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An unexpected guest swinging by for the holidays has left me looking to get a semi-last minute Christmas gift. Due to their interest in Asian History/Languages and love of the LOTR trilogy, I'd like to get them an eastern medieval fantasy type novel but I know of nothing in this genre. Is there anything worth considering here? I've also thought about getting an anthology of Chinese Folklore/myths/epic poems/etc but I'd really like something that could stand up purely on its own inherent entertainment value. Some of the collections I've already looked at seem more geared for academics and paper writing rather than the more leisurely reading I had in mind but I have no frame of reference to make a sound judgment on that. Any advice here?
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Dec 15, 2011 10:38
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HenessyHero posted:An unexpected guest swinging by for the holidays has left me looking to get a semi-last minute Christmas gift. Due to their interest in Asian History/Languages and love of the LOTR trilogy, I'd like to get them an eastern medieval fantasy type novel but I know of nothing in this genre. Is there anything worth considering here? If you're looking for fantasy in an Eastern setting, Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart is a forum favorite. Technically it's the first of a trilogy but it stands alone just fine. For a bit more of the heroic quest there's Curt Benjamins Seven Brothers trilogy which is set in pseudo-China and Tibet. If you're looking for books actually written by Asian authors sorry I'm no help there.
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Dec 15, 2011 11:54
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I just joined a club called 'Let's Read Ulysses' for first time readers of the book and I'm not sure which version to go with. Also, should I grab the annotations for a first-time read? I'm not a total idiot if that helps 
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Dec 15, 2011 21:51
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Can someone recommend me a book that is happy and fun? After some depressing events in real life and watching too many depressing TV shows, I need some feel-good, motivational poo poo. The genre doesn't matter to me. I'm thinking something like Parks and Recreation in book form. Vague request, I know, but hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks!
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Dec 16, 2011 04:26
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Hughmoris posted:Can someone recommend me a book that is happy and fun? After some depressing events in real life and watching too many depressing TV shows, I need some feel-good, motivational poo poo. The genre doesn't matter to me. I'm thinking something like Parks and Recreation in book form. Vague request, I know, but hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks! I recommend anything by David Sedaris. Its basically all stories about his family and growing up. Alot of it is hilarious, especially when he talks about his brother Rooster.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:33
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Hughmoris posted:Can someone recommend me a book that is happy and fun? After some depressing events in real life and watching too many depressing TV shows, I need some feel-good, motivational poo poo. The genre doesn't matter to me. I'm thinking something like Parks and Recreation in book form. Vague request, I know, but hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks! The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchet. It's a comedy based on the adventures of a wizard whose terrible at his job who gets to play Tour guide for a naive person.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:34
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Hughmoris posted:Can someone recommend me a book that is happy and fun? After some depressing events in real life and watching too many depressing TV shows, I need some feel-good, motivational poo poo. The genre doesn't matter to me. I'm thinking something like Parks and Recreation in book form. Vague request, I know, but hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks! Garrison Keillor's novels are full of heartwarming humor and neurotic Mid-Westerners.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:37
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wheatpuppy posted:On the scifi end of things there's Keith Laumer's Retief series. Jame Retief is a low-level diplomat who regularly saves the world(s) by being drat awesome. I second the Retief nomination--very, very funny books as well, although the humor is subtle rather than in-your-face.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:40
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One of my mom's co-workers asked her to ask me to recommend some sci-fi authors for her son. He's 15/16 or so, and has become increasingly sheltered the last few years--the mom dove headfirst into religion and took the kids into it with her, and one of my first questions was sex. She said none whatsoever, which really limits my ideas. She says he reads Jim Butcher and Rick Riordan, neither of whom actually write sci-fi (I've never read either). Since so many of the authors I read have sex in their books at some point, I'm not coming up with much. What I have so far: Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series Timothy Zahn's Quadrail series (which is scifi/mystery, which sounds like it could complement Butcher's Dresden Files) and the Conqueror's Trilogy. They're all relatively chaste to my memory and they're accessible to new readers. But beyond that, I'm pretty stumped.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:50
