Ask Lemmy

Hyperion Cantos. All 4 books are great, even if the 3rd and 4th are quite different. But it's a masterpiece. It's kind of like the LOTR for sci-fi if you ask me.

For you, I'd suggest 'I, Robot,' by Isaac Asimov.

It's a short story collection with a bunch of logic puzzles. the writing is clear and easy to follow and the conundrums are engaging.

Short book that hit hard:

• Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
• Never let me go, Kazuro Ishiguro
• The last unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
• 1984, George Orwell
• Prince of Thieves, Chuck Hogan

The Lathe of Heaven by LeGuin is pretty short, and great

murderbot series is fantastic, I love every single entry in the series so far, and they're not very long or unnecessarily complicated; you can finish one in a day or two easy.

The first entry is called "All systems red"

Others may have mentioned it (happy to see Terry Pratchett getting a lot of love), but would definitely recommend anything by Vonnegut! Love his writing style and his approaches to humor and world building. Slaughterhouse Five is a great one, as is Sirens of Titan.

Also, not certain how well they hold up, but I really enjoyed the Redwall series back in the day! I was much younger at the time, though.

Recently, I finished Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(Asimov_novel) It's a collection of a few stories, so you can read it one by one.

Cryptonomicon. It's not really a short book, but it's easily digestible as it has clear divisions where it is suitable to take a break.

The way the WW2 plot and the 90's-plot intertwine is so much fun to read, especially since the 90's characters are descendants of the ww2 characters.

And of course GEB Kavistik would grow up to be a pretentious cunt...

Finish in a day isn’t a great requirement to put alongside “best ever”, as others have already covered. That aside, check out The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. You’ll be surprised by how fun it is to learn about medieval technology development and stone cathedral building techniques when it’s all wrapped up in a gripping narrative.

The Heart Shaped Box

NOS4A2

Between Two Fires

The Troop

The Princess Bride

Edit: Just realized you're looking for something to finish in a day, my bad. Have your read any Sherlock Holmes? They're entertaining and you can get through quite a few stories in a day.

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers easily can be finished in a day.

Then Murderbot series by Martha Wells. They are fun, yet insightful and novellas. Easily finished in a day too.

I would recommend The Wheel of time, but be aware that its a very long book(series?). It contains 14 Books and totals at about 11k Sites. It absolutely takes quite a lot of time to fully read it, but its absolutely worth it. Its by far the best book ive read so far.

Read the short story : the approach to al-mutasim By Jorge L. Borges: https://ia601405.us.archive.org/10/items/HeliganSecretsOfTheLostGardens/BorgesJorgeLuis-TheApproachToAl-mutasim.pdf#:~:text=The%20Approach%20to%20Al-Mu'tasim%20Philip%20Guedalla%20writes%20that

If you like it, and like shorts stories, Borges will also become your favorite author. A good start is :

A Universal History of Infamy: A Universal History of Infamy Giving some more or less accurate retelling of the life of evil people like Billy the kid.

Roadside Picnic. it's a story of unmanaged survivors guilt, in an increasingly desperate and accurately depicted Soviet dystopia, where the players hustle and vie for mediocre survival even in an exceptionally bizarre, hostile, and literally alien environment, just as they would in any other terrestrial conflict zone.

There's a good reason it spawned an epic film and 4 outstanding games so far

I've never read a fictional book. They don't exist. hurhurhur

But seriously, I did kind of enjoy reading the Manifold series (Origin, Space, Time) by Stephen Baxter way back when. If you're a quick reader, I reckon you could probably zip through one of the novels in a day.

And I'd recommend reading at least a couple in order to get to know the characters, because then you could pick up the short story anthology set in the same multiverse (Phase Space), where for some you'd only need half an hour.

(Baxter has a bunch of other books and short stories - the Xeelee Sequence springs to mind - but I never got around to those, so have no idea how long the novels are, or whether they're any good.)

I'm waist deep in The Dresden Files right now (just started Turn Coat, book 11 of like 20 and counting) and it very quickly became one of my favorite series I've ever read. Jim Butcher has woven a web of a story where every little detail is a foreshadow that often won't pay off until two books later, it's incredible.

Prior to this I read The Expanse and that one also comes highly recommended. It's one of the most believable space operas I've ever read. I also hear the TV show is good, no idea, never watched it.

I reccomend hopping on !chat@literature.cafe

Rn I'm currently rereading The Inheritance Cycle, it's fantasy, but it goes very in depth, there are your different races, elves, "orcs", dwarves, you got dragons, there are different languages that the author made, its very good. Of course I might be biased since I'm rereading it rn lmao

Edit: I did not read the bit about reading it in a day. I guess you could if you read fast

Two for you:

《The Wild Girls》 - Ursula K Le Guin

《Piranesi》 - Susanna Clarke

And if you read fast I reckon you could do China Miévilles 《The City and the City》 or Tade Thompson's 《Rosewater》 in a day.

Edit bonus: anything by Douglas Adams.

"Short enough to finish in a day" seems pretty tough for me, but maybe I read slowly.

Short story books are good for casual reading in short sessions. Robot Dreams by Asimov, or Welcome to the Monkey House by Vonnegut. I used to carry each of those around and read a short story while waiting at a restaurant or at the DMV or whatever.

I really liked Altered Carbon. Approachable sci fi with drugs, violence, sex, politics, and of course high tech ideas like flying cars, AI hotels, digital consciousness.

The Handmaid's Tale

We

Nightfall

The Terminal Experiment

Best? Hard to say. But favorite?

Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick. It's quite short, like many of his books, and you could absolutely knock it out in a day.

The Coldfire Trilogy

I was entranced by the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien. Sailing ships, adventure, and a little romance.

I don’t know…I read a lot of good books often.

I guess you could say my options are booked.

Basically most Terry Pratchett books really. Some will take more than a day, but it's like a mix of Lord of the Rings and Monty Python. Whimsical and silly with some good moments that make you think.

I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but The Stormlight Archive books speak to me like no other books ever have. They're a huge time investment, but they're all about the journey, not the destination. 😉

Someone else already suggested it, but I would second Terry Pratchett. Even though most of the books are standalone, I recommend start with the Colour of Magic and follow publication order.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It and its sequel Children of Ruin both explore what it means to be a person and makes you feel empathy for “the other”, beings that get more and more alien as the story moves on. Compared to most of what others mention here it is rather new. But it will become a cult classic, I am certain of that.