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I recently read the name of the wind and the wise mans fear and really liked the fact it was centered on only one person - the entire time. Normally science fiction and fantasy books introduce a large cast of "main" characters and the story then jumps between them. Could someone recommend some fantasy and science fiction books which follow this pattern, that is, they focus on one person.
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Jul 27, 2013 19:44
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Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
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Jul 27, 2013 21:45
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Could anyone point me to an artist/philosopher/period for whom/in which the meaning and role of art itself and what it is for is a big theme? Thanks.
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Jul 27, 2013 23:51
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Grogsy posted:Could someone recommend some fantasy and science fiction books which follow this pattern, that is, they focus on one person. Neuromancer by William Gibson. The sequels, however, have multiple POV characters.
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Jul 28, 2013 09:39
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Red Garland posted:Could anyone point me to an artist/philosopher/period for whom/in which the meaning and role of art itself and what it is for is a big theme? Thanks. Are you looking for a non-fiction book describing this artist/philosopher/period? If it doesn't have to be non-fiction, you could take a look at Bluebeard from Kurt Vonnegut. It's a really good book about a fictional Abstract Expressionist painter called Rabo Karabekian. Vonnegut himself was also an artist and his books are rather philosophical. Anyway, here's the "Mayor Themes" section on Wikipedia, with the spoilers removed: A number of critics have suggested that the possibility of creating art with meaning is a major theme in Bluebeard. According to David Rampton in “Studies in Contemporary Fiction,” Circe Berman’s approaching Rabo with the challenge of making meaningful, moral art is Vonnegut himself directly addressing meaninglessness in art by asking for “committed art.”[1] Rampton also proposed that Vonnegut may be questioning the possibility of truly moral art by writing about the lack of morality in the lives of many artists.[1] Critics have also said that meaningful art is Karabekian’s way of battling his own demons. Donald Morse said that Karabekian’s accomplishment in the novel is realising that “through self-acceptance, and the serious use of imagination and creativity, human beings can become reconciled to their weaknesses while still remaining outraged at human greed."[2] Morse added that Karabekian’s final masterpiece, “Now It’s the Women’s Turn,” achieves the goal of meaningful art by developing a backstory for each of the 5,219 characters in the composition before painting it.[2] Other themes that critics have discussed are Survivor’s syndrome, family, and relationships with women. One critic wrote that Rabo escapes the Survivor’s syndrome that his parents suffered from by painting “Now It’s the Women’s Turn". [3] It has also been said that Karabekian’s mission in the narrative is to find a family that he feels a part of, which he achieves with the army and the Abstract Expressionism community.[3] Lastly, women are certainly a theme in Bluebeard. New York Times writer Julian Moynahan said that Circe Berman sees Karabekian’s main life struggle as strained relationships with women.[4]
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Jul 28, 2013 11:09
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Looking for recommendations for Cyberpunk stuff. The recent Shadowrun game got me geeked for the Genre and I wish to see what it offers in literature.
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Jul 30, 2013 00:59
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Life has got me down lately and I'm looking for a feel-good read. I need a recommendation for something light-hearted and funny. Length and content is not a biggie, just something to put a smile on my face. Any good recommendations in the mystery or sci-fi genres?
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Jul 30, 2013 01:53
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Hughmoris posted:Life has got me down lately and I'm looking for a feel-good read. I need a recommendation for something light-hearted and funny. Length and content is not a biggie, just something to put a smile on my face. Any good recommendations in the mystery or sci-fi genres? Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann is a mystery about a sheep farmer being killed and his sheep working together to catch the killer. I thought it was a cute story without being childish (but I may be biased by sheep being my favourite animal).
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Jul 30, 2013 02:37
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KildarX posted:Looking for recommendations for Cyberpunk stuff. The recent Shadowrun game got me geeked for the Genre and I wish to see what it offers in literature.
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Jul 30, 2013 02:48
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KildarX posted:Looking for recommendations for Cyberpunk stuff. The recent Shadowrun game got me geeked for the Genre and I wish to see what it offers in literature. Neal Stephenson is another big one - Snow Crash and Diamond Age are definitely worth reading. The latter is one of my favourite SF books full stop. There are other authors from that era of cyberpunk like Pat Cardigan, Bruce Sterling, etc, but it's been ages since I read them. I do remember that the Mirrorshades collection Sterling edited was a good taster menu for a lot of those authors. You could also check out the actual Shadowrun books. They do read like fanfiction for the pnp game, though. Maybe that's what you want? I expect someone else will recommend the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan, which is a more modern take on CP. I liked the first book, but never finished the second since it started to devolve into military science fiction, which I find pretty boring.
