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barkingclam posted:I swear by Stunk and White's Elements of Style. I learned more about writing from that book than I did in J-School. I second this. The Office of Assertion is good if you're writing term papers, specifically humanities papers.
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Dec 31, 2012 00:01
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KildarX posted:I am looking for something with "Men in Black*" as the protagonists anyone got any recommendations? The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
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Dec 31, 2012 12:31
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Similarly, Charles Stross's Laundry Files is what you want, as was said last page. Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series is close.
Bhodi fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Dec 31, 2012 |
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Dec 31, 2012 18:58
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Along similar lines, I remember (earlier this year) hearing about a series that was basically "CSI: Magic" - it's about a forensic magician (magicians?) in a modern-day-with-magic setting, solving crimes by investigating the magical rather than physical traces left by the criminal(s). It sounded interesting but I can't remember the title or author.
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Dec 31, 2012 19:44
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ToxicFrog posted:Along similar lines, I remember (earlier this year) hearing about a series that was basically "CSI: Magic" - it's about a forensic magician (magicians?) in a modern-day-with-magic setting, solving crimes by investigating the magical rather than physical traces left by the criminal(s). It sounded interesting but I can't remember the title or author.
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Dec 31, 2012 19:52
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Joramun posted:Dresden Files. No, that's about a PI (and I have read it). This was about an actual official investigator and there was, as I recall, a heavy emphasis on department internals and procedures for magical investigation of a crime scene and whatnot.
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Dec 31, 2012 19:58
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ToxicFrog posted:No, that's about a PI (and I have read it). This was about an actual official investigator and there was, as I recall, a heavy emphasis on department internals and procedures for magical investigation of a crime scene and whatnot. Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London series. First book is either Rivers of London (UK, most of the world) or Midnight Riot (US edition).
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Dec 31, 2012 20:38
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ulmont posted:Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London series. First book is either Rivers of London (UK, most of the world) or Midnight Riot (US edition). That's probably it! I'll go check it out. Thanks  If anyone knows other books/series based on a similar premise, I'd be interested in other recommendations as well.
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Dec 31, 2012 20:48
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I really enjoyed Mason & Dixon by Pynchon and Anathem by Neal Stephenson, but I'm having trouble finding similiar stuff that I actually like or what genre I'm even looking for. Fake historical fiction, I guess? Any recommendations? So far I've started on the Baroque Cycle which looks good, but I'm having trouble getting into it for some reason. The local book store sent me home with Turtledove's Into The Darkness and Roberto Bolaņo's 2666, but they both veered pretty sharply away from what I wanted. tl;dr Looking for historical fiction/fantasy that's educational but not slavishly factual. Similiar to Mason & Dixon and Anathem. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Dec 31, 2012 |
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Dec 31, 2012 21:57
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I'd like some recommendations please. 1) A non-fiction book about societal collapse, particularly bronze-age societal collapse that occurred in Greece, Egypt, and the Levant. However, if a book is particularly good, I'd go for anything that isn't about the decline/collapse of the Roman Empire (East or West), but I'd prefer it to be bronze age or earlier. If there's a good book about the Mississippian culture, I'd like to read it. I specifically want to avoid any book that makes predictions about future collapse (i.e. OBAMA WILL BRING ON THE APOCALYPSE, START BURYING NICKELS IN YOUR BACK YARD). 2) A non-fiction book about pre-historic sea-faring (bronze age or earlier). The spread of the Polynesians is absolutely fascinating, though I'm open to books about European/Mediterranean cultures as well. 3) A book about stone or bronze age Scandinavia. 4) A fiction book that features any of the above elements, so long as it is written with scrupulous historical accuracy.
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Jan 1, 2013 00:15
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Fruits of the sea posted:I really enjoyed Mason & Dixon by Pynchon and Anathem by Neal Stephenson, but I'm having trouble finding similiar stuff that I actually like or what genre I'm even looking for. Fake historical fiction, I guess? Any recommendations? The Baroque Cycle is pretty great, but you gotta slog through the first 100-200 pages or so before it really starts to get going. If you get bored, skip ahead to the second "book" in Quicksilver. On Pynchon's side, he has another historical fiction book called Against the Day that's not held as highly as Mason & Dixon, but still would be good to look into. Outside of those two authors, I'd highly recommend In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It's steeped in the historical politics of the time, but after the first 100 pages that Eco designed to winnow out casual readers, it turns into a rollicking mystery adventure. It doesn't take as many liberties with history as the other books I've mentioned, but I'd also give Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel a peek; it's a re-envisioning of Thomas Cromwell as a sympathetic character and has earned loads of awards and praise. If you like that, her sequel Bring up the Bodies came out this year, and there's one more coming.
