Often...

This for single player video games as well.

Being in a flow state is so nice and books and video games are both fertile places to achieve it.

Even 2+ years after playing it, I still wish I could experience Return of the Obra Dinn for the first time again 🥺 It had such mindblowing storytelling, despite (or because of) the 1-bit graphics, that I'll never forget it enough to enjoy each revelation to the fullest like that first time. Gonna go listen to the soundtrack again...

This is how I feel about playing Outer Wilds.

I came to the comments just to say this. I'm glad I'm not the only one
- Fffffuuuuuu you both beat me to it. I try to get others to play it so I can live vicariously through their amazement! Bought it on Steam for a gaming buddy and for my brother on Switch.
I need to play this. I get the same feelings with RPGs or really good open world games. Would love to add another to the list
- That is outer worlds. Op said outer wilds. You are going to be disappointed (or maybe happy) if you pick up one thinking its the other lol.
Did you play with a mouse and keyboard? I started it on my PC and it said it needed a controller. So instead I switched to my Steam Deck, but I felt like the small screen wasn't doing it justice, so I stopped.
Been meaning to pick it back up again.
- Honestly you can play it with keyboard and mouse no problem. Don't let it prevent you from playing!
- Coming from someone who primarily games on Mouse/Keyboard, controller just feels better, but Mouse/Keyboard shouldn't ruin the experience at all.
- Controller all the way.
  I think it's mostly the zero-G and ship controls where it matters.

I'm a Stephen king fan, so by the time I finish one of his books he's written 3 more

Stephen King is the opposite of G. R. R. Martin
- they should have a child together who writes at the perfect rate
- I feel like his completion of the dark tower is on par with grim’s GOT wrap up.
He defended The List recently, so fuck him.
- Idk what that is

GNU Terry Pratchett

Or as I've recently come to calling it, GNU + Terry Pratchett
I've barely read any books since he died tbh.
- Maybe try some sex instead
- You are missing out. There is so much greatness out there
- https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=tanith+lee
  Tanith Lee. British writer of the same time and mindset. The first book listed "Night's Master" is set in the time when the world was still flat. A mighty demon prince spends the daylight hours in his underworld kingdom, and spends his nights tormenting and/or seducing humans.
- Try Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's a wonderful story and has an underlying sense of humor in the way that Pratchett's books did.
Greatest Nut Ultimately?
GNU STP
Giant Nosy Neighbor?

Me recently with Project Hail Mary. Now just reading sub par sci-fi space books trying to chase that same feeling of exploration and wonder.

Have you read Hyperion by Dan Simmons? Amazing sci-fi
- One of those books I bought sitting on my bookshelf unread. Well right now its in my storage area cause I am between living arrangements EDIT: just looked i bought it digital my bad. I can bump it up the list a bit.
Of course, The Martian would be the next step if you haven't read that too.
But also, I found it similar to The Andromeda Strain or multiple novels by Frederik Pohl.
- I only read Artemis and Hail Mary, saw the movie The Martian, but haven't read the book yet.
Hot damn, this has been on my reading list for a while, gonna start it today.
- I highly recommend the audio book. I feel like it adds something extra over reading the text, which is unusual. No spoilers.

About to start another replay of The Last of Us both one and two. I would pay a lot of money to be able to forget the story and experience it again anew.

The second game is so good. So many people had a negative knee-jerk reaction to an event that happens early in the game, but I thought it was amazing.
And then playing from both Ellie and Abby's povs was the perfect way to tell the subsequent story. By the end you're just emotionally drained... But the story is so well told imo.
I had an experience with the part two and I liked/hated it but I don't think I want to experience it again for the first time. Not the emotions I want in my life even though the game is great. Apart from the "experience" the gameplay was also top.

Dungeon Crawler Carl for all you video game nerds. Listen to the audiobook...

I'm lying. I've reread it multiple times and picked up new things each run.