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Jul 30, 2013 12:24
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Echo Cian posted:Was Ellen Kushner's Riverside series on that list? The first book is Swordspoint, which has a slow start but is more than worth it. The sequels have better pacing. Sorry if already mentioned but I really liked Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains. Aaargh. Sorry, I see a couple of mentions for this. Well, I thought is was great but apparently not everyone had the same reaction.... specklebang fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jul 30, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 21:52
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Hughmoris posted:Life has got me down lately and I'm looking for a feel-good read. I need a recommendation for something light-hearted and funny. Length and content is not a biggie, just something to put a smile on my face. Any good recommendations in the mystery or sci-fi genres? Fantasy, not sci-fi, but I take it you've checked out Discworld?
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Jul 30, 2013 22:37
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Hughmoris posted:Life has got me down lately and I'm looking for a feel-good read. I need a recommendation for something light-hearted and funny. Length and content is not a biggie, just something to put a smile on my face. Any good recommendations in the mystery or sci-fi genres? To say nothing of the dog, an often silly time travel story that parodies, references and emulates mystery stories, should be perfect for you. It's also really good.
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Jul 30, 2013 23:24
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Darth Walrus posted:Fantasy, not sci-fi, but I take it you've checked out Discworld? I've read the majority of the mainstream fantasy authors but I've never touched Terry Pratchett, not sure why. Any recommendations on where I should start in the series?
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Jul 31, 2013 09:50
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Hughmoris posted:I've read the majority of the mainstream fantasy authors but I've never touched Terry Pratchett, not sure why. Any recommendations on where I should start in the series?  The answer is of course, Guards! Guards!
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Jul 31, 2013 09:56
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Hughmoris posted:I've read the majority of the mainstream fantasy authors but I've never touched Terry Pratchett, not sure why. Any recommendations on where I should start in the series? I tried a few times to read his works, starting with The Color of Magic, but stalled out. Then someone said to start with Mort, and that was a good suggestion for Americans like me who don't often clique with British "absurdist fantasy" and don't care for Rincewind. Although beloved, he's difficult literary character for an adult non-Brit to give a poo poo about right out of the gate. The Discworld series seems to be composed of a bunch of intertwining miniseries, and Mort is the beginning of one such series. In other words, you won't be missing much.
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Jul 31, 2013 10:08
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Seconding Guards, Guards! as being a good place to start. The nice thing about Discworld is that most of them do a good job at being standalone, so you don't have to worry that there were about half a dozen books written before it. The earliest Discworld stuff isn't awful or anything, but since those first few books were a parody of fantasy from that era they haven't aged gracefully.
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Jul 31, 2013 17:52
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Mostly, though, it's just that The Colour of Magic and Equal Rites are bland, boring, and unimpressively-written (though The Light Fantastic ain't bad), and Pratchett gets steadily better from there until peaking at Night Watch. Fortunately, Discworld novels are pretty standalone, so you can afford to skip a couple of books and jump in.
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Jul 31, 2013 18:24
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KildarX posted:Looking for recommendations for Cyberpunk stuff. The recent Shadowrun game got me geeked for the Genre and I wish to see what it offers in literature. Simon Morden's Petrovitch series is very good, they are fast-paced action.
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Jul 31, 2013 22:04
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Zola posted:Simon Morden's Petrovitch series is very good, they are fast-paced action. I just finished the fourth one, The Curve Of The Earth. I second your suggestion. They must be read in order. Equations Of Life Theories Of Flight Degrees Of Freedom The Curve Of The Earth Be aware that the biggest "bad guy" in these books in America under the new Reconstructionist Government which unfortunately resembles America today.
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Jul 31, 2013 23:12
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Can anyone give me recommendations for books set in a "carny" setting, ala Stephen King's Joyland or Dean Koonz's Twilight Eyes? I guess Water for Elephants as well, although that's technically a circus.
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Aug 1, 2013 07:29
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regulargonzalez posted:Can anyone give me recommendations for books set in a "carny" setting, ala Stephen King's Joyland or Dean Koonz's Twilight Eyes? I guess Water for Elephants as well, although that's technically a circus. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.
