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Oliver Reed posted:I'm looking for novels that deal with poor, uneducated or otherwise 'underclass' people--stuff about those stuck at the lowest rung of the social ladder. I find I read a lot of books with highly educated/wealthy/etc. protagonists and I want something different; something about people who don't have much power or money or knowledge at all. Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
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Aug 2, 2015 21:13
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Oliver Reed posted:I'm looking for novels that deal with poor, uneducated or otherwise 'underclass' people--stuff about those stuck at the lowest rung of the social ladder. I find I read a lot of books with highly educated/wealthy/etc. protagonists and I want something different; something about people who don't have much power or money or knowledge at all.
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Aug 2, 2015 23:51
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If I were to only ever read one Neil Gaiman book (short stories or novel; not comics), what should I read? I've already read Coraline, which was a fun kids book.
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Aug 5, 2015 17:11
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Franchescanado posted:If I were to only ever read one Neil Gaiman book (short stories or novel; not comics), what should I read? If you must read one, read American Gods.
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Aug 5, 2015 17:18
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The great thing about Gaiman is, once you've read one of his novels, you've read them all!
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Aug 5, 2015 17:25
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I'd say Smoke and Mirrors. Lots of different styles in that one. edit: VVV To be fair the explanation of that name is kind of funny, especially if you're treating it as a supercoolfantasynickname. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 19:01
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American Gods really bored me, and the main character's name is Shadow.
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Aug 5, 2015 19:17
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Time Cowboy posted:The great thing about Gaiman is, once you've read one of his novels, you've read them all! Any top tier historical fiction name recs that I might be missing out on? Finished up and adored all the Robert Graves (Count Belisarius is really overlooked and pretty awesome) and Mary Renault. Colleen McCullough and Robert Harris didn't really click, seemed a tier below. I'm not talking like Shaara stuff. Or Pressfield.
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Aug 6, 2015 03:53
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TheFallenEvincar posted:That must be why I only read the one... I remember really liked Augustus by John Williams and The Conspiracy by John Hershey, both of which are about Roman emperors.
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Aug 6, 2015 04:09
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Franchescanado posted:If I were to only ever read one Neil Gaiman book (short stories or novel; not comics), what should I read? Good Omens
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Aug 6, 2015 04:09
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TheFallenEvincar posted:That must be why I only read the one... Good King Harry by Denise Giardina is very, very good. It's about Henry V. Allan Massie's Emperor series is awesome. They're very much like Graves' Claudius books, same memoir style & level of quality writing, and they cover all the top Roman rulers from Julius Caeser to Domition. They actually work really well being read along with the two Graves Claudius books, as his reign is the only one Massie doesn't cover.
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Aug 6, 2015 05:09
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Pork Pie Hat posted:If you must read one, read American Gods.
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Aug 6, 2015 05:47
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Franchescanado posted:If I were to only ever read one Neil Gaiman book (short stories or novel; not comics), what should I read? Smoke and Mirrors.
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Aug 6, 2015 17:43
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A couple pages ago someone asked for recommendations about books on cryptozoology. I don't know of any so I'll ask here, too. I want to read from a non-moronic perspective about people going hysterical over modern dinosaurs and secret apes and rods and other fake poo poo.
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Aug 6, 2015 22:38
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Soulcleaver posted:A couple pages ago someone asked for recommendations about books on cryptozoology. I don't know of any so I'll ask here, too. I want to read from a non-moronic perspective about people going hysterical over modern dinosaurs and secret apes and rods and other fake poo poo. no idea what your post is about but theres an animorphs book in which they go back in time to the land of the dinosaurs and the dinosaurs are a technologically based alien society or something. Animorphs are awesome
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Aug 6, 2015 23:38
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Just finished with The Expanse as it is so far and I'm looking for more spaceships and space exploration and aliens. Any recommendations?
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Aug 7, 2015 01:50
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Reason posted:Just finished with The Expanse as it is so far and I'm looking for more spaceships and space exploration and aliens. Any recommendations? Gary Gibson's Shoal Sequence is good for all that.
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Aug 7, 2015 07:17
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Reading The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (as I mentioned in another thread) and I'm wondering - Is there any other cool/good fantasy or sci-fi that's eastern based, rather than western? Where the fantasy worldbuilding stuff (or the BRIGHT TECHNOFUTURE) is more rooted in SE Asian culture and storytelling patterns rather than European. Preferably written by an Asian author, but whatever. I do want something that's available in English, but yeah. Short stories/novellas/comics/anything else are cool, too. Even just writers to look into?
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Aug 8, 2015 04:28
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A Tin Of Beans posted:Reading The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (as I mentioned in another thread) and I'm wondering - Viz has a book publishing arm called Haika Soru which translates and publishes Japanese SF for the American audience. Some of it is videogame novelizations and the like, but they do also do plain SF; I personally liked The Stories Of Ibis quite a bit.
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Aug 8, 2015 05:34
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Picayune posted:Viz has a book publishing arm called Haika Soru which translates and publishes Japanese SF for the American audience. This boggled my mind for a few moments, until I realised that it's a very different Viz than the one I was thinking of. Pork Pie Hat fucked around with this message at 14:47 on Aug 8, 2015 |
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Aug 8, 2015 14:43
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anything like battle royale and like also easy to read because i have the brain of child preferably something i can get on my kindle to
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Aug 8, 2015 19:12
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Franchescanado posted:If I were to only ever read one Neil Gaiman book (short stories or novel; not comics), what should I read? I guess I'll differ from the crowd and say Gaiman is one of my favorites. I greatly enjoyed The Ocean at the End of the Lane and I also think Neverwhere is fun. Tbh American Gods is my least favorite. (Smoke and Mirrors is great as others have said.)
