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[kikkis]

I was just interested if you like reading books and why, or is it just games etc. for you. And if you do read books what are your top 5 books. You can also post if you don't read books and why is that.

Personally i do like books especially after getting kindle last year. But I haven't really read a whole lot of different books tbh. Usually I just read same series again. Now that I have kindle I actually prefer reading books over shows since they are easier to stop and continue, and because they aren't so heavy handed in terms of politics usually. Next series I try to read is malazan, which might take year to finish.

Top 5:
1. Harry potter
2. A song of ice and fire
3. Lord of the rings

I have read more books than this like first three expanse books and hunger games trilogy but I didn't want to put them to top 5.

 

[reezoo]

1. Lord of the rings.
2. Remembrance of the earths past.
3. The alchemist.
4. Ready player one.
5. The last barrier.

 

[VN1X]

Currently reading Hyperion (book 2) by Dan Simmons and it's probably one of the most ambitious and intricate works I've ready in quite some time. Effortless in its world building and scope. I love it!

 

[daveonezero]

I can do series. Hard to pick individual ones out of these.

The Expanse
Hyperion Cantos
Conan (read the collection once and started it over almost immediately).
Redwall

 

[daveonezero]

Currently reading Hyperion (book 2) by Dan Simmons and it's probably one of the most ambitious and intricate works I've ready in quite some time. Effortless in its world building and scope. I love it!

I reall enjoyed both Hyperion and Endymion. Lots of people said it fell apart but I want to reread them.

 

[Dark Star]

I used to read A LOT more books when I was a kid/in school. I was always in the library reading stuff like Goosebumps, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. I'd say my favorite books were Jurassic Park and The Lost World. I still buy used paperbacks on eBay every now and then, horror stuff like The Silence of the Lambs, or thrillers like Fight Club. I occasionally stop a Half price books or Barnes & noble and pick up some new Stephen King or whatever. I love The Shining, Pet Sematary, Dark Tower series, etc. I also really enjoy anything science/nature/space/astronomy related like Pale Blue Dot or A Brief History of Time.

 

[The Rain King]

Cosmos - Carl Sagan
The Beach - Alex Garland
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
The Dark Tower - Stephen King
Tricks of the Mind - Derren Brown

 

[AJUMP23]

I do a lot of audiobooks. I will read for research but for pleasure audiobook is where it is at.

1. Bible
2. LoTR
3. Wilmingtons guide to the Bible - my favorite research tool
4. East of Eden is an amazing book. some stuff I didn't care for in it, but the story is great
5. Any book by David McCullough

 

[thefool]

I like it. I believe i'll eventually love it but im not there yet lol

I tend to read more non-fiction. Technical and history books.

My favorite fiction book is God Emperor of Dune:

The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.

 

[Bombolone]

Its something I have wanted to do more of since forever.
There are a couple of random times in my life that I have picked up one and I always enjoy the experience.

I prefer physical copies---I focus better and find I dont become distracted.
For instance using an app on my phone.
So I bought a Kindle and I love it.

In the past I have read books by/about Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Jung theory, Tibetan Meditation and even a quirky one about a Centenarian.

Last book I finished was 'Later' by Stephen King. (That ending lol)

I am at work so I dont have the books (names/authors) with me. I will edit later.
EDIT:
Lost Connections - Johan Hari

Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma - Bessel van der Kolk M.D

I am currently reading 2 ebooks focused around trauma and I picked up a physical book while walking around my city. (People will often leave books on their front lawn for people to pick up)
That one is called 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn. I just started it on the weekend. I am hooked by the themes but also the style of Mr.Quinn. It all feels other worldly.

Reading is definitely something I would like to consistently do, to form habit. The benefits of it for me and I think everyone, cannot be understated.

Reading and Meditation are two pillars in helping (me) to acheive a healthy, purposeful, fulfilling life.
It helps with my wit and also feels like leveling up, ha.

