
Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction - stpapa
Most of my reading recently has been non-fiction, and I&#x27;m looking for recommended good fiction books to read.<p>Any must read fiction?
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jaymon
I'll second someone else's recommendation for The Martian, that was just a
really fun read you can just burn through because it is so enjoyable.

If you want another really fun read, Ready Player One was fantastic.

I've also enjoyed the Old Man's War saga, there are 6 books but you can skip
book 4 since it is a retelling of book 3 from the POV of another character.
This is a space saga and I really like the universe he created.

In the hard sci-fi genre, I really enjoyed The Forever War.

And for just pure world building fantasy, the Game of Thrones books (The song
of Ice and Fire series) are some of the best written books I've ever read.

~~~
stpapa
More than a few mentions of The Martian, going to add that to my list. Thanks.

~~~
getup8
Eh, I'd give it a shot by I quit after the first few chapters. I didn't like
the narrator's voice/tone at all and the writing was definitely not my
favorite.

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GlassOuroboros
While I cannot recommend any particular books, I can recommend that you look
into the "Hard Science Fiction" genre. They are very realistic, yet still have
a cool aspect of fiction. The Wikipedia page for Hard Science Fiction has a
list of good books in the genre.

Besides that, off the top of my head, I would say books by Isaac Asimov
(Foundation series) or Arthur C. Clarke (Space Odyssey series).

~~~
henrikschroder
My standing recommendation in the SciFi genre would be any Culture novel by
Iain M. Banks. Truly utopian SciFi, and an interesting depiction of a post-
labour, post-scarcity, post-human, AI-symbiotic, "human" civilisation.

It's not hard SciFi, but close. Banks really understood that spaceship battles
are about mass, velocity and energy, and technobabble doesn't save the day.

~~~
gpderetta
> not hard SciFi, but close

I would say it is pretty much space opera (every single technology is
handwaved away). It doesn't make it less awesome though.

~~~
mercer
That's fascinating! Do you know why this would be called 'space opera'? And
could we also say things like 'western opera'?

~~~
detaro
I think for "simple" western movies the term was "horse opera", related is
"soap opera", but in science-fiction it is not seen as such a negative term
anymore and the definition has expanded to cover a wider range of works.
Futuristic with not much in the way of technical details, hero figures, grand
conflicts is roughly what makes a space opera now, and at least some of Banks'
works fit right in there.

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simongray
I don't read much fiction myself. "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse was recommended
to me by 3 different people on 3 different occasions, so I decided to read
that one. It's a great little book that will make you stop every few pages and
think about life.

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ieatkittens
Dune.

I mostly read non-fiction myself, so, just like you, I looked for something
else amd randomly chose Dune. Loved it.

Brilliant world building and a story arch that keeps on giving. And there are
7(?) books in total.

~~~
Fnoord
Yes, indeed. Dune. Lets talk about the _why_. Its much more than an average
fantasy because it contains a lot of angles. It is full with psychology,
politics, and sociology. Specifically, it touches on subjects like
discrimination & racism, oppression/tyranny, managing, infiltrating, warfare,
and various eastern philosophies (since the Atreides are forced to suffer).
Did I forget anything? Please, do improve my answer! :)

~~~
ieatkittens
A few more points:

I'm allergic to clumsy exposition and Herbert, by and large, did a very good
job.

Many times you can read what the characters are thinking. This gives you many
situations where you get a sense just how tormented someone feels, but how he
needs to react in order not to lose control.

Fremen suffering in general. How it shapes their rituals, culture and further
development of the story. Interesting also how it clashes with other cultures.
There's also a nice part about how they must continue to suffer along, lest
they become weak.

A few analogies to our dependency on oil.

The Great Maker <3

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qwertyuiop924
I'll second The Baroque Cycle (or Cryptonomicon: it doesn't matter which). But
might I also suggest the works of Terry Pratchett, particularly Discworld? Sir
Pterry's work is among the best I've ever read.

If you're looking for something a bit fluffier than the above, then I would
suggest The Dresden Files. Sure, it's mindless fluff, but _man_ , it's good
mindless fluff. The same applies to The Codex Alera (which apparently resulted
from a bet that the author couldn't make a good book from an awful idea: the
idea given was the lost roman legion crossed with Pokemon).