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Jan 1, 2013 01:08
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Fruits of the sea posted:Looking for historical fiction/fantasy that's educational but not slavishly factual. Similiar to Mason & Dixon and Anathem. I think it's hard to find engaging and/or relavant historical fiction. You might try Hilary Mantel; she's written historical fiction throughout her career, but she just won a second Man Booker prize for her (ongoing) Thomas Cromwell trilogy. First one is Wolf Hall, the sequel is Bring Up the Bodies. Honestly, if you like Mason & Dixon, I'd just recommend reading more Pynchon. I haven't read it yet, but The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny was recommended to me by a friend and sounds like it might provide the desired combination of fantasy and science. It's about a 16th c. Venetian woman doctor. Edit: Beaten! Take it as a sign of quality. dream owl fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Jan 4, 2013 |
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Jan 1, 2013 01:18
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Fruits of the sea posted:I really enjoyed Mason & Dixon by Pynchon and Anathem by Neal Stephenson, but I'm having trouble finding similiar stuff that I actually like or what genre I'm even looking for. Fake historical fiction, I guess? Any recommendations? Have you read Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey? Might be up your alley: it's about a French aristocrat (essentially Alexis de Tocqueville) and an Englishman travelling across 19th century America.
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Jan 1, 2013 02:57
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Thanks! The Book of Madness and Cures looks really interesting and I'll give Wolf Hall a shot too as it comes so highly recommended. Parrot and Olivier as well. The Name of the Rose was great (Foucault's Pendulum too) and I've already read most of Pynchon's stuff, of which Mason & Dixon was my favourite. I have yet to read Against The Day. I love how passionate and knowledgeable Eco and Pynchon are about history while still treating it with a sense of humour. Some of those books are pretty arduous though. I don't want to give the impression that I'm only looking for giant tomes when suggestions for lighter reading are welcome as well. Azathoth posted:2) A non-fiction book about pre-historic sea-faring (bronze age or earlier). The spread of the Polynesians is absolutely fascinating, though I'm open to books about European/Mediterranean cultures as well. This might be relevant: Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghad to the Volga River It's a first hand account by an Arab merchant who travels into the middle of Russia on a diplomatic mission. He writes a lot about the different ethnic groups he encounters with a rather pious Islamic slant. The part that might interest you is his encounters with a bunch of vikings who have somehow sailed up the Volga  He writes a lot about their day-to-day life including some entertaining details about hygiene and sex that don't turn up in the average history. Pretty interesting in that it's one of the earliest written records of viking culture by another party.
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Jan 1, 2013 19:04
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A few questions all at once: 1. I'm going to be doing a ton of reading this year per my New Year's resolution (and in accordance with my general love of reading). I'd like to start by tackling Hemingway. I've already read his Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises. I have all of his other books on my Kindle. Which ones should I read and in what order? 2. Just skimmed the first page of this thread and Murakami's name really seemed to stand out. Wikipedia has a list of his novels, short stories, and essays. Have the translations of these been made available in Kindle format? I'd really like to put as many of his works as possible on mine. 3. What do you guys think of Orhan Pamuk? Adib fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jan 2, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 01:28
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Adib posted:A few questions all at once: I doesn't really matter what order you read Hemingway in since you've already read his best novels. I would suggest reading the short stories, Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls . . . maybe Death in the Afternoon or the Green Hills of Africa, but they are kinda flawed, although still interesting. I wouldn't bother with the Key West novels, they aren't very good. Murakami is interesting, but sorta repetitive, I've read Wind Up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore, and to be honest, you can really just read one or the other. I thought Wind Up was better. I hear Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World is good, but I haven't read it yet. Most of his work seems to be available in English on Kindle.
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Jan 2, 2013 02:35
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Adib posted:What do you guys think of Orhan Pamuk? I don't know much about him, but My Name Is Red is really charming and somehow manages to juggle multiple narrators and a murder mystery without getting annoying. His descriptions of the miniaturist's work were a little too good, and left me wishing I could see what he was talking about. It might be worth looking up some artbooks to see what all the fuss was about. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Jan 2, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 05:50
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My personal favorite Hemingway is For Whom the Bell Tolls, though there's a weird bit with the translation of the Spanish characters' dialogue. As far as Murakami goes, my favorite by far is Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, followed closely by The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood.
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Jan 2, 2013 17:15
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Adib posted:A few questions all at once: Amazon has the complete short stories of Hemingway for like $15 so I would pick that up. For longer works, For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Moveable Feast are his best works IMO. Murakami's Norwegian Wood is his most famous and 'normal' novel so is a good place to start. His other works are more of a magical realism, but The Wind Up Bird Chronicle or even 1Q84 are good to move onto straight away. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a really great little non-fiction work about his running - he runs a lot.