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Pyroclastic posted:One of my mom's co-workers asked her to ask me to recommend some sci-fi authors for her son. He's 15/16 or so, and has become increasingly sheltered the last few years--the mom dove headfirst into religion and took the kids into it with her, and one of my first questions was sex. She said none whatsoever, which really limits my ideas. She says he reads Jim Butcher and Rick Riordan, neither of whom actually write sci-fi (I've never read either). Zahn's Thrawn trilogy is a good read too if the kid is into Star Wars at all (assuming his mom ever let him watch any of the movies, I suppose). It's pretty easy reading and definitely doesn't have any sex in it. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is another good one as well. Encryptic fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Dec 16, 2011 |
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Dec 16, 2011 05:21
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Mr. Banana Grabber posted:I just joined a club called 'Let's Read Ulysses' for first time readers of the book and I'm not sure which version to go with. Also, should I grab the annotations for a first-time read? I'm not a total idiot if that helps Both of the Ulysses classes I took in college recommended the Gabler edition: http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Gabler-James-Joyce/dp/0394743121 but it really doesn't matter all that much since most of the differences between that and the original version are things that the academics like to argue over and you won't even notice on your first (or even 5th) reading. Buy whatever is cheap or whichever version has your favorite font. To answer your second question, I would definitely recommend the annotations - they're basically essential if you want to actually understand what you're reading. Joyce uses a ton of literary references and also a ton of references to early 20th century Irish and popular culture that you would have no chance of understanding no matter how smart you are. Joyce was both unbelievably well-read and almost intentionally obscure with his writing, not to mention the fact that the stream-of-consciousness style is not really designed to be understood on the first reading of the novel. If you have specific questions or observations while you read, there's a Ulysses thread a couple pages back in this forum where you can post and get answers/discussion. Enjoy, it's a really fun read if you're willing to devote the time to it. DrGonzo90 fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Dec 16, 2011 |
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Dec 16, 2011 06:27
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Are there any good books on the different accents in England, and how the language developed into so many different dialects?
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Dec 16, 2011 07:34
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Matt Taibbi is badass- and a great writer! Anyone like him today?
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Dec 16, 2011 11:33
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DrGonzo90 posted:Both of the Ulysses classes I took in college recommended the Gabler edition: Thank you very much, that was quite helpful. I'll pick up the Gabler unless I find a used copy with a better font (comic sans, ideally) along with the annotations. I'll also check out that thread you mentioned.
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Dec 16, 2011 19:13
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I'm looking for a book for my grandmother. She enjoys anything that's upbeat, motivating, and optimistic. She likes self help/quasi philosophical books like The Secret but novels would be okay too as long as the writing isn't too heavy. She's Catholic so she wouldn't like anything heavily based on other religions like Buddhism or New Age beliefs. I recently checked out The Book of Awesome which lists small daily pleasures that often go unnoticed or unappreciated - it seemed like the premise was close enough to what she enjoys reading, but the writing was clearly for someone younger. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I don't normally read this type of book so it's difficult to determine which books are interesting and original enough.
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Dec 17, 2011 19:00
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Any good western recommendations? I love McCarthy and the Larry McMurtry novels, but is there anyone else who writes good, GOOD Westerns that revel in the world that's before them? I'd love to read something with substance that flows like a spagetti western.
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Dec 17, 2011 19:31
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Pyroclastic posted:and one of my first questions was sex. She said none whatsoever, which really limits my ideas. The problem with the science ficition genre is all of the cool series [Sten, Aldenanta, most of Heinlein and Asimov] is that they where written by nerds who will either put implied [and then he woke up in her bed the next day] or overt [straight up fan-fiction] sex, but these few books I think had none. If Violence, some nationalistic philosophy, and portrayals of Asians as generally bad [except for American Asians  ], is ok then I am pretty sure "The Sixth Column" by Robert A. Heinlein doesn't contain sex.If Violence and militaristic philosophy is ok Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein doesn't have any that I can remember. "I, Robot" By Issac Assimov, I don't think has any thing, but there might be innuendo that I forget, and I think it has light violence.
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Dec 17, 2011 20:26
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Dec 17, 2011 20:39
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I'll take that into consideration. I was a bit worried about going with the highly prolific writers like Grey and Louis Lamour, but I'll take anything well-written that revels in the environment.
