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SEX HAVER 40000 posted:i just finished both Silence and Fires on the Plain, and Canticle for Leibowitz and The Book of the New Sun are two of my all time favorite novels. what are some similarly unique/complex/outsider works on catholicism? i've been trudging through The Name of the Rose for what feels like years now, but i crave more Not what you're asking for but I'd like to remind everyone that Graham Greene's Catholic novels exist.
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# ? Feb 9, 2023 13:51 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 04:42 |
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Are there any cases of writers effectively emulating the experience of deja vu in fiction?
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# ? Feb 9, 2023 16:43 |
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SEX HAVER 40000 posted:i just finished both Silence and Fires on the Plain, and Canticle for Leibowitz and The Book of the New Sun are two of my all time favorite novels. what are some similarly unique/complex/outsider works on catholicism? i've been trudging through The Name of the Rose for what feels like years now, but i crave more A case of Conscience by James Blish
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# ? Feb 10, 2023 02:47 |
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Following on the Graham Greene recommendation -- read The Power and the Glory.
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# ? Feb 10, 2023 05:54 |
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magic cactus posted:A case of Conscience by James Blish While I like A Case of Conscience, it's also worthwhile to read this Jesuit critique of Blish's interpretation.
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# ? Feb 10, 2023 17:26 |
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Selachian posted:While I like A Case of Conscience, it's also worthwhile to read this Jesuit critique of Blish's interpretation. Oh yeah for sure Blish has some... departures in his story (I debated bringing this up.) I just see it as a strong precursor to stuff like the Sparrow.
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# ? Feb 10, 2023 23:58 |
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TheCog posted:This is the David Weber's Safehold series. Appreciate that, thanks for the help.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 01:56 |
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Just finished reading His Dark Materials / Book Of Dust to the kids, what's something good we can dive into next? They're 10 and 8 but enjoy a lot. Done Harry Potter and Narnia too. I asked google and got this list, and it looks like there's a few they'd probably enjoy (Exhalation, To Say Nothing of The Dog, The Bone Clocks), but they all seem Adult. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing (we just did SpaceBoy by David Walliams and it felt weird to be doing something so silly), but are there any books or series I'm missing? Bucky Fullminster fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Feb 21, 2023 |
# ? Feb 21, 2023 04:33 |
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Link is dead but maybe Garth Nix, if they liked His Dark Materials. The Keys to the Kingdom is aimed squarely at kids, while the Old Kingdom books are YA but good fun.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 05:02 |
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CaptainCrunch posted:Link is dead but maybe Garth Nix, if they liked His Dark Materials. Ooh and Australian too, looks great thank you. And link is fixed thanks sorry.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 05:08 |
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Just to name some things off the top of my head... Treasure Island stands up remarkably well for its age. Then there's The Hobbit, which is great for that age range. Oh, and pretty much anything by Diana Wynne Jones should be perfect. Theres also the Phantom Tollbooth, the various works of Roald Dahl, and maybe The Wizard of Earthsea.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 05:20 |
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I read dozens and dozens of books as a kid / young adult and almost anything by Tamora Pierce stands head and shoulders above the rest. Try the Circle of Magic series first.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 06:04 |
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Bucky Fullminster posted:Just finished reading His Dark Materials / Book Of Dust to the kids, what's something good we can dive into next? They're 10 and 8 but enjoy a lot. Done Harry Potter and Narnia too. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper The Borribles by Michael De Larrabeiti City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau Watership Down by Richard Adams Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger Ordinary Jack by Helen Cresswell The Blue Sword By Robin McKinley The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder Goodnight Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian Hatchett by Gary Paulson
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 08:06 |
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Bucky Fullminster posted:Just finished reading His Dark Materials / Book Of Dust to the kids, what's something good we can dive into next? They're 10 and 8 but enjoy a lot. Done Harry Potter and Narnia too. As a few "classics" have already been mentioned; Alan Garner.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 08:09 |
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I like The Bone Clocks, but it is reeeeeallly not a kids' book. I'd second the recommendations of Diana Wynne Jones, Susan Cooper, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Alan Garner, and also throw in Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three et al) and John Bellairs (The House with a Clock in Its Walls et al). Catherynne Valente also has a fun kids' trilogy that starts with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. If your kids liked Pullman, his Sally Lockhart series (The Ruby in the Smoke, Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, The Tin Princess) is good too.
