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RebBrownies posted:George Carlin talked about many things: linguistics, politics, religion, philosophy, etc. That's actually not true at all, you're just being lazy and generalizing. Off the top of my head? Try something by Jane Austen, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Joan Didion or Elaine Dundy. But remember, a female character deals with issues a woman would face.
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Dec 24, 2011 21:48
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barkingclam posted:That's actually not true at all, you're just being lazy and generalizing. I don't mean to generalize, but out of the mass of books I have read I find that many female characters have very similar traits and stories. As a woman I get frustrated reading about the same issues over and over again. I work in a bookstore and the last book I read that had an interesting female lead was Rules of Civility. We get tons of Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, Sarah Dresden, and other writers with female leads, but 9 out of 10 of the stories deal with a romantic relationship. None of the women in these stories are ever doing anything else. I have read a ton of Jane Austen, and I love her work, but I will check out the other works you recommended. =)
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Dec 24, 2011 22:27
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Dec 25, 2011 04:47
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Looking for a book on Amazon Kindle I can give to my girlfriend. She enjoyed the entire Game of Thrones series, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, some Stephen King, etc. I was thinking about that new Stephen King novel 11/22/63, but does anyone have any other recommendations? EDIT: Ended up getting her The Magicians the fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Dec 25, 2011 |
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Dec 25, 2011 05:21
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the posted:Looking for a book on Amazon Kindle I can give to my girlfriend. She enjoyed the entire Game of Thrones series, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, some Stephen King, etc. Unless she absolutely hates it- and she shouldn't, given her taste- make sure she reads the sequel, as it retroactively makes the first book better (and I already loved the first one).
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Dec 25, 2011 12:24
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the posted:Looking for a book on Amazon Kindle I can give to my girlfriend. She enjoyed the entire Game of Thrones series, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, some Stephen King, etc. The Wheel of Time, The Dresden Files, Codex Alera, Nightside
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Dec 25, 2011 13:48
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I took political science class during my freshman year of college and did pretty well, but I can hardly recall anything I learned. I'd like to shed my, admittedly complete ignorance, of the U.S. political system and so I'm looking for a book on the topic. I'm not looking for anything too in depth, but perhaps a little more so than Wikipedia (and maybe something not quite as dry), and not as extensive as a college textbook. Any help would be much appreciated!
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Dec 25, 2011 21:08
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I'm hankering for a science-thick bio-thriller along the lines of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, or The Swarm by Frank Schatzing.
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Dec 26, 2011 00:13
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Hedrigall posted:I'm hankering for a science-thick bio-thriller along the lines of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, or The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. Going to assume you've already got a copy of The Andromeda Strain. Warren Fahy's Fragment, Scott Sigler's Ancestor, and maybe his Infected and Contagious, too. A little less heavy on the science, but Preston and Child's Relic might also be of interest.
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Dec 26, 2011 02:51
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Can anyone recommend me a definitive list of the best literature the past decade had to offer? Embarrassing as it may be I'm extremely behind on modern reading material. I'm not really biased towards one type of book and my tastes wavers on extremes; for instance, my favorite books are Brave New World, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I'm even fond of romance so long as it's well written and not softcore porn for old ladies written pap. Over the years, I've mostly delved into the classics, seeing history as a massive time sink with an insurmountable amount of classics...but I need something fresh, something modern. To make the process go more smoothly, here are some novels I was quite fond of the past decade: - The Road - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I know, I know) - Nickel and Dimed - Mountains Beyond Mountains - Song of Ice and Fire series - The God Delusion - Persepolis - My Name is Red - Middlesex - She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders - Let The Right One In Jupiter Jazz fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Dec 26, 2011 |
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Dec 26, 2011 07:49
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Himuro posted:Can anyone recommend me a definitive list of the best literature the past decade had to offer? Embarrassing as it may be I'm extremely behind on modern reading material. I'm not really biased towards one type of book and my tastes wavers on extremes; for instance, my favorite books are Brave New World, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I'm even fond of romance so long as it's well written and not softcore porn for old ladies written pap. Over the years, I've mostly delved into the classics, seeing history as a massive time sink with an insurmountable amount of classics...but I need something fresh, something modern. So, are you looking for fiction or non-fiction? You say "literature" and "novels," but many of your examples are non-fiction.
