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I'm interested in stories that deal with infinity, eternity, and related concepts -- truly enormous expanses of time and space, or huge numbers more generally. Such as Borges' Library of Babel, and Steven Peck's Short Stay in Hell (which is based on the Borges story).
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Mar 31, 2023 04:32
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ScienceSeagull posted:I'm interested in stories that deal with infinity, eternity, and related concepts -- truly enormous expanses of time and space, or huge numbers more generally. Such as Borges' Library of Babel, and Steven Peck's Short Stay in Hell (which is based on the Borges story). Greg Egan’s whole thing is that. Check out Diaspora for one focused on space.
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Mar 31, 2023 10:52
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ScienceSeagull posted:I'm interested in stories that deal with infinity, eternity, and related concepts -- truly enormous expanses of time and space, or huge numbers more generally. Such as Borges' Library of Babel, and Steven Peck's Short Stay in Hell (which is based on the Borges story). The sequels to The Three Body Problem actually span billions of years in a way that makes narrative sense
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Mar 31, 2023 20:35
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Dune does as well, though not really in ways where you feel the expanse of time
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Mar 31, 2023 21:53
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ScienceSeagull posted:I'm interested in stories that deal with infinity, eternity, and related concepts -- truly enormous expanses of time and space, or huge numbers more generally. Such as Borges' Library of Babel, and Steven Peck's Short Stay in Hell (which is based on the Borges story). Check out: Olaf Stapeldon Stephen Baxter Alistair Reynolds (especially House of Suns)
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Apr 2, 2023 09:37
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fez_machine posted:Check out:
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Apr 4, 2023 20:34
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I know this is a little broad, but hoping to get some recs. I really enjoy stories (both fiction and non-fiction), of people surviving incredibly harsh conditions over a long term. I'm more interested in "man-made" (for lack of a better term) situations than "natural" ones; for example I just read "Five Years to Freedom" by James Rowe and enjoyed it, I'd be less interested in "I survived in the wilderness" type stuff. Some books in this style I've really enjoyed -The Road by McCarthy -A Storm of Steel by Unger -Roadside Picnic (I feel like it's movie adaption, STALKER, had more of the vibes I'm going for) -The Worst Hard Time by Egan (this one is a natural disaster but is not set in the wilderness so it's all good) Fiction and non-fiction are both welcome.
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Apr 6, 2023 22:22
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It's not exactly that but if you haven't read Fantasticland you might enjoy that one
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Apr 6, 2023 23:53
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You might like The 900 Days, about the Siege of Leningrad
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Apr 7, 2023 03:01
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Kvlt! posted:I know this is a little broad, but hoping to get some recs. I would recommend Engine Summer as a long shot. Sorrowland’s first two acts should scratch that itch and it’s a pretty good book Doggerland would probably fit the bill the best, being kind of a The Road but with wind turbines. I loved it and recalling its perfect sense of desolation makes me want to read it again.
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Apr 7, 2023 03:39
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ScienceSeagull posted:I'm interested in stories that deal with infinity, eternity, and related concepts -- truly enormous expanses of time and space, or huge numbers more generally. Such as Borges' Library of Babel, and Steven Peck's Short Stay in Hell (which is based on the Borges story). probably this book but with the caveat that i haven't actually read it myself yet: https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Billion-Days-Hundred-Nights/dp/142154931X
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Apr 7, 2023 05:19
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Kvlt! posted:I know this is a little broad, but hoping to get some recs. Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee is a good one, and short enough to read in one sitting. Maybe also The Plague by Camus?
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Apr 7, 2023 10:18
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Hello thread, I am leaving for a vacation, and would like to stock up my e-reader with good books. Will be reading while traveling, so nothing too too cerebral. Generally, I enjoy the same fantasy/sci fi as the general forum consensus (Abercrombie, Gideon the Ninth, Gene Wolfe), noire-y mysteries with a focus on bureaucracy/the system (Six Four, All She Was Worth), and well-researched historical fiction (Mary Renault, Tom Holt). Anyone read something in any of those categories recently they want to evangelize?
