THE TARTAR STEPPE
by Dino Buzzati
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
A literary novel about a soldier who waits for years at a remote frontier fortress, exploring wasted time. Its reflections on time and ambition suit readers of quiet, philosophical fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino Il deserto dei tartari (The Tartar Steppe) by Dino Buzzati How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
on “Ask HN: Which books changed your life?” ↗…literature.They have several guides,for example one by origin of the work[6] To finish I will give 7 books, very well known, but they wont always appear in, say a reddit top 100 books or whatever: 1. The tartar steppe. Dino Buzzati 2. Pedro Paramo. Juan Rulfo. 3. Life and fate.Vasily Grossman 4.Memoirs of Hadrian. Marguerite Yourcenar 5. The book of disquiet. Fernando Pessoa 6. The House of the Sleeping Beauties.…
on “Good Books for a Lousy Year” ↗In no particular order: The Tartar Steppe, Dino Buzzati True Grit, Charles Portis Thoughts, Marcus Aurelius Its not all about me, Robin Dreeke The unwinding, George Packer Lives of the Laureates, William Breit AntiFragile, Nassum Taleb
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2013” ↗I suggest "The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati". A great book about the meaningless of everyman planning about leaving a successful life. Mr. Paolomar by Italo Calvino is another last century Italian masterpiece with the reflection…
on “Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?” ↗Since time is a key part of the OP's question, The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (published in Italy in 1940 as Il deserto dei Tartari) is an excellent novel about life and time. In other words, the mistakes we often make with how we spend our lives, time wasted without…
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗…of curiosity for the solarpunk genre, it ended up helping me a bit on the self-acceptance side. Other than that, "Il deserto dei Tartari" by Dino Buzzati (in english: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tartar_Steppe). Gave me some different point of view when thinking about time passing by. This was actually an audio-book, but I don't think there's any difference.
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗…they don't go anywhere. His short stories, though, are excellent. Off the top of my head, the most moving books I've read are The First Circle, any long Dostoevsky novel, The Master and Margarita, The Tartar Steppe, any Elena Ferrante, any Cormac McCarthy, some Murakami (Ryu and Haruki), Gene Wolf (The Book of the New Sun), 2666, parts of Moby Dick, any Alice Munro. All well known "good books".
on “Ask HN: What book bit, stung and shook you deeply?” ↗Apparently! I'm mostly a non-fiction reader but a few fictions I really like: - The Friends of Eddie Coyle - A River Runs Through It - Stoner - The Tartar Steppe - Siddhartha And a very cliche recommendation but will still make it, the first 3 Game of Thrones books. I also like the Dark Tower series.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