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Mr. Squishy posted:I keep on doing this with The Recognitions and then deleting the tab pre-post. That's my current reading list--GR then Recognitions. I flew through the first 100 pages of GR, loving it, but the last 70 have been a total slog. I don't know why. I was sick for the last couple days and I could plow through pages of The Goldfinch but as soon as I finished a single page of GR, it was a physical struggle to keep my eyes open. Then I'd give up and take a nap.
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May 29, 2014 00:46
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Furious Lobster posted:Romance of the Three Kingdoms attributed to Luo Guanzhong is essential to understanding East Asian cultural and historical references; the closest analogy would be The Illiad. It's mainly fiction but there are definite real historical characters and events in the story as well. Since it is rather old and contains numerous, different Chinese dialects as well as the necessity of translating all these conflicting languages into English, I'd strongly recommend watching the most recent drama adaptation of the series to help put faces to names and get a better grasp of the story. I watched the 2010 adaptation that was produced in China and really made getting through the story a lot easier and more interesting. I'd recommend the Moss Roberts translation as the best version. If you want to see it brought to life in spectacular fasion, the John Woo-helmed Red Cliff is awesome. I think it's split into two movies for us lazy roundeyes. And it has doves. But no Lu Bu.
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May 29, 2014 05:25
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blue squares posted:That's my current reading list--GR then Recognitions. I flew through the first 100 pages of GR, loving it, but the last 70 have been a total slog. I don't know why. I was sick for the last couple days and I could plow through pages of The Goldfinch but as soon as I finished a single page of GR, it was a physical struggle to keep my eyes open. Then I'd give up and take a nap. I'm sort of the same way. GR and The Recognitions have been sitting beside each other on my bookshelf for well over a year at this point and every so often I'll start reading one then put it back after a couple days. Pynchon because I feel like I should get around to V or Lot 49 before I tackle GR, Gaddis because I've heard Carpenter's Gothic is an easier way to get into his fiction. Maybe this summer I'll finally read them. But that's what I said last summer, too.
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May 29, 2014 15:36
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NikkolasKing posted:I'm looking for any "classic American literature." I'm not trying to be that guy who just reads things to say he did it - it's more that I just realized I haven't read a lot of the most acclaimed books out there and I want to fix that. Plus I enjoy reading stuff from other time periods and getting to imagine what life was like in such a different world. For something a bit more recent, I suggest Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen. From Amazon: quote:Matthiessen's Watson trilogy is a touchstone of modern American literature, and yet, as the author writes in a foreword of this reworking, with the publication of Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River and Bone by Bone, he felt, after twenty years of toil... frustrated and dissatisfied. So after six or seven years of re-creation—rewriting many passages, compressing the timeline, shortening the work by some 400 pages and fleshing out supporting cast members (notably black farmhand Henry Short)—the three books are in one volume for the first time, and the result is remarkable. Some folks swear by the original three books, but I can't speak to that since I've only read this edition, but I'd put it solidly in the "Great American Literature" category. Basically, the story is about "Florida sugarcane farmer and infamous murderer—the latter bit according to legend, of course—Edgar J. Watson... brought to life through marvelous eyewitness accounts and journal entries from friends, family and enemies alike." I'd have summarized it myself, but Amazon did a much better job than I could have. It's a dark, fascinating read. Then again, if you're going by the "Wikipedia" definition of Great American Novel (a novel that is distinguished in both craft and theme as being the most accurate representation of the spirit of the age in the United States at the time of its writing or in the time it is set), then i guess it's not one... tonytheshoes fucked around with this message at 18:29 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 18:25
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I'm looking for any good biographies about scientists or a book on the history of a scientific period, but with the least amount of popsci and explaining basic concepts. I've already learned all that. Basically a science book for scientists. I'm partial towards Physicists or Mathematicians. I heard Alan Turing: The Enigma is pretty much what I am looking for, but what about any other big name Physicists? Everyone recommends A Short History of Nearly Everything, but I am not sure if 80% of the book is explaining basic concepts and maybe 20% the history.
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May 29, 2014 23:57
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bmxerguy posted:I'm looking for any good biographies about scientists or a book on the history of a scientific period, but with the least amount of popsci and explaining basic concepts. I've already learned all that. Basically a science book for scientists. I'm partial towards Physicists or Mathematicians. Uhm, this is so obvious, but did you read Surely you're joking, mr Feynmann yet? If not, it's extremely good. It's an autobiography and there is very little actual science in it, it's just him describing his very interesting life.
