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noirstronaut posted:Ugh, I'm having the hardest time choosing a new book to read. I've finished Coraline, Mr. Penumbra, and Ready Player One. then, I tried reading Snow Crash and pretty much hated it. I hated the narrative of this disgruntled pizza delivery guy and someone telling his story as if he's this world renowned badass. Well, if the (P)rotagonist's name didn't give it away, a lot of that is pretty tongue-in-cheek. Did you make it past the pizza guy part? VVV If it was the writing you didn't like, fair enough; I just wanted to make sure it wasn't the story, because that changes pretty dramatically. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Feb 2, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 13:21
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funkybottoms posted:Well, if the (P)rotagonist's name didn't give it away, a lot of that is pretty tongue-in-cheek. Did you make it past the pizza guy part? I couldn't. The voice in my mind reading the story started to aggravate me. Maybe I'll give it another try later, but the way the story was presented really put me off.
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Feb 2, 2013 14:10
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Loucks posted:I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but Clarke is taking her sweet time with a follow-up. Is there anything sort of similar? I don't usually like fantasy, but I really enjoyed the tone of JS&MN and somehow magic that isn't guys in robes throwing lightning bolts at each other is more palatable. While its not fantasy, you might like Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. It takes place during the same approximate period of time, and the language is a lot of fun. Happy Hedonist posted:I just finished The Second World War by Antony Beevor. I didn't think I'd gain much from the book considering I spend most of my free time reading about and gaming WW2. However, it really helped me develop the timeline of events in my head and I have a much clearer understanding of the war because of the book. I was really impressed and walked away satisfied. I would recommend John Keegan's The First World War for an excellent military history. If you're interested in a cultural history, Try The Great War and Modern Memory by Fussell or Rites of Spring by Eksteins. I know you're set on WWII for now, but I highly recommend Max Hasting's Inferno if you haven't already read it.
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Feb 2, 2013 19:43
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noirstronaut posted:I couldn't. The voice in my mind reading the story started to aggravate me. Maybe I'll give it another try later, but the way the story was presented really put me off. Yeah, I hated it at first, too. I almost quit, but then it shifted and I realized it was tongue in cheek and I grew to love it.
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Feb 2, 2013 20:55
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Will anyone here vouch for Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series?
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Feb 3, 2013 21:46
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Can someone help me get started with Cyberpunk? I love Cyberpunk but I've only ever experienced it through movies, cartoons, etc.
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Feb 4, 2013 06:50
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Urdnot Fire posted:Yes. As has been stated, start with Mort and Guards! Guards! next time. While I personally enjoyed them, the first two books are nowhere near the rest of the series. ToxicFrog posted:I quite enjoyed both, but as others have said, they're a parody of swords-and-sorcery fantasy that isn't really Discworld yet. Start with Guards! Guards!, or perhaps Mort, Small Gods, or Interesting Times. Thanks, peeps. Ima give it another go. Esroc posted:I've always been pretty fascinated by people living off the grid...An example is John Krakauer's Into The Wild, but I'm not necessarily looking just for story-based novels alone. Textbooks on these related topics work too. I've already found a few books myself, but wanted to see if anyone else here shared my interest in these subjects and could recommend something. Off the top of my head I'd recommend Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, Henry David Thoreau's Walden or The Maine Woods, and Tom Neale's An Island to Oneself. I personally hated how much of Krakauer's ego ended up in Into the Wild, but if you're looking for survival lit his Into Thin Air is a classic. Also, can't recommend this movie enough. It is seriously badass. dream owl fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Feb 4, 2013 |
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Feb 4, 2013 07:21
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So I'm reading through the Jack Reacher series - if I saw the movie, should I read One Shot? Did they differ much?
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Feb 4, 2013 07:32
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Can someone help me get started with Cyberpunk? I love Cyberpunk but I've only ever experienced it through movies, cartoons, etc. Go read Neuromancer or Snow Crash. Actually, read Neuromancer and Snow Crash. They're both the bomb, although Snow Crash is a much smarter book.