The problem with DCC is the next book isn’t written yet :(
So you get that prolonged feeling with each new book. Same with he who fights monsters- another decent LitRPG series.
You can enjoy the rereads while knowing that the first read is a unique experience!
I’m lying. I’ve reread it multiple times and picked up new things each run.
Treating DCC like NetHack, I can dig it.
Easily my favorite thing I've ever read.
Literally just finished my first re-read last night.
There’s Cradle too, not as “video gamey” but it’s a very easy read, almost feels like a shonen manga/anime.
I've been loving the series, just working my way through the last book now, and already getting the feeling in the OP from seeing that there's not that much book left anymore :(
I somehow at the same time feel that it has no right being this good, but also enjoy it a ton. It's a weird feeling but I'll take it - it really appeals to my taste.

I finished the LOtR trilogy as a kid and was absolutely crushed.

I re read it every few years not the same as the 1st time but still amazing. About 20 times now.

Same with good shows, movies, games, etc. I kinda feel hollow after.

I know I'm gonna get this with Digital Circus and part of me is really salty it's only getting one season

Any interesting sci Fi or magic/fantasy books that did this to you? I'm looking for something new!

Definitely The Expanse series if you haven't read it yet. I loved so many of the charcters, a bit sad to not be reading about them anymore.
- May I present to you the next series James S. A. Corey are writing? The Captive's War!
  I've enjoyed the book and novella published so far, and definitely sated that itch I had after finishing the Expanse. :)
- Oh yes, I have! Good choice :)
Sanderson's big fantasy series right now, the stormlight archive. Oh my god, each book is just made to make you get drawn deeper, and deeper until you hit the end. The gap between the first and second book was so freaking long to wait. I think we're up to book five now, so you don't have to have that feeling for a while.
Alternatively, if you like blue fantasy (talking animals and wise spirit guides that help sometimes hapless humans), mercedes lackey did great things with her heralds of valdemar series. I'd actually recommend jumping into it at a later point because her writing greatly improved from the first trilogy. You could start with magic's pawn/promise/price, which has one of the earliest depictions of lgbt protagonists I ever read.
If you like more 'earthy' fantasy, the wit'chfire series (actual series name, banned and the banished) by james clemens (who I just found out is a pseudonym for a sci-fi author who didn't want to be 'smeared' as a fantasy author and has some other good books when i googled for the name) is really good. Don't start his other series, because even though it was fantastic, it's never going to be finished. I think we're at like 30 years now and never gotten the third book.
And then there's the big one, the bold one, the 'start you off so small and build you into a great, grand sweeping epic' jim butcher series: the codex alera. The first book was riveting from start to finish. I actually think it was the best one, because the worldbuilding was just so sublime. I loved the characters more and more with each added book, but the magic of the beginning was just amazing.
- Oooh, I love talking animal series, a guilty pleasure of mine. I read and loved A Fire Upon the Deep and was devastated to learn the author passed away before finishing the series.
  That series is genuinely through provoking sci-fi, though some elements do require a bit of suspension of disbelief. Honestly though, some characters are so interesting, it's worth a read.
  Just a note of caution: the series ends unexpectedly and was never finished, though some points can be inferred at the end.
- Oathbringer did this to me the first time, but since then have not been able to enjoy Sanderson’s work unfortunately. Was super hyped for mistborn era 2’s last book but after multiple attempts, was unable to get through.
I have this a lot, but the most it has happend was about 10 years ago with the webserial worm ( https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ ), I read it so much. I read it before work, I read it during lunch, I read it when I got home, I went to sleep late etc. etc.
When it was done I had forgotten what to do with my time, I wound up re-reading it again but slower at a few chapters a day rather than turning myself into a gremlin for maximal reading efficiency.
If you want a summary, it's a superhero story, which usually really isn't for me, but something about the tone of the writing and the way the world worked in this one made it work.
Powers are incredibly varied, but the strongest characters are the ones who know how to use their powers well, the protagonist exemplifies this, where she doesn't get a cool flashy power but she figures out how to use it so well and adapt to each situation that she becomes terrifying.
