I'm a fantasy nerd but I really liked wheel of time and mistborn. A good thriller is the southern reach trilogy. The only time I skipped class in all of school was to finish reading annihilation.

recently plowed through the Mistborn trilogy so I can second that. I just started digging into other works by Sanderson like his Stormlight Archive series which have been really enjoyable so far as well.

If you like sci-fi, I read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky before the above and that was really interesting as well.

Most recent book I finished was Flowers for Algernon, a worthwhile read imo and pretty easy (warning: very sad !!)

Been trying to finish some classics lately, C&P is now, maybe east of eden afterward.

Edit: Actually I forgot I finished House of Leaves as well; that book is a fucking trip. I hesitate to recommend it to anyone because I can see people absolutely hating it, but personally I am really glad I finished it.

Recently read Perfume by Patrick Suskind and i really enjoyed it. Would recommend it to you if you're into some more obscure themes for novels like perfume. The descriptions and scenery are very vivid and at no point in the book did i feel bored.

Right now I'm also reading 20000 leagues under the sea which I would recommend as well.

Would like to hear your recommendations!

I really liked the Count of Monte Cristo (barnes and noble abridged edition). It has some of the coolest uses of dramatic irony in literature, and many of its original quirks are now common tropes. What books do you like? :]

Recently been rereading the Eragon series just because I like it, it's fun to come back to once in a while & it's a story I know and enjoy.

The Name of the Wind & The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss are pretty nice reads if you're into fantasy, even though the third book in the trilogy has been coming soon™ for about 11 years at this point - the audiobook versions are good as well.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett is good even if you've found that you don't really like any of their other books. (At least that's the experience I had) - Another one where the audiobook version is good

If biographies are more your thing David Mitchell (the British comedian) has a few good ones & Stephen Fry's first two are pretty good.

REVOLT AGAINST THE MODERN WORLD - JULIUS EVOLA
FOR MY LEGIONARIES - CORNELIU CODREANU
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND ITS FUTURE - THEODORE J KACZYNSKI
THE CRISIS OF THE MODERN WORLD - RENE GUENON
MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE - ALEISTER CROWLEY
THE HERMETIC AND ALCHEMICAL WRITINGS - PARACELCUS
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT - RUDOLF STEINER

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/schizophrenia/overview/

The Ender's Game series is amazing and incredibly written. All these books will keep you interesting in reading the next one.

I'd suggest going in order depending on the series you choose to start with. (there are 3 series) Some series novels run parallel to each other whole focusing on different characters.

Lastly, please don't judge this series based off the Ender's Game movie you may have seen a few years ago. That movie was total crap, the books are where its at.

I've recently read Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Book has it's low points (random Nazi UFO chapter) but highly recommend if you're into this kind of stuff. Also to be accompanied with Varg's review and various interviews he did over the years. The movie however sucks. Do not watch.

+rep

damn someone really dropped rudolf steiner on tftv. that's new

i'm reading devoto's edited version of lewis and clark's journals, 1804-1806. they weren't 100% literate so it's not straightforward, but their expedition is probably the most interesting adventure that's ever happened in the united states, so, worth the work.

by the way mitchell did the audiobook for his own biography and it's very good, he turns out to be a natural at that

Recently read Moby Dick. It was long, but good.

yeah i would also recommend mein kampf to be read along with hitler's speeches put on repeat in case you really want to immerse yourself in the whole "reading nazi polemics whilst listening to an unhinged lunatic ramble" aesthetic

Haven't read a book in years but the last 1 I read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I couldn't put that book down.
Rn im trying to read Novacene by James Lovelock which is a non-fiction book about "The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence".

anything brian jacques made was always a good read for me

I recently finished Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace after about a year of reading it on and off. I'd recommend it to someone who is ok with putting a lot of time in since I found certain sections slow and quite dry. If you push through those bits though I think it is worth finishing. The highlights for me were these long almost stream of consciousness sections where Wallace just writes expansively on (sometimes very plot unrelated) topics for pages at a time, in particular his long digression on the psychology of top level competitive tennis. IJ is also one of those books (springrolls mentioned house of leaves above) where you will get as much if not more out of it on subsequent readings as you did on the first (or cheating and reading online about all the stuff you missed like I did).

For a somewhat shorter and more accessible while still great example of DFWs writing I recommend his essays, in particular Shipping Out (https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf) which is 100% worth reading if you have a spare hour or two.

also lol title i started the brothers karamazov yesterday.

Currently reading through WoT. I'm on book 5 out of 15 so far. Plan to go into the Sanderson books afterwards.
Some that I read in the past 12 months (maybe around 18 books):

Breakfast of Champions
Axioms End
Talented Mr Ripley
Forever War Series
Slaughterhouse 5
Handmaids Tale
1984 (lol)
The Wandering Earth
The Book Thief - Very good book, probably one of the best I've read recently.
Germinal - Also a really fucking good book *TRIGGER WARNING FRENCH*
Children of Time
Recursion - Very good
The Swarm
Three Body Problem series - Very good hard science fiction book.
The Stone Man
Flowers for Algernon
Childhoods End
11.22.63

I've got loads in my wishlist that I want to go through as well.