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May 30, 2014 00:10
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Walh Hara posted:Uhm, this is so obvious, but did you read Surely you're joking, mr Feynmann yet? If not, it's extremely good. It's an autobiography and there is very little actual science in it, it's just him describing his very interesting life. Oh whoops I forgot to mention that I have already read that.
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May 30, 2014 00:14
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Has anyone read Ancillary Justice? I heard some good things about it on a podcast, and I'm tempted to give it a spin.
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May 30, 2014 01:30
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nate fisher posted:Has anyone read Ancillary Justice? I heard some good things about it on a podcast, and I'm tempted to give it a spin. Yes, I dug it. Went into it 100% cold (which I always try to do with Orbit ARCs) and was a little confused at first, but adjusted fairly quickly and really appreciated the POV. I agree with some of the criticisms from this and the "just finished" threads, but they are far outweighed by the positives.
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May 30, 2014 02:21
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Furious Lobster posted:I've always been interested in military history and historical fiction but realized that besides the oft-recommended novels like All Quiet on the Western Front, I haven't spent a lot of time looking at World War II from the perspectives of German or Japanese soldiers; I'm interested in finding well-written and translated novels from those perspectives and would like to read about both the Western & Eastern fronts from the German point of view as well. I would also ask and hope for such novels to be written by enlisted rather than officers. The Forgotten Soldier is told from the perspective of a German foot soldier on the eastern front. I read it years ago, it'd be a good choice. blue squares posted:That's my current reading list--GR then Recognitions. I flew through the first 100 pages of GR, loving it, but the last 70 have been a total slog. I don't know why. I was sick for the last couple days and I could plow through pages of The Goldfinch but as soon as I finished a single page of GR, it was a physical struggle to keep my eyes open. Then I'd give up and take a nap. When you get to The Recognitions, I'd recommend going through with these annotations alongside. Clarity of what you're reading isn't always easy to come by and I found them quite helpful. Fellwenner fucked around with this message at 07:09 on May 30, 2014 |
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May 30, 2014 07:02
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I think not getting all of the references is part of the experience of a first time read.
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May 30, 2014 10:12
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Well, I can't deny that. It's not references alone, though, so much as the text as a whole. It's not the easiest read and they're helpful when you're lost or confused and maybe thinking about setting it down again. Not to say these guys will, mind.
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May 30, 2014 10:25
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IShallRiseAgain posted:I'm looking for some books set in present day where a protagonist suddenly finds themselves involved in a community of supernatural beings. Nothing too angsty or sexual. Maybe not quite what you were looking for but I enjoyed The Talisman by Stephen King/Peter Straub. It was one of the first "proper" books I read as a teenager. Summary: Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding a crystal called "the Talisman." Jack's journey takes him simultaneously through the American heartland and "the Territories", a strange fantasy land which is set in a universe parallel to that of Jack's America. Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled. Twinners can also "flip" or migrate to the other world, but only share the body of their alternate universe's analogue.
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May 30, 2014 13:24
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bmxerguy posted:I heard Alan Turing: The Enigma is pretty much what I am looking for, but what about any other big name Physicists? Everyone recommends A Short History of Nearly Everything, but I am not sure if 80% of the book is explaining basic concepts and maybe 20% the history.
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May 30, 2014 14:03
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Fellwenner posted:Well, I can't deny that. It's not references alone, though, so much as the text as a whole. It's not the easiest read and they're helpful when you're lost or confused and maybe thinking about setting it down again. Not to say these guys will, mind. I don't mind being lost or confused. Infinite Jest is my favorite novel and was also my first postmodern/avant garde one. And there were times during the early going of IJ that I thought I should quit reading it. Then something clicked and I couldn't stop, and now David Foster Wallace is my favorite author, and I've read almost every word he's ever written. Gravity's Rainbow I know I will feel similarly about. I was trudging through it for a while, and being sick didn't help. Still, it was very strange how I could not stay awake when reading it. I was sleeping poorly at night, but a page of GR hit me like a drat Ambien. My other book didn't have the same effect. Now that I'm feeling better, though, I am picking up steam in Gravity's Rainbow again. I just read about an octupus around page 190, and that was amazing. So I'm feeling encouraged.
