Hello everyone, I hope you are doing fine.
I am posting here hoping to get some ideas of what to read. Let me be more specific:
I don’t read much, perhaps one book per year. That is something I am trying to change.
I remember reading 1984 in the past and finishing it in few hours, it got me hooked. I have Fahrenheit 451 also in my list.
During this summer, I have read a couple of books about geopolitics (around 300 pages), because it is a topic that interests me. But many times I read late at night, and the content takes some effort to actually follow and understand.
So, my intention is to find something lighter in complexity, more fantastic. Perhaps war novel. I am also interested in chess, programming, nature, photography or history.
Any suggestion is welcome, thanks for your time!
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
Seeing the topics you mention, I am thinking that the sci-fi book Ender’s Game written by Orsson Scott Card is going to be perfect for you. There’s war topics in it, strategy, it’s a fairly light, shortish book. And from there, you have a whole series of books if you do enjoy it. But be warned, do not watch the movie.
When I read that book, I got hooked and couldn’t drop it until I finished it.
Why not watch the movie? I read the book years ago and was planning on watching the movie some time. I understand it’s not great, but why specifically avoid it?
Fair question. Well, mainly I would need to specify further: do not watch the movie (before reading the book). So maybe first I should apologize for being too succinct. I feel like the movie might spoil the story while the book is so much better. I’m not going to tell people not to enjoy this or that, I consider the movie fairly bad but it’s not up to me to choose if someone likes it or not. But then, as an adaptation I feel like the movie does a terrible job of translating the book to a screen, losing the real soul that the book has.
It would also be fair to say that I have only watched the movie once, when it released into theaters years ago, while I’ve read the book a few times, so my perspective may be skewed if only by just what I remember of the movie instead of what the movie is really. For those like you, who have read the book and want to consider watching the movie, I’d say go ahead, with expectations low enough it might be enjoyable somewhat x)
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
If you like it, there’s nine more books in the series. The series has a little of everything you mentioned.
I always suggest Little Fuzzy. Light, breezy, early 1960s science fiction and public domain:
Noted!!
I loved that book so much when I was a teen! And I love that it’s public domain now, I’ll have to grab a copy for my e-book library =)
Flowers for Algernon is it fairly short read. It was originally a novella, then expanded to novel size. It’s also an amazing book.
Amazing and worth the read, but very sad.
I have to recommend Snowcrash. It is a pretty exciting read.
I have a very all-or-nothing mentality, so I go through stages of reading all the time to barely touching a book for a while. Books that have got me out of a reading slump are The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger and Coming Up for Air by Orwell. I suspect you’ll definitely enjoy both. To me, both of these books capture the essence of life itself. There is something strangely familiar and nostalgic about them.
If you get hooked, Nine Stories by Salinger, as well as any of Orwell’s essays are worth a read. Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums is another short story that comes to mind.
Oh, thank you so much for your recommendations. I have checked, and they meet my taste perfectly. Right now, I am reading a book which evocates nostalgia of the rural life in my country.
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company is a history book i recently finished that I thought was good, depending on your tastes the discworld books are always fun “Guards! Guards!” is a good first one to start with IMO
I think they haven’t translated The Anarchy into Spanish, but I will keep it in mind to improve my English. Thanks!
If you enjoy chess, the novel “The Queen’s Gambit” is excellent. They took some liberties with it to make the TV miniseries. It’s chewy, but the story is straightforward and easy to follow.
I watched the series and I found it very exciting, the book must be great!!
