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I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction?
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Jan 18, 2015 04:25
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Could I get some recommendations for great travel writing? It's an area I have very little experience in, and I want to correct that. I'm really looking for authors with a strong voice and sense of style; a lot of my favorite travel writing feels almost like reading fiction. I love Bill Bryson's two major travel books. Notes From a Small Island a travelogue of England Scotland and parts of Whales with light autobiographical sections. Also, his exploration of Australia In a Sunburned Country. Both of these are interesting funny full of little details and Bryson's voice shines.
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Jan 18, 2015 04:50
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Locker Room Zubaz posted:I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction? Ever read Mark Twain's Joan of Arc?
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Jan 18, 2015 07:02
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I'm in the middle of Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction and it's good so far. I really enjoy the amount of detail that the author has about such a niche thing like the history and paraphernalia of opium. I can't help but have Wikipedia up while I read, he offers a lot of references to South East Asian history and politics that are fascinating, but doesn't go into a lot of detail. It's left up to the reader if they will explore things like why some think Cambodia's Angkor Wat belongs to Thailand. His use of diction is repetitive, however it's not inappropriate. He uses words like 'accouterments' almost every fifth page. I'm only halfway through, but I'm getting the idea that this obsession with opium paraphernalia as an art form and his collecting is really just a manifestation of his addictive mind justifying the drug use. Anyone who is interested in the drugs history or south east asia should check it out.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:37
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William Stoner posted:I'm in the middle of Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction and it's good so far. I really enjoy the amount of detail that the author has about such a niche thing like the history and paraphernalia of opium. I can't help but have Wikipedia up while I read, he offers a lot of references to South East Asian history and politics that are fascinating, but doesn't go into a lot of detail. It's left up to the reader if they will explore things like why some think Cambodia's Angkor Wat belongs to Thailand. His use of diction is repetitive, however it's not inappropriate. He uses words like 'accouterments' almost every fifth page. I'm only halfway through, but I'm getting the idea that this obsession with opium paraphernalia as an art form and his collecting is really just a manifestation of his addictive mind justifying the drug use. Anyone who is interested in the drugs history or south east asia should check it out. Oh, is that this guy? http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/journey-into-the-opium-underworld/ ? Fascinating article, didn't know he'd written a book.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:29
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Locker Room Zubaz posted:I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction? There's Allan Massie's Emperor series of memoir type historical fiction books. They go very well with Graves' Claudius books, as they cover, and are told from the POV of, every other ruler from the end of the republic and the Julio-Claudian dynasty periods of Rome. Denise Giardina's Good King Harry is some great medieval historical fic about Henry V.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:56
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So I am looking for books and stories about modern witches. Maybe stories about young witches coming to terms with their powers or realizing they released something they don't understand?
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Jan 19, 2015 04:44
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Locker Room Zubaz posted:I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction? My go-to recommendation would be Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series. Basically the late republic through the early empire, with more decadence and intrigue and pitched battles than you can eat.
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Jan 19, 2015 10:06
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Locker Room Zubaz posted:I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction? Have you read his other books?
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Jan 21, 2015 01:42
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Could I get some recommendations for great travel writing? It's an area I have very little experience in, and I want to correct that. I'm really looking for authors with a strong voice and sense of style; a lot of my favorite travel writing feels almost like reading fiction. Malaria Dreams: An African Adventure by Stuart Stevens. Its hilarious as well. Guy gets asked to fly to the Central African Republic by a friend and drive friend's Range Rover back to Paris for him. Cue Africa!
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Jan 22, 2015 16:06
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Locker Room Zubaz posted:I just finished I, Claudius and Claudius the God and really really enjoyed the political intrigue and somewhat familiar setting. Any recommendations of similar historical fiction? Almost anything by Mary Renault.
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Jan 22, 2015 16:15
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Has anyone here read "The Empire's Corps" series? I'm a bit of a sucker for military sci-fi if it is well written, and whatever algorithm that monitors my web viewing stuck this in the little ad section on my web browser. This seems almost comically targeted at me since my most recent fiction reads have been almost exclusively from the Black Library, and I am a former active duty Marine who spends a good deal of time on their websites for work-related reasons. I jumped on Amazon and saw the first book had a an average 4-star rating with surprisingly very few 1-stars. Basically, if a series like Gaunt's Ghosts is my standard for what I want in a book, is this going to hook me?
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Jan 22, 2015 23:33
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LionYeti posted:I love Bill Bryson's two major travel books. Notes From a Small Island a travelogue of England Scotland and parts of Whales with light autobiographical sections. Also, his exploration of Australia In a Sunburned Country. Both of these are interesting funny full of little details and Bryson's voice shines. A Walk in the Woods is also excellent, and probably my favourite book of his. I'm looking for horror novels about Antarctica. Much less like Solar and more classic British adventure fiction, if that makes sense. Stuff about creatures in caves or isolation are perfect. Dale Bailey and Nathan Balligrud's The Crevasse is perfect.
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Jan 24, 2015 01:02
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tuyop posted:A Walk in the Woods is also excellent, and probably my favourite book of his. It's set at the other pole, but Dan Simmons' The Terror otherwise sounds exactly like what you're looking for.
