Any suggestions I've liked, I've been researching to make sure it's the correct wording. 😉

I loved number nine dream, but do agree the ending was extremely frustrating. Probably my favorite read of his though for some reason.

Sounds like an awesome person.

I love this. Thank you!

Thanks! Have you read her older books like One True Love and Forever, Interrupted?

This entire discussion should be prefaced with spoiler tags. For anyone who hasn't read Weber and HH in particular too many storylines are given away in plain text.

I've read the Harry Potter books a bunch of times and decided to try to read it in German! Something fun about those books is each book is written at the same level as the age of Harry. So the first book the language and vocabulary is a bit more simple since he's 11 years old, and as the books go on and he gets older, the language/vocab gets more complex. For learning a new language, I found this incredibly helpful! Partially because I have a general idea of what's happening due to knowing the English books so well, partly because it's written at a level I can manage.

Perhaps read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson as a gauge. It's about some of the same subjects, and in a similar style, but only one single book and a bit tighter plot wise than the baroque cycle. If you love Cryptonomicon go ahead and read the baroque cycle.

i love this question!

as many have already stated, just plunge in and accept that you won’t understand every word and phrase. tolerate ambiguities and uncertainties. it will be such a rewarding and memorable experience, and it will get only better from there.

it takes courage and hard work, but it pays off.

i read A Heart So White by Javier Marias in english when i was in high school and Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami in french at university when i was not proficient in those two languages yet, and now i count them among my favorite novels:). never reread in my first languages (am bilingual), no need whatsoever:).

I found your point interesting.

Achilles is still gay then? Or no? Like canonically I guess what would be your guess?

Read most of his books. Loved them all. Utopia Avenue is his latest. I loved how de Zoet enters the narrative at the end.

I would recommend you read Cryptonomicon, which is a standalone novel and much less of a time commitment. It's a fictionalized-historical-drama about the origins of computing and its world-changing power, crossed with a darkly comic globetrotting WWII adventure. Fabulous stuff.

The Baroque Cycle is all of that turned up to 11: a fictionalized-historical-drama about the origins of Science, crossed with a darkly comic globetrotting pirate adventure. Newton and Leibniz argue about who invented the Calculus and what is the nature of God's relationship with Creation; also sword-fights and explosions.

Eliza and Jack are perhaps my favorite characters in all of fiction.

One of my favorite series. If you are into history of science around then, it is really fun.

One suggestion I have is to search r/suggestmeabook for best or favorite short stories. Many short stories are available online. The plot structure is tight because of the format. You can find authors whose work you like and then read their longer books.

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I read Alas, Babylon when it first came out when I was in high school. I recently reread it and it holds up well. The big difference is that we now carry cell phones. The threat of nuclear war is still with us and has been since about 1948. I also watched On the Beach which deals with post-war life.

I liked it when I was 14. It was entirely because of being allowed to say sonofabitch in class. I don't know if I'd like it today.

They're confused for the other constantly.

These are some of my mom's favorite books of all time.

I'm generally a fan of Stephenson, but I couldn't make it through the first book of the Baroque cycle because I didn't think the lens of historical fiction was a good fit for his "keep reading and maybe there'll be a plot eventually" writing style. Ymmv though.

That series are absolutely my favorite of Stephenson's and I wish he'd do more challenging works like that, again.

Just to be clear though, you should definitely read Cryptonomicon first.

I also wonder why the hell so many people don't know his name.

The man never misses.

Recently I learned that we can look up words in Google Books too. But where I live English books are expensive and same with English Google books. I can't seem to understand tbh. Like why e-books are as expensive as physical books?

Thanks for all the fish.

I liked it too. Slow mover, but nice to see a happy ending. My top few in no particular order are Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer, Station Eleven, Mother Of Storms, and of course The Stand

I’m so sorry for your loss. Your dad sounds like a hoopy frood who really knew where his towel was.

Hugs, Reddit friend.