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May 30, 2014 15:51
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:Homage to Catalonia Speaking of Orwell's nonfiction, any thoughts on his collection of essays All Art is Propaganda? I only ask because it's one of the deals of the day for Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003K16PG4/
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Jun 1, 2014 17:19
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I'm in the mood for an absolutely fantastic and complex villain. It doesn't matter to me what the genre is, although I'd prefer an individual book to a series if it can be helped.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:29
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Lolita
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Jun 1, 2014 18:47
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Red Crown posted:I'm in the mood for an absolutely fantastic and complex villain. It doesn't matter to me what the genre is, although I'd prefer an individual book to a series if it can be helped. First Law series by Joe Abercrombie might fit the bill. Inquisitor Glotka is pretty a pretty interesting character. Three books though. Tough to say more about this one without spoiling it, but the antagonist in John Fowles' The Magus (not fantasy, despite the title) has complex motivations that will leave you confused and guessing through most of the book. Gonna keep recommending this book until someone here actually reads it.
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Jun 1, 2014 18:48
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Red Crown posted:I'm in the mood for an absolutely fantastic and complex villain. It doesn't matter to me what the genre is, although I'd prefer an individual book to a series if it can be helped. Maybe The Hank Thompson Trilogy by Charlie Huston. It really does take 3 books to tell the whole story and follow the transformation.
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Jun 2, 2014 07:48
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regulargonzalez posted:Tough to say more about this one without spoiling it, but the antagonist in John Fowles' The Magus (not fantasy, despite the title) has complex motivations that will leave you confused and guessing through most of the book. Gonna keep recommending this book until someone here actually reads it. I read it earlier in the year. I'd re-read it to try and understand what was going on, but no. e: Not to say that it wasn't good mind; just not to my tastes.
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Jun 2, 2014 09:52
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Red Crown posted:I'm in the mood for an absolutely fantastic and complex villain. It doesn't matter to me what the genre is, although I'd prefer an individual book to a series if it can be helped. David Copperfield? I always found Uriah Heep skin-crawlingly fascinating. Alternatively, The Talented Mr. Ripley. If you haven't read James Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet," there are plenty of fine villains there, although I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers. There's also Steerpike from the first two Gormenghast books, although some question whether Steerpike is really a villain at all; he definitely does evil things to benefit himself, but he's still one of the most interesting and active characters in the books.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:46
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Selachian posted:David Copperfield? I always found Uriah Heep skin-crawlingly fascinating. Ooh ooh both Uriah and Steerforth. The latter you don't even notice is a villain at first the first time you read the novel. Also, they both exist on the opposite ends of the same spectrum of "how not to handle humility," with David right in the happy middle. Dickens does villains so well. Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend is really good, because he's basically a goon or a redditor, but a realistic and sympathetic one, even as he's absolutely vile and selfish. On a similar but different note (i.e. a modern novel set in Victorian England, but not steampunk) Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night has a really good anti-hero and a really good *actual* villain. Maybe.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:54
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I'm interested in reading Guy de Maupassant, since Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" had such a big impact on me when I read it in high school, and I've read that she emulated a lot of his subtleties in her writing style. Is there a collection I should start with, ones to avoid, or is anything I can get my hands on okay?
gatz fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Jun 6, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 09:03
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Joyce Carol Oates, yay or nay? Where to start?
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Jun 5, 2014 23:34
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I love her short stories but haven't been able to get through We Were the Mulvaneys, which is one of her most acclaimed novels. If you are interested in her short stories, I recommend The Museum of Dr Moses, and Give Me Your Heart.
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Jun 5, 2014 23:47
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frenchnewwave posted:Joyce Carol Oates, yay or nay? Where to start? Just finished The Accursed, which was nominated for this year's Shirley Jackson award. Stephen King reviewed it for the NY Times and called it 'the first post-modern Gothic novel'. It's pretty weird - it's got all the Gothic trappings, ghosts, vampires, rape - but she uses real people in the book like Woodrow Wilson and Upton Sinclair. If you don't mind something kinda weird and like Gothic novels you might want to try it.
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Jun 5, 2014 23:59
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Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? I was thinking earlier about how "insane narrator" is kind of a cliche, yet I can't really think of many authors that actually managed to pull it off. Wittgenstein's Mistress and The Yellow Wallpaper were all I could think of off the top of my head, and the former is even kind of questionable. Bonus points for it being horror that actually manages to be frightening.
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Jun 6, 2014 00:40
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? Nabokov's 'Pale Fire' fits this description pretty nicely. Well, if one chooses to interpret it that way at least. It's not horror though...
