
Ask HN: What is the best fiction book you've ever read?  - jborden13
I've been suffering from burnout lately and one of the things I read was that reading books unrelated to work/productivity is supposed to help. I'm headed in vacation in a couple of weeks and I'm curious what the best fiction book you ever read was? If your book is already in the comments below please just upvote it.
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chudi
A confederacy of dunces, amazing book! tragedy, comedy, insane characters,
really good book!

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mccolin
The biggest tragedy of A Confederacy of Dunces is that it's author, John
Kennedy Toole, did not live to see its publishing and success. I also love
this book!

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meerita
I seriously recommend the Riverworld series, written by the excellent Philip
José Farmer. I think after The Foundation from Asimov I cannot find anything
good or exciting for fiction.

<http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer>

PD: I've read a lot, guys. Those were my favs :D

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mast
It's so hard to recommend something without a frame of reference. Personally,
I've found myself re-reading The _Lord of the Rings_ lately.

But, if I had to pick one book that was my favourite, I might say _Moby Dick_.
(I'll admit that I actually read it first after seeing the Wrath of Khan as a
kid)

~~~
meerita
I agree with this. "Fiction" is a really broad term and may lead to many
different and, probably, meaningless suggestions to the OP. If he can specify
wich kind of fictions he likes maybe he will get better recommendations, I've
read so many fiction books from different genres that it's really hard to
choose one in particular.

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fizzbar
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, while maybe not the "best" book ever
written, is highly entertaining...

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jtbigwoo
All of Neal Stephenson's books have a breezy sense of wonder and adventure
with a dash of science-y cleverness.

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saturdayplace
If the OP is looking for a page turner, then Stephenson's Snow Crash is
another great recommendation. Anathem was slower to me, and Reamde was good.
But if I was to pick up Stephenson's stuff again I go to Snow Crash, then
Cryptonomicon as my one, two.

~~~
tqh
The Baroque cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion and System of the World is
awesome as well. Who doesn't want to read fiction about The Royal Society,
Isaac Newton and Liebniz mixed in with phrases in the line with "In memory of
Englands greatest swordsman, beaten to death with a club by an Irishman".
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle)

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halhelms
The Count of Monte Cristo for a great, rousing yarn

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thesash
A few on my "re-read every few years" list: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance, Speaker for the Dead, Infinite Jest, Watchmen, The Amazing
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

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leephillips
Some favorites:

 _Pale Fire_ by Nabokov

 _Ulysses_ by Joyce

 _Et Tu, Babe_ by Leyner

 _Metamorphosis_ by Kafka (more a long story)

 _Things Fall Apart_ by Achebe

 _Hamlet_ and _Coriolanus_ by Shakespeare

 _The Code of the Woosters_ by Wodehouse

 _The Doorbell Rang_ by Stout

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zlbrooks
Slaughterhouse 5, Snowcrash, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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varunkho
I have found books from Jon Evans very delightful and interesting to read:

1) Beasts of New York – <http://www.beastsofnewyork.com/>

2) Invisible Armies (thriller, drama, computer hacking) –
<http://www.rezendi.com/invisibleArmies.htm>

Both books have their digital edition freely downloadable as well.

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latch
Dune

1984

Would greatly help if you told us what type (or examples) of books you like.

~~~
jborden13
I purposely left it open-ended. I probably haven't read a fiction book in 15
years. I've been so heavy on business/marketing/tech/startup/biography books
that I'm not even sure what fiction I would enjoy anymore.

Books I've enjoyed recently are Titan, Outliers, Blue Ocean Strategy. I think
a portion of my burnout is losing my sense of fun - hence my general attitude
towards fiction over the last decade+ has been it's fake and thus a waste of
time. While I know that's not true (the waste of time part), it just hasn't
been 'productive' to read a fiction book.

So I was just curious which fiction books everyone else enjoyed, and I was
going to pick a couple from the list that was created.

~~~
jtbigwoo
Look for page-turners rather than literature as you're getting back into
fiction. Business and popular non-fiction books these days are written in a
very elementary style. I take nothing away from Malcolm Gladwell, but his
writing style is very easy to read compared to many of the books we're
suggesting.

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nicwolff
Top three: _Mockingbird_ , by Walter Tevis; _Riddley Walker_ , by Russell
Hoban; _Glimpses of the Moon_ , by Edith Wharton

Some other favorites: _The Dog Stars_ , by Peter Heller; _To Reign In Hell_ ,
by Steven Brust; _Machine Man_ , by Max Barry; _The Dawn Patrol_ , by Don
Winslow; _The Woman_ , by Hank Ketchum

~~~
leephillips
Read _Machine Man_ this year: very effective, really chilling.

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rombdn
A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett is usually for me a good way to step back
from everyday life and work. It's funny, there are many references to
scientific and nerd culture and it helps to reconsider some "serious"
things...

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papul1993
I haven't read many books but till date I have never read a book better than
The Godfather.

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cpr
_The Master of Hestviken_ , by Sigrid Unset (long forgotten, but she was a
Pulitzer-winning author in the 1930's), is probably the best novel I've ever
read.

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michael_fine
A Song of Ice and Fire

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kohanz
Sphere by Michael Crichton. I was quite young at the time, but I remember
being completely engrossed. Please don't relate it to the movie version :)

~~~
jborden13
Loved this book when I was younger. Fascinating read.

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saturdayplace
Contact by Carl Sagan. I first read it as an adult and it took my breath away.
The movie was a fair adaptation.

Also, I like to read Ender's Game once a year or so.

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david927
Crime and Punishment, Les Miserables, War and Peace

~~~
stevekemp
Since you're going with "classics" I'd add:

* Les Liaisons dangereuses

* The Count of Monte Cristo

Plus my personal picks; Taltos the assassin, Chronicles of Amber, Dune & LoTR.

~~~
jtbigwoo
All the nerds I know (which is basically everybody I know) like the Vlad
Taltos books. As long as you're OK with dragons, sarcasm, and crime you should
like them, too.

~~~
stevekemp
I just hope he comes back to the Lady Teldra plot sometime soon. The last few
books have left me hanging for almost as long as I can bear.

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wj
Using best and favorite interchangeably as literature is a pretty subjective
subject:

As a kid: Where the Red Fern Grows As an adult: The Dharma Bums

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agilecoder
_The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_ and _A Spot of Bother_
both by Mark Haddon

 _The Corrections_ by Jonathan Franzen

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tptacek
Catch 22.

~~~
saturdayplace
Catch 22 is a fantastic read. I don't think I've read anything else where
everything in the book is such a great illustration of its main theme. Plus,
it's just plain entertaining.

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minusthebrandon
American Gods by Neil Gaiman is an amazing book.

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jtbigwoo
Neuromancer by William Gibson

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tjr
_To Kill a Mockingbird_

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smuss77
It's been mentioned, but gotta second Crime and Punishment. Great.

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makerops
Reamde by Neal Stephenson,

Daniel Surez freedom (tm), deamon, and kill decision.

ready player one

anything by mark twain

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joe8756438
a couple favorites: classic: The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brian recent
scifi: Stories of your life and others (short stories) by Ted Chiang

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pfedor
"All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren.

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halhelms
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

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stuffchunk
Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoj

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wglb
Joyce Carol Oates.

