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I'm going on several long plane rides (with even longer layovers) next month and I want to get a few new books for the trip. I've been reading a lot of Philip K. Dick lately and I'd like something in that vein. Specifically stuff like VALIS and A Scanner Darkly and, to a slightly lesser degree, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Flow My Tears -- sci-fi-ish books with a protagonist who's losing touch with reality. Bonus points if it includes some sort of weirdo religious angle like VALIS, but not necessary. Suggestions?
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Mar 10, 2011 22:33
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xdrquinnx posted:I'm going on several long plane rides (with even longer layovers) next month and I want to get a few new books for the trip. I've been reading a lot of Philip K. Dick lately and I'd like something in that vein. Specifically stuff like VALIS and A Scanner Darkly and, to a slightly lesser degree, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Flow My Tears -- sci-fi-ish books with a protagonist who's losing touch with reality. Bonus points if it includes some sort of weirdo religious angle like VALIS, but not necessary. Ursala K LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven, more PKD, Stanislaw Lem's Solaris (or maybe Memoirs Found in a Bathtub if you're looking for something more ridiculous), and David Marusek's collection Getting to Know You has a few stories that might fit the bill
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Mar 11, 2011 02:59
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http://scimaps.org/submissions/7-digital_libraries/maps/thumbs/024_LG.jpg
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Mar 11, 2011 03:44
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I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask for translation advice, but it seems to be the most logical thread to post this in. Since learning of its existence, I've become quite intent on reading Madame Bovary. However, given its age, there are obviously a lot of different translations. I'm leaning towards the Penguin Classics edition simply because I've enjoyed their translations in the past. What would you guys recommend?
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Mar 11, 2011 11:29
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Anything else along the same vein as The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein?
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Mar 11, 2011 17:56
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funkybottoms posted:Ursala K LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven, more PKD, Stanislaw Lem's Solaris (or maybe Memoirs Found in a Bathtub if you're looking for something more ridiculous), and David Marusek's collection Getting to Know You has a few stories that might fit the bill Thanks for the advice. I just ordered The Lathe of Heaven and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub based on your recommendation. If they're not good, I'm holding you personally responsible.
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Mar 11, 2011 19:13
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xdrquinnx posted:Thanks for the advice. I just ordered The Lathe of Heaven and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub based on your recommendation. If they're not good, I'm holding you personally responsible. Awesome, and you're welcome, but if you don't like TLoH, i'm holding you personally responsible, because that is one of my absolute favorite books. MFiaB is like a condensed version of Catch-22's bureaucratic insanity, so it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
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Mar 12, 2011 01:35
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I need some good inspirational litterature. Don't really know what I'm looking for, just something that has inspired you guys, whether it's fact or fiction.
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Mar 14, 2011 00:44
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Got a, likely, weird kind of craving lately. I'd like to find a horribly stereotypical storyline/concept from Sci-Fi/Fantasy done reasonably well or interesting. Rather than looking for an author/work that comes up with something unique (for example, Song of Ice & Fire), I'd like to see the standard issue storyline in a worth reading form, just your generic hero comes around, kicks butt, saves the world, and gets the girl/guy. Either that or something like Sir Apropos of Nothing where the generic storyline is there but the protagonist is unique. nessin fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Mar 14, 2011 |
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Mar 14, 2011 04:40
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nessin posted:Got a, likely, weird kind of craving lately. I'd like to find a horribly stereotypical storyline/concept from Sci-Fi/Fantasy done reasonably well or interesting. Pick up this one. You could also try the first few books of Robert Asprin's Myth series -- starts with "Another Fine Myth." Another good bet would be the Prydain Chronicles. Anyway, here's a question: I'm about to go on two 30-hour plane rides (New Zealand and back) and I need a *series* to read on the plane and keep me occupied. Ideally, I'd like something like the Dresden Files or the Wheel of Time or the Shadows of the Apt series, or Lawrence Watt-Evan's Ethshar series -- fun, entertaining, relatively clean fantasy. The problem(s) are 1) I read really fast, so for two days in the air, I need a series that's at least at the two-thousand-page mark to keep me busy, 2) It needs to be available as ebooks, since I'm travelling and can't pack a bunch of books, 3) It has to be something I haven't read before already, which rules out most fantasy. I'm thinking maybe it's time to crack open the Malazan books since that's just about the only major fantasy/sf series that's got a good critical repute & that I haven't tried yet, but I'm obsessive about reading a series "in order," which I hear is a problem with them. Any other suggestions? Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Mar 15, 2011 |
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Mar 14, 2011 05:10
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I really like horror films that deal with people in completely desperate hopeless situations, like Frozen and Open Water. I've read a couple of books by Blake Crouch lately that sort of deal with the same subject - people trapped in a situation that forces them to do things they never thought they would resort to, like cannibalism and murder. Can anyone recommend some more books with this kind of situation?