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Aug 1, 2013 07:36
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Ah I've read that, but it's been 20 years or so. Time for a reread I'm thinking. Thanks!
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Aug 1, 2013 07:49
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Geek Love and The Night Circus
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Aug 1, 2013 10:59
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Darth Walrus posted:Mostly, though, it's just that The Colour of Magic and Equal Rites are bland, boring, and unimpressively-written (though The Light Fantastic ain't bad), and Pratchett gets steadily better from there until peaking at Night Watch. Fortunately, Discworld novels are pretty standalone, so you can afford to skip a couple of books and jump in. I don't think they're bad books, they're just, like, apprentice pieces. There are some genuinely funny parts to them. edit: That said Gaurds, Guards! is the perfect and best place to start Discworld, with the possible exception of the Tiffany Aching books if you're a juvenile and female. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 12:15
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Srice posted:Seconding Guards, Guards! as being a good place to start. The nice thing about Discworld is that most of them do a good job at being standalone, so you don't have to worry that there were about half a dozen books written before it. Guards, Guards! is probably my favorite Terry Pratchet book. I would just like to add that there is an absolutely brilliant radio play adaptation (is that what you call those?) that is definitely worth listening to.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:38
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Grogsy posted:Guards, Guards! is probably my favorite Terry Pratchet book. I would just like to add that there is an absolutely brilliant radio play adaptation (is that what you call those?) that is definitely worth listening to. I love the radio play and now I always imagine Carrot speaking with a Welsh accent because of it. G!G! is one of those stories that's just so perfect that every adaptation ends up being brilliant as well. See also: the graphic novel.
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Aug 1, 2013 14:14
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Need a birthday present for a friend. Can kind goons recommend anything starring a female protagonist that doesn't fall in love with the first guy/girl she meets who is her own age or something. She isn't a fan of books with a heavy focus on romance. Preferably sci-fi or fantasy I think. Edit: Or caper novels like the Lies of Locke Lamora Brainamp fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 19:31
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regulargonzalez posted:Can anyone give me recommendations for books set in a "carny" setting, ala Stephen King's Joyland or Dean Koonz's Twilight Eyes? I guess Water for Elephants as well, although that's technically a circus. Someone suggested Geek Love already and that's a great recommendation but I would also like to add the very twisted and awesome The Pilo Family Circus. Nobody does crazy hell clowns better than Will Elliott.
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Aug 1, 2013 21:56
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I need a recommendation for good books on the Cosmonaughts, would prefer readability over textbook type stuff.
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Aug 2, 2013 01:42
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Thx for all the recommendations, folksBrainamp posted:Need a birthday present for a friend. Can kind goons recommend anything starring a female protagonist that doesn't fall in love with the first guy/girl she meets who is her own age or something. She isn't a fan of books with a heavy focus on romance. Preferably sci-fi or fantasy I think. The Kushiel's Legacy series might just be perfect. First book is Kushiel's Dart, and a description makes it sound pretty tawdry but it is actually very elegant and well written. Basically, an alt-history of Europe where religious figures and their teachings were interpreted differently than in our world, with very light magic and a female protagonist who is trained in S&M (with a secondary training in spycraft). See, I told you it sounds tawdry, but it's honestly good. It's certainly not romance per se, and focuses much less on the actual details of sex than, say, GRRM. I'd say the best description of it is Game of Thrones if it was told entirely through Maergery Tyrell's perspective, or maybe Dune crossed with The Name of the Rose.
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Aug 2, 2013 02:19
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I love'Rainbow Six' by Clancy. I don't know how it's viewed here as glancing over threads a while back I believe I saw people talking down about his books(I could be wrong). Anyway I'm looking for similar books to read. I have a few more Clancy books that I've read(splinter cell series) and am looking for a new author or series to start reading.
