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Help me choose my 150th book!
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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
(edited) Quote

As the title says, I'm reaching the milestone of reading 150 books and I'd love you all to help me choose my 150th book to read!

I'm not bound to a particular genre though romantasy, heavy horror or romance books are not my preferred genres to read. Everything else works! My favorite genres are thrillers, sci-fi, adventures, detective mysteries though I can read pretty much everything except the three genres I mentioned above. So you can recommend a wide range of books.

The book that gets the most upvotes will be my next pick! If I already read that one, it will be the next most upvoted one and so on. If your book suggestion got few upvotes, worry not! I have a plan for it too. I'll gather all the options that got fewer upvotes into a list and randomly choose a book from it as my next read.

I think 3 days is enough to let everyone make their suggestions, so that's when I'll pick the book!

Edit: 3 days have passed and we have a winner! The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin suggested by belluck!

28   Original
faintwhenfree lemmus.org faintwhenfree@lemmus.org
Joined: 2023-07-16
#2 · Quote Reply

Fiction
The Expanse series (starts with leviathan wakes) BY James S A Corey

Non Fiction
Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin

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belluck lemmy.blahaj.zone belluck@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-06-04
#3 · Quote Reply

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

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Screenhog feddit.uk Screenhog@feddit.uk
Joined: 2023-06-17
#4 · Quote Reply

Utopia by Lincoln Child.

Westworld meets Die Hard.

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PonyOfWar pawb.social PonyOfWar@pawb.social
Joined: 2023-06-12
#5 · Quote Reply

I'm impressed you somehow managed to keep count of all the books you've read.

Anyway, I suggest Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

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brem feddit.org brem@feddit.org
Joined: 2026-07-14
#6 · Quote Reply

Pattern recognition by Gibson

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#7 · Quote Reply

I'm impressed you somehow managed to keep count of all the books you've read. Anyway, I suggest Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

Yep! Fortunately I've been keeping a little notebook since I started reading to list the books I've read. Goodreads or storygraph also help to track the books.

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Treczoks lemmy.world Treczoks@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-09
#8 · Quote Reply

Flowers for Algernon.

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#9 · Quote Reply

Flowers for Algernon.

I've read this one. It's an amazing book but so heartbreaking...

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#10 · Quote Reply

Fiction The Expanse series (starts with leviathan wakes) BY James S A Corey Non Fiction Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin

I've read Leviathan Wakes. Although I liked it, I decided not to continue with the series because I stubmled across spoilers (ik should have been more cautious) and found out some of my favorite characters die :(

1
Voroxpete sh.itjust.works Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-07-07
#11 · Quote Reply

Use of Weapons by Ian M Banks.

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🐝 72 scribe.disroot.org b72@scribe.disroot.org
Joined: 2026-07-11
#12 · Quote Reply

Little, Big by John Crowley - a book I would never be without!

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Tom lemmy.world Tom@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-08
#13 · Quote Reply

[deleted]
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thesohoriots lemmy.world thesohoriots@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-21
#14 · Quote Reply

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#15 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

You're the second person to recommend me this book! It's surely on my radar now.

1
fiendishplan lemmy.world fiendishplan@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-22
#16 · Quote Reply

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)

4
Aralakh lemmy.ca Aralakh@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-08
#17 · (edited) Quote Reply

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

A cross between mystery and philosophy

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one_old_coder piefed.social one_old_coder@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-08
#18 · Quote Reply

The Little Prince

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No_Money_Just_Change feddit.org No_Money_Just_Change@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-24
#19 · (edited) Quote Reply

The starless sea. Half of it is a bunch of fantastical short stories. The other half the adventures of a person that found these stories.

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youngskywalker lemmy.world youngskywalker@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-01
#20 · (edited) Quote Reply

Infinite jest - David foster Wallace

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Dozzi92 lemmy.world Dozzi92@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#21 · Quote Reply

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. A cross between mystery and philosophy

Phistery.

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CordialCephalopod lemmy.world CordialCephalopod@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-11-30
#22 · Quote Reply

The Brief and Frightening Reign Of Phil by George Saunders is my most recent read and I adored it. It's quite short; you could probably knock it out in a couple of hours. Equal parts hilarious and devastating, it makes for a fantastic read in today's climate

3
Why is Lemmy so Racist? lemmy.world Abyssian@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-02-13
#23 · Quote Reply

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

It's a quick, easy read, and beautifully atmospheric.

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crapwittyname feddit.uk crapwittyname@feddit.uk
Joined: 2025-07-01
#24 · Quote Reply

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's the best book I've ever read. I'm not counting, but I've read a lot of books. Douglas Adams' style is just 😙🤌

7
FrederikNJS piefed.zip FrederikNJS@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-01-17
#25 · (edited) Quote Reply

"Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett. It's a good starting point to the wonderful Discworld series. And after that you have 40 other books in the series to enjoy.