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Dec 26, 2011 12:52
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funkybottoms posted:So, are you looking for fiction or non-fiction? You say "literature" and "novels," but many of your examples are non-fiction. Well, either, to be frank. Like I said, I have no preference so long as it's decent.
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Dec 26, 2011 16:19
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Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book about the life/inventions of Tesla? I know he's extremely important, but I've never stumbled across anything about him that wasn't cursory.
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Dec 26, 2011 17:16
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Just got a Kindle + gift cards as Xmas loot. Help me fill 'er up! In fiction, I've loved: David Foster Wallace - all of his work, all of it. Infinite Jest, Broom of the System, all his essays - I know his style isn't for everyone, but his self-congratulatory intellectual nitpicky-ness totally gets me off. The hyper-attention to character detail, flirtations with metanarrative, and constant currents of subtle dark humor do it for me in a big way. Dave Eggers - AHWOSG, but particularly for the prologue et al. Margaret Atwood - especially Oryx and Crake. Dystopian futures are good futures. Have read The Handmaid's Tale of course; began The Blind Assassin but never got into it. Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an all-time favorite. Loved Ignorance too. Unfortunately none of Kundera's work appears to be available on the Kindle...? Miguel de Unamuno - Niebla (The Mist) is a fantastic classical Spanish mindfuck, toying with the relationship between author, audience, and text. Zadie Smith - White Teeth is just fantastic; the humor is just the right shade of dry, and the threads of the individual stories tie together beautifully. Have read On Beauty too. Haruki Murakami - the darkness of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was compelling to the point of total absorption; I loved the way it forced me to reconcile the intensity of what I was reading with my day-to-day "normality." Haven't read anything else by him; what might be next? Saul Bellow - Henderson the Rain King's central character is a fascinatingly hateable gently caress, barreling his way through a few African tribal societies/philosophies. I really enjoyed watching the extent to which I identified with him change throughout. James L. Halperin - The Truth Machine was a fun light futuristic read that I've gone back to a few times. Kurt Vonnegut - I've only ever picked up Cat's Cradle, and I absolutely devoured it. The way Vonnegut paints in the details of a narrative manages to be at once joyful and deeply serious. What ought to be next from him? In non-fiction: Michael Pollan - I'm into gastronomy for sure; The Omnivore's Dilemma was thought-provoking and informative. Is Food Rules or In Defense of Food any good? Robert M. Pirsig - in the end I might just be a drat hippie, but I could read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again, and again, and again. I didn't enjoy: Lev Grossman - The Magicians. I do harbor a long-time love for fantasy/magic stories, but this one felt like it was skimming the surface too much, somehow. Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead. Someone left it in my house and I picked it up and BLAUGH. Felt jarringly, arrogantly transparent throughout. Maybe I ought to have read it when I was 14. Tons of info; ideas?
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Dec 26, 2011 17:25
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RebBrownies posted: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 am generally not qualified to answer this since I tend to read books with male characters, however, I found The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber to be a great novel with a compelling main female character. Granted, she is a prostitute in Victorian England, so she is certainly dealing with "female problems." My wife has actually expressed the same general frustration you have, i.e. wanting novels with great female leads that are not specifically Feminist, and she liked Crimson Petal a lot. Also, RebBrownies posted: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? I would say yes. Certainly within the fantasy genre, and perhaps outside of it as well. They're very good books.
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Dec 26, 2011 21:03
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I apologize if its been done to death, but I was looking for a good Fantasy series to read. I'd be willing to read a just a single book but mainly looking for a multiple book series. Not really looking to read trashy I guess isnt really a good word to describe it but stuff like Conan. These are as many series as I can remember that I've already read: Chronicles of Amber Black Company Song of Ice and Fire Lord of the Rings Robin Hobbs various trilogies, Farseer, Tawny Man, Liveship Traders Discworld Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn The First Law Magicians/The Magician King The Belgariad/The Malloreon Wheel Of Time Harry Potter Part of Malazan I'm sure theres more, but I cant remember off the top of my head. Thanks DurosKlav fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Dec 26, 2011 |
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Dec 26, 2011 21:40
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Yakult posted:Just got a Kindle + gift cards as Xmas loot. Help me fill 'er up! If you like David Foster Wallace, try out Johnathan Franzen's Freedom . It's not exactly the same, but similar in tone and style.