 

[ItsGreat]

1. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell

2. A Song Of Ice and Fire Series by some bloke

3. The Forgotten Soldier. By Guy Sajer.

4. The Silo series by Hugh Howey

5. Stalingrad by Antony Beevor

 

[poppabk]

I love reading and at one time in my life was a voracious reader, nowadays I have so many distractions I rarely read more than a book or two a month.
My top five in no particular order:
1) Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
2) Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hugo
3) The Dragonlance chronicles - Weiss and Hickman (I still have my well worn copies that I read multiple times as a kid)
4) Lolita - Nabokov
5) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Adams

 

[BadBurger]

Oh yea. Been reading books for leisure ever since I was a little kid. My top five without giving it much thought:

1. The Hobbit
2. Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
3. World War Z
4. Dracula
5. Good Omens

I also really enjoy anthologies and novellas such as the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), and Robert E. Howard (Conan).

 

[ItsGreat]

The problem with this thread is every reply reminds me of a book I love.

5 is not enough.

I love books. They're like having brain transplants.

 

[Ballthyrm]

I can't even write a top 50.
I can maybe do a top 5 of Books that should be more well known.

- Exhalation: stories by Ted Chiang
- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
- Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
- The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

 

[West Texas CEO]

1. Bible

Correct answer.

 

[Rest]

Top five? That's some hard choosing. In no particular order:

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect - Roger Williams
This is a very very very very very good book. It's a novella, I expected to read it over a week, but once I opened it I read it straight through in one sitting.
There is always the question of what is science fiction vs. what is fantasy in a sciency, futuristic setting? This book skirts that line, but I feel like it falls on the true science fiction side. Not because it granularly explains the mechanics of a future tech, but because it thinks like a scientist and asks "what is possible?"; then, after it establishes what it wants to explore, it asks "why wouldn't this be possible?" and the answer to that question, with current knowledge is "there is no reason to believe that this wouldn't happen eventually." After the technical idea is established, it asks "what happens to people when this technology comes into being?"
Beyond that, it's best to go into this book blind. However it does have graphic, intense depictions of violence, torture, rape, gore, and horror scenes. Don't read it to your kids, but do read it to YOU.
You can read this book for free on the author's site, or buy a print on demand copy from a local book store to support local business and the author.

Isle of View - Piers Anthony
Truth be told, it has been many years since I read this, but I remember liking it a hell of a lot in my preteen years, and some of the images from the story still stick with me. It explores, I believe in a very real way, what it means to be a pubescent human being in a society with a concept of adolescence. It asks why it is that you an feel like an adult, and maybe even look like an adult, but still not be fully developed in mind and be in need of life experience to become a peer with the people in positions of familial, social, and government standing compared to you.

Next is not a book, but might be thought of as a cycle of books.

Hyperspace - Michio Kaku → The Trouble with Physics - Lee Smolin → Cycles of Time - Roger Penrose
Alright, so what is all of this? These are books about physics. Hyperspace is a primer on how to think outside the box when it comes to nature and what we experience. I have never, ever read another book that changed my thinking as much as this book. It's fucking amazing. That said, it puts forward some ideas in a very strong way that... Have been around for a long time and have not panned out. And, unfortunately, puts forward a tone and seems to take a stance that these ideas are the way things have to be. That's where The Trouble with Physics comes in. It's a reminder not to let well intentioned people who come to positions of great influence become an unassailable orthodoxy. Smolin got a lot of hate for this book, but he's not fucking wrong. After you get those two books as a baseline to expand how you envision you sandbox of thoughts, Cycles of Time is a great book to say "yeah but you never thought of this, did you?" I will not spoil Cycles of Time, because I got the the last few chapters and was stunned at the balls on Penrose to put out the idea that he does. But you know what? He comes prepared, and describes new implications that his ideas predict, and supports them by explaining how he asked another scientist look for the patterns he predicts, and the other guy finds that shit.

