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King Plum the Nth posted:
I would strongly recommend Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Thursday Next. I know, upbeat Steinbeck! Crazy! You could also try Kerouac's On the Road, maybe Dicken's David Copperfield. Almost anything Mark Twain wrote before his wife died -- Huckleberry Finn, etc. If you don't mind girlier stuff, try Jane Austen; the writing's excellent and everybody gets married at the end. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Aug 20, 2010 |
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Aug 20, 2010 14:36
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I'm considering starting to real some mythical horror stuff... I've no idea where to start, but I was thinking maybe with Lovecraft- Thing is there's a ton of compilations of his short stories. Which Lovecraft work should I start with?
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Aug 20, 2010 15:52
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I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest. Can anyone reccomend any decent book/books on the subject?
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Aug 20, 2010 18:00
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Mr Darcy posted:I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest. The Sagas of the Icelanders Mythology by Edith Hamilton For Norse mythology it's a bit harder. This might be a good starting place, though it's kid-oriented: D'auliares book of Norse myths
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Aug 20, 2010 18:18
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Mr Darcy posted:I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest. You could always go with Njal's Saga which is available in a bunch of forms. Penguin Classics has a few books on Norse mythology, but I can't say I've read any of them.
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Aug 20, 2010 18:25
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Finished The Anubis Gates recently, and am wondering if Power's other stuff is worth looking into? I had some fun with TAG, but I never really disliked the "baddies" and pretty much just felt kinda sad that their time was ending and they had gone a bit off the rails trying to deal with it. I mean, even Horrabin ended up much more pitiable and heart-breaking than moustachio-twirling loathsome Also, probably because it's 20 years old and I'd read Night Watch and seen 12 Monkeys and what-have-you, but the plot felt a bit... predictable for the first few hundred pages. However, I was really, really impressed that he linked all these historical events with his narrative and used magical fantasy as an explanation, that just blew my hair back. But yeah, what's his best book? Are his protagonists always worryingly competent? Does he ever write characters I could get my teeth into disliking?
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Aug 20, 2010 20:18
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Sneak Lemming posted:I'm considering starting to real some mythical horror stuff... I've no idea where to start, but I was thinking maybe with Lovecraft- There was a Lovecraft threat some months ago that would answer just this. Try looking back a few pages.
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Aug 21, 2010 08:18
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Mr Darcy posted:I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest.
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Aug 21, 2010 17:09
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Mr Darcy posted:I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest. This is a pretty good resource for browsing Greek stuff: http://www.library.theoi.com/ Major Greek texts (Iliad, Odyssey, Theogony, plays of Aeschylus & Euripedes, etc.) are available in lots of different translations with many or few notes depending on what you're looking for, so read the original stuff rather than some catch-all. Norton's Classical Lit anthology is cheap and has some cool stuff in it (as well as good intro notes if it's all new to you), but it's mostly excerpts and it's not all mythology. I recommend Apostolos N. Athanassakis's translation of Hesiod's stuff (mainly for Theogony); the intro and notes go into similarities between Greek/Norse, Greek/Hebrew, even Greek/Japanese myths, which might interest you. Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca is later, a bit less popular, but offers more and different versions of the classic myths, and it's a good choice if you don't want to skip ahead to Ovid's Metamorphoses and read the same/similar myths with a Roman spin.
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Aug 22, 2010 03:41
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Reading Karen Miller Empress the first book in the Godspeaker trilogy. I am absolutely loving the first book and want to know any other authors like her. Maybe like this trilogy too.
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Aug 22, 2010 23:37
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I pretty much read fantasy exclusively but I'm currently playing Mass Effect 2 and now I want to try some Sci Fi. Can any one recommend me a bit space adventure novel/series with lots of depth? Something like lotr/asoiaf/robin hobb but in space would be great. 