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Mar 15, 2011 03:56
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Miss Squid posted:I really like horror films that deal with people in completely desperate hopeless situations, like Frozen and Open Water. I've read a couple of books by Blake Crouch lately that sort of deal with the same subject - people trapped in a situation that forces them to do things they never thought they would resort to, like cannibalism and murder. Can anyone recommend some more books with this kind of situation? The Terror by Dan Simmons fits this description. It's about the crews of the Erebus and the Terror (real ships) when they get stranded up in the Arctic Circle. Though it does veer into weirdness with a monster.
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Mar 15, 2011 05:44
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Anyway, here's a question: Tad Williams' Otherland series which, if you haven't read it, is epic fantasy with a crunchy sci-fi coating. Ursala K LeGuin's Hainish Cycle? technically sci-fi, and not a series in the same way as WoT or Otherland, but they contain a fair amount of fantasy elements and manage to be both thought-provoking and easy to read.
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Mar 15, 2011 10:23
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Williams has two straight fantasy series, as well - the Shadowmarch series and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I like 'em a lot, but I'm willing to admit that they're not the most original books in the world. edit: for what it's worth, GRRM said that "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" showed him that you could still write new and interesting fantasy. So for what it's worth, Tad Williams is to blame for that guy another edit: and the Malazan books are confusing and kinda dull
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Mar 15, 2011 15:23
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Yeah, I started the Memory/Sorrow/Thorn books a while back and didn't get past the first one because it seemed so generic. Look, everybody, it's a quest for a magic sword! I went ahead and grabbed the Malazan books for the kindle since they seem like they'd definitely be able to keep me busy, but I'm definitely open to other suggestions.
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Mar 15, 2011 18:02
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What are the best books on human behavior like Blink, Outliers, Freakonomics and so on? I've read Freakonomics and really liked it.
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Mar 15, 2011 22:57
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Eight Is Legend posted:What are the best books on human behavior like Blink, Outliers, Freakonomics and so on? I've read Freakonomics and really liked it. Influence by Cialdini.
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Mar 15, 2011 22:58
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Eight Is Legend posted:What are the best books on human behavior like Blink, Outliers, Freakonomics and so on? I've read Freakonomics and really liked it. Thomas Gilovich's How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life has more science than the books you list, but the author is kind of a big name in the field.
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Mar 15, 2011 23:10
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Does anyone have a good history of either the area currently known as Belgium or the entire Low Countries?
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Mar 18, 2011 01:11
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Well, The Embarrassment of Riches by Simon Schama is a very good history of the low countries, but it does focus on the United Provinces rather than Belgium. I kinda feel like a Schama shill with my recs, but the book does a great job of explaining the development of Dutch culture.
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Mar 18, 2011 05:39
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I'm looking for a good book on Europe after the plague; 1350-1450 is about the time I'm shooting for. Bigger and more detailed the better, but as it seems a bit tough to find anything about this time, anything is good.
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Mar 18, 2011 18:03
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StealthStealth posted:I'm looking for a good book on Europe after the plague; 1350-1450 is about the time I'm shooting for. Bigger and more detailed the better, but as it seems a bit tough to find anything about this time, anything is good. I have two in my library, both of which were pretty good: The Great Mortality by John Kelly After the Black Death, Second Edition: A Social History of Early Modern Europe by George Huppert
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Mar 18, 2011 18:59
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dokmo posted:I have two in my library, both of which were pretty good: Excellent, thank you! These look great.
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Mar 18, 2011 19:32
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Can anyone suggestion a book about 19th century history of major European countries. One giving a detailed account on the growth of Prussia and Austria during the 19th century would be awesome.
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Mar 19, 2011 02:10
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PatMarshall posted:Well, The Embarrassment of Riches by Simon Schama is a very good history of the low countries, but it does focus on the United Provinces rather than Belgium. I kinda feel like a Schama shill with my recs, but the book does a great job of explaining the development of Dutch culture. On the list it goes! Thanks.
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Mar 19, 2011 13:43
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Pick up this one. You could also try the first few books of Robert Asprin's Myth series -- starts with "Another Fine Myth." Another good bet would be the Prydain Chronicles. If you don't mind a bit of tragedy, Alistair Reynolds and Peter Watts are some extremely good sci-fi writers with huge series. In Alistair Reynolds you get to watch the downfall of the human race from some pretty dizzying highs over the course of six books, in Peter Watts you get to read about a near-future that's more depressing than Blade Runner.
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Mar 19, 2011 17:55
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I've somehow gotten the idea in my head that I want to read classic Chinese literature. Stuff like three kingdoms seems a bit too big to start with. I've been thinking about reading strange tales from a Chinese studio. Is this at al a good idea? Is it actually enjoyable to read apart from it's cultural significance?
