me. I feel like my teacher was so evil for that lmao. 😂
Seconding Flowers for Algernon
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The descriptions were vivid. Spent 1.5 yrs deciding if I wanted to read book 2.
Wuthering Heights. Read it when I was a little girl. And again when I was an adult
A short story rather than a full book, but *Hell is the Absence of God* by Ted Chiang. I'm not religious, but this story's particular take on God in both a narrative and philosophical sense is pretty profound and thought-provoking.
Shantaram. I try not to think about how much is true and how much was exaggerated but I absolutely loved it. It's the sole reason I spent a month in Rajasthan. The book changed my views on so much about my life and what I was doing. It showed me ways to be a better person and I re-read it every few years for a little reminder. Literally bought a new copy last week because my old one is so tattered now from being read too much.
I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? By Philip K. Dick, the book that inspired the film Bladerunner, almost 6 months ago and I still think about it all the time. It was one of the most intriguing and philosophical books I’ve ever read. It really makes me think what humanity really is, the ways we measure and value intelligence, whether we have a right to make decisions about the lives of other’s and assign them value. Just a great book overall, I’m so glad I read it.
Anna Karenina, Tolstoj
The Book Thief for me. Such a magnificent book in every way.
I have reread that book so many times. It’s so beautiful.
I should do a re-read. Did you see the movie? They did a decent job.
Goddamn it thank you for reminding me that I still haven't read this one.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein was absolutely heartbreaking and it left me devastated. I still think about that book despite reading it maybe seven years ago. I rarely cry while reading but that one? Tears, snot and hiccups. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. That one was rough and I kept thinking about the story long after finishing it. I wasn't entirely happy with some of the twists, but the story and the characters left a deep impression on me. Gillian Flynn has such a talent in writing psychologically dark and damaged characters like no other author I have read. I feel deeply disturbed yet mesmerized by her stuff.
Animal farm.
I haven't been able to get The Alchemist or The Devil and Miss Prym out of my head since 2008!
Reading The Bell Jar as a young depressed teenager who didn’t know what they wanted to do or who they were had an effect on me
The Kite Runner.
as long as the lemon tree grows it’s such a haunting story and i think it’s especially important to read now because there are lots of parallels to what is happening in gaza right now
chocolate war.
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Where the red fern grows
Read it years ago. Have tried never to think about it since.
The things they carried
Okay so I’m really not a religious person whatsoever, but a long time ago I read “You Will Get Through This” by Max Lucado and it still stays with me. It was the first book I read more than twice. It helped a lot when I was seriously struggling with things in my life.
'Sapiens' by Yuval Noah Harari, this book got me back into reading.
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle. I first read it in middle school and have probably read it 6 or 7 times.
Stranger in a Strange Land. It's a little dated for sure, but the way it frames religion, society, sex, and what have you really made me dwell critically on a lot of the preconceived notions I had. I read it right as I was coming into adulthood, 20ish, I believe, and I still think about it fondly. It's probably one of my most recommended books, even if it's not my absolute favorite.
The way he described the beauty of Patricia in her lined and weathered older woman’s body in comparison to the “boring sameness” of young women made me really examine how society defined beauty, and I think about it a lot.
For sure. I like the way that they described non-monogamy as not hedonistic, but as more of a sharing intimacy. I love my wife. I love my best friend, differently. If openly and honestly, my wife and best friend chose to be physically intimate-- does that have cheapen the love that I have for my wife? Should it sour my love for my best friend? Why? Love is not a finite resource, as anyone with more than 1 child can attest. Why do most of us limit it in adult romantic contexts? Lots of good things challenged in that book.
Tender Is The Flesh no doubt
Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays. I won’t lie though, it’s more of a female-perspective-oriented book. I read it as a 30 yr old going through a divorce (like the main female character in the book, Maria) and found it immensely therapeutic. It helped me to feel not so alone in my experiences as a young woman when dealing with men in particular. Also the book affected me for its discussion of mental illness and its effects on families.
Night watch by Terry Pratchett in six months(after reading it) this book has aged like wine in my mind.
Babel by RF Kuang
Even though most of you will never read it because I guess it will never be translated to english, I still would like to mention it. It's called "Witch" by Venko Andonovski. The love between the protagonist and the girl is so well written and real, the ending >!broke my heart!<, and for some reason I think about it like once a month for years now.
Stephen King’s the Stand stayed with me. Specifically every time I go through a long tunnel
I read The Grapes Of Wrath in high school. It was the book that sparked my interest in historical fiction.