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Jan 3, 2013 04:36
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PatMarshall posted:I doesn't really matter what order you read Hemingway in since you've already read his best novels. I would suggest reading the short stories, Old Man and the Sea... Read The Old Man and the Sea. It is a good story. And noble.
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Jan 3, 2013 04:53
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I'm mostly a Fantasy/Sci-Fi type person, but I'm up for just about anything that fits the condition as long as it's fiction. I'm looking for one of two things: 1) Story driven novels where the main cast don't fit into the "hero(ine) to save the day" role. At the very least something similar to Soon I Will Be Invincible (Grossman) or Sir Apropos of Nothing (David) if not just an outright bad guy. Other than the occasional satire, almost all the ones I can find have the protagonist typically start off on the "evil" side before something happens and they're off to kill a rival who ousted them, thus turning it back into a save the day story. 2) Something that involves some actual empire building or non-standard plot paths, instead of small group or individual is up against unsurmountable odds and manages to sneak around or dodge the enemy to kill the leader type of thing. Something like you'd epxect a fictionalized story of Ceasar or Napoleon would look like instead of Lord of the Rings.
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Jan 5, 2013 01:08
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nessin posted:I'm mostly a Fantasy/Sci-Fi type person, but I'm up for just about anything that fits the condition as long as it's fiction. I'm looking for one of two things: You really should read Prince of Thorns.
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Jan 5, 2013 01:43
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Ornamented Death posted:You really should read Prince of Thorns. I'm actually keeping track of that one, but when books come as a series I hate starting them before the series (or at least primary story arc) isn't completed. Nothing worse than loving a book, finding out it has a direct sequel, and that sequel isn't out yet.
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Jan 5, 2013 01:55
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nessin posted:Something like you'd epxect a fictionalized story of Ceasar or Napoleon would look like instead of Lord of the Rings. There is a fictionalised story of Caesar which is pretty good - The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:01
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nessin posted:I'm mostly a Fantasy/Sci-Fi type person, but I'm up for just about anything that fits the condition as long as it's fiction. I'm looking for one of two things: Hrm. How about Johannes Cabal the Necromancer? Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October is narrated by Jack the Ripper's Dog! Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw is a Jane Austen novel where all the characters are dragons fighting over an inheritance. There's a small subgenre of revenge-plot fantasy and SF, like Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination, Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 04:38
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Thanks to those who recommended Postmortal earlier. That book was amazing.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:46
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nessin posted:I'm actually keeping track of that one, but when books come as a series I hate starting them before the series (or at least primary story arc) isn't completed. Nothing worse than loving a book, finding out it has a direct sequel, and that sequel isn't out yet. The last book comes out in August so you don't have too long to wait.
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Jan 5, 2013 11:28
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nessin posted:2) Something that involves some actual empire building or non-standard plot paths, instead of small group or individual is up against unsurmountable odds and manages to sneak around or dodge the enemy to kill the leader type of thing. Something like you'd epxect a fictionalized story of Ceasar or Napoleon would look like instead of Lord of the Rings. Not quite fantasy, but Augustus by John Williams is a really-great fictionalization of that character scheming to rebuild the strength of the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar dies.
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Jan 5, 2013 17:54
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keyframe posted:Thanks to those who recommended Postmortal earlier. That book was amazing. I keep picking it up in the bookstore to think about it, but then I second-guess myself. Maybe I'll finally put it on a gift card or something.
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Jan 5, 2013 19:00
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I've been looking at books. Is The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon worth my time? What about Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry?
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Jan 6, 2013 08:36
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Azathoth posted:2) A non-fiction book about pre-historic sea-faring (bronze age or earlier). The spread of the Polynesians is absolutely fascinating, though I'm open to books about European/Mediterranean cultures as well. Have you read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond? While the book tries to answer the disparity of technology throughout the world from pre-history to now a large portion is focused on the Austronesian region. The focus when talking about this region is usually for examples of growth in cultures and how some became wholly isolated, influences from nearby islands, theories on migration, how that migration effected levels of technology, and affects of geography and ecology had on these peoples. He has great stories on cultural relations of tribal and nomadic peoples around New Guinea as he spent nearly a decade there. If all you want is the bits on that region you can easily tell when a chapter delves into that region or goes elsewhere.
