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bobkatt013 posted:So you are saying Night is fiction?
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Aug 13, 2011 03:54
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That drat Satyr posted:I've been itching for some Nazi-era German fiction lately. I recently read The Book Thief and I feel like I need more to feed my brain. Any suggestions? Philip Kerr has some detective novels set in Nazi Germany I've heard good things about.
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Aug 13, 2011 20:41
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I'm reading Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards J. Heuer Jr. and was wondering if anyone can recommend similar free downloadable readings.
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Aug 14, 2011 18:50
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Radio! posted:If on a winter's night a traveler Haha, that's awesome.
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Aug 14, 2011 22:58
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I am itching for some hard boiled noir books, I have personally never read much Elmore Leonard novels ,but figure that is a good start. What recommendations would be good to set the tone of the following story, I was thinking specifically I'll Sleep when I am dead , etc.. books like that.
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Aug 16, 2011 07:39
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I'm finishing up World War Z and I'm an active Walking Dead reader, but I feel the need for more zombie genre books. Can anyone recommend anything?
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Aug 16, 2011 13:19
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Hollis posted:I am itching for some hard boiled noir books, I have personally never read much Elmore Leonard novels ,but figure that is a good start. What recommendations would be good to set the tone of the following story, I was thinking specifically I'll Sleep when I am dead , etc.. books like that. It's pretty obvious, but the best place to begin is with it's two big name authors, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. I'd recommend starting with some of their shorter stories: The Continental Op and Trouble Is My Business.
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Aug 16, 2011 16:02
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Hollis posted:I am itching for some hard boiled noir books, I have personally never read much Elmore Leonard novels ,but figure that is a good start. What recommendations would be good to set the tone of the following story, I was thinking specifically I'll Sleep when I am dead , etc.. books like that. I always thought Killshot was Leonard's best book, but he has had an amazingly consistent career, and almost everything he's written is good. As far as general hard boiled goes, Richard Stark's Parker series is my favorite, particularly the earlier books.
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Aug 16, 2011 16:43
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barkingclam posted:It's pretty obvious, but the best place to begin is with it's two big name authors, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. I'd recommend starting with some of their shorter stories: The Continental Op and Trouble Is My Business. Yeah, those are the classic noir and the place to start. I'd recommend reading Hammett first, as a lot of what Chandler was doing was building on Hammett's work. Personally, though, I'd recommend start with the big-name novels first, as it's their best work: get The Maltese Falcon and either The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye. For less literary, more entertaining detective fiction, I'd recommend the Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout, then the Travis McGee series by John D. McDonald (these were a big influence on Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen). Currently I'm reading through the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker and it's pretty entertaining also. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 14:45
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Are Simenon's Inspector Maigret novels worth looking into? I've never read any of them, but I enjoy the TV and film adaptations from time to time.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:23
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I'm looking for what I'd describe as An adult version of Little House on the Prairie - that is, an engaging and even homey narrative that presents an accurate picture of frontier life but doesn't shy away from adult concerns. I could even live with obsessively accurate and researched fiction - I'd just like to see that whole thing from the adult perspective. I'm also after some sort of socio-history of how the digital electronics revolution changed society and daily life - that really focuses on the social impact and implications of stuff like microprocessors on daily behavior, jobs, life, etc. This is super-vague, but it came out of a conversation about how much simpler life was when everything wasn't computerized and even getting a basic retail job or renting a hotel room didn't involve a computerized paper trail, etc. I'm not really sure that this book exists, but it should.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:34
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PureRok posted:Does anyone know any good books about Abrahamic angels and demons? Basically books talking about/listing them all and going into detail about them. I find that stuff really interesting and I would love to have a collection of books on the subject. This is old, but PureRok, if you're still out there, Sophy Burnham's The Book of Angels, while being kind of new-agey in a lot of places, has a big section in which she lists and describes all the angels mentioned in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scripture, and the beliefs involving them. Transistor Rhythm posted:I'm looking for what I'd describe as An adult version of Little House on the Prairie - that is, an engaging and even homey narrative that presents an accurate picture of frontier life but doesn't shy away from adult concerns. I could even live with obsessively accurate and researched fiction - I'd just like to see that whole thing from the adult perspective. While not nearly as large in scope as the Little House series, I recently read Molly Gloss' The Jump-Off Creek, which might fit your bill. It's set in Oregon during the pioneer days and is told in the form of the diary of a single pioneer woman managing her own homestead by herself. The author did a lot of research and used the journals from her own family members for a foundation of the story, and the writing style is very spare but puts a lot of detail into the day-to-day chores and such of eking out a living in harsh conditions. Edit: Some of the Amazon reviews make it sound like a romance novel, but it's not. Rabbit Hill fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 15:47
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I finished up Ancestor's Tale by Dawkins a couple weeks ago. What are some other awesome evolution books? Preferably not too hardcore (I'd say Extended Phenotype was a bit too over my head when I gave it a shot years ago).