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Jan 24, 2015 01:47
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Shitshow posted:It's set at the other pole, but Dan Simmons' The Terror otherwise sounds exactly like what you're looking for. I also really like Dan Simmons, so I'll read that next. Parasite by Mira Grant seems to be suffering some sort of weird John Scalzi or Joss Whedon syndrome going on where everyone speaks with identical sorts of wit and pithiness at all times and all the characters are basically indistinguishable from each other. I don't think I can finish.
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Jan 24, 2015 06:21
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tuyop posted:I'm looking for horror novels about Antarctica. Much less like Solar and more classic British adventure fiction, if that makes sense. Stuff about creatures in caves or isolation are perfect. Dale Bailey and Nathan Balligrud's The Crevasse is perfect. (Caveat: Lovecraft was a horrible racist. I don't remember it really showing through in this story, though.)
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Jan 24, 2015 12:00
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tuyop posted:
It's pretty stupid and predictable and the lolrandomness of the one chick (Tansy? I read an ARC a long time ago) is mega-aggravating. You aren't gonna miss anything.
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Jan 24, 2015 13:04
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funkybottoms posted:It's pretty stupid and predictable and the lolrandomness of the one chick (Tansy? I read an ARC a long time ago) is mega-aggravating. You aren't gonna miss anything. Shortlisted for a Hugo, though! Wtf?
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Jan 24, 2015 17:05
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pumpinglemma posted:How about Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness? It seems to fit what you're looking for to a tee, and it's out of copyright so you can read it online for free. You mean the story about a civilization that decayed as its black slaves grew too independent? (OK, you kind of have to read between the lines for that one, but I don't think it's actually an unfair reading.)
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Jan 24, 2015 17:19
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Movac posted:You mean the story about a civilization that decayed as its black slaves grew too independent? Thinking about it I guess that is a possible reading, and it might even have been what Lovecraft was going for.  But I don't think it's one most modern readers would notice without being told to expect it, since in modern texts this sort of plot would tend to be associated far more with morals like "don't keep slaves" or "don't create blasphemous affronts to existence in the first place". And most of the text seems to be fairly compatible with those possible readings. It's certainly not like e.g. Shadows over Innsmouth where as soon as you realise Lovecraft was writing about miscegenation you can never really enjoy the story again.
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Jan 24, 2015 20:31
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pumpinglemma posted:Thinking about it I guess that is a possible reading, and it might even have been what Lovecraft was going for. Fair enough, and if you land on one of these more-charitable interpretations then AtMoM is a pretty cool story. Good horror moments, a well-constructed build-up, and that trademark sense of ancientness. It's just that I read it as racist first, after going in knowing nothing more than "Lovecraft is racist but this story isn't," so I've been reluctant to recommend it despite its importance to the genre.
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Jan 24, 2015 21:03
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tuyop posted:Shortlisted for a Hugo, though! Wtf? Huh, guess they're accepting Chricton fan-fiction now, eh?
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Jan 25, 2015 00:23
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funkybottoms posted:Huh, guess they're accepting Chricton fan-fiction now, eh? Yeah, it's weird because both Ancillary Justice and We Have Always Fought were great, but The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere was crappy but obviously a political selection and Parasite is just baffling. Last year they picked loving Redshirts over 2312 (and MaddAddam, which was weak compared to Oryx and Crake but still, Redshirts, wtf?), though, so maybe the award is meaningless? I think I'm going to use the Nebula awards over the Hugo awards, which is weird because you'd think the Hugo's would be more prestigious.
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Jan 25, 2015 01:59
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You guys realize the Hugos are largely a popularity contest, right? The people that win tend to be the ones that can best bend social media towards that end.
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Jan 25, 2015 03:19
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Ornamented Death posted:You guys realize the Hugos are largely a popularity contest, right? The people that win tend to be the ones that can best bend social media towards that end. No, I didn't know that. It sounds like something a butthurt loser would say so it's kind of surprising that it's kind of true. I mean, they've been running for over 60 years and I didn't know that winners are selected by like 3800 readers rather than a panel like the nebulas. If I wanted to read the most popular books I'd just scour goodreads for the YA postapocalyptic fiction of the moment.
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Jan 25, 2015 03:40
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Hi BB - I read something about James Joyce that really piqued my interest, and I was wondering if there's a consensus on his biographies. Is there one great one to check out, or do I need to wade through a few? Thanks.
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Jan 28, 2015 08:54
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Teach posted:Hi BB - I read something about James Joyce that really piqued my interest, and I was wondering if there's a consensus on his biographies. Is there one great one to check out, or do I need to wade through a few? Thanks. It was his dirty letters, wasn't it?