I also liked the charactersation of the heroes and the villains, where the heroes are somewhat vain and egotistical which means they do good things when the cameras are rolling rather than being "morally good". the villains are mostly just people on the edges of society for a mix of reasons which means they do what they want, but I think since then "The Boys" has also done something similar so the effect may be lessened.
Curious if anyone else on Lemmy has wound up reading it.
- Same here! I stumbled onto Worm a few years ago and read it way too quickly. I taught myself some (very basic) editing skills, corrected a few typos and paid ~300 bucks to get the whole story printed out on paper so my wife would read it as well.
  I would add that despite being a story with superpowers, it is very much a story about people, and not about powers. You progressively discover the rules of a world that make perfect sense in retrospect, the stakes scale up really well and I found the ending to be a culmination unlike anything I have read.
- Worm was definitely like that for me. I was reading it at work (we monitored stuff and responded if needed, so I had a lot of free time if things weren't happening), and it really sucked me in. I didn't get into his later work, maybe because of burnout.
  I think the characterizations of the superpowered folks were great, but they did suffer a little bit from flanderization. It's to be expected when the author is literally handling hundreds of different characters. The plot overall was just so good though. Maybe some individual points weren't as great, like super spoilers ahead ::: spoiler spoiler the naked invulnerable chick and how they defeated her, or the existence of the three super enemies (leviathan, tyrant? and whatever the bird/smart thing was), and how once the protagonist figured out her plan for the ultimate win, it happened so quickly. :::
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
- Nearly all of the culture books! The very first scene of the very first book, Consider Phlebas, just sets the bar so high (and is only one scene). It outdoes entire other works of horror in just half a chapter... and then the actual action starts.
I read a stupid amount of SF and fantasy (up to 60 books so far this year), and I keep notes, so if there's a particular kind of thing you enjoy I might be able to make a more focused recommendation.
I believe I've read everything recommended in reply to you, and most are excellent. Some books I've read recently that really pulled me in, and that I didn't see mentioned elsewhere, are:
Sleeping Giants, Neuvel
Ammonite, Griffith
Spin, Wilson
The Space Between Worlds, Johnson
Service Model, Tchaikovsky
The Tainted Cup, Bennett
Lots of others of I go further back. I hope you find something you love.
- Thank you so much, I saved a ton of these in my browser :)
The wheel of time series is the best out there.
- And it just keeps going. There's so much, and so much of it ties back and stays relevant to the end.
After reading all ten of Iain Banks' "Culture" novels, there was definitely a sense of "oh, okay, now what?".
N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy (beginning with The Fifth Season).
Also, Brandon Sanderson’s various Cosmere works, especially The Stormlight Archive (beginning with The Way of Kings) and the original Mistborn trilogy (beginning with The Final Empire).
- This was the second recommendation for those books! I'll definitely be looking into them, thanks :)
For me it was His Dark Materials. I read it when I was 14 and it completely changed me. My mind was aware that it was a book, but my soul knew that reality is what you experience and I just experienced a lifetime.
I read it again ten years later and I recognized so much of myself in those books, I was actually surprised by the impact it made on me, even though I already knew back then that I would never be the same.
Psalm for the Wild-built. It was so sweet and gentle.
The Red Rising trilogy left me with this feeling. I loved the terraformation zones descriptions and how the technology is described and implemented.
The story takes lots of twists and turns, kept me glued to the books.
- I think I read that there’s a fourth one
- Came here to preach for the red rising. Awesome series. Sanderson's stormlight archive and mistborn also. And Abercrombie's first law.
Robin Hobb's assassin series
Saving for later when I forget all about this. Why is there no remindme function on Lemmy?
Also, do you like space operas? Bobiverse series Lost Fleet series Expeditionary Force (ExForce) Series Odyssie One series (Into the Black) Murderbot diaries
- You can use this mastodon Remind me bot, works with Lemmy. Or use piefed
- Oooh, if you like space operas, you might really like the Hyperion Cantos series.
  Thank you, I'll keep these in mind!
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis is the first book I've read since Hitchhiker's Guide that actually made me laugh out loud repeatedly. It's about a time-travelling historian who takes a vacation to Victorian England, and nearly ends the universe while trying to return a missing cat. The book's part of a series, but this is definitely the most fun entry.

