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Alright thanks checking a few of these out. It's hard to tell from the summaries, are these battles told from someone looking on or someone who's in it like in a first person way.
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Sep 5, 2012 21:16
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:If you want period naval battles with lots of detail the place to go is the Aubrey/Maturin series. Really? I had always heard that they were mostly about life on a ship in that time period, with the battles being dealt with pretty quickly. Never read one, though, so I'll take your word for it, I had just always kind of avoided those novels when I wanted naval warfare fiction, so I feel like a dumbass now. Ulio posted:Alright thanks checking a few of these out. It's hard to tell from the summaries, are these battles told from someone looking on or someone who's in it like in a first person way. I recommended Horatio Hornblower so in those books, he's the captain of the warship so he's right in the thick of the action. It's not first-person, though, it's third, but as far as I've read it's limited to his perspective only.
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Sep 5, 2012 23:29
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Ulio posted:Alright thanks checking a few of these out. It's hard to tell from the summaries, are these battles told from someone looking on or someone who's in it like in a first person way. As far as the Legacy of the Aldenata series has mostly first person POV from different areas of a battle, say one battle might have the POV of a civilian whose running from a battle, an infantry grunt, a spec forces guy, and a giant tank crew member.
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Sep 5, 2012 23:40
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Do Not Resuscitate posted:What immediately comes to mind is the Honor Harrington series -- pulpy sci-fi that revolves around giant space battles and tactics. Toss in Weber's Safehold series, Empire of Man series and Dahak trilogy.
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Sep 6, 2012 00:35
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:Really? I had always heard that they were mostly about life on a ship in that time period, with the battles being dealt with pretty quickly. Never read one, though, so I'll take your word for it, I had just always kind of avoided those novels when I wanted naval warfare fiction, so I feel like a dumbass now. They're 20 volumes. They're about everything. There's period naval battles, there's period intrigue, there's period science, there's period romance, so on and so forth. It's all done well though. For the battles the author draws really, really, really heavily on the direct british naval records of each battle (most of the battles are based on true historical battles with his protagonists either subbed in for the actual commanders or somehow just ending up on board at the right time to witness). There's a great Aubry/Maturin thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3393240 The main stumbling block is that the author gives exactly ZERO fucks about how well you understand his incredibly detailed depictions of period nautical language and so forth, so you have to just dive the gently caress in and let it roll over you till you understand it, kinda like learning a second language. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Sep 6, 2012 |
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Sep 6, 2012 02:29
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I'm looking for stupid, fun, entertaining, violent, guilty pleasure horror fiction that I can buy for Kindle. When I was a kid, I would supplement my regular diet of cheap 80s horror movies with cheap 80s horror paperbacks. Random $5 junk sitting on the shelves with awesomely provocative cover art and intense titles to go along with quick-read Stephen King favorites like The Shining, Cujo, Pet Sematary, etc. I'm currently reading Doomflight, by Guy N. Smith. I had read about it somewhere along my search for this sorta thing and am about a third of the way through it, but it's not really doing anything for me. I'll finish it, but I want something really entertaining waiting for me when it's over. I've read a few Brian Keene books lately as well. They seem to generally have the right idea, and are sorta in the neighborhood of what I'm looking for. But they're often "not quite enough". Dunno how to describe it, really. They're dumb, which is fine, but they're also empty and unexciting. Not sure where else to continue my search. http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot.com/ has a lot of cool-sounding books, but hardly any of them are on Kindle. Help me rot my brain out with pulpy horror trash.
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Sep 7, 2012 02:57
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Mung Dynasty posted:Help me rot my brain out with pulpy horror trash. Check out pretty much anything by Michael McBride.
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Sep 7, 2012 03:13
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Mung Dynasty posted:I'm looking for stupid, fun, entertaining, violent, guilty pleasure horror fiction that I can buy for Kindle. I really liked Gil's All Fright Diner but it's more comedy than straight horror.
