One of my New Year’s resolutions is to read more books in 2021. Considering all the wisdom that exists on this forum (
), what are some of your favourite books that have inspired you, helped you in life, and/or were just very enjoyable to read?
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All things Hermann Hesse. Demian, Narcissus and Goldmund, and of course, Glass Bead Game. These are about love and life, philosophy, the power of the mind, what you attract to yourself in the universe. Very mind books.
Jack London with his masterpiece, The Iron Heel. Crushing totalitarian dystopia based on a ruling oligarchy.
And last but certainly not least Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. A man so pure, so honest and brilliantly innocent, he is an idiot, in the face of a timeless society.
All phenomenal books–I could go on forever with more. Reading is life! I commend your New Years Res!
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You probably know them already but these are some of my favorites:
Homo Faber - classic literature, tragic love story
Great Gatsby - classic literature, society, love and money
Siddartha - classic literature, religion and philosophy, search for a greater purpose
Illuminati - thriller, dan brown at his best
Legend of the Seeker Saga - fantasy, the best fantasy saga I´ve ever read, and I´ve read many
Sorry for the cringy summaries but I tried to keep it short and not spoil anything.
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I think my favorite books to date are the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea I guess, but I really think this is the peak of British humour with a very nice, gentle sprinkle of philosophy.
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Pokemon return of the squirtle squad, Pokemon Adventures have 4 books rest are hard to find.
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I’m a fan of Issac Asimov. If you’re willing to give SciFi a try I’d definitely recommend any of his books!
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1984 by George Orwell and, regarding non-fiction, Rich dad poor dad 
I loved your post!
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‘Favourite’ for me is more of an emotional attachment, so would probably be from my childhood: HP, Alex Rider, His Dark Materials, (though the last book was kind of a mess), ASOUE etc.
Mythos and its sequel, Heroes, by Stephen Fry are excellent. P.G. Wodehouse is very fun (I’ve mostly been reading short stories, but they’re hilarious). Walter Isaacson has some good biographies (I’ve only just started Leonardo da Vinci, but it seems promising).
In pop science I really enjoyed A Brief History of Time, and I would also recommend The Light at the Edge of the Universe by Michael D. Lemonick.
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I’m personally a fan of both fantasy and thriller books.
Here some of the book series I’ve personally enjoyed reading, and in some cases have read multiple times:
- Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth series (fantasytwelve + four books); Nicci Chronicles in the same universe as the earlier books (four books - I’m coincidentally reading the third book as we speak , and I’m waiting for the fourth to release in my native language, which is planned for May I think); Law of Nine (standalone in a different universe, but with references to the same universe again); The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus (prologue about the past of that same universe again). I’ve basically read all his books, and he’s by far my favorite writer. Some of the things he writes about may be a bit inappropriate, but his writing style and the stories are amazing, and it’s hard to put away any of his books sometimes. (PS: this is the same Fantasy series mentioned by @shadowless by the name “Legend of the Seeker Saga”, which is the name of the TV series that are based on the Sword of Truth books.)
- James Rollins (under his pen name James Clemens) - The Banned and the Banished series (fantasyfive books), as well as his Godslayer series (fantasytwo books - and three more were supposedly planned, but I’m not sure whether they’ll ever release considering the first two books are from 2005 and 2006… In a Q&A he mentioned in 2015 that the third book is done and he’s working on the fourth, with an additional planned fifth, before releasing all three in sections. But yeah, his fans have been waiting for 14 years now, and counting…
) - Stieg Larsson - Millennium series (crime thrillerthree books). With these I’ve read the books before I saw the movies.
- Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games series (fantasythree books - although I see there is a newly released prequel book now, so I’ve just ordered it a minute ago.
) I had seen the movies before reading the books, though. - Charles den Tex - Mr. Miller series (thriller/mystery/suspensethree books - although I think only one is released in English. He’s a Dutch writer, and I’ve read five of his books thus far, including the Mr. Miller series)
- J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series (fantasyseven books)
- Dan Brown - Robert Langdon series (thriller/mystery five books, although I’ve only read the first two thus far)
Some other good standalone books I’ve read:
- Dan Brown - Deception Point (thriller/mystery). This is my personal favorite book of Dan Brown, but mainly because it’s about fossils on a meteorite, and I used to collect both of those.
