[martinlillebo]

Some of my favourites this year:

On The Clock by Emily Guendelsberger - Gave me a glimpse into how it is to work at Amazon, McDonalds and Convergys. Though the subject is not the most positive. her style of writing is quite funny, and the combination worked well.

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series. He drops you into the middle of his universe without explaining it all at once, and he's very eager about explaining all the new technology he's dreamed up. He also makes sure the books are written so that they could all have been a standalone title. Depending on what you've read before, things he mentions will often remain a "mystery" until you find the answer later in the series, or in one of the standalone short stories.

Maus av Art Spiegelman - Graphical novel about being a Jewish WW2 concentration camp prisoner. Highly recommended.

Flowers for Algernon by David Keyes. From 1959, I liked it a lot. About a mentally handicapped man who receives a surgery that gradually turns him into the smartest man alive. Lots of focus on how empathy, humility and respect has to go alongside pure knowledge. And also that mentally handicapped are people too.

Gateway by Frederik Pohl - Sci-fi from the 70s. Quite good. A comet is discovered, full of million-year old ships pre-programmed for roundtrip flights to unknown destinations.

Next year I'd like to look more into Haruki Murakami's books. The one I've read was slow to get started, but I liked it a lot in the end. It had some things in common with regular sci-fi, but he seems to lean more towards the dreamy/odd/artsy side of things than what I'm used to.

[lbotos]

As a Murakami fan, which did you read? Happy to make suggestions if you are open.

Also if you want to hear me blather on about his cannon:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FEkaCe--UR0

[martinlillebo]

It was "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". Happy for any recommendations, thank you

[lbotos]

Oh nice! That's def one of my favorites.

I think you'd like Kafka on the Shore next.

And you'll see a lot of hype around Norwegian wood and it is solid, it's not "fantastic" so if you pick it up you might be surprised/disappointed.

I'll also give a rec to a slightly off the beaten path book I read this year Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy

It's interesting as these are works that would have absolutely influenced Murakami's writing. (First story is gruesome but the rest are not)

[anotherevan]

As an aside, a few years ago I saw a stage production of Flowers for Algernon which I found surprisingly good.