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Aug 23, 2010 06:34
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Bloodbath posted:I pretty much read fantasy exclusively but I'm currently playing Mass Effect 2 and now I want to try some Sci Fi. Can any one recommend me a bit space adventure novel/series with lots of depth? Something like lotr/asoiaf/robin hobb but in space would be great. Check out the "Space Opera" thread. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3149277&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
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Aug 23, 2010 13:46
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I've started reading Philip K. Dick and am really enjoying his writing style. I started with VALIS and have since finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle. Does anyone have a good pick for a book of his I should read next, or other authors/books that are similar to Dick's writing style?
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Aug 23, 2010 19:35
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The Ninth Layer posted:I've started reading Philip K. Dick and am really enjoying his writing style. I started with VALIS and have since finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle. Does anyone have a good pick for a book of his I should read next, or other authors/books that are similar to Dick's writing style? I really liked his A Scanner Darkly.
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Aug 23, 2010 21:37
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Can anyone recommend a good book that overviews the life of Nikola Tesla and his work? I'm looking for something that is well written and informative and doesn't go off into "Tesla's doomsday weapon" theories, if you know what I'm talking about. The other recommendation I would ask for is a good book that focuses on Alexander the Great. His life, accomplishments, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Aug 23, 2010 23:06
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Wiley360 posted:Can anyone recommend a good book that overviews the life of Nikola Tesla and his work? I'm looking for something that is well written and informative and doesn't go off into "Tesla's doomsday weapon" theories, if you know what I'm talking about. Ooooo seconding this!
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Aug 23, 2010 23:07
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Can someone recommend me a non-fiction book on the paranormal? Recently, I read Mad Gasser of Mattoon: Dispelling the Hysteria by Scott Maruna and I thought it was pretty good. It's a perfect blend of mystery and reality, I really enjoyed it. I've also recently read The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. I'd appreciate any suggestions in the same vein as these books.
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Aug 24, 2010 00:10
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delicious beef - thanks! i'd heard about mann, but never read any. magic mountain it is. facial fracture - yea, i was big into Kerouac in high-school, read all his stuff. though, i feel like i'm over it now. as for Nabokov, tried Lolita a while back, but couldn't get into it. Camus i've never tried. some have told me to read Jung, but it looks dense. any first recs? and i've never even heard of Simone Weil, but i'll check out that gravity & grace book. i'm big into mysticism/meditation/shamanism/religion/science/philosophy be it modern or no. i enjoyed "the universe in a single atom" by the dalai lama (fascinated with that guy) and continue to read his stuff. pinchbecks "breaking open the head" made me realize there's a lot out there we don't understand (same with rick strassmans's dmt book and huxley's "doors of perception"). there was this book rational mysticism that was OK, but had some interesting interviews. ken wilber was interesting, but he seems a bit of a know-it-all and needs to be more open to criticism about his work. liked karen armstrongs buddha biography and now reading "the case for god" as counter-point to my readings of the new atheists. i've also been recommended Alan Watts, Carlos Castenada, and Carl Sagans "Dragons of Eden" (loved cosmos), but yea, right now, no one does it for me like Herman Hesse. just read Demian. phenomenal. any more recommendations would be awesome guys! thanks for all the help. 
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Aug 24, 2010 04:48
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endlessmug posted:but yea, right now, no one does it for me like Herman Hesse. just read Demian. phenomenal. Have you read Pictor's Metamorphoses? http://www.amazon.com/Pictors-Metamorphoses-Fantasies-Hermann-Hesse/dp/0312422644 It's a collection of his fantasy short stories. Think more fairy tale than Elven maidens with swords. Great stuff.
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Aug 24, 2010 05:44
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Wiley360 posted:
The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault.
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Aug 24, 2010 10:52
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The Ninth Layer posted:I've started reading Philip K. Dick and am really enjoying his writing style. I started with VALIS and have since finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle. Does anyone have a good pick for a book of his I should read next, or other authors/books that are similar to Dick's writing style? Ubik, and Flow My Tears.
