
Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018? - riledhel
Similar to this one https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=18743465 but I&#x27;m looking for fiction, poetry books to read next year.
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mmcclure
Three Body Problem (this one's probably going to get mentioned a lot, and it
absolutely deserves it). The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Red Rising
(series) by Pierce Brown.

I almost gave up on Three Body Problem because it starts off a little slowly
and it's difficult to see where the book is going. Absolutely worth it in the
end, though. The second two are the kinds of books you can rip through quickly
if you've got a little extra reading time over the holidays.

~~~
RickS
Glad to hear the trilogy was worth continuing! I tore through the first one in
about 3 days – admittedly the start is very slow. Will have to pick the other
two up now.

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gradys
Permutation City by Greg Egan - Hard sci-fi about what might happen if we
could scan human minds in sufficient detail to simulate them in computers.
Best treatment of this topic I've ever seen.

Diaspora by Greg Egan - Takes the idea much, much further. What might happen
to humanity if virtualized "human" minds embodied in robots or not embodied at
all became the two most common ways for people to be. Also, fascinating and
surprisingly rigorous diversions into math and physics.

~~~
danbmil99
Greg Egan is a true treasure. I would love to know more about why he seems to
have pulled out of traditional publishing.

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strikelaserclaw
Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson. This is my first foray into high
fantasy, and i absolutely loved these books. I also enjoyed sci-fi novel, The
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

~~~
mrfusion
I liked the mistborn series even better. Check it out. I still can’t figure
out how they’re related though.

~~~
strikelaserclaw
that is where i'm going next :)

------
charlescearl
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemison was a favorite. Intelligent,
conflicted characters and such a superb interplay of geological science
fiction.

~~~
tshanmu
+1

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izacus
Foundryside from Robert J. Benett - it's a fantasy novel where magic system is
based upon reverse engineering power words and jealusly keeping them secret
from other trade organizations. Magic in that world is literally intellectual
property and is compiled into huge dictionaries which aren't far from being
programs. The whole "feel" of the world is very victorian - something akin to
Dishonored if anyone played this.

The prose is very readable, the characters pretty awesome and it's just such a
very fresh take on fantasy.

Goodreads:
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37173847-foundryside?fro...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37173847-foundryside?from_search=true)

And The Verge ("Foundryside is a cyberpunk adventure wrapped in an epic
fantasy novel"): [https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/23/18148907/foundryside-
rob...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/23/18148907/foundryside-robert-
jackson-bennett-fantasy-cyberpunk-book-review)

------
jackschultz
Almost a day late, but I'll throw this in here if people come by later looking
for more suggestions.

From this year, I read all but two of the Haruki Murakami books and all short
stories. I love his writing style (great translations), and the fact that the
stories are about not all the time realness. Kafka on the Shore is a great
starting book. Also Norwegian Wood is another example, though this strayed
away from the magical aspect I like of his.

Another from this year was The Dubliners, collection of short stories from
James Joyce. I was stuck in Dublin during a snow storm this past spring, so
I'm sure this lead me to like the stories more, but I swear they're amazing
and I haven't found anything else like them. They're all tiny points in
people's lives, and the things that happen make differences for the people or
are also easy to remember and not forget. Get one with reference notes in the
back too.

Besides those, Love in the Time of Cholera was another one way up on my list.
Similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I think I prefer slightly
more, but reading both is interesting to read since Cholera was written 20
years after Solitude and we can see how the author changed over time.

Overall though, my absolute top tier books are East of Eden, Catch-22, and My
Struggle (Knausgaard). 1000% read those. I like including these so if somebody
reads this and likes these books as well, they can somewhat trust my other
suggestions.

------
sgillen
Currently reading the three body problem. It’s been reccomended here a few
times but I still quite like it.

~~~
FreeRadical
The trilogy is fantastic

~~~
jordonwii
+1. Read the series earlier this year and really enjoyed it.

------
michelledepeil
I read Infinite Jest for the first time this year, and it's incredible. I
recognise at the same time it's not for everyone, but the story, writing
style, humor and sheer specific knowledge on so many subjects employed in this
book are incredible.

~~~
edanm
It's one of my long-time goals to read this book. I read the first few
chapters and it was amazing, but sadly life intervened and I couldn't
continue.

