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dokmo posted:The first book I ever read about medieval history was Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, which I loved, continue to love, and will love no matter what anyone says about it. I second this. It does a great job of mixing biography with general history so it keeps you engaged and it also keeps a good pace.
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Mar 30, 2015 15:40
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Hedrigall posted:Hey guys I really want to read exciting books about spies in Nazi-occupied territory during WW2! I love tense and exciting stuff like that scene in the bar during Inglourious Basterds. Actually, all of that movie. Give Alan Furst a try. He writes spy novels set before and during WWII. I would recommend starting with Dark Star.
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Mar 31, 2015 16:17
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So, I'm looking for collections of American folklore/ folk tales. Anything from pioneer works to modern urban legends. I recently read Library of America's "True Crime: an American Anthology" and really,really liked it's style of diverse eras and sources.
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Apr 1, 2015 03:56
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Nckdictator posted:So, I'm looking for collections of American folklore/ folk tales. Anything from pioneer works to modern urban legends. I recently read Library of America's "True Crime: an American Anthology" and really,really liked it's style of diverse eras and sources. I got American Library's American Noir collection for Christmas, and while I'm only on the first story so far (The Postman Always Rings Twice) I'm really excited about this collection for the same general reason. It's two volumes splits into the 30's and 40's in one volume and the 50's in the second.
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Apr 1, 2015 05:42
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Nckdictator posted:So, I'm looking for collections of American folklore/ folk tales. Anything from pioneer works to modern urban legends. I recently read Library of America's "True Crime: an American Anthology" and really,really liked it's style of diverse eras and sources. Scarey Stories to Tell in the Dark or the Reader's Digest American Folklore and Legends are good. Check out Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Brunvand if you're interested in an academic look at urban legends, what causes them and how they spread.
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Apr 1, 2015 06:03
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PatMarshall posted:Give Alan Furst a try. He writes spy novels set before and during WWII. I would recommend starting with Dark Star. That sounds good! Is there any reason I should start with this one rather than Night Soldiers, though?
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Apr 1, 2015 06:55
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Can anyone recommend some good non-fiction books along the lines of Jon Robson, or just really good ones in general? I'm particularly interested in cults, the sex trade and people in power. I was also really impressed with the Columbine book and Friday Night Lights when I read them. Sorry if this isn't the best thread to ask in.
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Apr 1, 2015 13:15
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PriorMarcus posted:Can anyone recommend some good non-fiction books along the lines of Jon Robson, or just really good ones in general? I'm particularly interested in cults, the sex trade and people in power. I was also really impressed with the Columbine book and Friday Night Lights when I read them. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People by Tim Reiterman is probably the best, most thorough book you can read about Jim Jones and the People's Temple. It covers Jim Jones' life from childhood all the way to his end in Jonestown and is very well written and readable. I actually got the rec for this book in this thread a couple years ago, so this is the place to ask.
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Apr 1, 2015 13:37
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PriorMarcus posted:Can anyone recommend some good non-fiction books along the lines of Jon Robson, or just really good ones in general? I'm particularly interested in cults, the sex trade and people in power. I was also really impressed with the Columbine book and Friday Night Lights when I read them. Lawrence Wright's Going Clear. Possibly tangential, but I also really enjoyed Bill Buford's Among the Thugs, which is about English soccer hooligans.
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Apr 1, 2015 14:22
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PriorMarcus posted:Can anyone recommend some good non-fiction books along the lines of Jon Robson, or just really good ones in general? I'm particularly interested in cults, the sex trade and people in power. I was also really impressed with the Columbine book and Friday Night Lights when I read them. Under The Banner of Heaven is an interesting one on Mormonism. It covers high-profile murder by one of the more radical branches while also looking at the founding of the church in general. You could also dig into the FLDS/polygmy side if you're interested in sex trade.
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Apr 1, 2015 16:09
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Does anyone have any recs for non-fiction books that deal with the topic of lying or human relationships (be it friendly or romantic)? I've read a bunch of Freud and another book, forgot the title, but it's about evil and how it arises in people, it talks about the Milgram experiment and the Stanford Prison Guard experiment, and it's a book with a black cover with a red band in the middle...well, anyways, now I'm pretty interested in human relationships in general.
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Apr 1, 2015 22:43
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Hedrigall posted:That sounds good! Is there any reason I should start with this one rather than Night Soldiers, though? Of course not! Night Soldiers is also terrific. I think his earlier books are better than the more recent ones, but I've probably just become too familiar with his formula.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:04
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mrbass21 posted:I just read (audio book) the first 3 books of the Gentleman Bastard series, and I loved it. You should checkout Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobbs. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45107.Assassin_s_Apprentice?from_search=true Its similar to NoTW and pretty drat good. Similar sort of first-person retelling of their childhood -> present. I also suppose you've read all of your Brandon Sanderson?
