I've gotten deep into reading novels again this year and it's just so damn nice.
Just finished Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar which is one of the darkest and funniest books I've read, and now I am reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons which is a complete sci-fi page-turner. Both books have made me down-prioritize sleep at night because reading them just felt too damn good.
I'm not much of a scifi reader, so if anyone has recommendations for stuff as good as Hyperion, please let me know.
@madskjeldgaard Le Guin's The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven.
@schrimshaw @madskjeldgaard I very much second The Dispossessed. That text changed my life.
@t36s @schrimshaw @madskjeldgaard If you have the enthusiasm/capacity for it, I felt that reading all of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish novels heightens the eventual payoff of The Dispossessed when put in context of the earlier novels. Not significant for any plot connections, as they are all rather independent, but the book-by-book transition/evolution from very traditional, almost cliche fantasy themes through contemporary social challenges (in sci-fi settings), and ending, finally, with a clear vision of a/the “future” was a significant experience for me. I am also attracted to Le Guin’s writing style, I devour it. I don’t have any friends that have read all of them, so I haven’t had much space to be challenged on my opinions of and affection for The Hainish “Cycle”, but I recommend it to anyone.