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Sep 7, 2012 05:08
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I just finished The Stranger, and I want more stuff like that. Especially 1920's to 1950's stuff like Hemingway and so on. I'd like to get started on Ullysses as well but I don't know if it's really worth the time and effort, and also how to actually go about reading it(for example, should I look up what's being referenced, or should I invest in an annotated version?). I've also got everything by Fitzgerald but I don't know where to start.
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Sep 7, 2012 14:27
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NeilPerry posted:I just finished The Stranger, and I want more stuff like that. Especially 1920's to 1950's stuff like Hemingway and so on. I'd like to get started on Ullysses as well but I don't know if it's really worth the time and effort, and also how to actually go about reading it(for example, should I look up what's being referenced, or should I invest in an annotated version?). I've also got everything by Fitzgerald but I don't know where to start. First of all, Ulysses is absolutely worth the time and effort. If you are not familiar with serious modernist works, or "difficult" literature, then maybe you should wait and work up to it, but it's brilliant and funny and one of the greatest novels of all time. For modernist novels that are similar to The Stranger, I would start with The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, and Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara. They are both classics of 20's, 30's literature and have a similar tone/philosophy as Camus. With Fitzgerald, I would start with The Great Gatsby and then read Tender is the Night. Those are by far the best of the novels. After that, I would recommend The Crack Up. It's a collection of essays, diary entires, and other random stuff, but the 8 main essays in the collection are fantastic. If you're only looking for fiction, maybe it's not for you, but the writing is beautiful. After that, you could move on to Hemingway's Farewell to Arms. I would also highly recommend looking into the Noir fiction of the 20s through the 50s, especially Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Ross MacDonald, James M. Cain. All have the same existential/nihilist atmosphere. A few others to look for: The Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, Junky by William S. Burroughs. edit: If you're looking at them from a philosophy perspective, a natural partner to The Stranger is Nausea by Sartre, but as far as writing/entertainment go, The Stranger is much better. Actually, you should also check out some of Camus' other fiction. Old Janx Spirit fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 14:58
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Mung Dynasty posted:Help me rot my brain out with pulpy horror trash. The Nightmare on Elm Street series was decent, not sure you can find it specifically for kindle the first one is called A Nightmare on Elm street #1: Suffer the Children ~ David Bishop
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Sep 7, 2012 15:39
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Mung Dynasty posted:I'm looking for stupid, fun, entertaining, violent, guilty pleasure horror fiction that I can buy for Kindle. The "Borderlands" anthologies from the nineties are perfect for this. http://www.amazon.com/Borderlands-N...derlands+horror They're all short stories, and it's a mix of great authors and ones that were never heard from again. In a very nineties fashion, many of them are trying way too hard to be "edgy," which makes them hilariously fun and trashy and often dumb, but always entertaining. And you can get them all for like a buck.
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Sep 7, 2012 15:52
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Mung Dynasty posted:I'm looking for stupid, fun, entertaining, violent, guilty pleasure horror fiction that I can buy for Kindle. Jack Kilborn released an exceedingly pulpy and cheesy horror novel called Endurance That is available for 2.90 on Amazon. It's along the lines of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so lots of inbred freaks. Should be just what you're looking for.
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Sep 7, 2012 15:55
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Old Janx Spirit posted:First of all, Ulysses is absolutely worth the time and effort. If you are not familiar with serious modernist works, or "difficult" literature, then maybe you should wait and work up to it, but it's brilliant and funny and one of the greatest novels of all time. As for Ulysses, should I try to look up the explanation to difficult passages and obtuse references or should I just enjoy the style for what it is, simply listening more to the 'rhyming' of the words instead of the meaning?