Unfortunately, Cycles of Time was pretty hard to understand when I first read it. Penrose uses some ideas to establish his baseline that need some establishing themselves. So you probably have more reading to do before you pick these up. Here's where you'll want to start:


Relativity - Albert Einstein
This is the basis of our understanding of how nature works in the broadest sense. I like this version because it's a very clear translation reproduced in facsimile without extra fluff. If you read Special Relativity and don't understand it, don't move on to General Relativity, because there is just about no chance you will understand that. There are a bunch of books which try to explain Relativity, go to a book store, pick one out, and see if it helps. If not, email your local physics professor. It's literally their job to make this make sense, so if they can't do that either they suck or you're fucked.
The Large, the Small and the Human Mind - Roger Penrose
Penrose strikes again! I don't remember what he calls it, but Penrose had some diagrams-of-something-or-other-granularity that were complete gibberish when I first tried to read them. I don't remember exactly how or why, but reading this book made that nonsense make sense, so if you don't get those, give this book a try. Also of note, this book is based on a series of talks Penrose gave in the 90s, and he invited people like Stephen Hawking to tear it apart, which the guest authors do. Then Penrose comes right back with responses and retakes his ground just about every time. Pretty interesting stuff.
The Road to Reality - Roger Penrose
Yes, even more Penrose! This book starts with geometry and takes you step by step through all the "major" schools of thought in theoretical physics, several of which Penrose invented, expanded, or strongly influenced (are you starting to think that maybe this guy is a big deal? And he's not even a physicist! The motherfucker teaches MATH!) Anyway, this book clarified an idea that was never clear to me why so much time was spent on it, but several books spent significant amounts of time trying to explain it: the light cone. I will try to sum this up - The further away you are from an object, the less likely you are to ever interact with it. At a certain point, you can't interact with it, but you can still see it, and you can use your observation of it to figure certain things out. A light cone is a way to represent on paper you as a viewer and establish the things you can observe vs. the things you will never observe. This is not super duper important, but it is necessary to have a full understanding of the ideas in these books. This is the book I was reading when that concept fully clicked, so if you are having a hard time with that this is probably a good book to read. Plus, it is extensively cross referenced within its self, so any time a concept calls on another concept, you can flip right to the page that explains it to make sure you know what it's talking about. Cool stuff.

Alright so I'm three entries in and my top five books is eight books. Let's just go crazy with that:



A Song of Ice and Fire
George R.R. Martin
So that's A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Fire & Blood. So my five book list is officially 15 books long. And say what you will about GRRM, the ridiculous time between books, and the various tangents he has gone on with side books, but these are some of the most entertaining pieces of fiction I've ever read. Each would stand on its own as a great book, and Martin has written fifteen of them. So, for the sake of this list, fuck the haters. ASoIaF rocks.

 

[k_trout]

I can't imagine my life without books

 

[NecrosaroIII]

1 - Lord of the Rings
2 - The Stand
3 - World War Z
4 - How to Change Your Mind
5 - Giving Up the Gun

I also love rule books for games.

 

[Rest]

5 - Giving Up the Gun

Read this years ago. Just saw a copy in a book store today. I'm pretty sure some of its claims are bullshit, but it was a very interesting read.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Harry Potter Books
New Jedi Order Series
The Stormlight Archive
Mistborn Series
Middlesex
The Scar
Neverwhere
Pet Semantary
Hyperion
I Am Legend
The Gunslinger
Wizard And Glass
A Song of Ice And Fire
His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Dark Elf Trilogy
Icewind Dale Trilogy
Nine Stories
Han Solo Trilogy
X-Wing Series
The Shining
Doctor Sleep
Different Seasons
Hand of Thrawn Duology
The Stand
Battle Royale
Welcome To The N.H.K
Interpreter of Maladies
The Alienist
Dracula
It

 

[Mossybrew]

I go through about two books a month. Much of it is forgettable filler, but I find some gems now and then. Not going to list any of the classics we all know about, but a few really great reads I've come across in the last five years or so:

The Locked Tomb Series, Tamsyn Muir - Sci Fi/Magic mashup featuring a house of Necromancers.
Transformation Trilogy - Neal Asher - Hard action-packed Sci Fi, similar to the Culture series but more action/space battles
Broken Earth Trilogy - NK Jemisin - Post-Post apocalyptic Sci Fi/Magic mashup
Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski - Of course we all know the Witcher by now, but the books are very entertaining

 

[poppabk]

Harry Potter Books
New Jedi Order Series
The Stormlight Archive
Mistborn Series
.....snip

You read all those books but didn't even read the title of the OP. j/k

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

You read all those books but didn't even read the title of the OP. j/k

I know but it's hard to edit it down to 5 books lol

 

[Mossybrew]

I know but it's hard to edit it down to 5 books lol

Yeah same, it would be almost impossible for me to narrow it down to a top 5.

 

[Fbh]

Yeah I do, though admittedly I mostly stick with Fantasy and Sci Fi.
Honestly couldn't really make a top 5, but some I've enjoyed in recent years include the Broken Earth trilogy, the Divine Cities Trilogy, American Gods, The Stormlight archive and Hyperion.

By the way anyone got a good source for book recommendations? I know goodreads is like the IMDB of books but I'd like something a bit less community based

Currently reading Hyperion (book 2) by Dan Simmons and it's probably one of the most ambitious and intricate works I've ready in quite some time. Effortless in its world building and scope. I love it!

Oh hey I'm reading that one too right now
Had Hyperion on my "to read" list for ages and finally took the time earlier this year. Really enjoyed the first book, second one is great too though I do miss the sort of short story vibe the first one had going on with all their individual tales.

 

[deafmedal]

I’ve recently gotten back into reading books after almost a decade off. Really enjoyed The Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson recently and am currently enjoying book three of the Takeshi Kovacs series (boy did Netflix drop the ball there). Last time I was home I reread the first four books of The Hitchhiker’s Guide series, I’ll finish it next week. I also finished A Game of Thrones and have the next book ready to go but not really in any kinda rush there heh.

 

[IDKFA]

Do I like reading books? I'm a book addict. A bibliophile and a book collector. Reading/book collecting is my number one hobby and my house is graced with my own personal library with hundreds of books.

My top five books? Impossible to list. I've read so many classics and enjoyable books, both fiction and non-fiction that it wouldn't be possible to do a top five.

 

[VN1X]

Yeah I do, though admittedly I mostly stick with Fantasy and Sci Fi.
Honestly couldn't really make a top 5, but some I've enjoyed in recent years include the Broken Earth trilogy, the Divine Cities Trilogy, American Gods, The Stormlight archive and Hyperion.

By the way anyone got a good source for book recommendations? I know goodreads is like the IMDB of books but I'd like something a bit less community based



Oh hey I'm reading that one too right had.
Had Hyperion on my "to read" list for ages and finally took the time earlier this year. Really enjoyed the first book, second one is great too though I do miss the sort of short story vibe the first one had going on with all their individual tales.

I'm nearing the end of the second book now and it's just astonishing really.

I wouldn't know how to choose a favourite out of the the first two books so far. It'd be like picking your favourite child, impossible!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I buy books sometimes but never read them. But I read this one. I remember it as a Maxim Mag reco so I bought it and enjoyed it. Wow. $26 cdn now. I think I bought it for like $15 back then.

4000 days. About a drug trafficking loser caught in Thailand.

4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison: Fellows, Warren: 9780312253646: Books - Amazon.ca

4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison: Fellows, Warren: 9780312253646: Books - Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

 

[SpiceRacz]

Hard to list 5, but my favorite book would probably be A Farewell to Arms or The Sun Also Rises.

 

[Alex Anderson]

I like sports and pro wrestling (auto)biographies. I liked the audio book of Jim Bouton's Ball Four. There are spots where he can't help but laugh at funny old stories.

 

[Doom85]

1. Lord of the Rings trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
3. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books 1-4 - Douglas Adams
4. House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

 

[Rockondevil]

1. The Lost Symbol (Da Vinci Code series)
2. Harry Potter Series
3. Jack West Jr Series (Dan Brown)
4. Ready Player One
5. Lord of the Rings

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I’ve read plenty of great books but there’s only 2 that I’ll include in a top list:

1. The Hobbit
2. The Lord of the Rings

Honourable mentions would be the first 3 Harry Potter books, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Odyssey, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, David Copperfield, Moby Dick, The Time Machine, The Portrait of Dorian Gray (I think this was part of a series of short stories), Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer.

 

[Tams]

Correct answer.

Everything else aside, it's not even well written.

The Illiad and the Odessey are much better reads.

 

[SirTerry-T]

The Once and Future King - T.H.White
Stormbringer - Michael Moorcock
Life - Keith Richards
Killing Rommel - Steven Pressfield
Sharpe's Eagle - Bernard Cornwell

 

[DareDaniel]

Manga
Flowers of Evil
Vagabond
Berserk
Battle Royale
Ichi the Killer

Novels
Battle Royale
Harry Potter series
The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit
Norwegian Wood
Schoolgirl

 

[ranmafan]

I’ve been working on reading more since buying a kindle recently. I love reading but it was a bit of a hassle at times. Thankfully I have more time to catch up on it. Hard to pick five but if I had to, my five would be:

1. Dune
2. The Lord of the Rings
3. 1Q84
4. Sorekara
5. Ready Player One

 

[It's all in the wrist]

Everything else aside, it's not even well written.

The Illiad and the Odessey are much better

Atheist here (ex Catholic). The Bible has an immense amount of depth to it. There is important accumulated wisdom within its pages.

It's not exactly a page turner, but you can't fault it for that. It wasn't written by one mind.

 

[casablanca]

I try to read 2-3 books a month, mostly in English but I'm trying to read more French classics lately.
I'm a Murakami fanboy, so I read at least 3 books a year from him (new or re read old ones).
My last favourite is Sufi my love.

 

[Tams]

Atheist here (ex Catholic). The Bible has an immense amount of depth to it. There is important accumulated wisdom within its pages.

It's not exactly a page turner, but you can't fault it for that. It wasn't written by one mind.

Most of it contradicts itself in shitty riddles. And I don't think the few bits of common sense in it deserve praise.

 

[protonion]

I don't read a lot.

I love the Discworld series. I'm on book 16 I think and I cannot believe what I was missing.
The first 2-3 books are kind of bad actually but beyond them I'm having a blast reading them.

Wyrd Sisters, Small Gods and Witches Abroad were so good!

 

[Punisher246]

Not much of a reader but these are prolly my fav so far

1. Stoner - John Williams
2. Blackshirts and Reds - Michael Parenti
3. The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome - Michael Parenti

 

[Catphish]

5. Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
4. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
3. Animal Farm - George Orwell
2. Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
1. Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

I have only one

Contact from planet Iarga


Ufo...Contact from Planet Iarga https://www.amazon.nl/dp/0960855815/

Hard read but I was 1 ATT

Best (non) fiction scifi

Also

Nichols, P: Montauk Project: Experiment in Time: 01 https://www.amazon.nl/dp/0963188909/

 

[ThePringler]

in no particular order:

1 – Dune
2 – The road
3 – brave new world
4 – Lord of the rings trilogy
5 – the expanse

 

[daveonezero]

I do a lot of audiobooks. I will read for research but for pleasure audiobook is where it is at.

1. Bible
2. LoTR
3. Wilmingtons guide to the Bible - my favorite research tool
4. East of Eden is an amazing book. some stuff I didn't care for in it, but the story is great
5. Any book by David McCullough

What audio Bible?

I’m recently going through the Word of Promise and it is very good.

 

[ItsGreat]

GAF and the Bible.

Such curious bedfellows.

 

[ShadowNate]

1. On Stranger Tides - Tim Powers (Pirates with lots of fantasy elements)
2. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch (Sci-fi thriller)
3. Metro 2033 - Dmitry Glukhovsky (well you know what this is, if you've seen or played the games)
4. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture - Apostolos Doxiadis (Mystery with Math(ematician)s)
5. Some of the shorts of H.P. Lovecraft (Dagon, The Outsider, Color out of Space, Pickman's Model, Rats in the Walls and others)

Not necessarily my top reads, but definitely good and memorable ones.