[–] Ben77 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
My favourite Sci fi novel is most definitely Excession by Iain M Banks.
The insights and 'colour' it gives to the Culture Minds is what makes it for me. I also find things like 'Outside Context Problems' intriguing.
The following is Banks' description of a OCP and gives a glimpse of why I love his writing style:
something most civilizations would encounter just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop."
[–] hungrylemur 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn
My first 'grown up' book and it took me 4 or 5 readings to get even half the allusions, demanding but truly insightful.
On one hand it is a description of cancer treatment in a horrible squalid hospital combined with the main protagonist allowing himself to care once more, on the other hand a description of the incurable damage done to Russia by Stalin.
Its not a happy book, its not an uplifting book, it is a book I never regret reading and go to time after time
[–] redheadslove 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I absolutely love Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts. It's really just a story about a girl who lives life to the fullest. Even after tragedy happens, she just keeps going. It's a good "slice of life" type book. It's an excellent book for when you're looking for some light reading, and is probably the one that I've read the most specifically for that reason.
[–] True-Saber 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter.
It puts into perspective what little we, as a species, have accomplished and how far we might go.
[–] SUTURESELF 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Probably Walden by Thoreau. It seems very applicable to life, even if you're not living by yourself in the woods.
Never got why people said it was boring either, I thought it was very easy to want to read, its cozy.
I also love the Harry Potter series if im completely honest with myself, though I think I more like the universe and everything than the books for a literary merit (they are fun though).
[–] fire_eyeballs 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I got it as an audiobook to listen to while on a car trip. It was interesting to hear a commentary of human vanity mixed in with shopping lists and several anecdotes.
[–] tar-x 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
1984 by George Orwell.
Not only is the story artfully told with brilliant description, it was the first book that made me cry. It was not a weepy, sad cry, but an angry, hurt, its-not-fair kind of cry.
This line made me throw the book across the room: