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jon joe posted:Looking for a book or short story collection with good flowery prose, trying to get a handle on that style for my own writing. Preferably fantasy, adventure, or suspense/thriller. Very Best of Charles de Lint? I'm not sure if it counts as flowery but if nothing else he has some unique ideas. http://www.amazon.com/The-Very-Best-Charles-Lint/dp/1892391961
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Dec 16, 2015 07:58
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jon joe posted:Looking for a book or short story collection with good flowery prose, trying to get a handle on that style for my own writing. Preferably fantasy, adventure, or suspense/thriller. Anything by Jack Vance. He has an unique style that's a lot harder to imitate than it looks. Although Matthew Hughes does a pretty good Vancian style as well. Tanith Lee might also suit you.
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Dec 16, 2015 17:57
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jon joe posted:Looking for a book or short story collection with good flowery prose, trying to get a handle on that style for my own writing. Preferably fantasy, adventure, or suspense/thriller. Sample phrase: "In the garden of the Tuileries, the sun this morning fell asleep on each of the stone steps one after another, like a blond boy whose light slumber a passing shadow at once disturbs."
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Dec 16, 2015 18:24
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I'd like a Vonnegut recommendation please. I've read Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle, Slapstick, Bluebeard, and Player Piano. I love them all but if I had to pick a favorite it'd be Cat's Cradle.
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Dec 16, 2015 19:26
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alnilam posted:I'd like a Vonnegut recommendation please. I've read Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle, Slapstick, Bluebeard, and Player Piano. I love them all but if I had to pick a favorite it'd be Cat's Cradle. Breakfast of Champions is the big one you're missing
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Dec 16, 2015 19:36
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Breakfast of Champions is the big one you're missing Thank you! Requested from the library
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Dec 16, 2015 20:19
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I'm looking for the Divine Comedy for my kindle e-reader, but the ones I've found on amazon all seem to have problems with the formatting and broken link. Do any of you have a tip as to a good version?
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Dec 16, 2015 20:23
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jon joe posted:Looking for a book or short story collection with good flowery prose, trying to get a handle on that style for my own writing. Preferably fantasy, adventure, or suspense/thriller. The Worm Ouroboros
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Dec 16, 2015 23:26
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Just signed up for Goodreads to see what the cold unfeeling machine thinks I should read next. It spat a whole bunch of recommendations at me which I have heard nothing about; I trust Big Data and everything but I thought I'd ask some randos on a website I use to vet them for me. I like horrible genre-fiction series (most recently I loved the poo poo out of the first three books of the Gentlemen Bastards books) so I picked a few out of Goodreads' rankings that seemed interesting from their descriptions and had decent ratings; which of these series is most worth my time? Alternately, do they all suck? Thanks! Temeraire series, Naomi Novik Silo series, Hugh Howey Expanse series, James S.A. Corey The First Law series, Joe Abercrombie Elantris series, Brandon Sanderson (I enjoyed Mistborn despite myself so this one might have an edge atm) Night Angel series, Brent Weeks
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Dec 17, 2015 00:40
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Loving Life Partner posted:Do you think she'd dig on some Gangs Of New York era New York city crime solving? The Alienist is a really awesome book I've read recently. It's fictional, but based on a lot of fact and grounded in reality. Pork Pie Hat posted:In a similar vein to the guy above me, The Axeman's Jazz is a novel based on the real life serial killings in 1919 New Orleans. I really enjoyed it, it's really evocative. prinneh posted:I don't read much true crime, but picked up people who eat darkness from a common room in a hostel once in Japan and enjoyed it, otherwise an ex of mine loved midnight in peking by paul french. First book is pretty heavy on Japan, second book is pretty heavy on Beijing just after the boxer invasion, but both had some rather gruesome murder details, which is what I suspect people look for in these books Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I'm looking them all up now - they look good!
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Dec 17, 2015 00:44
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The First Law series is very good, if you don't want to start a trilogy to see if you like the world, perhaps try Best Served Cold. It's like Kill Bill set in the same grimdark fantasy world as The First Law.