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# ? Feb 21, 2023 16:06 |
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Well I certainly came to the right place, thanks all. Can't wait to get stuck into them.
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# ? Feb 22, 2023 03:13 |
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Bucky Fullminster posted:Well I certainly came to the right place, thanks all. Can't wait to get stuck into them. Are you a bookmark?
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# ? Feb 22, 2023 09:00 |
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Need something similar to King's IT or Langan's Fisherman, but more in the way of its history. What I loved most about these is the investigatory nature of the books, "So and so told me..." Doesn't have to be horror. Also my favorite plot in thread in Game of Thrones (didn't read the books) is Ned's investigation into the King's lineage, so something along those lines as well. I guess maybe detective stories are the way to go?
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# ? Feb 22, 2023 13:56 |
Bucky Fullminster posted:Just finished reading His Dark Materials / Book Of Dust to the kids, what's something good we can dive into next? They're 10 and 8 but enjoy a lot. Done Harry Potter and Narnia too. At that age the Sherlock Holmes stories might be a good fit - most can be read in an evening, but they might still be a bit of a high bar for independent reading.
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# ? Feb 22, 2023 14:12 |
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caspergers posted:Need something similar to King's IT or Langan's Fisherman, but more in the way of its history. What I loved most about these is the investigatory nature of the books, "So and so told me..." Doesn't have to be horror. Also my favorite plot in thread in Game of Thrones (didn't read the books) is Ned's investigation into the King's lineage, so something along those lines as well. I guess maybe detective stories are the way to go? Maybe House of Leaves? I read that quite a long time ago and I remembered the investigatory history was a big part of it. I know it’s popular here, so maybe other goons can chime in. Also, a little different, but I always recommend the Charlie Parker Mysteries by John Connolly for anyone interested in Stephen King’s forays into the sordid history of small towns. The way Connolly writes reminds me a lot of that. The first is the the weakest, but then they pick up. I’d call them horror or supernatural mysteries.
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# ? Feb 23, 2023 02:00 |
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caspergers posted:Need something similar to King's IT or Langan's Fisherman, but more in the way of its history. What I loved most about these is the investigatory nature of the books, "So and so told me..." Doesn't have to be horror. Also my favorite plot in thread in Game of Thrones (didn't read the books) is Ned's investigation into the King's lineage, so something along those lines as well. I guess maybe detective stories are the way to go? How about Flicker by Theodore Roszak?
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# ? Feb 23, 2023 14:33 |
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caspergers posted:Need something similar to King's IT or Langan's Fisherman, but more in the way of its history. What I loved most about these is the investigatory nature of the books, "So and so told me..." Doesn't have to be horror. Also my favorite plot in thread in Game of Thrones (didn't read the books) is Ned's investigation into the King's lineage, so something along those lines as well. I guess maybe detective stories are the way to go? A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs. Both stories have kinda investigative narratives, with the first being about a mysterious manuscript manifesting bad things in a fictional South American country and the second being about a preserver trying to find the origin of a supernatural folk song.
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# ? Feb 23, 2023 19:09 |
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I’m looking for recommendations for non-fiction books specifically about what it’s like to be a sniper.
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# ? Feb 25, 2023 07:50 |
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neurotech posted:I’m looking for recommendations for non-fiction books specifically about what it’s like to be a sniper. I've only ever read an excerpt that was published in The New Yorker (Or Wired maybe? it was a long time ago) but "Jarhead" is written by a sniper in the marine corps about his experiences. I've never seen the film, partially because what I read of the book was so visceral and awful.