- David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas (adventure/drama). This one I’ve read in English - quite an unique book with six interconnected stories, each at a different time and place, but most importantly: each with an unique writing style. One of the six stories takes place in the 1850s, which has an old English writing style; and one of the stories takes place in a post-apocalyptic distant future with an English dialect that uses abbreviations and straight-forward spelling. Pretty unique reading experience to say the least.)
- Thomas Thiemeyer - Medusa (thriller/adventure)
- Robert Pobi - Mannheim Rex (thriller/suspense)
Greetz,
Quuador
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My favorite book as a kid was The Hobbit, my favorite as an adult is probably The Art of Racing in the Rain.
If you’re looking for a more AP Lit type answer then I enjoyed No Country for Old Men or anything by Malcolm Gladwell.
Here’s to reading more books in 2021
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Rich Dad Poor Dad
Really opens your eyes and teaches you how minimalist living, investing, and building up your asset column gets you out of the “rat race” (full time work). I’m not a book critic, but honestly was shocked at how much this book taught me. Literally changed my decision making process in life.
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I have not actually been reading books in a long time, instead I have been listening to audio books while I do other things like painting or organizing cards.
I have been listening to The Horus Heresy Series which are Warhammer 40k novels just to show off how much of a dork I am.
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I don’t read as much as I’d like but I have a few I’d recommend. Also I apologize about the length of this post, I wasn’t expecting to write as much as I did.
Nonfiction
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson -
Kind of a self help book that helps put a spin on your perspective when it comes to negativity in your life. I can't remember a lot of the specifics since I read it years ago but I remember finding it super helpful at the time. It's also a short read which would make it an easy one to pick up and finish.
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo -
It's a book about organizing and downsizing your items. This is especially helpful if you have tend to keep a lot of things that you don't need. This book really helped me learn what I do and don't value when it comes to my belongings as well as keeping control of my space. At the time I was living in an apartment with a less than spacious room and it helped me open up my space and feel more comfortable. The things she talks about are also applicable to other things in your life outside of belongings. Another short read that's well worth your time. I should also mention that she has a Netflix series called Tidying Up With Marie Kondo where she goes to peoples homes and helps them downsize and get rid of a lot of the stuff they no longer need. She goes over a lot of what she talks about in her book but obviously the book is going to have a lot more specifics.
Fiction
Journey to the West translated and edited by Anthony Yu -
This story is comprised of 4 books that are about 300-400 pages each so this is kind of the opposite of my previous recommendations. So this is the tale that was used as inspiration for the first arc of Dragon Ball and it’s main character Goku, which is what made me interested in the book in the first place. This was written in the late 16th century and I believe it’s unknown who wrote it but this translation made it very easy to read. To make a long story short this story follows a specially selected monk (whose name I believe is Xuanzang in this translation) that goes on pilgrimage from China to India in order to retrieve holy scriptures from Buddha to take back to China for the emperor. However, because this monk is the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada God, if a demon were to eat his flesh they would become immortal which makes him more desirable than a 1st edition base set Charizard. Because of this he is escorted by the Great Monkey King - Son Wukong who is one of the strongest beings to ever exist. They gain a few companions early in the story, them being a bipedal Pig, a horse that’s actually a dragon and a dude who’s actually an ex man-eating sand demon that used to be a general in heaven that was exiled for accidentally breaking a vase. After the first 12ish chapters of set up the remaining 88 chapters are the group travelling to meet Buddha. On the way there it basically turns into a monster of the week kind of story that takes 3-5 chapters per “episode”. It’s a truly mystical adventure that has a lot of heartfelt moments, awesome action and full of laughs. I’ve never read any story like it and I doubt I ever will. Just writing this all out has really made me want to reread it, I wasn’t expecting to even write this much about but apparently I wanted to gush about it. It’s a hard book to recommend based on it’s page count alone but it’s definitely worth looking into more if you’re interested in reading it.
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12 rules for life - Jordan Peterson
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Was glad to see this so early on in the thread! Wholeheartedly agree.
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If you’re into fantasy, I’d recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
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Anything Gibran or Christie.
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One of my favorite authors is Stephen King! I enjoy his books because the storylines are incredibly vivid, and the characters remind me of people I know in real life.
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The Snow Leopard by super interesting and inspirational dude Peter Matthiessen. Won the National Book Award in 1979 and the setting is the Himalayas in Tibet 1973. It will hit you on many levels, all of which will help you be a better human. One of the most centering, engaging, inspirational and rich reading experiences I’ve ever had.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. One of the funnest reads I’ve ever had. This book is best shared with someone you are mad about.
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