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Mar 19, 2011 20:33
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Benagain posted:If you don't mind a bit of tragedy, Alistair Reynolds and Peter Watts are some extremely good sci-fi writers with huge series. In Alistair Reynolds you get to watch the downfall of the human race from some pretty dizzying highs over the course of six books, in Peter Watts you get to read about a near-future that's more depressing than Blade Runner. I've got blindsight ready to go because, yah, I'm sure it's a great book, but yeah, I tend to restrict my reading to relatively "upbeat" fantasy, and this is all for reading on the plane flights during my honeymoon, so I want to keep it upbeat. I'll definitely note down Reynolds though for future reading. Thanks!
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Mar 19, 2011 21:05
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I've got blindsight ready to go because, yah, I'm sure it's a great book, but yeah, I tend to restrict my reading to relatively "upbeat" fantasy, and this is all for reading on the plane flights during my honeymoon, so I want to keep it upbeat. I'll definitely note down Reynolds though for future reading. Thanks! I've definitely recced the series a few times in the thread already so apologies if you've checked it out already, but if you can find them, you should check out the Dragaera books by Steven Brust, starting with Jhereg. It's a fairly lighthearted fantasy series that follows a sorcerer-assassin who works for the Mafia. If you liked Butcher's general writing style, you'll almost certainly like Brust's. It's a pretty fun series all the way through.
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Mar 19, 2011 23:07
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The Ninth Layer posted:I've definitely recced the series a few times in the thread already so apologies if you've checked it out already, but if you can find them, you should check out the Dragaera books by Steven Brust, starting with Jhereg. It's a fairly lighthearted fantasy series that follows a sorcerer-assassin who works for the Mafia. If you liked Butcher's general writing style, you'll almost certainly like Brust's. It's a pretty fun series all the way through. Yup, I've read all those that I could find. They bug me a little because he wrote them out of chronological order, which drives me up the wall because I get obsessive about reading things in the "correct" order, but yeah, I'll second your recommendation to everyone else =)
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Mar 20, 2011 00:09
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What's a good detective novel (even better if it's a series) to read? I've not really touched the genre but I read The Dresden Files and love the hell out of it. I really like the whole idea behind detective stuff as well and have been meaning to get in to the it ages.
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Mar 20, 2011 01:36
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Luminaflare posted:What's a good detective novel (even better if it's a series) to read? I've not really touched the genre but I read The Dresden Files and love the hell out of it. I really like the whole idea behind detective stuff as well and have been meaning to get in to the it ages. If you like the Dresden Files, you should read the classic Noir novels. You could go with either Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, but Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe is closer to what Butcher's channelling with Dresden -- he sortof took the Marlowe character, made him goonier, and added magic. Start with The Big Sleep and then read Farewell, My Lovely after that. There's four or five of 'em, all featuring the same character. If you want to read a more classic-style mystery detective fiction series, try Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. Nero Wolfe is a sherlock holmes style brilliant detective, but he's fat and lazy and hates leaving his apartment, so Archie Goodwin is his "leg man" and investigator (basically following the noir-style private detective model), so you get both primary kinds of mystery protagonist in one series. There's about forty odd books in the series, and he wrote about one per year from the 1940's to the 1970's, so as you read from book to book you get a really interesting picture of New York City and America changing from year to year. If you want more fantasy detectives, Glen Cook, who wrote the Black Company novels, did the Garrett PI novels, which are basically fantasy versions of the Nero Wolfe books. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Mar 20, 2011 |
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Mar 20, 2011 01:46
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If you're going with Chandler - or especially Hammett - I'd recommend their shorter works first. Trouble Is My Business is a great little collection of Chandler's shorter Marlowe works and has Red Wind, one of my favorite short stories.
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Mar 20, 2011 03:43
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I've got blindsight ready to go because, yah, I'm sure it's a great book, but yeah, I tend to restrict my reading to relatively "upbeat" fantasy, and this is all for reading on the plane flights during my honeymoon, so I want to keep it upbeat. I'll definitely note down Reynolds though for future reading. Thanks! Shouldn't you be macking on your new husband and/or wife for the duration of that flight?
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Mar 20, 2011 09:23
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Hedrigall posted:Shouldn't you be macking on your new husband and/or wife for the duration of that flight? I love her very dearly, but it's a big plane, we'll be surrounded by ugly fat people (because most Americans are), it's something like a 30 hour flight (including layovers), and after all, that's what the hotel rooms are for. If we spent *that* much time in the plane's bathroom the rest of the passengers would probably complain.