After watching Breaking Bad, I felt as if a part of my life had been torn away from me and I have been left with a hole.

Good thing we got an entire other show and movie to go along with it.

Wonder if I should re read the Anne Rice vampire novels again. At the time they were a refreshing change from the standard vampire fare. Will they stand the test of time.

I slowly read the dark tower series over the past 3 years and this is still how I feel after having finished it 2 weeks ago.

Time for a second read through? I've listened to it about 3 times now, and from re listening to books (about 5ish on Dune series so a regular thing) it feels so satisfying to realize all the previous clues you didn't catch the first time.The Dark Tower is definitely a favourite, The Dark Tower definitely has lows that are harder to listen to as often as the Dune series though. And King can surely write emotion better than Herbert, I think he understands people in general better than many, which shows in his writing, as meandering as it gets. If I had a clue of the expanse of his story and multi universe I'd have read it SOOO much sooner, but I hadn't the idea how awesome it was when I was younger.
Okay time to hear the story of the Gunslinger again, thanks for the push! The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed....
And Ka rolls on...
Edit I wanted to include my favourite bits, it's not really a spoiler, but at one point the grizzled gunslinger is going towards an unknown danger with his pal, a dude from the 80s (if this is confusing and slightly interesting read the Dark Tower till book 2 or don't whatever), and he takes his friends hand to hold it. There's so few times you see much of that affection between men without people being awkward after in modern media but the characters knew they were there for each other whatever they came across. It's one of the things that makes King's writing awesome. If you've ever been through real trials with someone, you get it and it.

Often. That why I don’t start a series of books unless there are at least like 4-5 in the series. But even then the series ends sometimes and it feels like you’ve lost a dear friend.

Heck yes. “What happens now!?” Where do the characters go? What happens next in the world the author built for us? Personally there’s even a slight bit of resentment to pick up another book about another character set in the same world, perhaps somewhere else in the timeline, because I got so into the part I’d read and don’t want to have to shift gears and learn about new characters, settings, and personalities.
- The Magicians book series by Lev Grossman was really a big nice circle with a complete ending in my opinion. I read it twice and so truly immersed in the entire experience.
  A House For Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul was another deeply immersive experience of an entire life itself. And every person out there is living all this on their own. When I finished it I just thought "what an epic masterpiece!"
That's also why I don't like to watch a TV show when it first comes out, since it's so common for them to get canceled partway through a major storyline. Got left hanging a few times and it sucked.
- 110% agree … It’s so frustrating to get hooked on a show and Netflix/Amazon cancels it because it was only slightly popular and didn’t have Stranger Things kind of numbers.
  Case in point, I’m a huge Star Trek fan but I didn’t start Strange New Worlds until now after it had three seasons under its belt.

I still haven't recovered from reading The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed

I'm in the middle of the Dispossessed and I love The Left Hand of Darkness. I swear if these books were less sexual I'd want teenagers to have to read them. Left Hand to teach about cultural and gendered biases and the Dispossessed to teach that your ideology won't create a utopia, but that doesn't mean it won't make things better. It's an absolute shame that LeGuinn kinda requires nerdiness to be introduced to.
City of Illusions still haunts me as well and I keep bringing it up to my wife as we watch Three Body Problem. Its prequels Rocannon's World and Planet of Exile were good as the sci fi sword and sorcery followed by sci fi pocahontas (problematicness included) that they were. But City was a book about a Taoist against lies and liars and it hit hard for that.
Personally I found Omelas highly overrated though. It's a visceral depiction of a common thought experiment but a common thought experiment it was
- Teenagers shouldn’t be reading about sex? Am I reading your intention correctly?
- I read those Dispossessed and LHoD in the 80s, and then reread them more recently, and I'm amazed at how well they hold up. So often stories and sensibilities feel dated when you get to many decades from when they were written, but those two books could have been written yesterday. Both masterpieces, for sure. I'm not sure who you feel they're inappropriate for teenagers though.
  I never read City of Illusions - at least I don't think I have. I'll add it to my list. What do you think of Three Body Problem? I read the book and didn't really care for it (I know I'm in the minority there).