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Jun 6, 2014 00:46
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? I was thinking earlier about how "insane narrator" is kind of a cliche, yet I can't really think of many authors that actually managed to pull it off. Wittgenstein's Mistress and The Yellow Wallpaper were all I could think of off the top of my head, and the former is even kind of questionable. The most obvious answer to this is Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's been recommended a lot on these forums, if you haven't read it you should, it's excellent. Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver is actually told from the point of view of a person inside an insane asylum so that's interesting. For non horror recs: Zoe Heller's What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal is one of the best unreliable narrator novels for me. It's also a movie with Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett Colin McAdam's Fall is very interesting and has 2 narrators, both teenage boys that are in love with the same girl, both narrators have very different styles and one of them is a little off. Worth a read.
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Jun 6, 2014 02:24
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Poutling posted:The most obvious answer to this is Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's been recommended a lot on these forums, if you haven't read it you should, it's excellent. Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver is actually told from the point of view of a person inside an insane asylum so that's interesting. Also Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey). Narrated by the Chief instead of McMurphy and it's way more descriptive.
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Jun 6, 2014 03:05
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So here's a tough one. I'm looking for a book (or several) that's spy fiction, with a female protagonist, co-protagonist, or deuteragonist (so an active player whose name would be on the blurb, and not some frosty/sexy supporting cast chick who's only there to get damseled, bang the male lead, and/or die) who's an intelligence officer/spook/direct action type. Would prefer trigger pullers over analysts, although Grand Game fieldwork style officers (rather than wetworks specialists) would also be welcome. Modern era would be preferable, although future would also work (I'm a little burned out on historical/fantasy fiction at the moment). And if it's possible, it'd be great if it's written half decently. I've been struggling through Larry Bond and David Baldacci but dear god it's hard (David! Stop it with the barely-there sentence fragments!). Could anyone help? Additional requests:
Oh, and it can't be Greg Rucka's Queen and Country books, John Birmingham's After America series, or Chris Pavone's "The Expats", or David Hosp's "The Guardian". I've already read those. If anyone is interested the first is pretty goddamn dark but enjoyable (there are preceding comic books that introduce all of the characters where their stories begin), the second is kind of batshit insane but still I still can't help reading through them every so often (I don't know where Australians stand in terms of the American political spectrum, but hoo boy), and the third is a nice, light thriller of sorts. Hey, I said it'd be hard.
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Jun 6, 2014 08:28
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? I was thinking earlier about how "insane narrator" is kind of a cliche, yet I can't really think of many authors that actually managed to pull it off. Wittgenstein's Mistress and The Yellow Wallpaper were all I could think of off the top of my head, and the former is even kind of questionable. Dan Simmon's novel Drood. It can be pretty creepy at times. Just curious would Patrick Bateman in American Psycho be considered an unreliable narrator? Could the murders all been in his head? It has been years since I read the book (long before the movie came out), and I wonder if I'm letting the movie influence my thoughts on that.
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Jun 6, 2014 13:24
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No, it's ambiguous there too.
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Jun 6, 2014 15:17
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? I was thinking earlier about how "insane narrator" is kind of a cliche, yet I can't really think of many authors that actually managed to pull it off. Wittgenstein's Mistress and The Yellow Wallpaper were all I could think of off the top of my head, and the former is even kind of questionable. I can't openly name the first story that came to mind, because if I do, I'll spoil it. Robert Bloch's "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper." There's Conrad Aiken's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," which is a genuinely creepy look at schizophrenia, but it's not an unreliable-narrator story. Selachian fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jun 8, 2014 |
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Jun 6, 2014 16:37
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I'm looking for something similar to William T. Vollmann's The Atlas or Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. Something that blends non-fiction and fiction, with themes related to drug use, travel, prostitution, crime, grit, etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
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Jun 6, 2014 19:07
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billy cuts posted:I'm looking for something similar to William T. Vollmann's The Atlas or Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. Something that blends non-fiction and fiction, with themes related to drug use, travel, prostitution, crime, grit, etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Anything by David Peace, although his Red Riding and Tokyo books fit the themes you're looking for the most. James Ellroy's Underworld USA series are some great crime books that play off of true historical events and have a lot of famous historical figures as characters.
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Jun 7, 2014 07:59
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nate fisher posted:Dan Simmon's novel Drood. It can be pretty creepy at times.
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Jun 7, 2014 16:09
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bowmore posted:Yes Bateman is considered an unreliable narrator, he even has a breakdown halfway through the book. I might have to go back and reread it since it's been so long ago (I think 95 or 96).
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Jun 8, 2014 00:49
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nate fisher posted:I might have to go back and reread it since it's been so long ago (I think 95 or 96).
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Jun 8, 2014 08:52
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