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What's the best place/book to start with Jim Thompson?
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Aug 13, 2019 17:52
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Kvlt! posted:What's the best place/book to start with Jim Thompson? I liked The Grifters and The Killer Inside Me is supposed to be great.
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Aug 13, 2019 18:30
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man i started reading Postmodernism: Cultural Logic of Late Stage Capitalism but it was just way too academic/philosophy-speak for me to understand or enjoy. any recommendations for another book of similar subject matter that's more readable? i dont mind dense books but i dont want to look up 9 words in a 10 word sentence
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Aug 13, 2019 21:36
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thehandtruck posted:man i started reading Postmodernism: Cultural Logic of Late Stage Capitalism but it was just way too academic/philosophy-speak for me to understand or enjoy. any recommendations for another book of similar subject matter that's more readable? i dont mind dense books but i dont want to look up 9 words in a 10 word sentence David Graeber’s work is much more accessible and sounds similar. Check out Debt, the Utopia of Rules or Bullshit Jobs. They’re all kind of hovering around the same topic but I think Utopia of Rules is most accessible and interesting and gives you a sense of Graeber’s style, bias and themes. Debt is a really excellent work, in my opinion. It’s just a bit meaty to dive into if you can’t stand Graeber.
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Aug 14, 2019 01:48
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tuyop posted:David Graeber’s work is much more accessible and sounds similar. Check out Debt, the Utopia of Rules or Bullshit Jobs. They’re all kind of hovering around the same topic but I think Utopia of Rules is most accessible and interesting and gives you a sense of Graeber’s style, bias and themes. Debt is a really excellent work, in my opinion. It’s just a bit meaty to dive into if you can’t stand Graeber. however, note that david graeber isn't a marxist
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Aug 14, 2019 08:33
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A human heart posted:however, note that david graeber isn't a marxist thats why his book is good
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Aug 14, 2019 20:46
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A year or two ago I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and fell in love all over again. Now, not being quite ready to re-re-read them but wanting something similar, I'm halfway through the second Wheel of Time novels (I read the first one years ago) and it's just not giving me what I want. I think it's the prose? The language is ordinary and forgettable. I confirmed my suspicions by reading a bit of Ivanhoe, another book I love, and the writing was much more what I wanted. So, before I just go read Waverly instead, can anyone recommend a fantasy novel that doesn't have a modern, contemporary, boring writing style? I tried Spencer's The Faerie Queene but I'd really gone too far in the other direction; it's good but I can't read Elizabethan English casually enough to make it a light work of genre fiction.
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Aug 14, 2019 21:29
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Jack B Nimble posted:A year or two ago I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and fell in love all over again. Now, not being quite ready to re-re-read them but wanting something similar, I'm halfway through the second Wheel of Time novels (I read the first one years ago) and it's just not giving me what I want. I think it's the prose? The language is ordinary and forgettable. I confirmed my suspicions by reading a bit of Ivanhoe, another book I love, and the writing was much more what I wanted. Book of the New Sun e: vvv The Worm Ourobouros is a great choice regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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Aug 14, 2019 21:59
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The Worm Ouroboros, The Well at the World's End, even The Chronicles of Prydain.
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Aug 14, 2019 22:09
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Jack B Nimble posted:A year or two ago I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and fell in love all over again. Now, not being quite ready to re-re-read them but wanting something similar, I'm halfway through the second Wheel of Time novels (I read the first one years ago) and it's just not giving me what I want. I think it's the prose? The language is ordinary and forgettable. I confirmed my suspicions by reading a bit of Ivanhoe, another book I love, and the writing was much more what I wanted. The modern book that pulls this off best is Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke. It's written in the voice of a regency-era writer, complete with imagined footnotes etc. There's also a BBC miniseries that's very well done. Past that older writers tend to have a good voice. Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees or anything by Lord Dunsany (an actual Irish lord) http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/dun/swld/swld09.htm
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Aug 14, 2019 22:11
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I bought one and I'll come back to complain later! But really, thanks all.
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Aug 14, 2019 22:41
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The modern book that pulls this off best is Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke. It's written in the voice of a regency-era writer, complete with imagined footnotes etc. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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Aug 14, 2019 23:39
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I read Well at the Worlds End a few years ago and really enjoyed it - found R A MacAvoy's Lens of the World shortly after which might scratch the same itch?
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Aug 15, 2019 08:46
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Jack B Nimble posted:A year or two ago I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and fell in love all over again. Now, not being quite ready to re-re-read them but wanting something similar, I'm halfway through the second Wheel of Time novels (I read the first one years ago) and it's just not giving me what I want. I think it's the prose? The language is ordinary and forgettable. I confirmed my suspicions by reading a bit of Ivanhoe, another book I love, and the writing was much more what I wanted. It's been a while since I've recommended Tanith Lee in this thread, so: I recommend Tanith Lee. Try Night's Master, Cyrion, Red as Blood, or The Book of the Damned.
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Aug 15, 2019 11:27
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Sham bam bamina! posted:The peak of this kind of thing is probably Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, which is not a fantasy novel but is definitely fantastical. Yeah, a clairvoyant talking dog is introduced within the first 30 pages.
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Aug 15, 2019 12:17
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Franchescanado posted:Yeah, a clairvoyant talking dog is introduced within the first 30 pages. wait wtf why did nobody tell me this before?
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Aug 16, 2019 05:14
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Bilirubin posted:wait wtf why did nobody tell me this before?
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Aug 16, 2019 05:54
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Bilirubin posted:wait wtf why did nobody tell me this before? theres also a psychotic invisible robot duck that terrorizes a kitchen's chef...
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Aug 16, 2019 17:14
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Franchescanado posted:Yeah, a clairvoyant talking dog is introduced within the first 30 pages. Oh so now this is a spoiler thread, great.