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Feb 4, 2013 11:54
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SpaceMost posted:Will anyone here vouch for Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series? I really liked the books in high school. I suspect that of all the books I "really liked in high school," this series would be the one to hold up the most, or would be the series most likely to turn out pretty good. I actually liked Uther the most, but that may be because I read it first, and in an interesting way that coloured the Uther/Merlyn relationship in the main series. Also, I enjoyed the earlier books more than the later installments. DirtyRobot fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Feb 4, 2013 |
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Feb 4, 2013 12:22
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I've posted a somewhat similar request as the one I'm about to make now a few months ago, and now that I've read up most books in my queue I need more. I typically read sci-fi and fantasy, and I still have plenty of those left. However, for breaks from that I'm looking for a mystery/thriller type. Let me be specific, I don't care for any straight up crime, who done the murder? type mystery, I prefer something with a more vague possible supernatural element maybe. The TV show LOST for example in a way. It doesn't have to be that specific, but something along the lines of "Woah, there is no possible explanation for this crazy rear end poo poo going on!" if that makes sense. I prefer something newer, as in written in the last decade or two, and somewhat easy to read. If it falls under the jurisdiction of horror or something like that, that's fine too I suppose. Under The Dome by Stephen King would be a good example although I've gotten tired of him specifically, his stuff usually starts out good but just get's a little..eh. Also that book The Sign by Raymond Khoury is a good example of what I'm after. edit For what it's worth, I actually enjoyed Dan Brown's books. This is just for my typical before bedtime reading, so I'm down with any kind of guilty pleasure stuff like that. I actually just realized he has another Robert Langdon book, The Lost Symbol. I suppose I can give it a try, unless there's something about it that makes it worse than the first two. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Feb 4, 2013 |
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Feb 4, 2013 20:41
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BlazinLow305 posted:I've posted a somewhat similar request as the one I'm about to make now a few months ago, and now that I've read up most books in my queue I need more. I typically read sci-fi and fantasy, and I still have plenty of those left. However, for breaks from that I'm looking for a mystery/thriller type. Let me be specific, I don't care for any straight up crime, who done the murder? type mystery, I prefer something with a more vague possible supernatural element maybe. The TV show LOST for example in a way. It doesn't have to be that specific, but something along the lines of "Woah, there is no possible explanation for this crazy rear end poo poo going on!" if that makes sense. I prefer something newer, as in written in the last decade or two, and somewhat easy to read. If it falls under the jurisdiction of horror or something like that, that's fine too I suppose. Under The Dome by Stephen King would be a good example although I've gotten tired of him specifically, his stuff usually starts out good but just get's a little..eh. Also that book The Sign by Raymond Khoury is a good example of what I'm after. China Mieville's Kraken.
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Feb 4, 2013 21:01
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BlazinLow305 posted:I've posted a somewhat similar request as the one I'm about to make now a few months ago, and now that I've read up most books in my queue I need more. I typically read sci-fi and fantasy, and I still have plenty of those left. However, for breaks from that I'm looking for a mystery/thriller type. Let me be specific, I don't care for any straight up crime, who done the murder? type mystery, I prefer something with a more vague possible supernatural element maybe. The TV show LOST for example in a way. It doesn't have to be that specific, but something along the lines of "Woah, there is no possible explanation for this crazy rear end poo poo going on!" if that makes sense. I prefer something newer, as in written in the last decade or two, and somewhat easy to read. If it falls under the jurisdiction of horror or something like that, that's fine too I suppose. Under The Dome by Stephen King would be a good example although I've gotten tired of him specifically, his stuff usually starts out good but just get's a little..eh. Also that book The Sign by Raymond Khoury is a good example of what I'm after. The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly fits this bill pretty well. It starts with Every Dead Thing.
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Feb 5, 2013 03:57
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Can someone help me get started with Cyberpunk? I love Cyberpunk but I've only ever experienced it through movies, cartoons, etc. In addition to Neuromancer and Snowcrash, read The Stars My Destination by Bester.
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Feb 5, 2013 04:10
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BlazinLow305 posted:I've posted a somewhat similar request as the one I'm about to make now a few months ago, and now that I've read up most books in my queue I need more. I typically read sci-fi and fantasy, and I still have plenty of those left. However, for breaks from that I'm looking for a mystery/thriller type. Let me be specific, I don't care for any straight up crime, who done the murder? type mystery, I prefer something with a more vague possible supernatural element maybe. The TV show LOST for example in a way. It doesn't have to be that specific, but something along the lines of "Woah, there is no possible explanation for this crazy rear end poo poo going on!" if that makes sense. I prefer something newer, as in written in the last decade or two, and somewhat easy to read. If it falls under the jurisdiction of horror or something like that, that's fine too I suppose. Under The Dome by Stephen King would be a good example although I've gotten tired of him specifically, his stuff usually starts out good but just get's a little..eh. Also that book The Sign by Raymond Khoury is a good example of what I'm after. Daniel O'Malley's The Rook might also be what you're looking for.