Most recent thing I've read is The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell (source material for The Last Kingdom on netflix), and would recommend to anyone that enjoyed the show. Not as high brow as some recommendations here but probably the best historical fiction I've read regardless of TV show association, and as with all TV adaptations so many arcs, details, characters etc were skipped that it's well worth your time if you liked TLK. For some perspective there are 12 books but only 5 seasons of TV show, granted a few of them will be covered in the feature film that's still to come, but as an example - s01e01 is basically book 1 condensed into 40 minutes of TV, which is extreme even by adaptation standards, and there are numerous examples of equivalent condensing. I feel like compared to a lot of adaptations the books have remained fairly under the radar despite the show's success so thought it's worth a shout.

i made this thread and went to bed and then forgot about it but i just rediscovered it so ill go through a few of the books i enjoyed the most over the past 9 months or so

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was one of those books where i picked it up almost purely because of the pullitzer prize sticker on it and barely even read the back of the book but found myself completely unable to put it down once i started it. The book follows a young blind french girl who escapes to brittany with her dad during ww2 and a young german boy who gets recruited into a nazi academy for gifted boys and his slow indoctrination into the nazi regime. The whole book is incredibly well written and exceptionally well researched. I physically recoiled when it ~100 pages in turned into a trig textbook for a page and a half. Following both the main characters grow and deal with the war from two unique perspectives was an incredibly compelling experience and had me welling up at multiple points throughout. I know that netflix has decided to make an adaptation of the book, and im excited to see how that turns out.
Anthony Doerr published a new novel last year called Cloud Cuckcoo Land that while good lacks the same focus and attention the main characters of All the Light We Cannot See got.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is widely regarded by critics to be one of the best books ever written. On a technical level, both narratively and linguistically, theyre probably right. In terms of pure mastery of the art that is telling a story in written form, it is far and a way the best piece of fiction i have ever read. I legit found myself grinning and smiIing while reading it, not cause the book was funny, but because of how fucking well written it is. I hope that one day my spanish will be good enough for me to be able to read it in its original language. I discovered magical realism through reading Murakami but had no idea that it actually originates from latin america as a way to explain and digest colonialism before reading this.

When we Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut is a crazy mix of historical non fiction and historical fiction based on the lives of a few different scientists on the cusp of making discoveries that have changed the way we view the world and our place in it. Its really unlike anything I've ever read. As someone who has spent most of his life with the sciences and reading fiction, its a crazy crossover that I hadnt really considered possible. If you're somehow both into physics and fiction, I'd give this one a try.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is the first Ishiguro novel I've read. From what I've seen online he is a lot of peoples favourite author, but apparently a lot of the characteristics of his other books are a lot more muted in this one. having an android as the narrator gives the book such an interesting perspective and way of slowly revealing itself to the reader. Its a really cool twist on sci fi that i enjoyed reading, but it requires a bit of time to digest everthing that goes on. I think I have a bit more to say about this book but I cant figure out how I wanna say it so i might come back to this one later when im not sick.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is a book I read a few years ago but I dont think I've ever talked about it on tftv before so I'll give it a segment here. Its easily the heaviest book I've ever read. The book follows 4 college friends through their whole lives, through both faliure and success. . Each one of the 4 main characters are incredibly well realized and all feel very, very real. It is uncomprimisingly realistic, to the point where i had to skip over some scenes because they were just too hard to read. The book is 800 pages long, but it earns every single one. Its an incredibly deep and compelling experience if youre willing to give it the time it needs to get going.

Ill make another one of these at some point in the future when I've finally managed to clear out my nightstand of the currently 6 books (Pachinko, To Paradise, The Parisian, American Gods and Anansi Boys) I've got going on. Luckily theres a holiday comming up so I'm hoping to get through them quite soon.

If you are interested in grounded historical fiction the Kingsbridge series (Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire and The Evening and Morning) by Ken Follett is very good.

The Black Company by Glen Cook or the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake are also good darker fantasy, but they are very heavy reads.

finished reading aberration in the heartland of the real - it’s conspiracy theories behind timothy mcveigh this shit goes hard fr

i’m reading Atomised by houellebecq. repulsive but good
i also listen to steiner audiobooks - it’s definitely schizo shit but it’s still interesting

bro u ok?