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Aug 16, 2019 17:19
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Selachian posted:I'm a fan of Malazan myself, but it's very much a "love it or hate it" series, and as everyone will probably tell you, the first book is the worst (it was written about 10 years before the others and oh my god does it show). If you're interested and aren't put off by the size of the series, try at least to stick it out until Deadhouse Gates, the second book. To add to this, I'm reading The Way of Kings and it's fantastic! Definitely recommend.
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Aug 17, 2019 20:47
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Selachian posted:May I suggest Stephen R. Donaldson's "Mordant's Need" series (The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through)? It's probably Donaldson's most accessible stuff, and has a female protagonist, interesting characters, and an unusual mirror-based magic system. i havent read this but i have read his gap and thomas covenant series, could you tell me how much rape there is relative to those two
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Aug 18, 2019 01:41
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on a scale from "thomas covenant" (rape is a major plot point) to "gap" (one entire book is just about rape)
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Aug 18, 2019 01:42
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a mirror based magic system is just david copperfield, i'm not impressed
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Aug 18, 2019 04:51
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I’m pretty sure Dickens wrote semi-realistic fiction, not fantasy.
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Aug 18, 2019 05:14
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there's not enough rape in reality so his calling is to include more of it in all the fantasy worlds he conjures up in his head and writes about because he's perfectly normal
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Aug 18, 2019 05:46
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chernobyl kinsman posted:i havent read this but i have read his gap and thomas covenant series, could you tell me how much rape there is relative to those two Rape as a means of mind control is a major plot point, and is explicitly described. I discourage anyone and everyone from reading it.
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Aug 18, 2019 12:10
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Cybernetic Vermin posted:Rape as a means of mind control is a major plot point, and is explicitly described. I discourage anyone and everyone from reading it. lmao donaldson is such a fuckin weirdo
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Aug 18, 2019 17:49
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Selachian posted:May I suggest Stephen R. Donaldson's "Mordant's Need" series (The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through)? It's probably Donaldson's most accessible stuff, and has a female protagonist, interesting characters, and an unusual mirror-based magic system. The Mirror of Her Dreams was the first book I decided not to finish, when previously I would grimly push on to the end. The protagonist being a woman is not necessarily the mark of a good book.
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Aug 18, 2019 19:59
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thehandtruck posted:man i started reading Postmodernism: Cultural Logic of Late Stage Capitalism but it was just way too academic/philosophy-speak for me to understand or enjoy. any recommendations for another book of similar subject matter that's more readable? i dont mind dense books but i dont want to look up 9 words in a 10 word sentence for marxist cultural criticism that's readable for someone not already knee deep in this kind of poo poo, check out mark fisher's capitalist realism
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Aug 19, 2019 11:22
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wheatpuppy posted:Other John Ringo that's not completely cringy: tuyop posted:I don’t know who or what that is but the Bobiverse books are fun and not bad. Thank you guys for the recommendations! I read everything and enjoyed it. Now I need some more recommendations. Anything with several books in it would be great.
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Aug 20, 2019 03:16
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spacetoaster posted:Thank you guys for the recommendations! I read everything and enjoyed it. The Murderbot trilogy. The Expanse Series is some top notch trashy hard SF. The show is garbage but the first three or so books are quite good. The Culture series is a bit dense but it’s alright!
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Aug 20, 2019 04:17
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tuyop posted:The Murderbot trilogy. Murderbot and the Expanse are good, I've already read them. I just nabbed "Consider Phlebas" and will read it tonight.
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Aug 20, 2019 04:28
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I bought Jurassic Park because for some reason I’ve never read the book, even though the movie is one of my all times. I’m liking it a lot so far. The book came with a rebate I can use on another Chrichton book. Is the second JP book as good as the first or should I just go with Sphere or something?
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Aug 25, 2019 21:46
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yeah read lost world if you like jp
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Aug 25, 2019 23:19
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Wasn't that one written specifically for adaptation into another movie? I haven't read it, but the movie sucks rear end.
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Aug 26, 2019 02:43
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Wasn't that one written specifically for adaptation into another movie? I haven't read it, but the movie sucks rear end. probably, although it has almost nothing to do, plotwise, with the film, besides ian malcolm being the main character despite having died at the end of the first book still, it's aged better than his book about how climate change is a hoax or the one about Yellow Peril
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Aug 26, 2019 04:14
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i havent read it in years but iirc the lost world goes to even greater lengths than JP to prove that the whole idea of resurrecting dinosaurs was doomed from the start by including stuff like a mystery prion disease that's wiping them all out and the fact that none of the dinos can raise offspring because they're basically zoo animals with no experience in the wild. my impression was that Crichton got really mad about how not a single member of the reading public gave a poo poo about the Dangers of Man's Scientific Hubris theme in the first book and just thought cloned dinosaurs were cool as poo poo e: oh, regarding Jurassic Park, ive always been impressed by how completely unlikeable every one of the characters is, especially compared to their counterparts in the movie. john hammond is a ruthless robber baron instead of a kindly grandfather figure, ian malcolm is the same guy but less funny and charming, and alan grant is just an rear end in a top hat to everyone for the whole book. even the kids kind of suck. it seems on the whole like an odd creative decision. chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Aug 26, 2019 |
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Aug 26, 2019 04:17
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spacetoaster posted:Thank you guys for the recommendations! I read everything and enjoyed it.
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Aug 26, 2019 04:44
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Are there any good horror novels set in Vietnam during the war? I mean like, supernatural horror, genre stuff. Horror on top of how godawful the war was.
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Aug 27, 2019 14:09
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that's a bit crass don't you think? like i'm not gonna ask for a horror genre romp through the gas chambers either.
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Aug 27, 2019 14:43
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