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Feb 5, 2013 15:35
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I know this has probably been covered somewhere over the course of this thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on books with depression and/or anxiety as a core theme, preferably fiction? I have read very little in this category, so possibly obvious picks are definitely welcome.
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Feb 5, 2013 23:52
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Depression and anxiety are omnipresent in every David Foster Wallace book, especially the ones after The Girl with Curious Hair. The collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Menhas stories titled "The Depressed Person" and "Suicide as a Sort of Present" but pick one you like the look of.
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Feb 6, 2013 00:08
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Invisible Ted posted:I know this has probably been covered somewhere over the course of this thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on books with depression and/or anxiety as a core theme, preferably fiction? I have read very little in this category, so possibly obvious picks are definitely welcome. The Magicians by Lev Grossman is a fantasy novel that's essentially about depression. Well, I got a lot more out of it by reading it that way. It's like Harry Potter if they lived a life of drugs and ennui, and then found out Narnia was real but that it's just as hosed up as the real world.
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Feb 6, 2013 00:21
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Invisible Ted posted:I know this has probably been covered somewhere over the course of this thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on books with depression and/or anxiety as a core theme, preferably fiction? I have read very little in this category, so possibly obvious picks are definitely welcome. Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is the defining novel of this genre for sure, if you haven't already picked that up. I also really enjoyed The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.
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Feb 6, 2013 01:44
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BlazinLow305 posted:I've posted a somewhat similar request as the one I'm about to make now a few months ago, and now that I've read up most books in my queue I need more. I typically read sci-fi and fantasy, and I still have plenty of those left. However, for breaks from that I'm looking for a mystery/thriller type. Let me be specific, I don't care for any straight up crime, who done the murder? type mystery, I prefer something with a more vague possible supernatural element maybe. The TV show LOST for example in a way. It doesn't have to be that specific, but something along the lines of "Woah, there is no possible explanation for this crazy rear end poo poo going on!" if that makes sense. I prefer something newer, as in written in the last decade or two, and somewhat easy to read. If it falls under the jurisdiction of horror or something like that, that's fine too I suppose. Under The Dome by Stephen King would be a good example although I've gotten tired of him specifically, his stuff usually starts out good but just get's a little..eh. Also that book The Sign by Raymond Khoury is a good example of what I'm after. I've found recently that I really enjoy this type of fiction as well - mystery with a speculative element, not "who could have murdered Jane Doe?" (answer - a person). So, with the caveat that these are all sci-fi as well, I'd recommend: - The Mist by Stephen King (I know you said you'd gone off him a bit, but this is absolutely the best thing he ever wrote) - Inverted World by Christopher Priest (do NOT read any reviews or plot synopses) - Hyperion by Dan Simmons, specifically "The Priest's Tale" which is at the very beginning - The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
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Feb 6, 2013 02:30
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Invisible Ted posted:I know this has probably been covered somewhere over the course of this thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on books with depression and/or anxiety as a core theme, preferably fiction? I have read very little in this category, so possibly obvious picks are definitely welcome. Matt Mullins' Three Ways of the Saw, Leni Zumas' The Listeners, Last Night at the Lobster or Songs for the Missing from Stewart O'Nan, Auster's Man in the Dark, a lot of PKD (A Scanner Darkly) or Vonnegut (Mother Night).
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Feb 6, 2013 02:57
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Invisible Ted posted:I know this has probably been covered somewhere over the course of this thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on books with depression and/or anxiety as a core theme, preferably fiction? I have read very little in this category, so possibly obvious picks are definitely welcome. Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes, which is also just a great novel on it's own.
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Feb 6, 2013 03:44
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freebooter posted:I've found recently that I really enjoy this type of fiction as well - mystery with a speculative element, not "who could have murdered Jane Doe?" (answer - a person). So, with the caveat that these are all sci-fi as well, I'd recommend: Oh, I've read The Mist. I'm a big fan of his short stories. I wrote down all the suggestions so far and will check everything out. I'll be sure not to read any reviews for Inverted World, I'll go in blind. I already started The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown but I should be finished with it in a night or two.
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Feb 6, 2013 03:55
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DirtyRobot posted:I really liked the books in high school. I suspect that of all the books I "really liked in high school," this series would be the one to hold up the most, or would be the series most likely to turn out pretty good.  I'll give it a go after I finish Clan of the Cave Bear and Pillars of the Earth.
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Feb 6, 2013 16:49
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PeterWeller posted:In addition to Neuromancer and Snowcrash, read The Stars My Destination by Bester.