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Aug 24, 2010 14:10
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Wiley360 posted:Can anyone recommend a good book that overviews the life of Nikola Tesla and his work? I'm looking for something that is well written and informative and doesn't go off into "Tesla's doomsday weapon" theories, if you know what I'm talking about. Wizard is really good if you're interested in a good biography of Tesla. It's completely chronological so it's really easy to follow. The author clearly did a lot of research to make sure what he was writing about was most likely true, even if it was simply an oft-repeated story about his eccentric behaviour. He even shows how some typical events probably didn't occur the way it's been recounted. The only downside is that it focuses more on the man, including his genius and his flaws, that it doesn't really go into a lot of detail about his inventions, especially the more off-beat ones. You also might be interested in Empires of Light due to it's subject matter. It's far more pulpy in it's execution, but if you want to read the story of Tesla and Edison's great battle for electricity in the style of a summer pot-boiler, it does a great job of that. kuddles fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Aug 24, 2010 |
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Aug 24, 2010 14:11
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I have a colleague who spent years in Africa and claims that there have been African civilizations with classical metropoli of a million citizen and every bit as magnificent as those in Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Asia. And I mean, black sub-Sahran Africa not Carthage, Egypt, Nubia etc. If this is true (I have no clue!) I would like to read about it. Does ayone know?
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Aug 24, 2010 14:20
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rasser posted:I have a colleague who spent years in Africa and claims that there have been African civilizations with classical metropoli of a million citizen and every bit as magnificent as those in Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Asia. And I mean, black sub-Sahran Africa not Carthage, Egypt, Nubia etc. He's not completely making poo poo up, but he might be overstating a bit. See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinguetti , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe . Books on the subject, I'd like to read those too.
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Aug 24, 2010 16:52
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Thank you for the help Hieronymous Alloy and Kuddles! I'll definitely be checking those out soon.
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Aug 24, 2010 23:46
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I just finished White Noise by Don Delillo and the part I liked most was the section Airborne Toxic Event. I'd like some recommendations for stories that deal with catastrophic events, preferably man-made, with nonplussed characters running from or fighting said catastrophe. The character's lives need to irreversibly shattered. The larger the better, though not necessarily war even though I'm not ruling that out. Aliens are definitely out though. I'd like it to be relatively short - 300pgs or so max.
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Aug 25, 2010 00:41
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On the subject of Greek myth, I'm reading Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony at the moment and it's deceptively casual in tone but staggeringly good. It's kind of a synthesis of disparate shards and scraps of Greek mythology with commentary on the trends and undercurrents running through it. Haven't finished it just yet, but seems like one of the better books I'll have read this year.
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Aug 25, 2010 11:05
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flavaaDAAAAAVE posted:I just finished White Noise by Don Delillo and the part I liked most was the section Airborne Toxic Event. I'd like some recommendations for stories that deal with catastrophic events, preferably man-made, with nonplussed characters running from or fighting said catastrophe. The character's lives need to irreversibly shattered. The larger the better, though not necessarily war even though I'm not ruling that out. I can't think of any that have Delillo's writing style, however. kuddles fucked around with this message at 15:08 on Aug 25, 2010 |
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Aug 25, 2010 15:05
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The writing style isn't important to me as long as it's good. Blindness looks cool. Thanks!
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Aug 25, 2010 15:25
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You could try Camus' The Plague, though it isn't a man-made disaster.
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Aug 25, 2010 15:48
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I'm looking for 'popular history' books. Any subject is fine, but the more unique the better. Some of the books of this type I enjoyed are: Devil in the White City The Blue Nile Fourth Part of the World King Leopold's Ghost
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Aug 25, 2010 16:03
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inktvis posted:On the subject of Greek myth, I'm reading Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony at the moment and it's deceptively casual in tone but staggeringly good. It's kind of a synthesis of disparate shards and scraps of Greek mythology with commentary on the trends and undercurrents running through it. Haven't finished it just yet, but seems like one of the better books I'll have read this year. Thanks, I've been looking for something like this. Calasso's Literature and the Gods seems interesting as well.