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Aug 18, 2011 16:06
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Caddrel posted:Are Simenon's Inspector Maigret novels worth looking into? I've never read any of them, but I enjoy the TV and film adaptations from time to time. They are really well written but the english translations seem to vary quite a bit. I've only read a couple and they got pretty repetitive, but that seems to be a fault of the genre. You should check out Simenon's other work too though, he wrote some darker, not as popularly accessible novels that are amazing. I thought Dirty Snow and Tropic Moon were especially good.
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Aug 18, 2011 17:17
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I work in a small bookstore so I have to read tons of books so I can give recommendations and build our clientele. =) The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters This is a really well-written and excellently paced gothic horror story. It follows a doctor in England that befriends the family that owns the manor that his mother was once a servant in. Weird things start happening in the house and the family's behavior becomes more and more erratic. What I thought was so awesome about this book was how the reader can interpret the dark events are the result of psychosis or something more supernatural. Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin A lot of people criticize this book for being a guilt trip, but when I read it I really didn't feel that is what it was. This book follows members of Korean family that deal with the sudden disappearance of the mother in the family. (bad sentence construction). The story is told from multiple perspectives, and the epilogue is especially moving. The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night by F.Scott Fitzgerald This summer I decided to read a bunch of the classics that I hadn't read so that I could feel smarter. While Tender is the Night took more effort to read than The Great Gatsby, both books were absorbing in their own ways. I loved the character of Jay Gatsby, Dick Diver, and Nicole Diver. Fitzgerald's descriptions of his characters make them hard not to fall in love with.
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Aug 18, 2011 19:21
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I just finished reading The Magician King which I loved, and I'm in the mood for more Sci-fi and/or fantasy. I'm looking for something a bit more...dense? I love everything China Mieville has put out, and I loved Gene Woolfe's Book of the New Sun. So, something Mieville or Woolfe-esque? A setting I can just "settle" into, the characters don't have to be likeable (but better written than The Magicians would be nice). Before anyone recommends it, I have the gang tag so you don't need to recommend A Song of Ice and Fire. 
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Aug 20, 2011 01:28
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Snuffman posted:I just finished reading The Magician King which I loved, and I'm in the mood for more Sci-fi and/or fantasy. I know you properly read this but the six books of Dune.
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Aug 20, 2011 07:20
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I just slogged through all 80 pages of this thread; my library "to-borrow" list is totally bloated! But still: Does anyone have any recommendations for good nonfiction about vikings/the norse? Cultural history a plus (what did they do? how did they live?), either dense or fluffy is fine by me as long as it is well researched and informative. Thanks!