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Apr 2, 2015 09:25
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Xaris posted:You should checkout Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobbs. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45107.Assassin_s_Apprentice?from_search=true Pretty much every book this woman writes has a heart-rending finale. They're mostly very good books, but by Christ they can be depressing.
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Apr 2, 2015 21:15
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mirthdefect posted:Pretty much every book this woman writes has a heart-rending finale. They're mostly very good books, but by Christ they can be depressing. I have to say, I didn't feel compelled to finish the rest of her assasins/fool trilogies (even tho they follow mostly the same characters) but I gave some of em a chance and wikied the rest of it. I think she starts to insert a lot of her own insecurities from her life into it and it gets rather... weird and I felt I was already pretty much done with the world with the first trilogy. First one is definitely worth a read. Xaris fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Apr 2, 2015 |
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Apr 2, 2015 21:30
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OK. As some guy on CC told me; I should 1) Write shorter stories and 2) (And this is important) read more. As this is the thread for Recs, I'll ask for some specific recs based on ideas I have for three short (And by short, I mean less than 2000 words) stories; which means what novels or shorts stories have similar plots to the following (NOTE: All of these ideas came from prompts a friend of mine gave me, so if they're terrible I'll blame this friend of mine who totally exists.): 1) The main character is at the funeral of a friend who's death was on the MC's hands. Written from the MC's viewpoint 2) In first person, a character discovers that all the domestic cats in the world are floating at around the same height as an average human being 3) The MC is a ghost and is trying (And failing) to communicate with his/her family without scaring the poo poo out of them. It's a comedy. Any good recs for these "Probably will turn out horrible if I'm writing these" plot points?
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Apr 4, 2015 08:50
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Reading any short story will help you learn what you should and shouldn't do with a short story. Look through short story collections of the authors that jump out at you. That said, for a real recommendation, Etgar Keret is one of my favorite short story writers. He takes insanely weird plots, tells them with brevity, packs in a lot of emotion, and always has a purpose to the story. And he's very funny. Any collection is good. Also, look into Kurt Vonnegut's short stories, and especially read his essay on approaching short stories. Great advice. For more stories, maybe read J. D. Salinger's collection, Hemingway. For more on the craft, you can always read Stephen King's On Writing, if you haven't yet. Ultimately you're just going to have to write (and re-write, and re-write, and re-write) the stories. Write it as long as it needs to be, then start cutting the fluff. Hope this helps.
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Apr 4, 2015 14:52
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Crossposting from SAL: Invisible Ted posted:Anyone have any recommendations on books about the mechanics of cults? Psychology of cults and indoctrination, economics of communes, things like that. Books about specific cults are fine, inside accounts would be great. What I'm not looking for are books that preach the philosophy of a cult/fringe group, or are something like founding literature for these groups.
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Apr 4, 2015 15:50
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Superb Owls posted:OK. As some guy on CC told me; I should 1) Write shorter stories and 2) (And this is important) read more. As this is the thread for Recs, I'll ask for some specific recs based on ideas I have for three short (And by short, I mean less than 2000 words) stories; which means what novels or shorts stories have similar plots to the following (NOTE: All of these ideas came from prompts a friend of mine gave me, so if they're terrible I'll blame this friend of mine who totally exists.): Books of Blood by Clive Barker is probably right up your alley here. Don't lock yourself into one genre of reading though, a diverse experience of authors and classics will help you. I'd suggest Katherine Anne Porter and Somerset Maugham for short stories. Both are amazing and, the differences in plot notwithstanding, will help illustrate how to create great characters in short story form. Writing a good short story is definitely an art. Just keep at it and don't stop.
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Apr 4, 2015 20:49
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Invisible Ted posted:Crossposting from SAL: I can't recommend any specific books, but I do remember reading an article a year or two ago about a researcher, Susan J Palmer, whose primary focus is cults and who got caught up in some of the ones she researched. Not sure if she's written anything worthwhile, but it's a starting point.
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Apr 4, 2015 23:45
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Invisible Ted posted:Crossposting from SAL: I wish I could give you a more applicable recommendation, since you're asking for something very specific and interesting. I can only give you the title of the best book ever written about cults, Eric Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements , which is more about the psychology of culty thinking rather than the mechanics of how cults work.
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Apr 5, 2015 01:10
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Can anyone rec something similar to Jack Weatherford's History of Money? I need a gift for my dad and that was the last thing I remember him talking incessantly about.