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Sep 7, 2012 16:16
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NeilPerry posted:As for Ulysses, should I try to look up the explanation to difficult passages and obtuse references or should I just enjoy the style for what it is, simply listening more to the 'rhyming' of the words instead of the meaning? Personally, when I read it I would read a chapter once consulting Ulysses Annotated as I went to get the references, then I would read a couple guides on that chapter, then I would read the chapter again on its own just for the language, etc. Time consuming I know, but I was young and in school. If I were to read it now, I would just read it on its own. It depends on what kind of a reader you are. I love to know everything about what I'm reading or watching or listening to. Not everything that's difficult about the book involves obscure literary references, a lot of the references in Ulysses are simply historical, things that readers of the time would have known. There's no doubt that knowing the references will improve your understanding of it, but its not necessary to read a lot of outside material to enjoy it. If heavy research is a buzz kill for you, just read the thing and don't worry about what you don't understand. If you like delving into something academically, then buy a few good books, especially Ulysses Annotated, to read as you go. Edit: I read it a long time ago, so there may be better guides out now, but the one I remember using is Stuart Gilbert's. Old Janx Spirit fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 16:26
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Old Janx Spirit posted:I would also highly recommend looking into the Noir fiction of the 20s through the 50s, especially Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Ross MacDonald, James M. Cain. All have the same existential/nihilist atmosphere. If you decide to go this route (and it's a fun route), the Library of America has a few noir collections that are pretty good value for the money. There's a couple each for Hammett and Chandler and two more collecting some other authors like David Goodis, Jim Thompson, James M Cain and a bunch of other authors.
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Sep 7, 2012 20:11
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Transistor Rhythm posted:The "Borderlands" anthologies from the nineties are perfect for this. http://www.amazon.com/Borderlands-N...derlands+horror Second the recommendation for Borderlands... The second volume was my favourite. Though what was up with the potato story? So bizarre! Also Clive Barker's Books of Blood are a good read... They're short stories also, but some of the them are more novella length. Rawhead Rex (I think it was) traumatized me for years. 
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Sep 9, 2012 00:47
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I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions?
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Sep 9, 2012 01:15
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions? There's an essay in David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day where he is taking a French class in France with a bunch of other foreigners and he is trying to explain the concept of Easter to a Muslim woman. Does that count? Actually a lot of that novel is about his move with his lover to France, so that might be a good one.
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Sep 9, 2012 08:05
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions? Definitely check out Tim Cahill, he was a founding editor of Outside magazine & he's arguably funnier than Bryson. I like Pecked to Death By Ducks and Road Fever.
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Sep 9, 2012 08:21
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Along similar lines, anyone got any recommendations for books set in the Middle East (or any other sort of desert area I guess)? I recently read Dune and really liked the setting of the planet Arrakis. It doesn't have to be science fiction, it could be whatever. I suppose I would lean more to something not about the Iraq-Afghanistan war.
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Sep 9, 2012 15:46
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions? Check out J. Maarten Troost, he's absolutely hilarious and he talks about his time living on itty bitty islands in the Pacific (Kiribati, Vanuatu, and later Fiji). He also wrote a third book detailing a year spent travelling in China which is also good. I'm really fond of his style which is funny but still informative, not only historically but he also gets the perspective of the people living there. I'm not a big travel book person and I really enjoyed his work.
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Sep 9, 2012 17:49
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I'm doing research for my lovely amateur novel and i need books on conmen, heists and rigged sporting events for inspiration. Any tips appreciated.
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Sep 10, 2012 10:12
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Sep 10, 2012 13:42
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions? The funniest travel writing of all time is Three Men in a Boat, but it's extremely Victorian so it may not be what you're looking for.
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Sep 10, 2012 17:04
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for funny travel writing. For reference, one of my favorites is Bill Bryson, for his ability to combine humor and history in his writing. I'm not particular about the location, as long as the stories are entertaining, though I am interested in the Arabic-speaking world. Suggestions? PJ O'Rourke's Holidays in Hell is the funniest travel book of our time, if you don't mind the author being a conservative prick.
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Sep 10, 2012 17:16
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I want to read some great mystery/thriller novels. The only book I've read in this vein is The Name of the Rose, but what I'm looking for doesn't need to be literary. I'm more interested in a gripping plot than anything else.