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Dec 17, 2011 20:43
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-edit- double post, sorry
Joramun fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Dec 17, 2011 |
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Dec 17, 2011 20:45
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MoosetheMooche posted:I'm looking for a book for my grandmother. She enjoys anything that's upbeat, motivating, and optimistic. She likes self help/quasi philosophical books like The Secret but novels would be okay too as long as the writing isn't too heavy. She's Catholic so she wouldn't like anything heavily based on other religions like Buddhism or New Age beliefs. I recently checked out The Book of Awesome which lists small daily pleasures that often go unnoticed or unappreciated - it seemed like the premise was close enough to what she enjoys reading, but the writing was clearly for someone younger. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I don't normally read this type of book so it's difficult to determine which books are interesting and original enough.  http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-Morning-Aristotle-Generally/dp/0061583251
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Dec 17, 2011 20:50
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Pyroclastic posted:One of my mom's co-workers asked her to ask me to recommend some sci-fi authors for her son. He's 15/16 or so, and has become increasingly sheltered the last few years--the mom dove headfirst into religion and took the kids into it with her, and one of my first questions was sex. She said none whatsoever, which really limits my ideas. She says he reads Jim Butcher and Rick Riordan, neither of whom actually write sci-fi (I've never read either). There's an absolute tonne of sexual innuendo in the Dresden Files (Just finished reading Grave Peril) FYI
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Dec 19, 2011 11:58
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Pyroclastic posted:l relatively chaste to my memory and they're accessible to new readers. But beyond that, I'm pretty stumped. Does the original Cobra series by Zahn have any sex in it? I don't think so, but I could be misremembering.
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Dec 19, 2011 17:07
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Can anyone here recommend good non-fiction about Ireland and Irish history? I know someone who is planning a trip to Ireland and wants to explore its history, but she doesn't really know where to start.
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Dec 20, 2011 02:54
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Can anyone recommend me some good dystopic books? I've got a bit of a collection going on right now. I have - 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Adrian Huxley, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, among others. Anyone got something to recommend?
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Dec 20, 2011 14:09
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benjai posted:Can anyone recommend me some good dystopic books? I've got a bit of a collection going on right now. Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, and Player Piano are classics, so you might already have those. There's a good amount of PKD that fits the bill: Do Androids Dream...?, The Penultimate Truth, Vulcan's Hammer, Flow, My Tears..., The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, even A Scanner Darkly, though its focus isn't necessarily the society itself. Jasper Fforde got off to a great start with Shades of Grey, but there's no telling how long it's going to take him to finish the series. I'd really love to recommend David Marusek's Counting Heads and Mind Over Ship, which are set in a really fascinating world, but he's indicated on his blog that he doesn't really have a plan to finish the series. Ugh. His book of short stories, Getting to Know You, is totally awesome and also fits the bill, fortunately.
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Dec 20, 2011 14:25
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wheatpuppy posted:I think you'd enjoy the David Weber/John Ringo collaboration that starts with March Upcountry. Very little in the way of deep-space battles, but chockfull of space marines, plasma cannons, and aliens with too many arms. The "Empire of Man" series that I listed is the one you suggested. Not much of the space marine aspect, but plenty of the pew pew pew. I loved the series anyways. KildarX posted:If you can ignore/like a lot of liberal bashing, John Ringo's "Legacy of the Aldenata" series maybe up your alley, the first book, A Hymn Before Battle is a lot of set up and not a ton of shooting, although there is more than enough pew-pew in the rest of the series to make up for it, The story of the series is basically "Aliens that multiply faster than humans invade earth, so I'll look into that series as soon as I can. It sounds interesting. Do Not Resuscitate posted:The Forever War by Joe Haldeman I finished "The Forever War" just the other night. Loved it. Just wish it were longer. The time travel-ish aspect to it was fantastic. I'll read up on the Hamilton books to see what they're about.
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Dec 20, 2011 21:43
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I need a recommendation for a book for a present for a 25 year old girl. She likes books, spirituality, feminism, incense and that kind of poo poo.
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Dec 21, 2011 08:25
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ammo mammal posted:I need a recommendation for a book for a present for a 25 year old girl. She likes books, spirituality, feminism, incense and that kind of poo poo. Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks and The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir are two very good books on feminism, if she hasn't read them already.
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Dec 21, 2011 09:06
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If she hasn't read it, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique is another good one on feminism.