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Aug 8, 2015 20:44
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social vegan posted:anything like battle royale and like also easy to read because i have the brain of child preferably something i can get on my kindle to The Hunger Games trilogy.
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Aug 8, 2015 21:01
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Reason posted:Just finished with The Expanse as it is so far and I'm looking for more spaceships and space exploration and aliens. Any recommendations? Iain M Banks Culture novels would be pretty good for this if you haven't read em, considering they're the best books ever. Start with Consider Phlebas.
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Aug 9, 2015 03:07
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I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative.
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Aug 9, 2015 04:36
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Rollofthedice posted:I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative. Gene Wolfe. Give The Book of the New Sun series (first book: The Shadow of the Torturer) a try.
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Aug 9, 2015 04:46
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Rollofthedice posted:I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative. Catherynne Valente's The Orphan's Tales and/or Deathless. Maybe some Patricia McKillip? Winter Rose won me over for not mentioning locations, but somehow feeling distinctly northeastern US countryside (I only checked afterwards to confirm that she lived in New York at the time), so her writing is definitely evocative, if not as lyrical as Valente.
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Aug 9, 2015 04:51
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Aug 9, 2015 07:15
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Also, what's the S&M fantasy series set in ahistorical not-Europe? It sharply divides goons, but I thought it was well written. E: for Rollofthedice's post
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Aug 9, 2015 09:37
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Rollofthedice posted:I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative. I'm iffy on the books as a whole but there are some absolutely beautiful moments of writing in TH White's The Once and Future King.
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Aug 9, 2015 10:18
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Rollofthedice posted:I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative. The Quantum Thief trilogy is exactly what you're looking for. It has big, amazingly realized ideas and some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read. Go read the excerpt for first book.
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Aug 9, 2015 10:18
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Rollofthedice posted:I understand that this is comically vague, but - is there any good fantasy or sci-fi books that are just really loving beautifully written? I mean like Guy Gavriel Kay or Le Guin on a good day. Stuff that makes you pause on a sentence and just marvel at how great it is. I have a lot of love for Lions of Al-Rassan and A Wizard of Earthsea, and wish I could find books in the genre that are as evocative. Check out The King of Elfland's Daughter.
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Aug 9, 2015 10:58
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Loving Life Partner posted:The Quantum Thief trilogy is exactly what you're looking for. It has big, amazingly realized ideas and some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read. Go read the excerpt for first book. This is exactly what I was thinking as I was scrolling down. Beautifully written with fantastic sf ideas. A Tin Of Beans posted:Reading The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (as I mentioned in another thread) and I'm wondering - The Quantum Thief trilogy may work for you as well, particularly the second book which is based off of (or simply borrows from) Arabian Nights.
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Aug 9, 2015 15:24
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Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'll try and take a look at all of them.
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Aug 9, 2015 16:27
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Another voice recommending the Quantum Thief Trilogy, absolutely could not put those books down. Edit: Also, Iain M Banks fits the role here as well.
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Aug 9, 2015 17:06
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regulargonzalez posted:Also, what's the S&M fantasy series set in ahistorical not-Europe? It sharply divides goons, but I thought it was well written. Kushiel's Dart (and the following books)? I remember liking the first one well enough, but never followed it up with any of the others.
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Aug 9, 2015 18:28
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a kitten posted:Kushiel's Dart (and the following books)? I remember liking the first one well enough, but never followed it up with any of the others. Yep, that's it. Apologies in advance for the shitstorm detail that will likely follow.
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Aug 9, 2015 19:21
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Do Not Resuscitate posted:I'm trying to remember if The Windup Girl would fit. Not sure if it's just the setting that I'm remembering. Read it, and it's ... okay, but a little - objectifying/fetishizing of the culture, almost? I don't know, the main character is a white dude who has a thing for a prostitute GMO robot girl who can't sweat or whatever and it's kind of. Ehhh. There were a ton of cool ideas and decent prose in it but the weird-rear end treatment of the female lead was frustrating. Picayune posted:Viz has a book publishing arm called Haika Soru which translates and publishes Japanese SF for the American audience. Some of it is videogame novelizations and the like, but they do also do plain SF; I personally liked The Stories Of Ibis quite a bit. Oh, cool! This is rad, thanks for the link. I'll check out that book you linked and nose around in here a bit. And Quantum Thief sounds really neat as well. Edit: Also, tried asking this in the chat thread, but I'll throw it in here: what's a good translation of the Water Margin, preferably available as an ebook?
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Aug 9, 2015 19:48
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The husband is looking for a new fantasy book. He just finished The New Law Trilogy. He loves the Kingkiller trilogy, the Dresden files and the Lies of Locke Lamora books. Any suggestions? The Magicians maybe?
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Aug 9, 2015 22:38
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A human heart posted:Check out The King of Elfland's Daughter. Well, anything by Dunsany. Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed is beautiful writing.
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Aug 10, 2015 00:01
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