I'm curious - did you read it on its own, or did you read some kind of
resource along with it? I've seen recommendations to read it alongside
websites/books that help understand it.

~~~
michelledepeil
I read it on its own, on an ebook reader where the annotations don't work (bad
android app). Generally I only have to look up the occasional word or two to
get some of the word jokes (my favourite being "[making his exam by] a single
dento-dermal layer", meaning "the skin of his teeth")

I am reminded of the foreword, the author of which I forget, who said that it
clearly isn't a breeze to read, you have to put in actual effort to understand
the damn sentences. This is totally true, if I let my mind wander as with any
other book, I have to go back and re-read it.

------
fitzroy
Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff Brilliant. It's considered "literary fiction"
but I found this book to be an absolute page-turner, much more so than what is
usually described as a "page-turner". The summaries / back-cover marketing
copy can't do it justice.

Florida - Lauren Groff Sublime, poetic, haunting collection of short stories.

Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang Exhalation - Ted Chiang Being
released in May 2019 (I got an advance copy), but many of the stories are
previously published and/or available online. "The Lifecycle of Software
Objects" is just wonderful. Ted Chiang's work is the definition of economy in
storytelling. Absolutely quality over quantity.

The Three Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End - Liu Cixin I’m not sure
how fulfilling it would be to just read the first one. They really feel like a
single (big) novel. Worth it.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O - Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland Kind of
Stephenson-light(?). Smart, entertaining and seems destined to be a TV series.

The Secret History - Donna Tartt A bit slow to get going. Lots of Greek, snow,
and booze at a private liberal-arts college in Vermont.

The Grownup - Gillian Flynn (short story)

------
eterps
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-
tim...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time)

------
sballin
East of Eden (John Steinbeck) is one of my new favorites of all time. Once you
get past the opening descriptions of valleys and farms, the story is
relatable, gripping, and unexpected.

------
habosa
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt.

I read a lot of fiction (30+ novels a year) and this book really blew me away.

Oh and by the way, it's not about Samurai or Japan or anything like that. If
you're interested in thinking about the nature of intelligence / learning
while reading some beautiful prose, get this book.

------
aaachilless
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie (the Blade Itself, Before They Are
Hanged, and the Last Argument of Kings). They're quite dark but surprisingly
funny and maybe the most readable novels I've ever read. Absolute page-
turners.

~~~
croo
I tried to read it previous year and found the books incredibly boring - most
of the characters are exaggerated and flat, the story is really nowhere to be
found after 300 pages and the use of English language was simplicistic.

I only got through ~300 pages before giving up though, maybe a plot arises and
takes the lead but I never reached it.

------
forlorn
I stuck to the classics. Kafka's Castle is absolutely brilliant. I read it
greedily, just couldn't stop. It doesn't look magical at first sight but I
could feel the atmosphere, the temperature, even smell.

Other than that Nabokov's Lolita is just celestial. And it's not only about
the wording which is beyond beauty. Sometimes I caught myself thinking that
this book reads me not the other way around. It's very precise, very
unabashed, very intimate. Sometimes it looks surprisingly like your own
reflection. Can't recommend enough.

------
davycro
I enjoy easy page-turner sci/fi or fantasy because it helps me unwind after a
stressful day at work. Some of my favorites this year:

\- Vengeful and Vicious by VE Schwab \- Collapsing Empire by Scalazi (late
2017, but close enough to 2018)

Not released in 2018, but still fun and new to me this year. \- The Red Rising
series by Pierce Brown

~~~
mmcclure
I really enjoy Scalzi, so I was surprised when I didn't know about the
Interdependency series. The nice thing was by the time I finished Collapsing
Empire the second book in the series was released (The Consuming Fire). I
haven't started it yet, but it's next in the queue!

------
mindcrime
_Past Tense_ \- Lee Child

 _The Forbidden Door_ \- Dean Koontz

 _The Crooked Staircase_ \- Dean Koontz

 _The Outsider_ \- Stephen King

 _Sleeping Beauties_ \- Stephen King & Owen King

 _The Fallen_ \- David Baldacci

 _Zeroes_ \- Chuck Wendig

 _The Supernatural Enhancements_ \- Edgar Cantero

 _A Canticle for Leibowitz_ \- Walter M. Miller Jr.

 _A Wrinkle in Time_ \- Madeleine L'Engle

------
indigochill
The Lies of Locke Lamora. Not a new book, but I read it this year and as a fan
of the thief/conman type in fiction, I found it fun. Will probably pick up the
next one next year.