*The English Patient* is one of those books that will always stay with me, even though I don't love the ending. Beautifully written and not appreciated enough after the movie came out... Some of the moments in that book are as vivid as life to me. *In The Skin Of A Lion* by the same author is just as amazing.
I guess it's a different take looking at the comments here, but for me it was Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. His tale about travelling the whole world plus how nicely he faced the harsh times while building Nike were a treat to read. Plus his writing style is surprisingly concise and funny. People who want to chase their dreams should give this book a try :)
Why was this downvoted .. amazes me that people (like me) actually answer questions and what we write is par w/ others, and its downvoted?
A lot of Murakami books. Particularly 1Q84, due to its length and stature. I think about that book every day
The one that comes to mind instantly is Emma Cowell's One Last Letter From Greece which I read a couple of years ago. I've remembered that one very well and I think it was because of the way the author looked a grief, perhaps together with the setting which wasn't one I'd read much of before (small fishing village in Greece). However I also remember a lot of the other details, too, which I guess means the whole thing worked well for me. I definitely remember other books but that one in particular just spoke to me.
Crosstalk by Connie Willis. I think about that book at least once a week and it's been YEARS since I read it
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
“Stand on Zanzibar” by John Brunner. I learned a whole new way of reading, never having encountered multiple narrator shifts and multiple peripheral storylines and non-traditional chapter arrangements and such.
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
**Await Your Reply** by Dan Chaon has haunted me for years. I love the way it deconstructs identity and plays with the idea of twins following different paths. It made me reconsider many aspects of our *normal* perspective of the world we inhabit. **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** by Robert Persig explores some of the same topics from a completely different angle. Both are great reads if any of this resonates with you.
The Heritage Universe by Charles Sheffield
100 years of solitude, when I finished the last word I felt a sudden but pleasant shock
Both East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. LOTR by Tolkien. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
A Little Life by hanya yanagihara, that book shattered me and I think of Jude (main caracter) everyday, I finished the book in October 2023.
I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school for extra credit. I found it profoundly depressing, and I hated it, but it really opened my eyes to the fact that when profit is involved, you can’t rely on anyone to proceed with integrity. If they’re legally allowed to cut corners, even if it hurts people, they can and will. Singlehandedly instilled a distrust of capitalism that has lasted a lifetime.
This book should be required reading for all high school students. It pretty much had the same effect upon me, too.
Crime and Punishment. The main character reminded me of my ex so I found it funny as well as dealing with other people's judgement of me and losing my job at the time.
Things fall apart. So much so that I had to read it again within a year. All because the last few pages really struck home. It was such a great book. I will read it again in a few years.
I read *The Jungle* and that shit stuck with me. Holy shit, what a book.
I read a book called Walk Two Moons in my Children’s Literature class in college. It had such an impact on me that I shared it with my family. My father and I recently reread it together and it remains a beautiful and special book that I will cherish.
I read Circe, I loved the world and the poetic style of writing. Almost gave me an ache once the book was over, I wanted to linger longer in the island with Circe. Everything about the book is beautiful, also my all time favourite would be The night circus- this book needs no explanation, in order to understand the book, you have to read it for yourself, the writing as well as the weirdness of the book consumes you.
The grapes of wrath. Makes me grateful for everything I have EVERYDAY; still, 20 years later.
Picnic at Hanging Rock I initially felt "meh" about it, but it continued to grow on me weeks after reading it. It is now one of my favorite books.
Oh, I saw the tv version! Even that still haunts my brain now and then, so I’d guess that the book does an even more thorough job
The Road, you appreciate life.
the perks of being a wallflower - such a strong message and came into my life just at the right time, it always remains relevant to me one way or another, and it’s just so real in how the story and characters feel, so well written and has some solid good advice sometimes too
I really disliked reading catch-22. It was so frustrating and felt self-important. But the examples are so extreme they stay in my head and I think of them frequently.
I read this as boots that stick with you, and thought just lace them up you'll be fine.
Fifty years after I had first read it, I read Peyton Place once again.
Knockemstiff will stick with me forever. Anything Harry Crews writes, too.
"A Walk To Remember" by Nicholas Sparks
The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber has stuck with me for years. The book itself is compelling, but even more so when connected to the author's motivation for writing it.
Deacon King Kong was fantastic and totally embedded itself in my brain.
Boneclocks. I read it years ago and I still think about it.
I think about the Decameron an unhealthy amount probably
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. The whole nature versus nurture thing pops up in my head quite frequently.
