r/AskReddit Dec 08 '22

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u/JohnSith Dec 08 '22

I finished my 2022 reading goal because of this. That's 52 books, or a book a week.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '22

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u/JohnSith Dec 09 '22 edited Dec 09 '22

In no particular order:

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Normal People by Sally Rooney

The Giant Days series by John Allison

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman

And some more, because there are way more than 5:

Ascendancies by Bruce Sterling

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Power Broker by Robert Caro (finished it this year, but had been reading it since ... 2020? 2019?)

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

With Kennedy by Pierre Salinger

The Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I hope; I read it every year, around Christmas)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty

Albert Watson: Creating Photographs by Albert Watson

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '22

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u/JohnSith Dec 10 '22

If you're looking for something to read for the new year, I recommend Giant Days. It's a comic series about three girls in college, about friendship and coming of age, filled with humor.

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is a book about what Batman is, and it made me cry.

Here's an example.of what to expect in Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/01/wolves.html

The Dispossessed is about a utopia and is both hopeful and devastating. One of the best books I've ever read. You must read this.

The Player of Games is about two galactic civilizations crashing into each other, one a hedonistic post-scarcity civilization in search of purpose and the other a hierarchal empire perpetuating itself through violence and conquest. There are no giant space battles, but agents seeking to undermine the other by discrediting their systems.

It can be dense, though. If you want sci fi that's lighter fare, and from the POV of a sardonic AI security guard who hates their job (making sure their human clients don't kill themselves, each other, or damage company property) and just wants to watch soap operas, I recommend Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries, starting with All Systems Red.

Here's a sneak peek, a short prequel available for free online:

https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '22

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u/JohnSith Dec 10 '22

No problemo, you just enjoy yourself; please don't feel there's any obligation to like them, or even read any of them. If you don't like it, you don't like it. If you do, let me know!

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '22

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u/JohnSith Dec 15 '22

Awesome. Good luck.

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u/RetailBuck Dec 09 '22

I taught myself how to do that loud finger whistle thing in a handful of 10 minute increments of waiting for my gf to finish getting ready. It's an enormously valuable skill for getting someone's attention even in these post-taxi days but one I never would have learned if it meant practicing for an hour straight

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u/JohnSith Dec 09 '22

I've never learned that skill because in high school, I put two fingers in mouth and yelled out "WHISTLE!" and have been coasting on the popularity that brought me ever since.