I can also suggest Ready Player one in this category. Ready Player One is
essentially geek culture (especially gaming culture) furiously... well, you
know. Giving itself one. But it's a fun ride (unlike Armada. But that's
another story).

Finally, I can reccomend The Laundry Files. Do you like computing? Do you like
lovecraftian nightmares? Go buy these now. The first book is okay, but has a
rather nasty problem, sort of: It keeps winking at the audience incessantly. I
didn't mind too much, myself, but I know others have been put off by it. Don't
worry, the winking lessens to a manageable rate (although never quite fully
goes away: after all, this is a series about a CS Student turned Sysadmin
turned hunter of unspeakable monstrosities named Bob Oliver Francis Howard.
Think about that for a second). And it is one of very few horror series that I
have enjoyed. Take that as you will.

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rbistolfi
Let me throw in the name of Jorge Luis Borges, specially the short stories in
the book "Fictions". "The Library of Babel" is a short story that many
programmers appreciate.

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mlacks
I'm a little partial to The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes as though
painting through the forrest with a brush made of wind.

I've never seen the movie, and I don't intend to; the writing in this book
takes the imagination on a ride like I've never felt before or since

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Fnoord
The correct answer really depends on what you're into, and what kind of person
you are. There are a lot of subcategories in fiction (just like there are in
non-fiction).

Lord of the Rings is much more than mere fiction. It is possibly interesting
from a linguistic PoV as it contains an entirely new language called Quenya
developed by Tolkien. It also contains a lot of subjects which are relevant
IRL.

Without getting further into LOTR I agreed with another poster on Dune and
attempted to explain the subjects it touches in another reply to your post.

Problem with both of these (as well as say GoT) is there are movies made of
them.

You might also be interested in stories which are based on non-fiction, but
are written in a story telling kind of way, greatly adding to suspense. In
that category I read the books Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick and Kingpin
by Kevin Poulsen [1]. If you're interested in following a suspenseful hacker
story I can recommend them both.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13240924](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13240924)

~~~
captn3m0
+1 on Ghost in the Wires. You could also try On wings of Eagles, a narrative
of a rescue of EDS employees during the Iranian Revolution.

Wikipedia tells me that the genre is called Non-fiction novels.

~~~
Fnoord
I'll take your word on that one. I've been more of a movie/docu person, and
have seen a movie based on that story, Argo [1]. The movie was good. Non-
fictional, based on the real story, slightly romanticized/more suspenseful.

While I'm trying to steer more towards reading books I made the rule to not
watch a book of a movie I've seen. It just doesn't work very well for me
(other way around seems fine).

So yeah, the movie spoiled it for me...

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_\(2012_film\))

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jboynyc
If you don't want to venture too far out of your comfort zone, A. S. Byatt
writes fiction books that read like non-fiction (much in the way that Erik
Larson writes non-fiction that reads like fiction). At the same time, Byatt is
a fantastic writer with a great literary imagination.

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kenrick95
Douglas Adams's "The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy", a sci-fi comedy
adventure fiction. It's the book where this appears: Answer to the ultimate
question of life, the universe, and everything. The novel is adapted from a
radio drama show, so reading it feels like someone is telling and describing
you a story verbally.

~~~
qwertyuiop924
Gah. Why didn't I suggest this? That's ideal.

------
falcolas
I'm going to a very different route than my colleagues: Sandman by Neil
Gaiman. It's a series of graphic novels which delves deeply into theology,
philosophy, and the human condition.

Since it's in the form of a graphic novel, it's much more like "reading" a TV
miniseries, and makes for a great introduction to Neil Gaiman's writing style
(which will take you straight off the deep end into the fantasy genre).
They're also easier to pick up and set down as the whim strikes.

If you really enjoy the setting, the Lucifer series of graphic novels takes
one of the most interesting characters from the setting and expands upon it.
It was adapted to a TV show as well, much to the chagrin of anybody who
actually enjoyed the graphic novels.

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travmatt
My vote (behind Dostoyevsky and Hesse) would be Kafka, Vonnegut and Joyce.

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tavish1
I started reading sci-fi(mostly hard-sf) after I read the commonwealth saga,
'Pandora's star' and 'Judas unchained'. It was just really entertaining and
unlike anything I've read. Also really recommend 'Snow crash'. Also adding a
couple fantasy recommendations: Lies of Locke lamora, and any basically any
novel by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn: the final empire, Warbreaker, The way of
kings etc.)

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kijin
If you're into social issues, Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels that combine
sci-fi with social and political philosophy in a package that feels somewhat
non-fiction-y. My favorite are _The Left Hand of Darkness_ and _The
Dispossessed_. Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, _Lavinia_ , is a
fascinating reinterpretation of ancient Roman epic fantasy.

Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot around here
but whose works of SF(she prefers "speculative fiction" to "sci-fi") I've
enjoyed a lot. Her _MaddAddam_ trilogy is weird but entertaining. You'll
probably either love it or hate it. Many of her other works focus on issues of
sex and gender in various past and future settings, some fictional, some
historical.

Of course, I as well as a lot of other commenters in this thread are assuming
that you'll be into sci-fi and fantasy, because that's what most computer
geeks like. But even if you aren't a sci-fi fan, Le Guin and Atwood aren't
typical sci-fi, so you might find them interesting anyhow.