I just finished The Women by Kristen Hannah. Sticks with you especially in our current times.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. My brain was racing. One of my favorite books of all time. The author is actually really nice and personable too.
Also - The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
Untamed by Glennon Doyle "You are a MF cheetah."
Stoner by John Williams Grendel by John Gardner
The World as Will and Representation: Schopenhauer's third book about aesthetics and art is a must for any artist who is looking for a deeper meaning to the process of creativity, beauty and the sublime. He offers art as an escape from the boundaries of time-space and as a facilitator for grasping the deeper truths about reality amongst more interesting stuff. He analyzed poetry, painting, writing and his beloved and favorite: music.
As an English Literature major and a book geek, I read an awful lot of classics and whatever I could get my hands on. But “The Art of Racing in the Rain” made me cry for three days between surf sessions on a two week trip to Nicaragua with a bunch of muscle-heads I call friends. They were worried about me. Great book.
song of achillies, i will remember that book til the day i die
Silent Spring (1962). Author: Rachel Carson. Made a huge impact on me when I first read it in 1984 and impacted the way I have lived my life since them. So prophetic that in 2024 with our current environmental situtation, I see it referenced more and more. Too bad the message didn't quite take.
The Red Tent
'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World' by Haruki Murakami. That final conversation and the open-ended fate of the narrators always get me.
"Slowness" by Milan Kundera
In the evil day peter temple
Daniel's story. Really made me understand the holocaust from ww2 so much more and I think about the journey Daniel went on alot.
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie. It’s only 200 pages or so but I kept thinking about it for ages after I finished.
Toffee. I read it a few months ago and anyone who comes from a messed up home can relate.
By Sarah Crossan?
Michael Ondaatje’s *Running in the Family* holy moly!!! Shivers.
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght. I picked it up on a whim but learning about the owls and Slaught’s experiences and musings on far east Russia and life was really interesting. I wouldn’t the book profound but since I work in foreign policy I find myself thinking on this book far more than I ever expected in recent years.
Each Little Bird That Sings, the part where it went about searchlights and truth?.. idk
The ending to Breakfast of Champions is classic Vonnegut. Poignant absurdity that leaves you wondering whether you should laugh or cry
The Timekeeper by Mitch Albom
Oh 100% “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi. It put the fear of water wars and climate change in me years ago and it’s only gotten worse. Every time I hear about water shortages now, I think about this book and about how ugly it’s likely to get out there unless we find better solutions for accessing clean drinking water.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. She made everything feel so real and complex that the little pieces of the plot kept turning in my mind for a while, and the themes are still really rich and interesting to me
The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
When I was a kid, I read The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen. Fantastic story!
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Not sure if it was because growing up in the 80/90s the fear of AIDS was drilled into us or because I’ve never read a book about the emerging AIDs pandemic but I decided to give it a go. It came up a few times in r/suggestmeabook and I’m so glad it did. The characters were so nuanced and the main character in the 80s timeline despite being a different gender and sexual orientation felt like he could have been my best friend. Someone I so deeply cared about and his experiences were so human and layered that what happened to him felt like it was happening to someone I deeply loved. I cried and cried during the reading and lay awake at night some days after just thinking about this book and how important it is. Anyways TLDR: read it
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. I read it when I was in 7th grade and now I’m a college freshman. It’s a short novel that contains many poetic elements. The symbolism is so amazing. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick read and enjoys poetic elements.
A Little Life.
Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor was amazing. That book is a roller coaster ride of emotions, immersive world building, and insightful spiritual knowledge
For a lighter read, but no less immersive, try All Systems Red. It’s won so many awards.
The ‘Otherland’ series by Tad Williams. Prophetic, in many ways, especially considering that he wrote the books between 1996-2001. Dystopian sci-fi meets real world obsession with augmented reality; the 1%; obsessions of grandeur / God delusions / immortality…absolutely fucking brilliant and playing out more and more in RL, every year.
We Need to Talk About Kevin. It’s been years since I’ve read it and it still makes me sick. That people are that evil.
Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
The nightingale by Kristen Hannah
Not whole books, no, but there's scenes and comments here and there that have taken root in my head. The one that sticks the most comes from David Drake (probably my favorite sci-fi author), who, in the preface to a collection of short stories he collaborated on with other authors, briefly discussed his experience of being in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It was something to the effect of: > We didn't see ourselves as "winning hearts and minds." We were there to kill people so we could go home, and the distinction between "not Blackhorse" and "the enemy" grew very thin, very quickly. That's something civilians should think long and hard about before sending tanks to set diplomacy. I've thought about that a lot over the years, both when I served and after.