~~~
modernerd
Yes! The audio version narrated by Michael Page is incredible too. I'm on book
three and don't want it to end.

Incredible voice acting, gripping storyline, and hilarious dialogue.

------
tdalaa
I have thoroughly enjoyed The Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells also very good, except the price for
book 2+ are ripoffs at $12 for only 150-170 pages.

------
jger15
Enjoyed:

\- Chocky - John Wyndham

\- Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

\- The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti

\- The Executioner Weeps - Frederic Dard

\- The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei

\- The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars

\- Ms Ice Sandwich - Mieko Kawakami

\- Such Small Hands - Andres Barba

\- The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura

\- Ties - Domenico Starnone

\- Trick - Domenico Starnone

------
_emacsomancer_
Certainly not published in 2018, but I read and really enjoyed Vernor Vinge's
Zones of Thought series, which begins with _Fire Upon the Deep_.

~~~
AlexCoventry
_A Deepness In The Sky_ is an all-time favorite of mine.

------
AlexCoventry
_The Power_ by Naomi Alderman.

Can't remember whether it was this year or last year, but Walter Jon William's
_Metropolitan_ series is great, too.

------
p0d
‘The man I think I know’ by Mark Gayle. No kingdoms at war or cyborgs. Just a
good read about male friendship with an interesting starting point.

------
willemave
Really loved the Auora Rhapsody (Rising + Renegades + Disonant) by G.S
Jennsen. It’s an epic 9 book space opera that has both Hyperion and
Commonwealth Saga beat. It’s a must read.

[https://www.gsjennsen.com/books](https://www.gsjennsen.com/books)

------
jeffFrom18F
Best:

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh

The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah

Disappointments:

The Fifth Season - NK Jemisin - gimmicky nonsense. I realize I'm in the
minority.

Autonomous - Annalee Newitz - This guy falls in love with a robot that is
basically being described as in the shape of a refrigerator, among other
things. I couldn't get over how stupid it all was.

~~~
edanm
> The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin - gimmicky nonsense, I can't understand why
> people keep recommending it.

Did you read this after the first two? It is the third in a series, and IMO
not as good as the first one (the second was also less good).

That said, the first was _great_ , one of the best fantasy books I've read in
a long time.

~~~
jeffFrom18F
Sorry.. my mistake I meant to write The Fifth Season. I probably won't read
the rest of the trilogy. I've edited my original post.

------
mcphage
* Senlin Ascends, by Josiah Bancroft. It was fantastic, a steampunk world with a little bit of everything, and a protagonist that starts off as a git, but by the end transforms into a likeable hero, without losing track of who he was. I highly recommend it.

------
Dilo20
Drowned Worlds, Jonathan Strathan (Ed) - Stories of climate change. One of the
stories will make it real to the reader.

Circe, Madeline Miller - Entertaining and memorable tale with many characters
from Greek mythology.

------
daeken
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green - Just solid, approachable sci-
fi.

------
lukewrites
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami was my favorite of the year. I'd
highly recommend it.

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry ran a close second, and I'm in the middle
of Wolf Hall and quite liking it, too.

------
sethammons
Anything Brandon Sanderson, with Stormlight Archives as the crown jewel.

------
richjdsmith
Trinity by Leon Uris.

It was a historical fiction about Irish independence and has become my
favorite book.

------
ericand
Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner

~~~
all_factz
Stoked to see this book mentioned here; it's among my favorites. Stegner's
"The Big Rock Candy Mountain" is good too; IMO it has higher highs but is a
weaker effort overall.

------
manojlds
Expeditionary Force, an ongoing series. Has become my favourite light sci-fi.

~~~
ireadbookss
I love this too. Laughing out loud more often than any book(s) before.
Recommended. It's an easy read.

------
jaredwiener
American War by Omar El Akkad. Incredible post-apocalyptic civil war story.

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padthai
dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18746712](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18746712)

------
minkeymaniac
Published in 2018? I liked The Outsider by Stephen King

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vivekseth
“Off to Be the Wizard” from the Magic 2.0 series

