Looking for book recommendations. Drop the title of your favorite book and why it stands out to you. Open to all genres.

  • Blastboom Strice
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    5 months ago

    We by Yevgeny Zamiatin (1924).

    A dystopian (and somewhat romantic) novel, preceeding 1984 and Brave new world (it seems like both writers got some inspiration by it) and I think I liked it more than those other two.

    The writer was a Russian mechanic, so those two attributes influenced his writing. The books was first published in English in 1924 and due to cenrsorship, it got published in 1988 in Soviet Union.

    The main character is D-503 (yes, that’s his name) and is the head mechanic of Integral, a space ship which will allow his country (the One State) to expand to other planets. He is living in a city governed by the Benefactor. ~All houses there are made of glass so that people can watch you. Almost all of their lives are programmed, they have such a strict schedule that they only have ~1-2 hours of “free” time, ~all else are determined by the State. He’s living like a robot, until he meets I-330 :)

    I think it goes really hard, harder than 1984 and Brave new world and I think it had a better-fuller plot than the other two dystopian novels (even if Brave new world seems more of a likely senario). It’s about 300 pages. I also really like dystopian novels :))

  • toomanypancakes@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It’s hard to pick one as my favorite, but I absolutely adore House of Leaves. It was a totally fascinating read, and it made me feel kinda claustrophobic, which I’d never experienced from a book before.

  • Diddlydee@feddit.uk
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    5 months ago

    Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley. A desolate folk horror about grief and madness, full of dark and beautiful prose. The tone is excellent and unsettling, and the final line will haunt you.

  • itchick2014 [Ohio]@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    I have many favorites, but here I will recommend one I never see. I really liked a book called Genesis by Bernard Beckett. It is a fairly short read, but I have kept returning to it over the years to glean new things to ponder. It reminds me of some of the books talked about frequently, like 1984, Brave New World, or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? while also being its own thing and not going off the deep end too far. The concepts discussed in it I found thought provoking and it is so short (less than 200 printed pages) that it is easy to pick up again on a whim and not feel like you are making a huge commitment.

  • BillDaCatt@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Rant - Chuck Palahniuk

    My favorite version is the audiobook. It’s weird sci-fi in all the right ways.

    If you have read Fight Club and enjoyed it, you will probably like this too.

  • EntropicalVacation@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    One of my many favorites is The Cave by José Saramago. It’s an indictment of capitalism, bureaucracy, and commercial development couched as a sort of realist fable. Saramago is compassionate and tender toward his protagonists and wryly sardonic in his social criticism.