The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer, especially the part about love, because its short and well written

https://ibb.co/fnjgnDY

Bumping this thread because i think it’s a good thread and id love for it to keep going.
Since my last post I have read some more books, these are my thoughts on them. Most of this is pretty much directly ripped from my goodreads, but id like to keep that separate as I mostly use it to keep in touch with old classmates.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is about a korean girl in 1930s who falls in love with a gangster and ends up moving to japan. It’s a multi-generational tale about being an immigrant in a country as strict and xenophobic as japan. I found it way more interesting as a pseudo-historical account than an actual story. There are so many moments in the book where the author completely shies away from giving any actual emotional weight. The flat, recounting tone works well for most of the novel but sometimes it feels like missed an opportunity to have actual emotional payoff. If you are interested in japanese or korean culture, this book is still a fascinating read.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain feels like you get to read a 300 page script to a giant long lost episode of one of his TV shows. If you like Bourdain (GOAT food tv host IMO) then you will enjoy this book a lot. Gritty tales about the culinary world in the 1990s that serve as an incredibly captivating time capsule and a window into the industry as it was then. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara is 3 ~250 page novels disguised as a single giant 800 page monolith. I’ve already talked about how good Yanagiharas novel A Little Life is, and a lot of its strengths carry over into To Paradise. It retains the incredible emotional depth and they still feel so, so very real. However, To Paradise is nowhere near as emotionally scarring as A Little Life. It still stays with you, but in a much less visceral manner. Yanagihara is still great at only telling you what you need to know, and slowly drip feeding you more and more narrative as you get to piece together the narrative for yourself. I enjoyed this book a lot, but the fact that the three stories are so separate from each other makes it hard to have the same connection you get in A Little Life.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a story about a character called Shadow who has to hang out with gods and run errands for them. My old roommate really, really likes this book and forced me to read it so he had someone to talk about it with. I thought it was fine. Its honestly not really much of my thing and I couldn’t get Shadow to not look like a hedgehog in my head while reading the novel. Im not really sure what else to say, if you like Neil Gaiman and the type of stuff he writes, then you’ve probably already read this and enjoyed it.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is the best book I’ve read all year. I don’t want to say anything about the plot. Its some 260 pages that honestly feel like they could not possibly be any different, much like how Hemmingways the Old Man and the Sea does. Just read it. It’s not that long and it will blow your mind. Don’t watch the movie. The narrative only works in written form.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is a book about a Japanese college student who falls in love with his dead best friends girlfriend but also has to hang out with the classic Murakami strange and very forward girl who is also very in love with him. It felt so strange to read a Murakami novel that wasn’t at least 500 pages. Besides that it feels like, well, a Murakami novel. I fucking love Murakami novels, despite how fucking terrible he is at writing female characters without being a massive sexist, he still manages to create such a unique vibe (I cant figure out how else to describe reading a murakami novel besides the murakami vibe sorry)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a retelling of the Iliad. I had to read parts of the odyssey in high school and have only ever interacted with the Iliad when I watched troy as an 8 yearold. I think this book is objectively very good. I was engaged and enjoyed myself when reading it, and the language is very pretty too. I just kind of… didn’t care? Much? I don’t know. Ive never cared so little about a novel this good. It feels like the idea of this novel existing is cooler than actually reading it. Retelling greek mythology in a modern way is great. I honestly think that its just my inner teenager wanting to not like this book because every quirky “haha I read btw” girl I see on tinder fucking adores this book.

edit:
I am currently half way through Borges' fictions but they are very dense and im rarely in an appropriate state of mind to read it. I recently put East of Eden by John Steinbeck on my kindle, but im saving it for some very long train journeys i have coming up in a few weeks. It seems like something id really enjoy. Besides that i want to make it through Ishiguros An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day. I also impulse bought Murakamis First Person Singular for a rainy day.

I really want to do a deeper dive into latin american litterature, specifically magical realism. The genre absolutely fascinates me. Does anyone have any recommendations? Ive only read 100 years of solitude but i enjoyed it a lot.

the iliad (ideally the lattimore translation) is just straight up a perfect book dont know what the purpose of a retelling would be except to miss the point

why bother reading a physics textbook when you could just read the original papers published by newton?

the way the iliad (and other epic poems for that matter) are written makes it quite inaccessible to a lot of people who just cant be fucked to put in the extra effort it takes to read them in their original format
the format is just so completely different to modern books and takes some getting used to
this might not be as big of a problem with english translations but at least the danish translations are quite hard to read, only 2 translations exist and theyre both really old

i probably also misrepresented the plot quite badly, its mostly just about patroclus' relationship with achilles (it is in a lot of ways a book about being gay in ancient greece), which by no means is what the iliad as a whole is about

that makes sense about the translations, hadnt thought of that, its too bad
i dont really think the iliad is that inaccessible tho, esp if u read lattimore's brilliant intro (this might just be my bias)
the miller book sounds neat on its own ig, tho i probably wouldnt be personally interested in having a modern filter put over on ancient ideas of sexuality from a very unsexual text
u mentioned u didnt care for it much and also compared it directly to source material so i figured id rep my favorite book

also this seems like a really pointless and inaccurate thing to say