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Mar 20, 2011 13:07
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The Belgian posted:I've somehow gotten the idea in my head that I want to read classic Chinese literature. Stuff like three kingdoms seems a bit too big to start with. I've been thinking about reading strange tales from a Chinese studio. Is this at al a good idea? Is it actually enjoyable to read apart from it's cultural significance?
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Mar 24, 2011 04:03
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:it's something like a 30 hour flight (including layovers), Ouch. Where are you flying to/from? I had an awful 32-hour flight last year between London and Perth, with a day-long layover in Brunei's lovely tiny airport, and all I had to read was Justin Cronin's crummy The Passage. On topic, can anyone reccomend me a book about very early 19th century life in Tasmania, or failing that, New South Wales? Non-fiction or historical fiction, it doesn't matter, I just want to get a feel for what things were like back then.
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Mar 24, 2011 10:16
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freebooter posted:Ouch. Where are you flying to/from? I had an awful 32-hour flight last year between London and Perth, with a day-long layover in Brunei's lovely tiny airport, and all I had to read was Justin Cronin's crummy The Passage. East coast U.S. to New Zealand. Hobbit hunting! (it's like a safari package kinda thing) Anyway, I ended up grabbing the Malazan series and the first thirty or so Doc Savage books, so I should be well prepared =) Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Mar 24, 2011 |
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Mar 24, 2011 12:43
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Lately I've been getting back into reading. It's weird to think that I ever got out of it, but I just didn't really have time to read when I was in undergrad. Now I take the bus for 45 minutes a day and I find myself craving good reading material. I dove through 4 Kathy Reichs books before I decided I should put some effort into finding something I'd really like. When I was a kid I read sci-fi/fantasy books obsessively. I'm looking for something that I could really get into again. My favorite books when I was a kid were the Foundation series by Asimov. I've been considering re-reading them but I've never been the type to do that kind of thing. I also read a lot of Bradbury and loved Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead (I think, it was whichever one had the piggies in it, I'm terrible with book names). I remember enjoying some Terry Brooks books when I was younger, but now I can barely remember them. The main one I remember reading is Sword of Shannara. There was probably some reason I stopped reading them, though I can't remember what. Though I know I like fantasy as a genre it's hard for me to think of any books that I truly enjoyed. I liked Lord of the Rings, but I grew up reading it. I have never read it as an adult. Though I know they're not comparable, I loved both Weaveworld and House of Leaves. I guess this means I like the horror genre as well. I also read a lot of Stephen King as an adolescent. The Stand was one of my favorite books. I think I also really enjoy things having a sort of romantic subplot, but it embarrasses me to admit it. I read the hell out of Anne Rice books when I was a kid. I think that the romance aspect was part of why I liked the Kathy Reichs books. I refuse to ever consider reading something as terrible as Twilight, I want to read a well written story with maybe some romantic undertones. I think it'd be pretty rad if I could find a good sci-fi or fantasy book that had some romance in it... Anyways, I'd love some help. I'm keenly aware that the tastes I'm describing are somewhat immature, especially since I haven't read much fiction since adolescence. If someone has a suggestion that won't make me feel like I have bad taste, that'd be lovely. I'm currently reading "A Game of Thrones", I just got a preview on the nook last night and I think I'll probably buy it. It looks good... Edit: I've also been reading Bradbury's Martian Chronicles and enjoying it a lot. Also, I love games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age for the escapism provided by a richly fleshed out world and epic conflict. dopaMEAN fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Mar 24, 2011 |
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Mar 24, 2011 19:13
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dopaMEAN posted:Lately I've been getting back into reading. It's weird to think that I ever got out of it, but I just didn't really have time to read when I was in undergrad. Now I take the bus for 45 minutes a day and I find myself craving good reading material. I dove through 4 Kathy Reichs books before I decided I should put some effort into finding something I'd really like. When I was a kid I read sci-fi/fantasy books obsessively. I'm looking for something that I could really get into again. I hate to say it, but you should probably read the Wheel of Time series. It's practically designed for you. Imagine if Stephen King spent two decades putting together a 13-volume series about an in-depth fantasy world locked in massively epic conflict with whole volumes devoted almost entirely to romance subplots. I kid the wheel of time because I love it, but seriously, if you've already read Tolkien and a few other things like Shannara and are looking to get back into modern fantasy, it's the place to start. I'd recommend reading it before Game of Thrones, because Martin's book is a little bit of a "reaction" to Jordan's (more historically realistic and gritty, less "fantastic" and closer to horror). But whatever else is said about the Wheel of Time, it's the elephant in the bedroom of 1990's/2000's fantasy -- you can't get anywhere else without going around, over, or through it. (The writers of Dragon Age even admitted it was a major influence). Beyond that, my standard fantasy recommendations are Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan and Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Mar 24, 2011 |
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Mar 24, 2011 19:50
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