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Lutha Mahtin posted:I read Infinite Jest last winter and I'm getting the bug again for a gigantic insane novel. I realize there's probably nothing exactly like it, but when I was talking to some friends the other day I realized that Neal Stephenson (another author I like) is kind of a B-movie genre director in the same way one might compare David Foster Wallace to a great auteur like Stanley Kubrick. So like, a five page essay about some nerd's optimal way to eat Captain Crunch is great, but I'd love something that's a bit more literary but still highly readable. Does any of this make sense? I recommend this book a lot, but John Fowles - The Magus. It's very different indeed from Infinite Jest but is literary, it is insane (but a different brand of insanity), it's big (though not gigantic). It's a good book. You could also try something like Gravity's Rainbow or if you're particularly daring, Finnegan's Wake. Those certainly fit your requirements. If we can put aside the gigantic requirement, I'd also suggest Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
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Nov 30, 2014 05:21
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Foucault's Pendulum is also considerably easier to read than any of the mentioned, except possibly Infinite Jest.
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Nov 30, 2014 11:56
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anilEhilated posted:Foucault's Pendulum is also considerably easier to read than any of the mentioned, except possibly Infinite Jest. I found it a somewhat more difficult read than The Magus (not that either were particularly tough), but yeah the other two require a real commitment.
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Nov 30, 2014 17:43
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Lutha Mahtin posted:I read Infinite Jest last winter and I'm getting the bug again for a gigantic insane novel. I realize there's probably nothing exactly like it, but when I was talking to some friends the other day I realized that Neal Stephenson (another author I like) is kind of a B-movie genre director in the same way one might compare David Foster Wallace to a great auteur like Stanley Kubrick. So like, a five page essay about some nerd's optimal way to eat Captain Crunch is great, but I'd love something that's a bit more literary but still highly readable. Does any of this make sense? Don Delillo maybe? Underworld if you want a long one
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Nov 30, 2014 17:56
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When I was in college I did check out Gravity's Rainbow and read a couple chapters of it. Does it get a lot weirder than the section right near the beginning where the one guy is going along and then it suddenly shifts to kind of a point-of-view description of an anxiety/PTSD attack?
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Nov 30, 2014 18:07
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Lutha Mahtin posted:When I was in college I did check out Gravity's Rainbow and read a couple chapters of it. Does it get a lot weirder than the section right near the beginning where the one guy is going along and then it suddenly shifts to kind of a point-of-view description of an anxiety/PTSD attack? It features a musical number with dancing lightbulbs singing about tungsten - complete with stage directions - if that gives you any indication of how weird things get.
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Nov 30, 2014 18:50
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Lutha Mahtin posted:I read Infinite Jest last winter and I'm getting the bug again for a gigantic insane novel. I realize there's probably nothing exactly like it, but when I was talking to some friends the other day I realized that Neal Stephenson (another author I like) is kind of a B-movie genre director in the same way one might compare David Foster Wallace to a great auteur like Stanley Kubrick. So like, a five page essay about some nerd's optimal way to eat Captain Crunch is great, but I'd love something that's a bit more literary but still highly readable. Does any of this make sense? there's always In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust if you're really keen on great behemoths
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Dec 1, 2014 00:21
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And The Recognitions by William Gaddis is some fun stuff too.
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Dec 1, 2014 07:55
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I got curious about Fowles's Magus... apparently there's an original and a revision? Which one do you recommend?
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Dec 1, 2014 15:38
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Stravinsky posted:Tom Holland is fine and I would not really put him in the pop history category because I generally reserve that title for poorly researched and heavily slanted ghostwritten books put out by personalities (usually TV/radio) trying to make a buck off of their audience. Thanks for the tip! It's weird, I don't consider myself to be dumb or anything, but that's just one area where my education was lacking--my history teachers in high school consisted of an ex-shop teacher (who felt the history at us instead of teaching it to us), and the football coach, who didn't give a poo poo and basically just showed us Ken Burns documentaries so he could work on his game plans... then, in college I was a music major, so the only history classes I took were music history classes, and while cool, they don't really cover much more than the artists and the people they worked for. I'll also take the tip about jotting down some notes. I've been playing Civilization lately, and it's got me in the mood to learn more about the leaders and their civs. tonytheshoes fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 19:12
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Sir John Feelgood posted:I got curious about Fowles's Magus... apparently there's an original and a revision? Which one do you recommend? The changes are pretty minor and involve a bit of tidying up of the plot. Either one is fine, if you have both laying around then read the revision.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:07
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Any recommendations for books on microbiology or genetics? Any interesting books on history are always welcome too.