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Feb 7, 2013 04:25
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What's a good book on the history of the Vietnam war?
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Feb 7, 2013 10:26
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In a couple of weeks, I'm going to get some pretty extensive oral surgery done, so I need some recs that will take me through the first days of recovery. Because I'll probably have a certain amount of pain and/or be woozy, light reading is probably best. I've already got Necessity's Child (Sharon Lee and Steven Miller) on the way, and I'll be getting the latest installment of Wool whenever that's available. I should also mention that if I'm doing nothing else, I am perfectly capable of reading two or three books in a day, especially if they are of the light variety. I like science fiction and fantasy, and I have read a ridiculous number of books--my Goodreads is here, and so far, I have only gotten up to the "B" titles on my bookshelf as far as entering books go.  I'm hoping for more happy finds like Bridge of Birds.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:23
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Zola posted:In a couple of weeks, I'm going to get some pretty extensive oral surgery done, so I need some recs that will take me through the first days of recovery. Gather up all the Diana Wynne Jones you can find if you haven't read her already. I still haven't found Bridge of Birds. 
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Feb 7, 2013 18:01
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Echo Cian posted:Gather up all the Diana Wynne Jones you can find if you haven't read her already. I have her Chrestomanci novels, and I *had* Howl's Moving Castle but someone "borrowed" it permanently. I see there were further Howl books, so I'll have to check that out on Kindle.
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Feb 7, 2013 19:23
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Zola posted:In a couple of weeks, I'm going to get some pretty extensive oral surgery done, so I need some recs that will take me through the first days of recovery. Ok, I'm not going to strike lightning twice by recommending something as good as Bridge of Birds again; there's nothing out there that's quite the same sort of gem. But here's what I suggest for you after looking over your Goodreads ( side tip: you can use a barcode scanner or smartphone to scan in books for goodreads -- I think goodreads even has an Android app for it, or you can get a CueCat scanner). Makes for quick scanning of most modern books. 1) The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Sounds lame, doesn't it? It's not! A nice, tight little character-driven masterpiece that's way better a book than it should be. Spawned a whole series of loose sequels of varying quality. EDIT: You've already read this! Read some of the other Ethshar books then. Ithnalin's Restoration might be my favorite. 2) Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. 3) Stardust by Neil Gaiman. You've read this, right? 4) Anything by Lord Dunsany. A lot of his books are out of copyright now and free on kindle. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Dreamer%27s_Tales#IDLE_DAYS_ON_THE_YANN for an example. 5) Lord of Light, Isle of the Dead, or A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. If all you've read of Zelazny is his Amber books you're doing yourself a disservice; he wrote those for $$$ and it shows, they aren't his masterworks. 6) Ok, you've already read everything by Asprin. I presume you've also read Pratchett? If not, tackle Guards, Guards. 7) You've already read the Prydain Chronicles too. 8) You actually read The Color of Her Panties??! I thought that was the point everyone told Piers Anthony to just stop! 9) If you like Dresden and Garrett type books, you're doing yourself a major disservice by not reading the Rook by Daniel O'Malley and the "Rivers of London" series by Ben Aaronovitch. 10) If you don't mind venturing into historical fiction, try The King Must Die by Mary Renault. 11) Similarly, I presume you've read The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. If not, fix that problem. 12) The Android's Dream by John Scalzi is screamingly funny. 13) If you're a Wynne-Jones fan her Tough Guide to Fantasyland and Dark Lord of Derkholm books are un-skippable. 14) If you like mysteries, try all the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout (there are about forty of them). Read them in order of publication. You'll get a really neat view of New York as it changes over time -- they're always set in Manhattan in the year of publication, so they go from depression era through WW2 through the postwar boom and into the sixties and seventies. The Travis McGee novels by (I forget) give a similar view of changing Florida in the 60's, 70's, and 80's when read chronologically. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 21:39
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Ok, I'm not going to strike lightning twice by recommending something as good as Bridge of Birds again; there's nothing out there that's quite the same sort of gem. Oh, I think you missed the huge post I did on I think it was the Goodreads thread. I have a cuecat scanner, but many of my books are prior to modern ISBN and need interpreting, and some have no ISBN at all. I've had a goal to scan in 100 books a week, but in practice I'm lucky if I average 25 due to time constraints and aforementioned scanning issues. *laughs* I also had to deal with an attempted swarm of silverfish on the lowest "B" bookshelf, which has disinclined me from grabbing those books until a couple more spot-checks reveal a continued lack of creepy-crawlies. UGH. (Note: 3rd weekly check has revealed a reassuring lack of bugs--maybe I'll resume scanning tomorrow when I catch up my Goodreads) Hieronymous Alloy posted:1) The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Sounds lame, doesn't it? It's not! A nice, tight little character-driven masterpiece that's way better a book than it should be. Spawned a whole series of loose sequels of varying quality. EDIT: You've already read this! Read some of the other Ethshar books then. Ithnalin's Restoration might be my favorite. I have a bunch of Lawrence Watt-Evans books, but being W it's going to be a while before I get them listed. I have everything by Gaiman, I think, including Sandman comics. Lord of Light is one of those books that I absolutely have never been able to finish, it bores me to tears, and has made me disinclined to read more Zelanzy. Yes, I read The Color of Her Panties. I don't think Piers Anthony is particularly creepy, I think that it's a case of cultural mores having changed. The whole panties thing was a joke, part of The Adult Conspiracy, and it's a pity nobody gets that any more. That being said, it was far less entertaining than the first three books. Thanks for the Lord Dunsany reminder, I'd meant to get those off of Project Gutenberg, and I'll see if I can get a sample on Kindle of Pratchett.