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Aug 2, 2013 02:48
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regulargonzalez posted:The Kushiel's Legacy series might just be perfect. I picked this up on a friend's recommendation and put it down a few chapters in because it opened with an extended backstory with no end in sight, and absolutely everything was sex. If you like that sort of thing, great, but I might as well have been reading porn. Brainamp posted:Need a birthday present for a friend. Can kind goons recommend anything starring a female protagonist that doesn't fall in love with the first guy/girl she meets who is her own age or something. She isn't a fan of books with a heavy focus on romance. Preferably sci-fi or fantasy I think. It's kind of depressing that I can't think of any fantasy books featuring female protagonists that don't have romance and/or gratuitous sex. The Nightrunner series has female characters that stand on their own (and they're at least partly caper novels), but they still focus on romance with the male leads. Diana Wynne Jones at least does it well in Howl's Moving Castle and its sequels, Sophie and Howl are easily a couple of my favorite characters in fantasy. Carol Berg also tends to handle it well by making it a minor point rather than a focus. Song of the Beast only has some chapters from a woman's perspective, and while the second and third books in the Collegia Magica trilogy have a good female protagonist, the first follows a man. Very good books if she doesn't mind that, though; I'd recommend that series anyway.
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Aug 2, 2013 03:23
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CanUSayGym posted:I love'Rainbow Six' by Clancy. I don't know how it's viewed here as glancing over threads a while back I believe I saw people talking down about his books(I could be wrong). Anyway I'm looking for similar books to read. I have a few more Clancy books that I've read(splinter cell series) and am looking for a new author or series to start reading. I thought Rainbow 6 was fun, even if it is 'airport fiction' that dudes in cravats will look down on you for reading  There are two other books in the John Clark series - Without Remorse (#1) and Bear and the Dragon (#3). Neither is particularly good (Bear and the Dragon is pretty bad, even). Clancy's main series, the Jack Ryan books, start off good and get progressively worse. Clear and Present Danger is probably the closest to Rainbow Six, and it's pretty badass in my opinion. Patriot Games and Red October are great as well, but they are more espionage than 'group of badasses go around loving up peoples day'. Don't read any of his 'Op-Center' books, because they are terrible. Outside Tom Clancy, in that kind of vein, you might want to try - the Mitch Rapp books, by Vince Flynn (superspy/superassassin Mitch Rapp hates terrists and LIEberals). They are honestly pretty fun. - the Scott Hvarth series by Brad Thor (are you a Bad Enough Dude to save the president?!) - the Presidential Agent series by WEB Griffin (Delta Force guys go around shooting people and blowing poo poo up because freedom.. although the first book or two are more mystery/thriller than milporn) - the Delta Force series by the hilariously named Dalton Fury Other dude fiction authors worth googling/wikipediaing/goodreadsing/amazoning would be Lee Childs (Jack Reacher series), Robert Ludlum (Jason Bourne books), Barry Eisler (John Rain/japanophile series), Dale Brown (if you liked Top Gun or Iron Eagle), Harold Coyle, Stephen Hunter (Bob Lee Swagger, master sniper/true patriot), Also, check out the airport fiction thread - it's packed with books about ex-MP badass drifters who play by their own rules and fight terrist vampires with nukes.
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Aug 2, 2013 03:59
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Echo Cian posted:Diana Wynne Jones at least does it well in Howl's Moving Castle and its sequels, Sophie and Howl are easily a couple of my favorite characters in fantasy. As a lady who is also not super into romance, I second this recommendation. Some other books with female protagonists (but unfortunately many have romance as a subplot, though not the main focus). Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy- technically young adult, but excellent nonetheless. The two main characters of the trilogy are 12 years old, so though they do have a "romance" it's a little kid romance and doesn't even really come up until the very end of the third book. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale-set in an alternate universe in which America has been overtaken by radical Christian fundamentalists and women have lost all freedom. Most women are also infertile, and the main character is a Handmaid, aka a slave intended to bear children for rich/high ranking couples. There are a few sex scenes (obviously) and a tiny bit of a relationship, but they are definitely not the main point of the book. Terry Pratchett's Discworld, specifically the books about the witches- fantasy adventures about a couple of crotchety old ladies and their younger coven member. The younger member has a bit of a romance, but she's definitely not the main character and the books are all satires anyway so it's also silly and awkward rather than overly dramatic or full of gratuitous sex. I would suggest starting with Witches Abroad. Markus Zusak's The Book Thief- another YA, but it doesn't matter because this book will make you bawl your loving eyes out. Set in WWII, narrated by Death, it follows the life of a little girl in Nazi Germany when her family hides a Jewish man. She has a bit of a little kid crush on one of her neighbors, but obviously there are more important things going on in the story. Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series- I can't tell you too much about these because I only read the first one and it wasn't my cup of tea at all. It's about a woman who lives in a world where you can enter books and interact with/change the story inside them. I don't remember any romance, because I think the woman is already married? Anyway the first one is The Eyre Affair. Connie Willis' Doomsday Book- a lady historian from the future travels back in time to the Middle Ages to study stuff and accidentally ends up in the middle of the Black Death. No romance. There's also Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books. These take place in the same world as the abovementioned witches books, but are young adult. They're still just as clever and funny, though. The main character is a young witch-in-training, and, as far as I can remember, there is no romance whatsoever. The first book is The Wee Fee Men.