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Dec 27, 2011 00:34
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Himuro posted:Can anyone recommend me a definitive list of the best literature the past decade had to offer? Embarrassing as it may be I'm extremely behind on modern reading material. I'm not really biased towards one type of book and my tastes wavers on extremes; for instance, my favorite books are Brave New World, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I'm even fond of romance so long as it's well written and not softcore porn for old ladies written pap. Over the years, I've mostly delved into the classics, seeing history as a massive time sink with an insurmountable amount of classics...but I need something fresh, something modern. A few novels from the past decade I enjoyed, off the top of my head: Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, Jonanthan Franzen's Freedom or The Corrections, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay or The Yiddish Policemen's Union, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz and David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Also, if you liked the Dragon Tattoo series, you might like Henning Mankell's novels. They're a little more of a police procedural, but I enjoyed Faceless Killers.
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Dec 27, 2011 00:45
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Yakult posted:Kurt Vonnegut - I've only ever picked up Cat's Cradle, and I absolutely devoured it. The way Vonnegut paints in the details of a narrative manages to be at once joyful and deeply serious. What ought to be next from him? The Eden Express, A Memoir of Schizophrenia by Vonnegut was a pretty good novel. DurosKlav posted:I apologize if its been done to death, but I was looking for a good Fantasy series to read. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch The Vlad Taltos Series* by Steven Brust *The books are written chronologically extremely out of order, like the latest book is chronologically the earliest if I remember right, and the first book is chronologically pretty late. It'll make sense just do a bit of research, or just start with any random one. Defenestrategy fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Dec 27, 2011 |
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Dec 27, 2011 02:01
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KildarX posted:The Eden Express, A Memoir of Schizophrenia by Vonnegut was a pretty good novel. This is neither a novel nor written by Kurt Vonnegut; this is a memoir written by his son, Mark. Yakult, you should just go back to the beginning of KV's work and go from there.
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Dec 27, 2011 02:44
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Himuro posted:Needs good novels... A poster here made this List, you might find it useful.
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Dec 27, 2011 08:35
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Looking for fiction about thieves/assassins/heists. Any genre's fine, though I think I prefer fantasy, and I don't mind YA. I've read and loved: Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust Gentleman Bastards series Scott Lynch
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Dec 27, 2011 14:10
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KildarX posted:*The books are written chronologically extremely out of order, like the latest book is chronologically the earliest if I remember right, and the first book is chronologically pretty late. It'll make sense just do a bit of research, or just start with any random one. I've always found it best to read in publication order in situations like this, because that's the order characters and ideas are introduced. Like, if you start with the most recently-published book, even though it is chronologically first, a new reader will probably spend a lot time on Wikipedia trying to sort out all the Houses and whatnot.
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Dec 27, 2011 16:01
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mania posted:Looking for fiction about thieves/assassins/heists. Any genre's fine, though I think I prefer fantasy, and I don't mind YA. I haven't read them, but the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson and the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb sound like they'd be what you're looking for.
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Dec 27, 2011 16:09
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mania posted:Looking for fiction about thieves/assassins/heists. Any genre's fine, though I think I prefer fantasy, and I don't mind YA. The Nightangel Trilogy by Brent Weeks contains one or two  scenes, but is otherwise an interesting piece of assassin fiction.
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Dec 27, 2011 18:27
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RebBrownies posted: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. Read Rosemary Kirstein's books; they're speculative fiction with a female scientist as the main character, and they are awesome. The first one is The Steerswoman.
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Dec 27, 2011 22:49
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Yakult posted:Just got a Kindle + gift cards as Xmas loot. Help me fill 'er up! I would suggest The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It's got an interesting take on a dystopian future, it's got humor that reminds one of Vonnegut (but is decidedly more british), and it's one of my all time favorite books. First chapter is confusing as hell, but then almost the rest of the book is a flashback leading backup to that. It's probably the most imaginative book I've read in the last five years. Also, congrats on the kindle. Just got one of those bad boys myself. nakedolphin fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Dec 27, 2011 |
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Dec 27, 2011 23:47
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I need some recommendations for my mother! She's recently discovered that she enjoys books about time travel, but doesn't really know of any. Her reading habits up until now have consisted entirely of terrible romance novels (Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, that kind of thing), so I'm guessing nothing too far into the realm of hard sci fi. She just picked up Crichton's Timeline, which I think she'll actually enjoy.