~~~
mordant
>If you're into _left-wing politics_ , Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels
that combine sci-fi with _left-wing preachiness_ in a package that feels
_extremely overbearing_. My favorite are The Left Hand of Darkness and The
Dispossessed. Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, Lavinia, is _an SJWish
mockery_ of ancient Roman epic fantasy.

>Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot around here
but whose works of SF(she prefers "speculative fiction" to "sci-fi") I've
enjoyed a lot. Her MaddAddam trilogy is weird _and preachy_. You'll probably
_hate it_. Her other works focus on _SJW ranting about_ issues of sex and
gender in various past and future settings, some fictional, some historical.

>Of course, I as well as a lot of other commenters in this thread are assuming
that you'll be into _ham-handed left-wing message fiction_ , because that's
what _we like_.

>Le Guin and Atwood _are typical ur-SJWs_ , so you might find them
_pretentious and tendentious_.

FTFY.

~~~
kijin
Thanks for the chuckle, but if Le Guin and Atwood sound SJWish to you, I think
you and I have very different definitions of what it means to be SJWish. They
are the last two people I can imagine who would agree to the blatant
censorship that is taking place in today's academic and literary circles in
the name of SJWish-ness.

 _The Dispossessed_ does get preachy, as does the MaddAddam trilogy, but only
because their worlds are chock full of preachy people, each with their own
stash of dirty laundry. That's kinda the point that those books are trying to
make. I would read them any day over some blogger trying to be preachy about
the One True Javascript Framework.

So how about I tolerate the anarcho-capitalist stuff that some of the other
suggestions not-so-subtly drool all over, and you tolerate a bit of preaching
in the other direction.

------
Nevermark
I rarely read fiction, but am loving "Sacre Bleu" by Christopher Moore. If you
like art, artistic and clever turns of phrase and plot, comedy about serious
things, wonderfully twisted fictionalized versions of historical figures and
events, then you will enjoy it.

Wikipedia: "Sacrebleu" is a very old French profanity meant as a cry of
surprise or happiness.

The book lives up to both of those feelings.

------
kripy
Anything by Haruki Murakami. Start with "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and never
look back. Supernatural and super good.

~~~
DeanWormer
I discovered him from the old puzzle site thisisnotporn and loved "Dance Dance
Dance" and "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World".

------
tarboreus
Some great suggestions here, but mostly well within the engineer comfort zone
(Adams, Gaiman, Tolkien, Asimov, Pratchett, Weir, Sanderson, Rothfuss). If
you're feeling like trying something a little different, I'd highly recommend
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's historical fiction set in Tudor England, and
follows Oliver Cromwell who is a kind of fixer for Henry VIII. Beautiful
language, but Mantel also has an ability to enter into the mindset of the
times in a way that can be striking and alien.

I have a fear that engineers on here are all reading and watching the same
things. Intellectual monocultures are boring and potentially fragile. Let's
make 2017 the year where HN reads a few books that aren't about wizards or
engineers in space.

