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Foreskin Problems posted:What are the seminal works in ancient alienology? I know it's all bunk, I just want to see where the hell these guys are coming from. Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken.
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Feb 8, 2018 01:40
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Rolo posted:Is American Gods a good start for reading Neil Gaiman? I got a free copy and was told I’d like him. My first Gaiman was Good Omens, but that's a collab with Terry Pratchett.
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Feb 8, 2018 02:12
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Solitair posted:My first Gaiman was Good Omens, but that's a collab with Terry Pratchett. Ahaha, whoops. This is Gaiman's best work, followed by Sandman. If you haven't read it yet, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you!
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Feb 8, 2018 02:14
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Tiggum posted:Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken. This is the dude that almost all of it came from but iirc some of his ideas actually appeared first in Pauwels and Bergier's The Morning of the Magicians, which also inspired a lot of other 60s esotericism like occult nazis and stuff.
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Feb 8, 2018 04:36
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Solitair posted:My first Gaiman was Good Omens, but that's a collab with Terry Pratchett. I’ve never read any Terry Pratchett either  Guess I’ll add it to the list then? Which 3 books first?
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Feb 8, 2018 15:14
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Rolo posted:I’ve never read any Terry Pratchett either Guards! Guards!, Wyrd Sisters and Mort. In any order.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:53
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Tiggum posted:Guards! Guards!, Wyrd Sisters and Mort. In any order. Guards Guards is the best of the three imo - I bounced off the other two but couldn't put it down.
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Feb 9, 2018 03:12
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DOUBLE CLICK HERE posted:Looking for short stories. Just has to be engaging. Throw me a handful! Whatever you're into or remember. Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang. Nocturnes, John Connolly. Both volumes, though I seem to recall the second being better.
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Feb 9, 2018 14:38
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StrixNebulosa posted:Guards Guards is the best of the three imo - I bounced off the other two but couldn't put it down. It was exactly the opposite for me
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Feb 9, 2018 16:42
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Forgot to thank y'all for the travel writing recs. New request: what are some good literary books that'll move me to tears?
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Feb 9, 2018 20:17
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Mira posted:Forgot to thank y'all for the travel writing recs. What makes you cry?
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Feb 9, 2018 20:24
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Franchescanado posted:What makes you cry? Something like Voices from Chernobyl, but literary fiction.
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Feb 9, 2018 20:26
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no longer human by osamu dazai
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Feb 10, 2018 00:28
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Mira posted:Forgot to thank y'all for the travel writing recs. A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
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Feb 10, 2018 12:46
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elbow posted:A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara this book is the emotional equivalent of torture porn
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Feb 10, 2018 20:59
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chernobyl kinsman posted:this book is the emotional equivalent of torture porn Apparently the term is tragedy porn.
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Feb 10, 2018 23:15
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I read a synopsis and it sounds super bad
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Feb 11, 2018 10:29
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StrixNebulosa posted:Apparently the term is tragedy porn. Well, was supposed to be in the company of Voices from Chernobyl, which is really heavy reading. Granted it is the sort of dreary hopelessness of real tragedy, where I do get annoyed when authors just pile on hardships while hinting at some significance in the suffering.
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Feb 11, 2018 12:20
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Cybernetic Vermin posted:Well, was supposed to be in the company of Voices from Chernobyl, which is really heavy reading. Granted it is the sort of dreary hopelessness of real tragedy, where I do get annoyed when authors just pile on hardships while hinting at some significance in the suffering. Fair. I would like to draw a line between tragedy porn - i.e. fictional tragedy for the sake of suffering - versus Voices from Chernobyl. (And I hope Mira finds what they want to read, as well as brings along boatloads of tissues. I read the plot summary of A Little Life and it sounds guaranteed to ruin your day.)
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Feb 11, 2018 12:46
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Cheers, my dudes. That was actually on my backlog for a while.
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Feb 12, 2018 00:28
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Any recommendations for "historical" crime novels? I'm thinking mostly pre-industrial. So far I've read some Ruusuvuori, Van Gulik (one of my favourites but only because they're hell of fast reads), Eco's Il nome della rosa, Christie's Death Comes as the End (which wasn't very good), and one of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels but I can't remember the title. In English, Finnish, or Swedish (as long as it's pretty much standard Swedish). e: a few things some writers of historical fiction seem to love that I do not love: awkward foot sex scenes on the smithy floor, detailed descriptions of nautical manoeuvres, info dumps. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 12, 2018 |
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Feb 12, 2018 15:06
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Jerry Cotton posted:Any recommendations for "historical" crime novels? I'm thinking mostly pre-industrial. So far I've read some Ruusuvuori, Van Gulik (one of my favourites but only because they're hell of fast reads), Eco's Il nome della rosa, Christie's Death Comes as the End (which wasn't very good), and one of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels but I can't remember the title. If you haven't read The Name of the Rose, then do so. Ahhh nevermind you have -- I "blipped" over the Italian title, sorry! Here's a list from wikipedia that might have some good ones, but I think you've already read all the stuff in this sub-genre that I have (Eco & Cadfael, mostly), so I can't really make recommendations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_mystery Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Feb 12, 2018 |
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Feb 12, 2018 15:17
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An Instance of the Fingerpost would be another good tip.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:26
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I recall Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco novels as being pretty decent although I've only read the first four or five.
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Feb 12, 2018 18:56
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What are some good swashbuckling adventure books? I've got The Princess Bride and Stardust in mind as reference points, but I may be interested in anything in that approximately-renaissance-adventure mold. Feel free to just throw titles at me, I'll look things up on my own time.