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Aug 20, 2011 14:22
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Snuffman posted:I just finished reading The Magician King which I loved, and I'm in the mood for more Sci-fi and/or fantasy. If you want the space opera equivalent of Miéville try Alastair Reynolds. Revelation Space was my favourite by him, but if you like the dense/nightmarish city aspect of Miéville then you might like Chasm City more (the former is the first of a trilogy, while the latter is a stand-alone but set in the same universe). China Miéville is my favourite author and I've been searching for stuff similar to him for ages. I haven't read these yet but I always hear the following recommended: • Viriconium by M John Harrison • City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer • The Etched City by KJ Bishop • The Castle Trilogy by Steph Swainston • Dhalgren by Samuel Delany Go read them and report back!
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Aug 20, 2011 14:38
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bobkatt013 posted:I know you properly read this but the six books of Dune. I read the first one and loved it! I just couldn't get into the Dune books after that though... Hedrigall posted:China Miéville is my favourite author and I've been searching for stuff similar to him for ages. I haven't read these yet but I always hear the following recommended: I've had my eye on both of these for a while. Looks like I'm reading City of Saints and Madmen! Thanks! 
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Aug 20, 2011 18:27
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I'm looking for something like A Sport and a Pastime or The Alexandria Quartet. Melancholy, intimate foreign love stories. Anyone got anything?
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Aug 20, 2011 18:57
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Can anyone recommend any narrative fiction or poetry from the Byzantine Empire? That is, not historical fiction but works or authors from that era?
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Aug 21, 2011 11:50
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Jive One posted:Can anyone recommend any narrative fiction or poetry from the Byzantine Empire? That is, not historical fiction but works or authors from that era? A friend suggests: Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor The History of Zonaras Drosilla and Charikles
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Aug 21, 2011 16:27
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Thanks!
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Aug 21, 2011 21:05
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Snuffman posted:I read the first one and loved it! I just couldn't get into the Dune books after that though... Excellent choice. I love VanderMeer. 
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Aug 21, 2011 21:24
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bobkatt013 posted:I know you properly read this but the six books of Dune. Just finished the first Dune book. That was pretty cool. It's very different to what I'm used to reading, but still very cool. Guess I'll go hunt down the other Dune books.
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Aug 21, 2011 22:01
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I seem to enjoy books about old Hollywood and that time period -- mostly behind the scenes stuff like in Hollywood Babylon (the amount of actress deaths in the 20's and 30's is kind of astounding). I also read and enjoyed I, Fatty, a fictitious first-person account of Fatty Arbuckle's rise and fall. I guess I am looking for some more behind the scenes non-fiction books from this time period. Right now I am reading Murder of the Century, about a gruesome murder and the beginnings of the tabloid wars between Hearst & Pulitzer. If anyone has any recommendations for turn of the century up to probably the 40's true crime, especially involving high profile cases, that would be great. I like how they solved mysteries without the technology available today.
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Aug 21, 2011 23:56
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Odette posted:Just finished the first Dune book. That was pretty cool. It's very different to what I'm used to reading, but still very cool. Make sure yo only get the Frank Herbert Dune books. DO NOT get his useless sons and his hack friends Dune books.
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Aug 22, 2011 00:07
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Normally I loving hate reading, like, a whole lot, but I'm just about to finish John Dies at the End and, after not having been able to put it down for the past few weeks, was wondering if you guys could make any good recommendations on anything else in a similar vein. Considering House of Leaves for the mindfuck element but will miss the humor.
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Aug 22, 2011 01:40
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Not really looking for a recommendation, more like a suggestion or guidence. I should be done with the current book that I'm reading tomorrow, I have off tomorrow and should be done with it in a couple hours if I push. I have eight choice of books from the massive library that I have accumulated over the past six months from just buying books. My choices are the following: Life - Keith Richards Laurel Canyon - Michael Walker Everyone Loves You When You're Dead -Neil Strauss Shock Value - Zinoman Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN: Miller and Shales Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Foer East Fifth Bliss - Light I'm really torn on where to go, because there's so much going on next month, ACL, which I am attending and the 10th anniversy of 9/11. The others are just because I really want to read them, because I'm kinda on a non fiction kick. Anyone read any of these and have a recommendation?