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Sep 11, 2012 05:56
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I had a conversation about the Cuban revolution the other day and was wondering if there are any good books that go over the effect of the Cuban revolution on Cuban society, preferably a mix of both first person accounts and historical overviews.
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Sep 11, 2012 18:00
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Captain_Indigo posted:Thanks for all the help with my previous request - girlfriend is eating her way through a massive pile of new books and says thank you. Now it's my turn. Last night I finished The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. It takes place mostly in Boston 1918-1919, and the main character is a BPD officer trying to deal with the Influenza Pandemic, political radicals, red-baiting, the Police Union, etc. It's not exactly what you're asking for but it's about as close as anything I can think of. I've been on kind of a Lehane kick lately, working my way through his novels, I really like his stuff.
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Sep 11, 2012 18:59
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Hey guys, I've got a new request. I recently finished Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury) and The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) and really loved them both. SWTWC more so as I like the mystery adventure as well as the stark contrast between good and evil. Anybody have good sci-fi/fantasy recommendations?
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Sep 11, 2012 19:09
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Read more Bradbury, because nobody else feels the same. The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine are my other favorites. VVV I'd say his short-form stuff through the 60s is, but after that it's a little more hit-or-miss. Not that it's bad, but most of it isn't as good, not to mention there are many repeats in the various collections. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Sep 11, 2012 |
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Sep 11, 2012 19:42
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Is that what it is? He's got something about him. I'll pick up Dandelion Wine. Are his short stories/novellas on par with the rest of his works?
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Sep 11, 2012 20:13
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I would also add Bradbury's Halloween Tree to that list as the really good Bradbury (Martian Chronicles is my favorite).
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Sep 11, 2012 21:14
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I was wondering if anyone had any crime book recommendations? Like The Godfather but not that because I read it.
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Sep 11, 2012 21:18
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Homicide by David Simon is probably one of the best true crime books ever.
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Sep 11, 2012 22:00
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After several attempts I have determined that I'm poo poo at writing action scenes. In order to fix this, I think I need to read some books. Can someone recommend me books with brilliant action scenes? Not just good, not just great, but magnificent? Any style of action scenes would be good. Fistfights, magic battles, sniper duels, robot bash, cock slap, anything. Thanks.
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Sep 12, 2012 13:46
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I'd really like some good Upstairs-Downstairs, Downton Abbey type pablum to read. Soapy is fine, but a bit of wit is essential as I can't imagine any work in that sort of genre dealing with class divisions in early 20th Century England that doesn't have a sense of humour could possibly be good. Imagine Brideshead Revisited without Anthony. Ugh, no. Gosford Park type Country Mansion whodunits would be good too, however I find Agatha Christie quite boring.
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Sep 12, 2012 14:21
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toanoradian posted:After several attempts I have determined that I'm poo poo at writing action scenes. In order to fix this, I think I need to read some books. You should check out R. A. Salvatore. His novels are genre trash (his most popular stuff is the Drizzt books, which are licensed D&D genre trash), but he has a knack for writing action, especially sword fights and wizard duels.
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Sep 12, 2012 14:41
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PeterWeller posted:You should check out R. A. Salvatore. His novels are genre trash (his most popular stuff is the Drizzt books, which are licensed D&D genre trash), but he has a knack for writing action, especially sword fights and wizard duels. Second this sentiment. Found an interview with the author that might be of interest. Somebody asked a similar question not too long ago, and my response was that Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time has my favorite fight/battle scenes. You have to get a few books in for large-scale stuff, but goddamn the battle at Dumai's Wells at the end of Lord of Chaos amazing.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:35
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I just finished The Master and Margarita and thought it was the funniest book ever. Like, literally laughing out loud at parts, which is something I've never experienced with a book before. Are there any other books with that same comic/satiric sensibility? I don't usually go for comedic novels--that it also had serious and beautiful parts was also much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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Sep 12, 2012 16:40
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