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Feb 13, 2018 00:35
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Are you looking for contemporary? Because you can always do the classics like Dumas or The Scarlet Pimpernell
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Feb 13, 2018 01:12
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Are you looking for contemporary? Scarlet Pimpernel is . .. not exactly an easy read, and I like that stuff Start with The Curse of Capistrano (the first Zorro book). Next up, if by swashbuckling you mean pirates, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson CAptain Blood by Rafael Sabatini is technically a classic but closer to the Scarlet Pimpernel end of the "not actually objectively good" spectrum. If you want something that specifically feels like Stardust/ Princess Bride, it's hard to capture that particular ethos anywhere else, but a personal favorite of mine is Harm's Way by Colin Greenland. edit: Dumas is highly variable in quality because he had a stable of ghostwriters under him. Count of Monte Cristo is the place to start. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Feb 13, 2018 |
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Feb 13, 2018 01:51
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What about Captain Alatriste?
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Feb 13, 2018 03:05
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George MacDonald Fraser (of Flashman fame) also wrote a book called The Pyrates that's a mix of comedy and swashbuckling. Actually, mentioning Fraser also reminds me of Anthony Hope and The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau, which are a lot of fun and quick reads.
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Feb 13, 2018 04:18
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Dadbod Apocalypse posted:What about Captain Alatriste? Oh anything by Perez-Reverte is great. I'm not sure how much of his stuff is available in English though -- when I read the series a few years ago I had a really hard time finding ebook copies of everything and from what I remember there were a few books in the sequence I couldn't find English language copies of. They may've come out by now though.
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Feb 13, 2018 04:43
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Haystack posted:What are some good swashbuckling adventure books? I've got The Princess Bride and Stardust in mind as reference points, but I may be interested in anything in that approximately-renaissance-adventure mold. I don't know if they're great but Samuel Shellabarger made a lot of money with swashbuckling novels. I've only read Prince of Foxes (which they made a film out of) and The King's Cavalier and I was reasonably entertained. (Joke answer: https://archive.org/details/surgeonsstories00topegoog - I don't know if there's a full or recent English translation.) Anyway thanks for the recommendations, thread. e: Actually, "swashbuckling" might not mean what I thought it means so 
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Feb 13, 2018 13:34
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Oh anything by Perez-Reverte is great. I'm not sure how much of his stuff is available in English though -- when I read the series a few years ago I had a really hard time finding ebook copies of everything and from what I remember there were a few books in the sequence I couldn't find English language copies of. They may've come out by now though. As far as I can see, all the Alatriste books except Bridge of Assassins have been translated into English and are available on Kindle.
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Feb 13, 2018 17:46
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Hello. I have a spare audible credit to spend on some fiction and all their recommendations are garbage. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I'm coming at this one with an open mind so rather than asking for "Discworld but sexy" here's a few things I'd like to avoid: 1. Mainstream bestsellers; it's not that they're necessarily bad but I've probably seen them already 2. Scifi unless it's really astoundingly good, because I've read a lot of scifi in my life 3. 50s Americana 4. WW2 (unless there's a very interesting twist/gimmick) 5. Anything very cerebral or structurally complicated; I'm usually listening to these while doing something else or snoozing, so it doesn't need to be braindead but I doubt I'd be able to follow The Three Body Problem or Cloud Atlas read out loud. The narrator can make or break an audiobook for sure but I'm happy to vet that using the samples available.
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Feb 14, 2018 17:59
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Aquarium by David Vann
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Feb 14, 2018 18:10
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Jaded Burnout posted:Hello. I have a spare audible credit to spend on some fiction and all their recommendations are garbage. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Maybe look into the Lincoln In The Bardo audiobook?
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Feb 14, 2018 18:47
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Jaded Burnout posted:Hello. I have a spare audible credit to spend on some fiction and all their recommendations are garbage. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I don't know how you feel about Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin book series, but I thought the narrator (Patrick Tull) was a delight to listen to. He really brings those stories to life. https://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Master-and-Commander-Audiobook/B002V0KS9A
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Feb 14, 2018 19:40
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Dadbod Apocalypse posted:I don't know how you feel about Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin book series, but I thought the narrator (Patrick Tull) was a delight to listen to. He really brings those stories to life. Word of warning: these are a personal fave but lots of nautical language. Just let it wash over you and understanding comes with time.
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Feb 14, 2018 19:57
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Aquarium by David Vann Not available unfortunately  Franchescanado posted:Maybe look into the Lincoln In The Bardo audiobook? 🤔 Thank you for the recommendation but after listening to the sample I think it's not my kind of thing. Lincoln has never held any interest for me. Dadbod Apocalypse posted:I don't know how you feel about Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin book series, but I thought the narrator (Patrick Tull) was a delight to listen to. He really brings those stories to life. Master and Commander got a big following here because of the TV series but I never really bothered with it. It looks (and sounds) interesting, thanks. I've put it on my shortlist. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Word of warning: these are a personal fave but lots of nautical language. Thanks  I've been reasonably indoctrinated through things like Neal Stephenson and James Clavell and generally being English, so hopefully it's not too bad.
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Feb 15, 2018 01:42
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Jerry Cotton posted:Any recommendations for "historical" crime novels? I'm thinking mostly pre-industrial. So far I've read some Ruusuvuori, Van Gulik (one of my favourites but only because they're hell of fast reads), Eco's Il nome della rosa, Christie's Death Comes as the End (which wasn't very good), and one of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels but I can't remember the title. I liked Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison, there's four books in that series as well. Synopsis here http://www.eliotpattison.com/bone_rattler.html
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Feb 15, 2018 06:13
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Another good tip for historical crime could be My Name Is Red.
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Feb 15, 2018 12:44
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