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Dec 17, 2015 00:49
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loquacius posted:Just signed up for Goodreads to see what the cold unfeeling machine thinks I should read next. It spat a whole bunch of recommendations at me which I have heard nothing about; I trust Big Data and everything but I thought I'd ask some randos on a website I use to vet them for me. I like horrible genre-fiction series (most recently I loved the poo poo out of the first three books of the Gentlemen Bastards books) so I picked a few out of Goodreads' rankings that seemed interesting from their descriptions and had decent ratings; which of these series is most worth my time? Alternately, do they all suck? Thanks! Temeraire is decent. It's Napoleonic fantasy adventure -- basically, Horatio Hornblower with dragons instead of ships. The quality drops off after the third book or so, though.
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Dec 17, 2015 01:35
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Yeah, I think Goodreads suggested it because I read Leviathan. I'll take a closer look into those series, thanks guys 
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Dec 17, 2015 02:00
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Selachian posted:Temeraire is decent. It's Napoleonic fantasy adventure -- basically, Horatio Hornblower with dragons instead of ships. The quality drops off a loving cliff and dies after the third book. FTFY Also, I'm in the goon minority, but I hate the First Law series.
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Dec 17, 2015 05:18
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BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Dec 17, 2015 10:01
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A human heart posted:The Worm Ouroboros An excellent choice! I also liked a few of A. Merritt's books (The Moon-Pool, The Metal Monster, and The Face In the Abyss). Also, too, anything by Lord Dunsany. Anything at all, but especially Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley.
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Dec 17, 2015 14:48
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Right, it's time to request some dad books again - fiction, please. Stuff he has read and enjoyed recently includes Lee Child and Bernard Cornwell's works, The Martian, Rivers of London, and Leviathan Wakes. Sci-fi/fantasy is less familiar territory for him, so I have better odds of finding stuff he hasn't read in those genres, but if you have any good advice for thrillers and historical adventure, I'd be happy to hear it (yes, I've tried him on Guy Gavriel Kay, with broadly positive results).
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Dec 17, 2015 14:52
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Darth Walrus posted:Right, it's time to request some dad books again - fiction, please. Stuff he has read and enjoyed recently includes Lee Child and Bernard Cornwell's works, The Martian, Rivers of London, and Leviathan Wakes. Sci-fi/fantasy is less familiar territory for him, so I have better odds of finding stuff he hasn't read in those genres, but if you have any good advice for thrillers and historical adventure, I'd be happy to hear it (yes, I've tried him on Guy Gavriel Kay, with broadly positive results). If he likes Cornwell he might like George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books, which are similar military historical adventures (except, unlike Cornwell's heroes, Flashman is a rotten coward, liar, and generally entertaining rear end in a top hat). Conversely, if he likes Child and Rivers of London, he might like the Harry Dresden or Repairman Jack books.
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Dec 17, 2015 15:25
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:First Law has a meta-dimension that you'll probably enjoy since you like genre fiction. I'm a huge loving pseudo-intellectual hipster and former Homestuck so this is great news, thanks  ftr I got a few chapters into First Law before bed last night and it's great so far
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Dec 17, 2015 18:25
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Slso since I don't post in TBB often I might as well add that Gentlemen of the Road (the current BOTM) is awesome and I plowed through it in a couple days so there's no excuse to not read it. There is basically no other cultural exposure of Eastern-Roman-Empire-era Western Asia in general or Khazaria in particular, so the setting was new and interesting, and because it's Michael Chabon there's some discussion of LGBTQ issues worked in there too without seeming heavy-handed or preachy. 10/10, least depressing Chabon book I ever read. e: VVV I did not know that was how this forum even worked, thx VVV loquacius fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 19:55
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loquacius posted:Slso since I don't post in TBB often I might as well add that Gentlemen of the Road (the current BOTM) is awesome and I plowed through it in a couple days so there's no excuse to not read it. There is basically no other cultural exposure of Eastern-Roman-Empire-era Western Asia in general or Khazaria in particular, so the setting was new and interesting, and because it's Michael Chabon there's some discussion of LGBTQ issues worked in there too without seeming heavy-handed or preachy. 10/10, least depressing Chabon book I ever read. So post that in the book club thread bro
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Dec 17, 2015 19:58
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loquacius posted:I'm a huge loving pseudo-intellectual hipster and former Homestuck so this is great news, thanks Not "meta" as in breaking the fourth wall, but just implicitly attacking fantasy conventions.