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Dec 4, 2014 04:10
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I'm looking for weird new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking books for my partner's mum. She likes getting insight into other people's thought processes and beliefs - she just finished reading a David Icke book and thought it was hilarious. Particular areas of interest: - Quantum physics - The healing power of thoughts - Hypnotisation/past life regression - Lizards, apparently To be clear she's not really a 'believer'. Books that treat these sorts of things critically are OK, but I think she'd rather read the source material. The weirder the better! I've loaned her a copy of John C. Lilly's autobiography in the meantime 
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Dec 4, 2014 06:49
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naptalan posted:I'm looking for weird new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking books for my partner's mum. She likes getting insight into other people's thought processes and beliefs - she just finished reading a David Icke book and thought it was hilarious. Particular areas of interest: It's not meant to be taken seriously, but the Illuminatus! trilogy will be perfect for her. The Dancing Wu Li Masters is meant to be taken seriously and is another solid choice, as are all of Immanuel Velikovsky's works (though they don't touch on those subjects you mentioned specifically, but on other similarly wacky notions), most notably Worlds in Collision regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Dec 4, 2014 |
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Dec 4, 2014 07:06
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You might also look for books by J. Z. Knight, who's one of the best-known past life channelers. A Beginner's Guide to Creating Reality is loads of fun to point and laugh at.
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Dec 4, 2014 15:36
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naptalan posted:I'm looking for weird new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking books for my partner's mum. She likes getting insight into other people's thought processes and beliefs - she just finished reading a David Icke book and thought it was hilarious. Particular areas of interest: Check out L. Ron Hubbard for some seriously influential nonsense. Dianetics is relatively dry, but A History of Man has plenty of fun past-lives BS.
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Dec 4, 2014 15:45
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Any good non-fiction books about the Chernobyl Disaster?
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Dec 4, 2014 20:09
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It is that time of year again .. I love to give books as gifts at Christmas, but it is not always the easiest thing, when you want to ensure someone hasn't read it already. My mother-in-law has pretty terrible taste in books, Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks and the like, and she has enjoyed some emotional fluff that I've recommended (Me Before You, The Rosie Project), and hated other items (The 100-year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared). One of the ways I usually get around the "have they read it?" question is by not gifting books that are in the exact same parallel of writers - for example, Goodreads tells me that Kristin Hannah and Diane Chamberlain are often enjoyed by the Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks crowd, so its a good bet my MIL has already read them. I'm considering "The Housekeeper and the Professor" by Yoko Ogawa as a gift choice, as she most definitely would not have read Ogawa, or probably anything in translation, ever, and am looking for a few more suggestions. I had briefly considered "The White Bone" by Barbara Gowdy, but discarded the idea since she thought the 100-year-old man book "too outlandish," and "The White Bone" is written from the POV of an elephant. Any help?
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Dec 4, 2014 20:34
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naptalan posted:I'm looking for weird new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking books for my partner's mum. She likes getting insight into other people's thought processes and beliefs - she just finished reading a David Icke book and thought it was hilarious. Particular areas of interest: Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things might be worth a consideration and ought to get her into the source material
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Dec 4, 2014 20:42
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Another vote for the Illuminatus! trilogy.
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Dec 4, 2014 21:09
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naptalan posted:I'm looking for weird new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking books for my partner's mum. She likes getting insight into other people's thought processes and beliefs - she just finished reading a David Icke book and thought it was hilarious. Particular areas of interest: This isn't really a recommendation, but you do know that Quantum Physics isn't new-age/conspiracy/alternative-thinking but is actually a real thing with significant experimental backing, right? It's very very very different than your other areas of interest. Quandary fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 4, 2014 23:20
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Thanks for all the suggestions! They look amazing, particularly the Illuminatus trilogy. For quantum physics, yes I am aware it's a real thing, but it is a key player in a bunch of utterly insane poo poo (see: Deepak Chopra). That could definitely have been worded better. And I think she'd enjoy books that explain real quantum physics in an accessible manner, if you have any recommendations.
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Dec 5, 2014 00:42
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VisAbsoluta posted:Any good non-fiction books about the Chernobyl Disaster? Voices from Chernobyl is apparently good + ios a bunch of people who were there recounting what happened and how it affected their lives I haven't read it myself tho
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Dec 5, 2014 01:09
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I'm trying to think of translations that are great works of English literature, the KJV being the most obvious example of this. What I've come up with so far: Arthur Golding's Metamorphoses, Chapman's Homer, Pope's Homer, maybe Dryden's Aeneid?
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Dec 6, 2014 00:08
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Pope's Odyssey is a piece of poo.
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Dec 6, 2014 12:43
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CestMoi posted:Pope's Odyssey is a piece of poo.