The Dark Tower.

That series is just amazing. I can’t imagine having to read them as they released, waiting that long for book four would have driven me to acts of terrorism.
I saw the movie when it came out, my ticket was for seat 19, it was the only connection to the books I got from the experience.
- Of all the failings of that movie. Idris Elba as Roland Deschain was not one of them. Neither was McConaughey as Randall Flagg.
- you lucked out honestly. After book 4 (1997) when we werent sure if there was anything more coming, King got hit by a car in '99. It wasn't until 2003 when we got the next book in the series, and I dont remember there being a bunch of hype beforehand. Just, King releasing stories again in 2001.
  A 6 year wait was brutal, and then the last 3 books of the series came out as fast as most people could read them. (2000 pages of story in 2 years) It was an amazing sprint to the end of a story, that King wasnt sure he was going to be a part of. So it was really amazing to see.
A million times this! I haven't re-read it once, and I started in the 90s. This book series hada big impact on me. I named my son after a character, in fact!
Now it's been like 20 years since the last three books came out I think I can read it almost fresh again. Obviously I know the major plot points, but I bet there's so much I've forgotten.
- Ive read the first three books about 4 times. The first book a dozen. Its so short that I can finish it in an evening if I want. I still havent finished wizards and glass, but the rest of the series, including wind through the keyhole are on my list for a revisit.

That was playing red dead redemption 2 for me

The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stevenson did that for me. 2700+ pages and it felt like I needed more

Okay, this seems like a book recommendation ;) Stevenson’s books are very different, how would you describe these ones?
- Historical science fiction. Oh, and there'll be familiar names if you read Cryptonomicon.
- Loose prequel to Cryptinomicon based in the Golden Era of Europe. Starts after Cromwell's death and ends in the 1700s. Spans the globe, piracy, science, alchemy, politics, intrigue, fighting... It's all there. And done with historical accuracy despite the fictional nature.
  You don't have to read Cryptinomicon first, but I recommend it.
I've never been as angry as when I got to the end of the first book and found that the bastard had hidden the glossary!
- The sheer number of people and events...

back to old boring life again

The first two Kingkiller books.

Where's the god damn 3rd book, Patrick? I

Agree, but also a little toxic, but also the donation fiasco, but also bringing that to is a little toxic on my part, but also the Kvothe sex was a little bit out of character, but also it's easy to second guess, but also the stolen ring disappointment was perfectly bittersweet so I think I'm happy with just the two books and I wish you and him the best, and it would be a nice little life bonus if we got a 3rd book, but again I'm happy with what we got, and I got my best trivia team name from one of his livestreams: dick wizard

I stood up, hadn’t eaten or drank enough clearly, and passed out. Beaned my head on the desk but at just the right angle to not cause a serious injury.

Don’t forget to eat and drink, and stand up carefully!

Now you can enjoy the book again for the first time!
- Loooool didn’t hit my head that hard, thankfully!
Thanks mate!

Probably The Count of Monte Cristo. Really the perfect book in my opinion - long, but with so much going on and so many interweaving plotlines that it kept me interested throughout. What an adventure.

No, but I wish I did. What book would be that good?

Maybe The Stand by Stephen King?
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson might do it.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons will almost definitely do it...
- +1 for Snow Crash, time for another re-read
Baldurs Gate 3 and the original Deus Ex did that for me.
I wish I could get the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind treatment for those games.
Da Vinci Code
A little life and The goldfinch did it for me. Also others that I am too lazy to list.
The Mass Effect trilogy did it too and still does every time I finish it (4 or 5 times now)

Nah, I have to settle for sex instead. :'(

I go read analyses and reviews of it to see what other people think of it. Its sort of like being slowly weened off of the original work, but it can also let you appreciate it in new ways.