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# ? Feb 25, 2023 08:12 |
yaffle posted:I've only ever read an excerpt that was published in The New Yorker (Or Wired maybe? it was a long time ago) but "Jarhead" is written by a sniper in the marine corps about his experiences. I've never seen the film, partially because what I read of the book was so visceral and awful. The sequels are better
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# ? Feb 25, 2023 17:20 |
neurotech posted:I’m looking for recommendations for non-fiction books specifically about what it’s like to be a sniper. On Killing has some of this. Just be aware that the writer is a loving psycho fascist. However, it does offer a pretty interesting model of the psychology of combat as it’s changed with the technologies and techniques of modern warfare. I also haven’t read it in like 20 years now so I may be getting it mixed up a lot!
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# ? Feb 25, 2023 21:55 |
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neurotech posted:I’m looking for recommendations for non-fiction books specifically about what it’s like to be a sniper. One of the people on my college fencing team was an ex-sniper. He was one of the nicest people on the team, but he was also drunk 100% of the time. He'd even bring beers into the practice room and drink between bouts. I'm not a very empathetic person but he was obviously traumatized by what he'd done. He had endless stories about all the places he'd been but would absolutely not talk about any of the things he'd done while on duty.
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# ? Feb 26, 2023 05:07 |
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I really want to read compelling accounts of being disillusioned/deprogrammed from a belief system.
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# ? Feb 27, 2023 00:30 |
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FPyat posted:I really want to read compelling accounts of being disillusioned/deprogrammed from a belief system. I enjoyed Robert Kaufman's Inside Scientology: How I Joined Scientology and Became Superhuman (not to be confused with Janet Reitman's later book, also titled Inside Scientology).
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# ? Feb 27, 2023 05:59 |
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caspergers posted:Need something similar to King's IT or Langan's Fisherman, but more in the way of its history. What I loved most about these is the investigatory nature of the books, "So and so told me..." Doesn't have to be horror. Also my favorite plot in thread in Game of Thrones (didn't read the books) is Ned's investigation into the King's lineage, so something along those lines as well. I guess maybe detective stories are the way to go? Devil House by John Darnielle It's a novel about a true crime writer researching supposedly Satanic murders in small-town California, only a little weirder than that sounds. rollick fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Feb 27, 2023 |
# ? Feb 27, 2023 13:38 |
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FPyat posted:I really want to read compelling accounts of being disillusioned/deprogrammed from a belief system. If you're asking the question you probably know but Steve Hassan left a major cult and has written deeply about the experience and is now a big voice in the deprogramming space.
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# ? Feb 27, 2023 14:42 |
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I'm back with a new craving: gothic horror fantasy novels. I've been playing Diablo 1-3 and 1 especially has this just, grim awful lore of demons corrupting even angels and such. Off the top of my head and after some google searches I've discovered I want to read more Michael Moorcock (Elric especially) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (she has a horror novel set in a nunnery during the black plague) - but I should ask here! What else is out there in the gothic horror fantasy realm? Action not required. Christian imagery would be a lovely bonus. I know I need to read Between Two Fires.
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# ? Feb 28, 2023 19:04 |
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Howls From the Dark Ages has some good stuff in it. But seriously, read 2 Fires
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# ? Feb 28, 2023 19:09 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with a new craving: gothic horror fantasy novels. I've been playing Diablo 1-3 and 1 especially has this just, grim awful lore of demons corrupting even angels and such. Off the top of my head and after some google searches I've discovered I want to read more Michael Moorcock (Elric especially) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (she has a horror novel set in a nunnery during the black plague) - but I should ask here! What else is out there in the gothic horror fantasy realm? Action not required. Christian imagery would be a lovely bonus. I know I need to read Between Two Fires. read it its literally everything you want and is excellent His Black Tongue is a good short story collection
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# ? Feb 28, 2023 19:18 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with a new craving: gothic horror fantasy novels. I've been playing Diablo 1-3 and 1 especially has this just, grim awful lore of demons corrupting even angels and such. Off the top of my head and after some google searches I've discovered I want to read more Michael Moorcock (Elric especially) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (she has a horror novel set in a nunnery during the black plague) - but I should ask here! What else is out there in the gothic horror fantasy realm? Action not required. Christian imagery would be a lovely bonus. I know I need to read Between Two Fires. It's been a while since I recommended Tanith Lee, so: Tanith Lee. Especially the Paradys and Flat Earth books, and definitely Red As Blood. I've actually read the Yarbro you mention -- A Mortal Glamour, right? -- and it's pretty good. And there's Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books if you want to see what happens when you mix gothic fantasy with Conan.