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Apr 7, 2015 17:18
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there wolf posted:Can anyone rec something similar to Jack Weatherford's History of Money? I need a gift for my dad and that was the last thing I remember him talking incessantly about. It's a bit old-fashioned, but perhaps Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds? It has some great chapters on financial crazes of the past, like the South Sea Bubble, the Mississippi Bubble, and the Tulipomania. Janet Gleeson's Millionaire is a more in-depth look at John Law and the Mississippi Bubble. Ron Chernow's books on the Morgans and the Warburgs are also interesting reading if you're into the history of finance.
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Apr 7, 2015 19:35
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I'm dealing with a person who I'm almost positive is a pathological or compulsive liar, and it's starting to affect his personal life in a big way. I've been doing some reading to see why he could be doing this, and I thought I'd get a book on the subject. Any good books on the science and psychology of why we lie, disorders that cause lying, or about sociopaths, psychopaths, etc.? Can be pop science or a textbook, but I'd prefer something like Mary Roach or Oliver Sacks (only read excerpts from both).
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Apr 7, 2015 21:10
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Any recommendations for books that give a broad overview of western philosophy, the various schools of thought and maybe touch upon critical analysis? Basically, I'm trying to figure out where to start to get an idea of where to do my own investigation into ideas I'm interested in, but I don't want to just dive into the deep end of one corner at random and flail around lost in references to material and people I'm not familiar with.
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Apr 8, 2015 02:01
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sophie's world is, no joke, considered a good starting point for someone completely new to philosophy, or so I've heard.
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Apr 8, 2015 11:02
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Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy is pretty good and accessible from a "I don't know anything" perspective just as it gets more modern his biases start influencing the text more and more (he hates Hegel so much) so just be aware of that.
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Apr 8, 2015 11:07
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ulvir posted:sophie's world is, no joke, considered a good starting point for someone completely new to philosophy, or so I've heard.
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Apr 8, 2015 11:46
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The Philosophy Book by Will Buckingham is a good overview and nicely presented too.
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Apr 8, 2015 12:50
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Loving Life Partner posted:Any recommendations for books that give a broad overview of western philosophy, the various schools of thought and maybe touch upon critical analysis? I started with the Sahakians' Ideas of the Great Philosophers and found it very useful as a quick introduction to the various schools of thought, but it seems to be out of print.
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Apr 8, 2015 14:16
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Franchescanado posted:I'm dealing with a person who I'm almost positive is a pathological or compulsive liar, and it's starting to affect his personal life in a big way. I've been doing some reading to see why he could be doing this, and I thought I'd get a book on the subject. http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychopath-Test-Journey-Industry/dp/1594485755
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Apr 8, 2015 15:41
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Any recommendations for someone that just finished the Malazan Chronicles? I'd love something that mixed magic with technology (Hopefully a completed series so I don't get blue balled waiting for the next book). I started Reading Geomancer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomancer_%28Well_of_Echoes%29 and am enjoying it but would like to put other things on my list to read.
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Apr 8, 2015 16:05
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m.hache posted:Any recommendations for someone that just finished the Malazan Chronicles? Gravity's Rainbow
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Apr 8, 2015 17:45
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Loving Life Partner posted:Any recommendations for books that give a broad overview of western philosophy, the various schools of thought and maybe touch upon critical analysis? Think by Simon Blackburn sounds like exactly what you're looking for. I read it both before and after getting an undergrad Philosophy degree and thought it was great both times, first as an intro and later as a refresher.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:13
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m.hache posted:Any recommendations for someone that just finished the Malazan Chronicles? I've never read it, but the Mistborn series might fit the bill. My friend raves about it.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:36
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Kvlt! posted:I've never read it, but the Mistborn series might fit the bill. My friend raves about it. Can't say enough good things about this trilogy
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Apr 8, 2015 18:46
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RisqueBarber posted:Can't say enough good things about this trilogy I'll add it to my list. Thanks
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Apr 8, 2015 18:48
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m.hache posted:Any recommendations for someone that just finished the Malazan Chronicles? The First Law trilogy is my go to recommendation these days for people looking for great fantasy reading.
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Apr 8, 2015 19:31
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m.hache posted:Any recommendations for someone that just finished the Malazan Chronicles? Sanderson's stuff, and First Law are really good suggestions made already. Having never been able to get into Malazan because it hurts my brain, so I don't know if it may fit with that at all but I just finished Brian McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy which has a good mix of sorcery, and technology (gunpowder/muskets/artillery). Pretty easy read but it's brutal at parts and something about it that just made me really want to keep reading until 4am.
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Apr 8, 2015 20:52
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Awesome suggestions. I've got a nice little queue that should take me forever to read. Thanks
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Apr 8, 2015 20:55
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