Dunno about books, but I've recently caught up, finally, to the last season of Agents of Shield, the only one left for me to watch, years later after its debut. Truly felt I'd miss the gang.

Agents of Shield did something MCU doesn't: followed a few main characters, and eventually ended. The MCU just keeps going, adding some characters, removing others. Replace some. Just so much going on in parallel, and never really ending either.

I enjoy the movies, and even other shows, but they just don't follow characters this closely for long enough for us to care? Idk. Agents of Shield, through its seven seasons, followed a group of people, eventual close pals, and had a proper, graceful ending. Did not hint at more and then vanish

Edit: actually, I read Loveless, by Alice Oseman, and felt similar. I am not a book reader, so I don't have much experience on this. Once more, following characters closely as they change, evolve, develop. And then it ends. Like, what now? That's it? Snap, back to reality?

Also, these fictional characters and their close relationships, friendships. Where my group of cool, close pals? I want my gang, too! Why not I. R. have close friend? Where besties?

Piranesi 😭

Many books have done this to me, but the most significant recent experience of this was Elden Ring.

How many hours did you put into it before you beat it? I visited every location and beat ebery boss across the base game and DLC and it took me about 120 hours. There's probably some night time field bosses I missed but damn that game is the best bang for your buck.

I remember the first time finishing the Lord of the Rings. I was heartbroken knowing I couldn’t read it again for the first time. I still remember-read it a bunch, and still feel saddened by reaching the ending every time.

https://files.libcom.org/files/2024-10/no-spiritual-surrender_guts%20(1).pdf

I don't EVER start an anime or a comic book unless the entire series is complete.

I rather miss out on the new stuff. There is plenty of completed comics and anime to enjoy.

I do the same for TV series, I don't watch one unless it's complete. Why wait for episodes or invest time in a series that turns out to get bad or get cancelled? There is enough good, complete ones to watch.
- I'm curious. Do you also not watch movie trailers?
  I don't watch movie trailers at all. I'll only watch trailers for movies I know I won't ever watch.

I just keep reading The Neverending Story.

You mean the wandering inn webseries?

can someone list all the books mentioned / recommended here ? thanks

that when I watch movies. even monty python life of brian. I ended up "I consumed that whole journey in about an hour seems taking too much of my energy". So I never like watching movies.

Especially a more dramatic movies, I once watched a movie about the hussite war (forgot its name, same timeline to kingdom come deliverance) and it was more exhausting. Video games too sometimes.

You could be like Holly and have them erased from your memory...

You know what the worst book ever written ever was? "Football, It's a Funny Old Game" by Kevin Keegan.

Yeah, "Never Let me Go, " so many questions it asked me while reading and even a few months later it has me questioning my faith and my humanity

That book won a lot of awards, but it really didn't do it for me. I don't think it's because it's so slowly paced; I've thoroughly enjoyed lots of books at least as slowly paced. Maybe it's that I sat down to read a SF book and for half of it it just feels like we're reading a journal, with nothing especially noteworthy happening. Or maybe I just wasn't in the right place to enjoy that one.

Fuckin, yeah man.

Many times but only when the books had relatively decent grammar and spelling.

I have like 30 books I've not thought about since 10 years already, almost completely forgotten and ready to be read again, I should start sometime.

I mean, to some degree, yes? But then I pick up another book and get over it.

That's easy. I never finish the book. Same with great TV shows.

Those are the books worth reading

No one who writes in this pidgin has ever read a book.

no one who disparages dialects is worth conversing with.

How's weird sad melancholic ache better than sex?

It lasts more than 3 minutes Bazinga
Weird sad melancholic ache doesn't give you Chlamydia.
They're saying a book is better than sex if, when it's finished, it produces that effect because of how good it was reading it.

Thats called anime