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Jan 6, 2013 09:13
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I've searched the thread for a recommendation, but haven't seen anything, so here's my request: I'm looking for a book that addresses how to think like a philosopher. I know philosophy is a massive subject, so I'm not really sure where to start. Should I look at classic philosophy texts, textbooks, a Dummies book? I really have no background in the subject other than the Yale philosophy of death videos on YouTube, but it's really piqued my interest. Edit: thinking about it over lunch, it seems like I'm most interested in logic and morality. a mysterious cloak fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Jan 7, 2013 |
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Jan 7, 2013 17:39
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Could someone recommend a fantasy book to me? As a kid I read Harry Potter, LOTR and many others but after that I've been on a reading break until now. I've read SoIaF and the two books from the Kingkiller Chronicle and really liked those. A book with magic, especially rare, forgotten magic like in SoIaF or Kingkiller Chronicle would be great.
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Jan 7, 2013 20:24
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E: Too slow, was in response to Nostratic Well, Fearn's "Zeno and the Tortoise" goes through some of the major philosophers and what they were like and tries to explain why they thought what they did. It's very, very basic but touches on some of the methods, like Occam's Razor and Hume's Fork and some of the principles like Wittgensteins linguistic philosophy. It's the introduction I read when I got into philosophy and it gave me a good idea of 'where can I go from here'. I can't speak for books on logic and morality though, since I dabble in consciousness and existential stuff mostly, but I can give some free pointers to some stuff. Standford in general has a great philosophical encyclopedia. I haven't read Bertrand Russell but I know he deals in both logic and morality: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell-moral/ These entries on morality should give a pretty decent idea of that as well: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-moral/ If you're interested in learning formal logic, then you could possibly use this course: https://class.coursera.org/intrologic/lecture/preview/index(Not books, video courses) Harman's short notes on reasoning might also interest you, if nothing else it's very to-the-point about several concepts: http://www.princeton.edu/~harman/Papers/SPAWN.pdf Free Weedlord fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Jan 7, 2013 |
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Jan 7, 2013 20:49
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LooKMaN posted:Could someone recommend a fantasy book to me? As a kid I read Harry Potter, LOTR and many others but after that I've been on a reading break until now. I've read SoIaF and the two books from the Kingkiller Chronicle and really liked those. A book with magic, especially rare, forgotten magic like in SoIaF or Kingkiller Chronicle would be great. The Taltos Novels by Steven Brust.
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Jan 7, 2013 21:07
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LooKMaN posted:Could someone recommend a fantasy book to me? As a kid I read Harry Potter, LOTR and many others but after that I've been on a reading break until now. I've read SoIaF and the two books from the Kingkiller Chronicle and really liked those. A book with magic, especially rare, forgotten magic like in SoIaF or Kingkiller Chronicle would be great.
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Jan 7, 2013 21:38
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I finished John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders, and loved them. Are there more books in the same style?
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Jan 8, 2013 15:10
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Ineffiable posted:I finished John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders, and loved them. Are there more books in the same style? Not necessarily the same "style," but you might enjoy Snow Crash, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Kraken, Emperor Mollusk versus the Sinister Brain, Sigler's Infected, most stuff by PKD, Simon Morden's Petrovich Trilogy... and I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Nothing quite hits that same mixture of humor, weird/fun ideas, and existential dread that JDATE does, though. VVV Infected has some familiar plot elements and a stock character or two, but the main character's body horror experience is both well-done and really gross. Sigler has a good sense of humor, but nothing happens on the level of the "retarded" antics of John and David. Enjoyed the sequel quite a bit, too. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jan 8, 2013 |
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Jan 8, 2013 15:55
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funkybottoms posted:Not necessarily the same "style," but you might enjoy Snow Crash, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Kraken, Emperor Mollusk versus the Sinister Brain, Sigler's Infected, most stuff by PKD, Simon Morden's Petrovich Trilogy... and I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Nothing quite hits that same mixture of humor, weird/fun ideas, and existential dread that JDATE does, though. That's the problem. There's nothing like the combination of JDATE. I did try Snow Crash (80% of the way through it) but I got a little bored with it and even though it's sort of a parody of that genre, there was just some stuff that made me groan in the book. How's Infected? I also recently read and loved Ready Player One, if that helps for suggestions.
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Jan 8, 2013 16:09
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barkingclam posted:What's a good starting place for V. S. Naipaul? He's someone I've been interested in recently, but I've never read anything by. For fiction, A House for Mr. Biswas is a classic, but A Bend in the River and In a Free State are more mature later work For non-fiction, most of his work is travel writing so it depends on if you'd like to read about India (Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, India: A Million Mutinies Now) or Africa (The Masque of Africa) or Trinidad (Loss of El Dorado, The Middle Passage) or Islamic countries (Among the Believers, Beyond Belief)
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