Here's a nice chart of how all the books relate:

LaI8FWrxIJovODd.jpg

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#26 · Quote Reply

"Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett. It's a good starting point to the wonderful Discworld series. And after that you have 40 other books in the series to enjoy. Here's a nice chart of how all the books relate:

Loved this one! I've read it first because it was recommended as a good standalone book. I tried reading Color Of Magic after it because I wanted to start in order but didn't enjoy it that much at the timr. I still want to read more of the Discworld but not sure how to proceed yet.

1
FrederikNJS piefed.zip FrederikNJS@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-01-17
#27 · (edited) Quote Reply

Loved this one! I've read it first because it was recommended as a good standalone book. I tried reading Color Of Magic after it because I wanted to start in order but didn't enjoy it that much at the timr. I still want to read more of the Discworld but not sure how to proceed yet.

The Discworld is a weird series in that regard... It doesn't really make sense for a new person to read it in release order... unless you really want to explore how Terry Pratchett evolved as an author over his career. Even Terry Pratchett himself doesn't recommend that people start with The Colour of Magic...

The odd thing is that the "Discworld series" is more of a "universe" than a series, and it then consists of several sub-series. In the chart in my previous comment, you can better see the actual series.

"Guards! Guards!" is the first book in the "Watch" series, a series about the city watch of Ankh-Morpork. The actual sequel would be "Men at Arms", and then "Feet of Clay" and so on. These books continue following the Watch, and Vimes, and still has a bit of the "detective novel" vibe.

I myself started reading from "Colour of Magic" (The first of the "Rincewind" series), and I liked it quite a lot, but I'm fairly certain that the reason I found it funny and interesting was due to me playing a lot of pen-and-paper role playing games as a wizard, and having a lot more experience with all of the tropes and themes of old-school fantasy. If I didn't have that background, I'm fairly certain I would have bounced-off, hard...

3
FrederikNJS piefed.zip FrederikNJS@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-01-17
#28 · (edited) Quote Reply

Since OP has already read "Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett, I instead want to recommend

"Men at Arms" by Terry Pratchett, the direct sequel to "Guards! Guards!".

And again, as it's so handy to find your way around the Discworld, this chart shows how the books relate to each other.

1
PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#29 · Quote Reply

The Discworld is a weird series in that regard... It doesn't really make sense for a new person to read it in release order... unless you really want to explore how Terry Pratchett evolved as an author over his career. Even Terry Pratchett himself doesn't recommend that people start with The Colour of Magic... The odd thing is that the "Discworld series" is more of a "universe" than a series, a...

Thank you for explaining! Tbh I wanted to start with Color Of Magic and go in the exact order because I was afraid of missing out some important detail or some connection. It's good to know you can go with sub-series apart.

It's not that I didn't like Color Of Magic, it was still good just not as entertaining as Guards Guards. Guards Guards had everything I wanted, interesting plot, good developed characters, mysteries, good humour. I think this is the first book I've read that's suitable for my type of humour.

I remember watching the Color Of Magic movie when I was little and liking it, I don't remember its plot so I wanted to read the book as well. Still debating whether to give it a new try or go with the next guards book. I'm also very interested in the witches sub-series! There are really so many to choose from...

1
FrederikNJS piefed.zip FrederikNJS@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-01-17
#30 · (edited) Quote Reply

Thank you for explaining! Tbh I wanted to start with Color Of Magic and go in the exact order because I was afraid of missing out some important detail or some connection. It's good to know you can go with sub-series apart. It's not that I didn't like Color Of Magic, it was still good just not as entertaining as Guards Guards. Guards Guards had everything I wanted, interesting plot, good develo...

If I were you, I would really continue with the Watch series, it has some great characters and storylines, and it will make you fall in love with the Discworld universe.

Once you have either read all the watch books, or feel like you need something different, then I would probably try out the Witches series. (or possibly the "Death" series, eventhough the first book "Mort" is a bit rough.

And only then would I circle back and take on the Rincewind series. The Rincewind series starts out rather rough, compared to most of the other books (but they were also the first), and there's a number of details and characters that are not consistent with the rest of the books as Terry Pratchett was still figuring things out at that point, and while the Rincewind series becomes very very enjoyable as it develops, I will say that the first two books are a bit harder to get into than the rest of the Discworld series.

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PenguinVII lemmy.zip PenguinVII@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-08-08
#31 · Quote Reply

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Your recommendation is the winner! I'll this this book and come back to you with feedback on it.

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belluck lemmy.blahaj.zone belluck@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-06-04
#32 · Quote Reply

Your recommendation is the winner! I'll this this book and come back to you with feedback on it.

If you end up liking this one, you’ll probably like her other books too. I personally really enjoyed the Earthsea books (especially the first three) for a more classic fantasy adventure, and, while I do have some mixed opinions about it, „The Left Hand of Darkness“ is also definitely a worthy read.

1
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