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Aug 25, 2010 17:16
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mistermojo posted:I'm looking for 'popular history' books. Any subject is fine, but the more unique the better. Barbara Tuchman writes some of the best pop history books, easy to read yet still meaty enough to maintain a high regard among historians. I especially loved A Distant Mirror, focusing on France and England through the time of the Hundred Years War. Dava Stobel is also a terrific writer -- Galileo's Daughter is a biography of the man with a focus on his relationship to his daughter and his social maneuvering in 16th century Italy. I'll also recommend Jessica Warner's Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason, Stephen R. Bown's Scurvy : How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Miracle of the Age of Sail, and David Cordingly's Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates.
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Aug 25, 2010 18:10
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dokmo posted:Barbara Tuchman writes some of the best pop history books, easy to read yet still meaty enough to maintain a high regard among historians. I especially loved A Distant Mirror, focusing on France and England through the time of the Hundred Years War. Dava Stobel is also a terrific writer -- Galileo's Daughter is a biography of the man with a focus on his relationship to his daughter and his social maneuvering in 16th century Italy. I'll also recommend Jessica Warner's Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason, Stephen R. Bown's Scurvy : How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Miracle of the Age of Sail, and David Cordingly's Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. Thanks, those all sound exactly what I was looking for!
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Aug 25, 2010 18:34
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I'm looking for some books on Permaculture, sustainable living and counter-culture. Right now i'm reading Permaculture : principles & pathways beyond sustainability by David Holmgren and it's been interesting.
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Aug 25, 2010 19:22
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A Distant Mirror is a fantastic book, I would put that at the top of your list. 14th century Europe is an absolutely unbelievable part of history (the early 20th century will probably be viewed similarly in the future, which is part of the book) and she tells the story very well. Tuchman rules.
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Aug 26, 2010 00:55
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Hi there, just got finished with a couple of books: Jude the obscure, Blood Meridian and American Psycho and now I want to read a truly depressing book, something that makes you feel like poo poo. I've been searching around on Google for a list of depressing books but I either find very feminine stuff, or stuff for children. I need an adult masculine/gender neutral book that has an excellent story and all kinds of Sad/depressing/upsetting poo poo in it. Thanks in advance. edit: Is On the beach by Nevil Shute good? Prof_Beatnuts fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Aug 26, 2010 |
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Aug 26, 2010 04:44
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Prof_Beatnuts posted:Hi there, just got finished with a couple of books: Jude the obscure, Blood Meridian and American Psycho and now I want to read a truly depressing book, something that makes you feel like poo poo. I've been searching around on Google for a list of depressing books but I either find very feminine stuff, or stuff for children. Maybe try End of the Affair by Graham Greene. It makes for a good soulcrushing. Could also try Life After God by Coupland, depressing and hopeless, all that.
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Aug 26, 2010 04:59
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Prof_Beatnuts posted:Hi there, just got finished with a couple of books: Jude the obscure, Blood Meridian and American Psycho and now I want to read a truly depressing book, something that makes you feel like poo poo. I've been searching around on Google for a list of depressing books but I either find very feminine stuff, or stuff for children. Just finish what you started with Hardy and read the rest of him.
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Aug 26, 2010 05:13
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ONE TWO THREE TIMES TWO TO THE SIX/JONESING FOR YOUR FIX OF THAT LIMP BIZKIT MIX
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7 y.o. bitch posted:Just finish what you started with Hardy and read the rest of him. I looked at Hardy's stuff and The mayor of Casterbridge is the only one that I think is interesting. *Also, a quick side-note, Barnes and Noble.com likes to spoil the whole plot of books listed in there "Classics" collection.
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Aug 26, 2010 06:08
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