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Dec 6, 2014 12:44
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Sir John Feelgood posted:Why do you say that? It's got nothing to do with the original. It should be credited as The Odyssey, a Silly Poem by A. Pope Inspired by the Works of Homer
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Dec 6, 2014 13:25
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It's one of the worst examples of sacrificing any form of natural, flowing writing to the metre I have ever read.
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Dec 6, 2014 13:43
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WHo cares that it's not like a book written by a fake man, it;s bad on its own terms.
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Dec 6, 2014 13:44
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Sir John Feelgood posted:I'm trying to think of translations that are great works of English literature, the KJV being the most obvious example of this. Richard Burton's translation of The Thousand and One NIghts?
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Dec 6, 2014 16:12
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Sir John Feelgood posted:I'm trying to think of translations that are great works of English literature, the KJV being the most obvious example of this. Edward Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat is still read with pleasure, long after translations with more fidelity to the original source have been forgotten.
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Dec 6, 2014 17:03
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I don't know if they're "best ever" but in terms of my personal favorites, I'd put up just about any of the "translations" of E. Powys Mathers. Like Fitzgerald he "translated" a lot of eastern poetry, including a translation of the French version of the Arabian Nights by Mardrus. As quoted in Steinbeck's Cannery Row: quote:
Perhaps also George Dillon and Edna St. Vincent Millay's translations of Les Fleurs du Mal. quote:Lethe
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Dec 6, 2014 17:26
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Elderbean posted:Any recommendations for books on microbiology or genetics? Any interesting books on history are always welcome too. Genome by Matt Ridley is a easy but not stupid read.
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Dec 6, 2014 18:59
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edit: Eh, forget it (this was about Pope but I don't feel like talking about it). Thanks for the recommendations. And people are welcome to post more. Sir John Feelgood fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 20:21
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Elderbean posted:Any recommendations for books on microbiology or genetics? Any interesting books on history are always welcome too. Maybe not what you're after, but The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a phenomenal introduction to evolution at the genetic level.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:22
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I have heard very good things about Robert Fagles's translation of The Odyssey; you might want to look into it. Nicholson's translations of Rumi's works, particularly the Mathnawi, are still highly regarded and widely used. I am a big proponent of Jawid Mojaddedi's rhyming verse translation, which retains Rumi's original rhyme scheme of AA, BB, etc. and is remarkably faithful to the original without sounding stilted or shoehorned. Mojaddedi is still working on his translation, but Oxford has published three volumes as part of their World's Classics series thus far. Apart from that, Franklin Lewis is a Rumi expert who has rendered his poetry into free verse and blank verse, if that's more your style. Despite his immense popularity, I would avoid Coleman Barks if you are in the market for faithful translations. Barks does not actually know any Persian; he has merely relied on other translations of Rumi into English, and his renditions are just the result of whatever "inspiration" he was feeling as he read those translations. The advice on Barks's books is also applicable to Daniel Ladinsky's "translation" of Hafiz's poetry, the main difference being that Ladinsky actually has the audacity to pass off his renditions as "translations" with a straight face. If you are genuinely interested in Hafiz, I suggest Geoffrey Squires's Hafez: Translations and Interpretations of the Ghazals. It actually just came out this year and I have a copy, which I have thumbed through. Wonderful stuff. Herman Bicknell did a rhyming verse translation in 1875, which was published with the title Hafiz of Shiraz: Selections from his Poems, but it's not easy to find in hard copy. I scanned the whole thing a while back and put it up on my Dropbox; the book's copyright expired decades ago, and you're all welcome to download this soft copy. Bear in mind, though, that he died before he could finish his translation, so the book is technically incomplete. Adib fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 20:48
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I think it's about time I learn more about my country's history, so I would love to get recommendations for a (comprehensive but not too dry) book about the history of Dutch slave trading. I don't mind if it's in English or Dutch, and an ebook would be preferable.
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Dec 8, 2014 12:04
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I'm looking for some easy-to-read, upbeat chick lit for a Christmas gift for my mother, but I know almost nothing about the genre myself. (She's extremely intelligent, but she likes to relax with trashy stuff.) Ideally she prefers books with a fairly biting sense of humour. From a practical standpoint, recent releases would be better since then I can check with my father to see if she's read them already. What sort of authors should I be looking at?
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Dec 8, 2014 15:30
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Hey I'm looking for a good book on Circus Freaks or Freaks in general (ever see the Curb your enthusiasm episode Larry buys Ted Danson a book on Freaks? I want a book like that)
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Dec 10, 2014 01:09
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oh uckfay posted:Hey I'm looking for a good book on Circus Freaks or Freaks in general (ever see the Curb your enthusiasm episode Larry buys Ted Danson a book on Freaks? I want a book like that) American Sideshow by Marc Hartzman comes highly recommended by my weird aunt.
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Dec 10, 2014 01:32
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