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# ? Feb 28, 2023 22:38 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with a new craving: gothic horror fantasy novels. I've been playing Diablo 1-3 and 1 especially has this just, grim awful lore of demons corrupting even angels and such. Off the top of my head and after some google searches I've discovered I want to read more Michael Moorcock (Elric especially) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (she has a horror novel set in a nunnery during the black plague) - but I should ask here! What else is out there in the gothic horror fantasy realm? Action not required. Christian imagery would be a lovely bonus. I know I need to read Between Two Fires. There’s some books set in the Diablo universe, but I don’t think they’re really good?
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# ? Mar 1, 2023 07:46 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with a new craving: gothic horror fantasy novels. I've been playing Diablo 1-3 and 1 especially has this just, grim awful lore of demons corrupting even angels and such. Off the top of my head and after some google searches I've discovered I want to read more Michael Moorcock (Elric especially) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (she has a horror novel set in a nunnery during the black plague) - but I should ask here! What else is out there in the gothic horror fantasy realm? Action not required. Christian imagery would be a lovely bonus. I know I need to read Between Two Fires. There's always the classics:
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# ? Mar 1, 2023 09:12 |
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Frantically scribbling down a list, totalling it up in amazon, anticipating good reading. Thank you all!Mano posted:There’s some books set in the Diablo universe, but I don’t think they’re really good? Yeah I'm trying to avoid those, as I haven't had a good record with Blizzard tie-in novels. Somehow I still own like three Starcraft novels.
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# ? Mar 1, 2023 15:09 |
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One of my favorite genres of reading is Historical fiction. I've always been interested in classical history, and antiquity, particularly the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Today I want to recommend one of my favorite book trilogies by author Christian Jacq (well known for his books in the genre); the Judge of Egypt trilogy. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6966184 The book itself focuses around the reign of King Ramses II, and a plot aimed at toppling his reign and causing anarchy in the kingdom. The main character is a young, honest, uncorruptible judge from the countryside who gets newly appointed to a position in the city of Memphis, who stumbles on a stray clue that quickly leads him investigating down a dark road of murder, corruption, and treason while firmly maintaining his honesty and integrity, while professing to only seek the truth, according to the law of the goddess Ma'at, and nothing more. He gets a female lead in a young doctor, who also plays an important role in the plot, and has a blood-brother who helps him in his investigations both openly and with skulduggery. The judge also has a foil in a honest Medjay policeman who was falsely accused and had his nose cut off, but whose name is cleared by the judge and subsequently helps him in his trials and investigations. And the police officer even has a baboon assistant that's particularly fierce! It paints a beautiful picture, if occasionally idealized, of how life looked like in those days, has a few pretty engaging plot twists, and keeps the ball rolling well almost throughout without any chapters seeming dry or out of place/digressing from the narrative. It's well worth at least one read.
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# ? Mar 2, 2023 00:25 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 04:42 |
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I'm looking for science fiction that has good moment-to-moment space battles. Some examples: Surface detail, from the Culture series, where a particularly high-end battle ship fights several enemy ships at once and narrates the whole thing. A scene from Andor, the Star Wars TV show, where a ship is caught in a tractor beam and the pilot calmly takes steps to get himself out of the tractor beam, and away. Leviathan Wakes, from the Expanse series, where a battleship is attacked by several smaller ships and characters are surprised that the battle has gone on for as long as it has. Basically these scenes are not too flashy, but detailed, and well-told, and I'd like more of that in science fiction books, please. Edit: In case it comes up, I've read Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire. It has a lot of detailed ship to ship combat in it, so I thought someone might mention it. ahobday fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Mar 8, 2023 |
# ? Mar 8, 2023 20:10 |