------
nekopa
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. This trilogy is a great mash up of
science history and sci-Fi (almost)

------
veddox
Well, "fiction" is an incredibly broad category (if it can even be called
that). And "must read" is highly subjective ;-)

If you're just looking for some light entertainment, go for sci-fi or fantasy
(Lord of the Rings, anyone?). But if you don't mind some slightly "heavier"
reading, have a look at the classics. In some cases they can be a little
tricky to understand, but they are called "classics" for a reason...

Specific suggestions (incomplete and in no particular order): Shakespeare's
plays, Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe",
Harper Lee's "To kill a mockingbird", JM Barrie's "Peter Pan", Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories...

------
gpderetta
It seems that everybody has been recommending sci fi and fantasy... Well, so
will I.

\- The Lies of Locke Lamora: fantasy (think fantastic Renaissance Venice),
fairly light read, very well written, great characters.

\- Accelerando: from our own cstross. Postuhumanist episodic scifi, pretty
much a required read for the average HN reader.

\- The Book of the New Sun: fantasy (or is it?), On the surface episodic
adventures of an executioner, but it is built on multiple layers. Not an easy
read, but masterfully written. Might require multiple reads. Long series.

\- Blindsight, bleak diamond hard scifi, about first contact, consciousness
and life. Not an easy read, but strongly recommended.

~~~
tarboreus
I second Accelerando and Book of the New Sun. Both challenging in their own
ways.

------
slilo
Since the theme of procrastination and self-discipline is quite popular on HN,
I would recommend OP and everyone here "Oblomov" and "Frigate Pallada" by
I.A.Goncharov.

------
hbk1966
I read Non-Fiction also, but in school I remember really enjoying Animal Farm.
Basically I felt it was basically a Non-Fiction book with a Fictional story to
get the points across.

------
saycheese
Two short stories:

\- Rashōmon
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashōmon_(short_story)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashōmon_\(short_story\))

\- Three Questions [http://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/short-stories/the-
th...](http://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/short-stories/the-three-
questions)

------
renke1
Science fiction:

\- House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

\- A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

All of which were recommended here on HN and I really love them, especially
House of Suns.

------
hiisukun
My favourite book to recommend is 'Carter Beats the Devil' by Glen David Gold.
Perhaps the best praise I can give it is that I've recommended it quite a lot,
with many varied friends and relatives reporting they found it most enjoyable.

I find it difficult to describe why I personally love it, but if you get into
reading fiction, think about putting it on your shelf.

------
wink
Wouldn't call it must read, but I found Joyce's Dubliners quite entertaining
and at least close to stuff that's recommended for serious reading.

The last book I thoroughly enjoyed was Scalzi's Redshirts, but it's probably
less funny if you're not familiar with Star Trek at all.

------
DanBC
You've been a bit broad with your question, so you've got a wide variety of
type and level of book.

My suggestion is to start with short stories. Ted Chiang or Greg Egan have got
some great collections of short stories, although they're both SF.

------
juskrey
Dostoyevsky

~~~
ceceron
+1 - Dostoyevsky is a must have.

There are many fictional books that tell so much truth about humanity, but I
would recommend Karel Capek's novels as those aren't very popular nowadays.
Particuraly: The "Absolute at Large" and "War with the Newts".

------
petre
Just about any Graham Greene book: The Power and the Glory. The Quiet
American, The Ministry of Fear, The Comedians, Our Man in Havana etc.

------
source99
The power of One by Bryce Courtney.

Wow. If you ever wanted to see how a fiction book could make you feel and
appreciate literature.

------
iKenshu
I read 'Ready player one' and I really enjoy it.

Right now I am reading 'Seveneves' recommendend by Bill Gates.

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nidx
I'll agree with everyone saying The Martian and add The Neanderthal Parralax
(Trilogy) by Robert J Sawyer

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akoster
Carl Hiassen's books regularly cause me to laugh so hard I have trouble
breathing.

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new299
The Three Body problem by Cixin Liu is very dense, but entertaining and has
depth.

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sorokod
For sci-fi with some Indian spice have a look at River of Gods by Ian McDonald

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sandstrom
The Picture of Dorian Gray

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BillFranklin
Depends what non-fiction you read. Hemingway would be a good bet.

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Vanit
The Martian (Andy Wier)?

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test-accout-0
Jacek Dukaj - Other songs

For me - the best book ever. Other are just worse.

