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You're not missing out. If anything, you have a good habit in not consuming literary or theatrical entertainment, these things just waste time and don't provide

by t-3 4y ago

You're not missing out. If anything, you have a good habit in not consuming literary or theatrical entertainment, these things just waste time and don't provide any benefits beyond temporary distraction and possibly a larger vocabulary. With that said, if you're going to consume fiction, here are some authors that you probably won't regret reading (in no particular order, and by no means exhaustive): Ursula le Guin, C.J. Cherryh, Stanislaw Lem, L.E. Modesitt Jr., Ed Dodge, Gene Wolfe, Robert Heinlein, R. Scott Bakker, Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, Upton Sinclair, R.A. Lafferty, Walter M. Miller Jr., Dan Simmons, Albert Camus, Roger Zelazny, Kurt Vonnegut, C.S. Forester, Diana Wynne Jones, Russel Hoban, Iain Banks, Peter S. Beagle, Peter Watts, Tanith Lee, Vernor Vinge

greenie_beans 4y ago
i get an email notification when an author on that list is mentioned in HN comments. and whew, i'd have to strongly disagree with that first statement. reading fiction makes me feel better and less alone, it helps me feel connected to other people who are like me. it has saved my life. it can open your mind to how other people think. it can teach you different worldviews and helps you become more empathetic. i'm only speaking for myself, but OP you're missing out. you just gotta find the right fiction that you like reading and relate to. it's hard to say where to start, just start with a classic that seems curious and if you get bored then put it down and read something else. hemingway might be a good place to start — shorter, tight writing, not boring.
- samh748 4y ago
  Thanks so much for this! With fiction, especially classic literature, it can often feel like I'm "ought to" read XYZ, which was quite demotivating. But I love your point on finding what I like reading and relate to; makes a ton of sense!
cratermoon 4y ago
Of those, I can only agree with le Guin, Lem, Asimov, Camus, Vonnegut, Banks, and Vinge. Overall that's a very narrowly-focused list, and I doubt I'd find more than a couple of dozen from all of them.
- t-3 4y ago
  Sci-fi/fantasy are overrepresented, but "narrowly-focused"? I'm interested in what you think that focus is? Anyway, The Jungle is a classic by any measure, Dau is a classic, Downbelow Station and most of the rest of Cherryh's catalog, Horatio Hornblower, The Book of the New Sun, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Hyperion, Riddley Walker, Blindsight... I could keep going all night. Listing these off, I realize that I forgot Dostoevsky in my list. Paulo Coelho should probably be there too.
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    > I'm interested in what you think that focus is? 20th century writers, modernists and later. Yes, you added Dostoevsky in your follow-up, and he happens to fall in late 19th century, but still, modern. How about Daniel Defoe, Ann Radcliffe, Murasaki Shikibu, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Thomas Malory, or Attar of Nishapur? Also, One Thousand and One Nights, various anonymous authors.

by t-3 4y ago

greenie_beans 4y ago

i get an email notification when an author on that list is mentioned in HN comments. and whew, i'd have to strongly disagree with that first statement. reading fiction makes me feel better and less alone, it helps me feel connected to other people who are like me. it has saved my life. it can open your mind to how other people think. it can teach you different worldviews and helps you become more empathetic. i'm only speaking for myself, but OP you're missing out. you just gotta find the right fiction that you like reading and relate to. it's hard to say where to start, just start with a classic that seems curious and if you get bored then put it down and read something else. hemingway might be a good place to start — shorter, tight writing, not boring.

samh748 4y ago
Thanks so much for this! With fiction, especially classic literature, it can often feel like I'm "ought to" read XYZ, which was quite demotivating. But I love your point on finding what I like reading and relate to; makes a ton of sense!

cratermoon 4y ago

Of those, I can only agree with le Guin, Lem, Asimov, Camus, Vonnegut, Banks, and Vinge. Overall that's a very narrowly-focused list, and I doubt I'd find more than a couple of dozen from all of them.

t-3 4y ago
Sci-fi/fantasy are overrepresented, but "narrowly-focused"? I'm interested in what you think that focus is? Anyway, The Jungle is a classic by any measure, Dau is a classic, Downbelow Station and most of the rest of Cherryh's catalog, Horatio Hornblower, The Book of the New Sun, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Hyperion, Riddley Walker, Blindsight... I could keep going all night. Listing these off, I realize that I forgot Dostoevsky in my list. Paulo Coelho should probably be there too.
- cratermoon 4y ago
  > I'm interested in what you think that focus is? 20th century writers, modernists and later. Yes, you added Dostoevsky in your follow-up, and he happens to fall in late 19th century, but still, modern. How about Daniel Defoe, Ann Radcliffe, Murasaki Shikibu, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Thomas Malory, or Attar of Nishapur? Also, One Thousand and One Nights, various anonymous authors.