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Aug 2, 2013 04:20
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Echo Cian posted:I picked this up on a friend's recommendation and put it down a few chapters in because it opened with an extended backstory with no end in sight, and absolutely everything was sex. If you like that sort of thing, great, but I might as well have been reading porn. It does have a dense intro (and the entire book is densely written, reminds me in style of Umberto Eco) but it's not nearly as titillating as 50 Shades of Grey, and is certainly much better written and plotted. It's sexy in the same way Lady Chatterly's Lover is -- that book just has the advantage of being firmly set in the mental mindspace of "classic" so it's ok for it to have sex in it. The main character, throughout the 500 some pages, has sex about as many times as James Bond does in a 90 minute movie. If that's offputting to some people, then I mean fine, but it's a very well written and plotted story.
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Aug 2, 2013 07:07
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Brainamp posted:Need a birthday present for a friend. Can kind goons recommend anything starring a female protagonist that doesn't fall in love with the first guy/girl she meets who is her own age or something. She isn't a fan of books with a heavy focus on romance. Preferably sci-fi or fantasy I think. Take a look at God's War by Kameron Hurley.
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Aug 2, 2013 07:16
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CanUSayGym posted:I love'Rainbow Six' by Clancy. I don't know how it's viewed here as glancing over threads a while back I believe I saw people talking down about his books(I could be wrong). Anyway I'm looking for similar books to read. I have a few more Clancy books that I've read(splinter cell series) and am looking for a new author or series to start reading. joelcamefalling gave a pretty drat good list of recommendations, but I would like to add one other series: the John Wells series by Alex Berenson, starting with The Faithful Spy. They're easily my favorite spy thrillers. They kinda waffle between espionage and rear end-kicking (usually they strike a pretty good balance, but some books lean more heavily to one side) but they're all really enjoyable. My favorite thing about them is that they never feel like a power fantasy, like for example Brad Thor's novels or Stephen Coonts's* worse ones. So many spy thriller writers, including Clancy's more recent stuff, feel like self-insert fanfiction where the hero is a super-strong, super-suave badass who kills all the bad guys and saves the day forever, WHOOO, FREEDOM  and Wells isn't that at all, he's got actual flaws, he's never quite sure if he's doing the right thing since most book's plots aren't clear-cut "good guys vs. bad guys," and he just feels much more human than any other character in the genre.*Come to think of it, you might like Coonts's Jake Grafton books as well. I really hated The Disciple and can't recommend enough that you skip that one, but I enjoyed all the others by him I read. He's probably the closest to Clancy in terms of the tech focus and has the benefit of combat experience as a pilot in Vietnam so his combat scenes, especially the ones in the air, really show that he knows what he's talking about.
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Aug 2, 2013 20:09
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Are there any good horror books where than main focus is a totally awesome creepy house or location? I loved the house parts of House of Leaves so so much and have also read The Haunting of Hill House by S.Jackson which I also enjoyed. I next tried Hell House by R.Matheson and I hated it, it's the kind of awful schlock I would try to avoid like the plague. I think I put it down when the ghost got a hard on and kept touching up the hot assistant. What most interests me is the location itself being so fascinating and eerie that it itself causes the characters to freak out, kinda like in H.G Wells The Red Room or maybe the film Session 9 (since I've run out of literary examples) rather than a totally in your face, boob grabbing ghost or a huge all powerful hell monster that shows up on page 2. C'mon goons, freak me out! I dare ya!
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Aug 3, 2013 08:04
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OK, this isn't necessarily a book-specific question, because any form of medium is OK, but I was thinking of introducing my family (particularly my parents) to Journey to the West. What's a fun, accessible, and reasonably faithful-ish version, please?
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Aug 3, 2013 09:42
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