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Dec 28, 2011 00:14
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Radio! posted:I need some recommendations for my mother! She's recently discovered that she enjoys books about time travel, but doesn't really know of any. She might enjoy Connie Willis, who writes time travel stuff that isn't remotely like hard sf. To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of the funny ones (as opposed to the weepy ones), a Victorian farce inspired by Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat. I, myself, do not like the work of Connie Willis, but a lot of people must or she wouldn't keep winning awards.
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Dec 28, 2011 00:19
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Radio! posted:I need some recommendations for my mother! She's recently discovered that she enjoys books about time travel, but doesn't really know of any. Her reading habits up until now have consisted entirely of terrible romance novels (Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, that kind of thing), so I'm guessing nothing too far into the realm of hard sci fi. She just picked up Crichton's Timeline, which I think she'll actually enjoy. Maybe The Time-Traveler's Wife?
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Dec 28, 2011 00:34
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Radio! posted:I need some recommendations for my mother! She's recently discovered that she enjoys books about time travel, but doesn't really know of any. The End of Eternity by Issac Assimov, the basic premise is there is a "Time Changing" agency which recruits people to travel backwards and forwards in time in an attempt to reduce human suffering over ALL of time to a minimum.
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Dec 28, 2011 00:47
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Himuro posted:Can anyone recommend me a definitive list of the best literature the past decade had to offer? Embarrassing as it may be I'm extremely behind on modern reading material. I'm not really biased towards one type of book and my tastes wavers on extremes; for instance, my favorite books are Brave New World, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I'm even fond of romance so long as it's well written and not softcore porn for old ladies written pap. Over the years, I've mostly delved into the classics, seeing history as a massive time sink with an insurmountable amount of classics...but I need something fresh, something modern. I'm pretty sure it's a bit older than the last decade but I recommend The Life of Pi by Yann Martel to everyone looking to read fairly recent literature. The first 80 pages or so are a bit slow but after that it's a really amazing, beautiful read. Once he gets on the boat it's all good.
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Dec 28, 2011 03:53
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I'm putting together a reading list for 2012 of 52 books, one per week, and I really want to find something that I can enjoy as much as Jacques the Fatalist by Diderot. Once I picked that book up I literally did not put it down until I finished it. Then, I reread it over the course of the week because I thought it was just that good.
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Dec 28, 2011 04:51
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Himuro posted:Can anyone recommend me a definitive list of the best literature the past decade had to offer? Nothing definitive, I'm afraid, but I strongly recommend anything by J. M. Coetzee, who has won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and Kazuo Ishiguro, whose amazing The Remains of the Day is a bit older than your criteria.
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Dec 28, 2011 06:16
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Radio! posted:I need some recommendations for my mother! She's recently discovered that she enjoys books about time travel, but doesn't really know of any. Her reading habits up until now have consisted entirely of terrible romance novels (Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, that kind of thing), so I'm guessing nothing too far into the realm of hard sci fi. She just picked up Crichton's Timeline, which I think she'll actually enjoy. Diana Gabaldon has a whole series that I guess are basically romances with time travel. I've never read them, but my mom (who loved Nora Roberts) thought they were great. Also, seconding Connie Willis as an author she'd probably enjoy.
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Dec 28, 2011 06:27
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What is the book that is generally regarded as a catch all recommendation?
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Dec 28, 2011 08:24
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pandaK posted:What is the book that is generally regarded as a catch all recommendation?
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Dec 28, 2011 10:28
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Speaking as someone with a time-travel-romance loving mom, the Outlander series and Time-Traveler's Wife are both good picks.
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Dec 28, 2011 17:58
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Joramun posted:Moby-Dick. But you already read that for school, and I'm all Moby Dicked out.
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Dec 28, 2011 18:22
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Looking for a couple good books to read now that I've finished the latest GRRM book. I would like something fantasy to satisfy the void left by Dance with Dragons. Something gritty if possible, not too high fantasy and preferably something with more than one volume. I thought about Wheel of Time due to its scope and critical acclaim but I'm not sure it will draw me in the same way. Also looking for a good non-fiction. Interested in global politics, economics, outdoor adventures and survival stories.
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Dec 28, 2011 20:33
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