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Dec 21, 2011 18:16
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I'm looking at my Kindle in preparation for the holidays and realizing that I'm pretty much out of books to read. So I turn to you guys in the hopes of finding something that I'm otherwise missing. I tend to like the full gamut of SF&F, from the decent to the fairly schlocky stuff. Some recently read authors: George R.R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Steven Erikson, Vernor Vinge, Terry Pratchett. Anything somewhat obscure or sorta B-grade would be great. I just don't really want to start randomly buying books at Amazon with no other context. :/
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Dec 22, 2011 01:16
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wodin posted:I'm looking at my Kindle in preparation for the holidays and realizing that I'm pretty much out of books to read. So I turn to you guys in the hopes of finding something that I'm otherwise missing. Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchiakovsky. The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. Jig the Goblin series by Jim C. Hines Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Anything by Roger Zelazny (start with Lord of Light). Just about anything by Charles Stross. Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin. Anything by John Scalzi. The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones. Anything by Fritz Lieber (start with "Ill Met in Lankhmar") Anything by any contributor to this anthology: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Fiction-Hall-Fame-Vol/dp/0765305372 There, that should get you started. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Dec 22, 2011 |
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Dec 22, 2011 02:31
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wodin posted:Anything somewhat obscure or sorta B-grade would be great. I just don't really want to start randomly buying books at Amazon with no other context. :/ Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove [If people went back in time to give the south Ak-47s during the civil war] 1634 by Erick Flynn [If an american town got teleported to 1600's germany] Anything by John Ringo [B-Movie grade Sci-Fi] Lies of Locke Lamorra by Scott Lynch [Fantasy]
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Dec 22, 2011 05:44
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KildarX posted:1634 by Erick Flynn [If an american town got teleported to 1600's germany] 1632, by Eric Flint.
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Dec 22, 2011 05:47
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wodin posted:I'm looking at my Kindle in preparation for the holidays and realizing that I'm pretty much out of books to read. So I turn to you guys in the hopes of finding something that I'm otherwise missing. It's starting to become over-recommended the way A Song of Ice and Fire used to be, but Joe Abercrombie's work: the First Law trilogy and the two followups, Best Served Cold and The Heroes. It's good poo poo, and B-grade very in good ways.
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Dec 22, 2011 06:01
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Thanks for the recommendations. The Shadows of Apt series, Bridge of Birds, and the Jig the Goblin stuff are all new to me. Read pretty much the rest of the recommendations, which was part of the reason I was lamenting lack of stuff to read! Checking Baen for the Flint stuff did let me know there are some new Honor Harrington books out too, so I should be set for at least the flight out.
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Dec 22, 2011 06:14
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I'm looking for recommendations for historical fiction for a person who has read nearly every Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwell book. Does anyone know of a book series that is similar in style as either of these authors?
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Dec 22, 2011 21:32
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Slothpolo posted:I'm looking for recommendations for historical fiction for a person who has read nearly every Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwell book. Does anyone know of a book series that is similar in style as either of these authors? The HF I generally recommend to goons is Mary Renault's work. Try The Last of the Wine, Fire from Heaven, or The King Must Die. The other Book Barn favorite is the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. If you're looking more specifically for the sort of "multi generational family saga" style historical fiction, you could try Edward Rutherfurd's Sarum, just about anything by Michener, or James Clavell's Tai-Pan or Shogun. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Dec 22, 2011 |
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Dec 22, 2011 21:51
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:ically for the sort of "multi generational family saga" style historical fiction, you could try Edward Rutherfurd's Sarum, just about anything by Michener, or James Clavell's Tai-Pan or Shogun. I also liked Russka: The Novel of Russia, by Edward Rutherfurd. http://www.amazon.com/Russka-Novel-Russia-Edward-Rutherfurd/dp/0345479351/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324587577&sr=1-11
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Dec 22, 2011 22:00
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I'm looking for recommendations for books with a compelling female character that doesn't deal solely with strictly feminine problems (childbirth, being a woman in a world where men hold the power, etc.). I know about The Millennium Trilogy. I just want a well-written story with a female lead/supporting lead who story arc deals with more universal issues. Sorry if that is vague. I think of it in terms of comedians. George Carlin talked about many things: linguistics, politics, religion, philosophy, etc. Most female comedians talk about: Periods, boyfriends, women being smarter then men. I'm not trying to sound sexist, I'm just wondering if there are any compelling female characters out there. Also, I have been talking to my dad about The Song of Ice and Fire, which I haven't read, and he was telling me about all the characters and it sounded like an interesting read. Is it worth all the hype?
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Dec 24, 2011 18:52
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