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Dec 17, 2015 20:08
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alnilam posted:Thank you! Requested from the library Just as an alternate, I thought BoC was pretty boring but Galapagos I liked and I'd put behind Slaughterhouse V and Cat's Cradle. I haven't read the others in your post though.
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Dec 18, 2015 04:47
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Selachian posted:If he likes Cornwell he might like George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books, which are similar military historical adventures (except, unlike Cornwell's heroes, Flashman is a rotten coward, liar, and generally entertaining rear end in a top hat). Appreciate the advice, but I thought that the Flashman series might be a slightly hard sell due to how thoroughly awful the MC is, and I was hoping for something slightly up-market from the Dresden files. Any other suggestions, please?
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Dec 18, 2015 14:49
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Darth Walrus posted:Right, it's time to request some dad books again - fiction, please. Stuff he has read and enjoyed recently includes Lee Child and Bernard Cornwell's works, The Martian, Rivers of London, and Leviathan Wakes. Sci-fi/fantasy is less familiar territory for him, so I have better odds of finding stuff he hasn't read in those genres, but if you have any good advice for thrillers and historical adventure, I'd be happy to hear it (yes, I've tried him on Guy Gavriel Kay, with broadly positive results). How about China Miéville? He's written some fantastic sci-fi. Perdido Street Station for example, or The City & The City would be good to start with.
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Dec 18, 2015 15:56
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Zesty Mordant posted:Just as an alternate, I thought BoC was pretty boring Pistols at dawn mother fucker
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Dec 18, 2015 16:15
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Pork Pie Hat posted:How about China Miéville? He's written some fantastic sci-fi. Perdido Street Station for example, or The City & The City would be good to start with. Sorry already given that a shot. And Joe Abercrombie. I think he liked them, but didn't love them.
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Dec 18, 2015 16:28
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Darth Walrus posted:Sorry already given that a shot. And Joe Abercrombie. I think he liked them, but didn't love them. Ok, well as a not sci-fi suggestion, how about le Carré?
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Dec 18, 2015 17:10
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Pistols at dawn mother fucker I'll give this to you, it was my first Vonnegut and I was like 14.
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Dec 18, 2015 18:09
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Darth Walrus posted:Appreciate the advice, but I thought that the Flashman series might be a slightly hard sell due to how thoroughly awful the MC is, and I was hoping for something slightly up-market from the Dresden files. Any other suggestions, please? Flashman's an easy pitch. It's Blackadder with a bit of James Bond mixed in. Maybe you could put him onto Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories, which are about the adventures of a French Lord Flashheart type in the Napoleonic wars. They're very Flashman-esque, though not as dark. Tracking down a physical copy might be hard since they've gone out of print but they're easy and free to get from Gutenberg. Then if he likes those, recommend him Flashy.
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Dec 18, 2015 23:48
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Pork Pie Hat posted:Ok, well as a not sci-fi suggestion, how about le Carré? Too obvious, sorry. He's read those. High Warlord Zog posted:Flashman's an easy pitch. It's Blackadder with a bit of James Bond mixed in. Maybe you could put him onto Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories, which are about the adventures of a French Lord Flashheart type in the Napoleonic wars. They're very Flashman-esque, though not as dark. Tracking down a physical copy might be hard since they've gone out of print but they're easy and free to get from Gutenberg. Then if he likes those, recommend him Flashy. Blackadder isn't a literal rapist, though, and his negative traits tend to be portrayed as far more funny than loathsome. Might give the Brigadier books a go, though.