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Aug 22, 2011 01:48
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Mr.Hotkeys posted:Normally I loving hate reading, like, a whole lot, but I'm just about to finish John Dies at the End and, after not having been able to put it down for the past few weeks, was wondering if you guys could make any good recommendations on anything else in a similar vein. Considering House of Leaves for the mindfuck element but will miss the humor. If you don't like to read HoL might be a bit of an ask. Personally, I loved and read it in a few days, but I think a fair number of people find it a slog, and I totally see why. It is also not very funny. Monster by A Lee Martinez comes to mind, because it is both funny and has that "hidden world all around us" thing going on, but it doesn't match the horror, mindfuckery, and lunacy of John Dies. Some Philip K Dick might be worth checking out; see if Eye in the Sky or Clans of the Alphane Moon sound appealing. Oh, there's also Charles Stross' Laundry Files books. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Aug 22, 2011 |
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Aug 22, 2011 02:09
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How about a a recent Historical Fiction novel? I just finishe City of Thieves and Child 44 and loved them. Something along those lines would be great!
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Aug 22, 2011 02:32
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PlasticPaddy posted:How about a a recent Historical Fiction novel? I just finishe City of Thieves and Child 44 and loved them. Something along those lines would be great! Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini? It kind of reminds me of City of Thieves (or rather, vice versa, since I read ATSS first) in that it's about two people living through war, but in this case it's about two Afghan women living through the Soviet invasion, right up until the US invasion in 2001. It's really good, it was my favorite book for a long time.
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Aug 22, 2011 03:07
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vaginadeathgrip posted:Right now I am reading Murder of the Century, about a gruesome murder and the beginnings of the tabloid wars between Hearst & Pulitzer. If anyone has any recommendations for turn of the century up to probably the 40's true crime, especially involving high profile cases, that would be great. I like how they solved mysteries without the technology available today. - For the Thrill of It (Simon Baatz): Leopold and Loeb - And The Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank (Steve Oney). What's more untrusted in the deep south of the 1910s than a black man? A Northern Jew. - The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (Kate Summerscale). English. Not high-profile, but a fascinating case and one that has a lot about detective methods of the era (1860s). - The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson): Split between talking about the Columbian Exposition and H.H. Holmes in Chicago. Probably not enough on Holmes to tickle your fancy. Same goes for Larson's Thunderstruck about wireless telegraphy/Marconi and Dr Crippen case. The former is better than the latter.
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Aug 22, 2011 03:16
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PlasticPaddy posted:How about a a recent Historical Fiction novel? I just finishe City of Thieves and Child 44 and loved them. Something along those lines would be great! Its old but I claudius and Claudius the god
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Aug 22, 2011 03:19
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screenwritersblues posted:Not really looking for a recommendation, more like a suggestion or guidence. The Keef book is awesome.
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Aug 22, 2011 03:46
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funkybottoms posted:If you don't like to read HoL might be a bit of an ask. Personally, I loved and read it in a few days, but I think a fair number of people find it a slog, and I totally see why. It is also not very funny. I've been drawn in by the concept, as well as everyone else gushing over it, so I figured I could get around to it now that I'm a little more used to staring at text for hours on end. I'll look into the other suggestions, too, so thanks.
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Aug 22, 2011 03:48
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screenwritersblues posted:Not really looking for a recommendation, more like a suggestion or guidence. If you're into sports, the ESPN book is a fun read. If you're not, I'd go with Richards' autobio.
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Aug 22, 2011 04:45
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bobkatt013 posted:Its old but I claudius and Claudius the god Maybe for more "recent" you could try the 1632 series. (I read the first and wasn't impressed enough to read the others but I didn't think it was bad.) And, of course, one can always check out some blog links and reviews. (Seriously, there are so many to choose from!)
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Aug 22, 2011 05:34
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bobkatt013 posted:Make sure yo only get the Frank Herbert Dune books. DO NOT get his useless sons and his hack friends Dune books. Thanks! I was wondering which ones to get, but you've saved me the trouble.
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Aug 22, 2011 09:52
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