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Jan 28, 2015 13:22
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Can anybody recommend some well-researched books on folklore/mythology? That is, something that's more than just a flat collection of stories. I recently read Nart Sagas from the Caucasus, and it has all the sorts of things I really like - copious footnotes, historical/cultural contexts, thematic analyses, examples of cross-cultural story pollination, and even etymological breakdowns of the various regional dialects. Something India-focused would be peachy, but I'd be more than happy to explore anything you got for me.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:10
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Teach posted:Hi BB - I read something about James Joyce that really piqued my interest, and I was wondering if there's a consensus on his biographies. Is there one great one to check out, or do I need to wade through a few? Thanks. I have heard wonderful things on this very thread about Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce. I've yet to read it myself—I'm saving it for when I've actually read some of Joyce's books—but if the testimonies given here are to be trusted, then it's definitely worth checking out.
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Jan 28, 2015 17:21
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Adib posted:I have heard wonderful things on this very thread about Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce. I've yet to read it myself—I'm saving it for when I've actually read some of Joyce's books—but if the testimonies given here are to be trusted, then it's definitely worth checking out. I read it this year (even though I haven't read any of James Joyce's books) and it is definitely worth checking out. It's old (published in 1959) so some of the people reported as still being alive are now dead, but the author managed to get information from James Joyce's brother and other relatives, so it has that going for it. The book did get me vaguely interested in possibly reading Ulysses, perhaps in an annotated edition. Finnegans Wake looks a bit too complicated for me, though. PS. Also, one of James Joyce's sisters moved to New Zealand to become a nun. Kiwi connection, yay.
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Jan 29, 2015 01:00
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Twerp posted:Can anybody recommend some well-researched books on folklore/mythology? That is, something that's more than just a flat collection of stories. I recently read Nart Sagas from the Caucasus, and it has all the sorts of things I really like - copious footnotes, historical/cultural contexts, thematic analyses, examples of cross-cultural story pollination, and even etymological breakdowns of the various regional dialects. Something India-focused would be peachy, but I'd be more than happy to explore anything you got for me. Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth comes to mind I also really enjoyed Hyemeyohsts Storm's Seven Arrows, a collection of plains indians folklore with a running commentary. I might have to reread that soon in fact. I have read nothing like that for India indians
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Jan 29, 2015 05:15
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Shitshow posted:It's set at the other pole, but Dan Simmons' The Terror otherwise sounds exactly like what you're looking for. This is so loving good. Thanks! pumpinglemma posted:How about Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness? It seems to fit what you're looking for to a tee, and it's out of copyright so you can read it online for free. Man, that was a terrible story, though awesome worldbuilding. It was just a slog pretty much the whole way through. I guess I appreciated how the use of adjectives was clarified later in the story (those horrid penguins!), but that only stood out because the rest just wasn't very pleasant to read.
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Jan 29, 2015 05:44
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mcustic posted:It was his dirty letters, wasn't it? Ha, good guess, but no! I found out about the dirty letters years ago, through Kate Beaton's cartoon, this one.  If you like, I'll share. I've always disliked Finnegan's Wake. It's obscure, deliberately difficult, etc, etc. I've used this image of the first page as part of a class on nonsense I sometimes teach.  So, I dismissed it as a book.But... But a week ago, I came across this - James McManus talking about a piece of writing that makes him cry. And it just destroyed me. Reduced me to tears. So, I'm still not minded to read the book (Finnegan's Wake) but I want to know more about Joyce.  
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Jan 29, 2015 10:32
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Bilirubin posted:Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth comes to mind Thanks! I'll see if I can't wrangle those two up.
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Jan 31, 2015 15:13
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Twerp posted:Can anybody recommend some well-researched books on folklore/mythology? That is, something that's more than just a flat collection of stories. I recently read Nart Sagas from the Caucasus, and it has all the sorts of things I really like - copious footnotes, historical/cultural contexts, thematic analyses, examples of cross-cultural story pollination, and even etymological breakdowns of the various regional dialects. Something India-focused would be peachy, but I'd be more than happy to explore anything you got for me. Check out The Truth About Stories by Thomas King. It's based on his Massey Lectures, which you can also listen to on CBC's website. It's more a commentary on the sociology of narratives mixed with a memoir rather than a collection of FNMI stories with anthropological/historical analysis, but it's a really incredible book and everyone should read it. Super light reading, as well. I think I finished it in an evening.
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Jan 31, 2015 23:53
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I'm looking for some weird non-traditional fantasy (though it doesn't necessarily have to be middle ages stuff) with a focus on characters and soul searching. Anyone have any reccs.?
Sex Beef 2.0 fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 07:45
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Looking for recommendations on some thriller novels. Loved the poo poo out of nos4a2 and Gone Girl. The kind that gets going and doesn't let up. qwertyasdf fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 08:55
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Hey y'all I need a recommendation real quick. I'm sitting in the book store and I only have enough for one: "Zero History" or "Spook Country", both by William Gibson. Which is the better book? Or are they part of a trilogy and I should go in sequential order?
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Feb 3, 2015 02:13
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Benny the Snake posted:Hey y'all I need a recommendation real quick. I'm sitting in the book store and I only have enough for one: "Zero History" or "Spook Country", both by William Gibson. Which is the better book? Or are they part of a trilogy and I should go in sequential order? They're third and second respectively in an informal trilogy.
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Feb 3, 2015 02:44
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I ended up getting "Zero History", which will be a nice change of pace after lots and lots of urban fantasy.
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Feb 3, 2015 03:31
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