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Feb 7, 2013 22:08
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If you can find them, Lloyd Alexander's books beyond the Prydain Chronicles aren't bad at all.
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Feb 7, 2013 22:14
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Even if you don't like other Zelazny, you might want to take a look at A Night in the Lonesome October. It's Zelazny being funny/silly -- the whole thing's narrated from the viewpoint of Jack the Ripper's dog -- and it's very different from his other work. That's one of the things about Zelazny -- his best work was all fairly experimental so he doesn't have a universal constant tone or style like other authors do. All his best books are radically different from each other. And yeah, I haven't actually read Panties. That was just the point where, back when I was 13 and reading all kinds of Piers Anthony, the series went from "these aren't good any more but I'll still read them" to "I am now actively embarrassed to be seen buying this book." Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 22:15
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Zola posted:
Don't let this discourage you from reading A Night in Lonesome October. I am not a Zelazny fan and I still loved this book. It really is extremely different from anything else of his that I've read. Check out the synopsis if you're unsure.
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Feb 8, 2013 05:08
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Bridge of Birds somewhat reminded me of Pratchett's books and The Princess Bride, but you've probably read those already. For what it's worth, I'm going to recommend The Shadow of the Wind because TBB doesn't recommend non-english/american books enough and To Say Nothing of the Dog because it was the first book I thought about when I saw that you're currently reading Agatha Cristie.
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Feb 8, 2013 19:46
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Walh Hara posted:Bridge of Birds somewhat reminded me of Pratchett's books and The Princess Bride, but you've probably read those already. For what it's worth, I'm going to recommend The Shadow of the Wind because TBB doesn't recommend non-english/american books enough and To Say Nothing of the Dog because it was the first book I thought about when I saw that you're currently reading Agatha Cristie. The Agatha Christie book is for The Butler Did It: Let's Read Mystery Fiction, where a bunch of us get together and try to solve the mystery. Is To Say Nothing of the Dog the type of mystery that can be solved by the reader? If yes, I'll happily propose it to the group. The Shadow of the Wind looks interesting, thanks for the rec.
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Feb 8, 2013 22:09
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Zola posted:The Agatha Christie book is for The Butler Did It: Let's Read Mystery Fiction, where a bunch of us get together and try to solve the mystery. Is To Say Nothing of the Dog the type of mystery that can be solved by the reader? If yes, I'll happily propose it to the group. To Say Nothing of the Dog both parodies and functions as a mystery novel, but it's weird in the sense that it's not immedately clear wether there actually is a crime or a mystery. So it's probably not ideal for that particular SA thread. Either way, I reread your previous post and saw you apparantly didn't read Pratchett yet. You really should, it's absolutely fantastic light fantasy. Ideal starting books are "Guards! Guards!" and "Going Postal" (among some others).
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Feb 8, 2013 23:41
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Feb 9, 2013 01:58
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Hey friends, I'm looking at being laid off for a couple months and am looking for some books to fill my time. I'm going to be horribly unspecific, but I'm looking for some modern or 20th century literature. My favorite authors are probably John Irving and Graham Greene. I really like that kind of meandering storytelling both do, with the focus generally on one character. Setting in a fun exotic locale is a plus, but not necessary.
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Feb 9, 2013 02:08
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If you like Graham Greene, try Eric Ambler, Alan Furst or John LeCarre.
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Feb 9, 2013 05:02
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