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Dec 19, 2015 04:10
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Zesty Mordant posted:I'll give this to you, it was my first Vonnegut and I was like 14. I'd put BoC in the essentials list, but probably behind Galapagos. I also think Mother Night is horrendously underrated.
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Dec 19, 2015 05:58
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Secret Agent X23 posted:I also think Mother Night is horrendously underrated. So it goes lol
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Dec 19, 2015 09:20
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Darth Walrus posted:Too obvious, sorry. He's read those. I totally agree about Flashman, I get that he's supposed to be awful, but I just couldn't get past how thoroughly vile and awful he was. Ok, back to you Dad. Would he like James Lee Burke? The Dave Robicheaux books are very good.
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Dec 19, 2015 14:17
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If Flashman is out, how about Patrick O'Brian? Depends on his tolerance for obscure nautical terminology, of course.
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Dec 19, 2015 18:27
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Selachian posted:If Flashman is out, how about Patrick O'Brian? Depends on his tolerance for obscure nautical terminology, of course. Sorry, already devoured. Though that may help you further calibrate the sort of books he's interested in.
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Dec 19, 2015 19:23
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Frederick Forsyth?
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Dec 20, 2015 00:38
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Darth Walrus posted:Sorry, already devoured. Though that may help you further calibrate the sort of books he's interested in. How about some writers who play in similar waters, then? Has he tried Hornblower? There's also Alexander Kent's Bolitho books or Dudley Pope's Ramage books in the same Age-of-Sail-adventure line. One other possibility if you want to try something a bit different: Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste books, which are about a swashbuckling mercenary soldier in 17th-century Spain. Alatriste is a bit morally gray, but he's nowhere near as bad as Flashman.
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Dec 21, 2015 00:07
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Honestly, Flashman is only offputtingly reprehensible in the first book and in the slavery instalment, the character is toned down a lot as the series progresses. What about Stephenson's Baroque Cycle or, if he wants to read a contemporary shooty-shoot bang bang book, Reamde?
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Dec 21, 2015 01:14
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loquacius posted:Just signed up for Goodreads to see what the cold unfeeling machine thinks I should read next. It spat a whole bunch of recommendations at me which I have heard nothing about; I trust Big Data and everything but I thought I'd ask some randos on a website I use to vet them for me. I like horrible genre-fiction series (most recently I loved the poo poo out of the first three books of the Gentlemen Bastards books) so I picked a few out of Goodreads' rankings that seemed interesting from their descriptions and had decent ratings; which of these series is most worth my time? Alternately, do they all suck? Thanks! First Law is really good, though imo it doesn't really completely shine until the 2nd/3rd book when you realize what's going on. His standalone books are amazing and even better than First Law so check them out. Best Served Cold is one of my favorites but Heroes and Red Country are also really good. Elantris is/has getting a re-release since it was like one of his first books so it's a little rough, so make sure to go for the re-release. Maybe instead, I'd say maybe start his Stormlight series and read some of his shorts like Perfect State, Rithmatist, and Emperor's Soul first, since, y'know, they're short and good. I really like Night Angel series but it's sort of male wish-fulfillment super-assassin power-fantasy. Sort of like Dresden is though even more so. I really enjoyed it though I admit it's "trashy" in that respect, but it "feels good man". I'd also through a similar series like Powder Mage trilogy there which is very Sanderson-esque (I think he was one of his students or friends). It's pretty neat in that it starts with a Coup and just escalates. It definitely has flaws, especially some some latter character/subplot issues, but does a good mix conflicting powers with decent characters: Sorcerers and Power Mages--the latter has weird injesting gunpowder and controlling bullets powers (Powder Mages) who're good at killing the former, and the former being more traditional magic. Xaris fucked around with this message at 11:23 on Dec 21, 2015 |
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Dec 21, 2015 11:18
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