Hacker News Books

40,000 HackerNews book recommendations identified using NLP and deep learning

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Gunstig2SnathonApr 19, 2019

I always preferred Grendel by John Gardner. But if Zach Snyder directed the original with Ben Affleck as Beo.... oh, hell, I'd hate that.

shortgiraffeonMar 29, 2020

Grendel by John Gardner - The epic of Beowulf from the perspective of the monster.
A Clockwork Orange - Dystopian novel following a twisted youth named Alex.

cgagonSep 29, 2013

I just want to second that this book is great. Ignore any negative inclination you feel because it's called fan fiction. It's fanfiction the way John Gardner's Grendel is Beowulf fanfiction.

william42onFeb 7, 2008

Incidentially, I'm reading John Gardner's "Grendel" right now, which my English teacher calls postmodern. Mostly it consists of Grendel ranting about how humanity enrages him and that's why he kills dozens of people. Similar to Perl, when you think about it...

matt_morganonMar 29, 2020

White Noise, by Don Delillo. It's a great story in general and reading it helped me acknowledge my fear of death and how it affected me.

Edit: oh, and since I don't think anyone else has mentioned them yet ... Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, and Grendel by John Gardner. Their impact on me was less specific so harder to explain, but they're great books that get mentioned on HN now and then. Another one that kind of blew my mind is The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann by Angela Carter.

MattyRadonFeb 5, 2019

Grendel - John Gardner

It is the story of Beowulf, told from the monster's point of view. It underscores the constant internal struggle between nihilistic despair and finding meaning in life (for yourself and others). It strikes a chord with Ozymandias[0].

It is primarily responsible for me abandoning my strong Catholic upbringing (and, ironically, despite John Gardner himself being a Christian).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias

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