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Apr 14, 2023 01:06
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7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
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Apr 14, 2023 01:41
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, I wish I could read The Grace of Kings again for the first time. I’m now like 6000 pages into that world and I’m still on the edge of my seat. The whole series is a masterpiece and really stretches the bounds of its genre imo.
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Apr 14, 2023 01:43
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, I'll speak up for the Eisenhorn novels. A sci-fi detective series about an Inquisitor whose investigations into the monstrous cults which worship blasphemous powers from beyond our universe often forces him to use measures which put him at odds with the very organizations he's sworn to protect. They blend pulpy sci-fi with pulpy detective stuff really well. They are Warhammer 40k novels. But as well as being widely regarded as some of the best novels in the franchise, the series started really early on, playing a major part in defining the setting in their own right, so they don't expect you to be familiar with the universe. Anything you need to understand is explained.
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Apr 14, 2023 02:00
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, Well, if you haven't read Bridge of Birds, read Bridge of Birds. And if you just want something pulpy and fun, Will Wight's Cradle series is good times.
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Apr 14, 2023 04:00
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, Have you read Last Seen Wearing.. by Hillary Waugh or the Martin Beck books?
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Apr 14, 2023 04:39
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series. yaffle fucked around with this message at 12:16 on Apr 14, 2023 |
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Apr 14, 2023 05:06
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, Oh and a shorter rec: The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
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Apr 14, 2023 10:01
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Smiling Knight posted:Will be reading while traveling, so nothing too too cerebral. tuyop posted:Oh and a shorter rec: The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe I know the OP said they enjoy Gene Wolfe but lmao
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Apr 14, 2023 11:47
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fez_machine posted:I know the OP said they enjoy Gene Wolfe but lmao I don’t know, I found it to be an accessible, deep, and satisfying read. Not saying that it’s everyone’s vacation fare, personally I usually go for something like Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead or Tales From the Hinterland but the op didn’t ask for contemporary dark fantasy.
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Apr 14, 2023 11:59
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Smiling Knight posted:Hello thread, If you haven't grabbed it already, the big title I see missing there is Between Two Fires, historical fantasy. https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Fires-Christopher-Buehlman/dp/B08C9D71PS Also of course anyone who likes Renault should read Aubrey/ Maturin but I'm going to assume you already have.
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Apr 14, 2023 12:08
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:If you haven't grabbed it already, the big title I see missing there is Between Two Fires, historical fantasy. I saw while browsing the thread earlier, and I read it last month! Quite fun! And the Aubrey / Maturin are actually a big gap of mine. I am going to England, seems like an ideal time to rectify that. All these recommendations are great, I will stock up. Thank you all.
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Apr 15, 2023 00:16
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I’m looking for mystery thrillers that are like any of Gillian Flynn’s books (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, and Dark Places). Super dark, twisty, well written, twists you don’t see coming, wholly and utterly consuming. I’ve read some other thrillers lately that just haven’t done it for me (Verity, The Silent Patient, a few by Kristen Lepionka). I’ve read the Girl on the Train and the Couple Next Door and felt pretty meh about them. I think I’ve read one or two by Ruth Ware that didn’t really do much for me. I thought A Flicker in the Dark and The Girls Are All So Nice Here were pretty bad. I liked I Have Some Questions For You (new by Rebecca Makkai) but thought it was kinda slow in the middle. Dunno if it was the time of my life that I read the Gillian Flynns but I’ve been searching for that feeling again to no avail. Any suggestions? edit: felt this way about The Push recently too even though it's not really a mystery thriller in the same way, but I tore through it and it hosed me up afterwards, so something like that works too boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Apr 21, 2023 |
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Apr 21, 2023 14:05
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Maybe Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Takarczuk. Would be a bit of a change from your examples but it’s still a thriller at its core
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Apr 21, 2023 14:24
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Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books come to mind.
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Apr 21, 2023 17:01
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I would be keen to know too cos I've had similar experience of being disappointed by many of those other authors you name. A few you could try that I've loved and feel similar enough in terms of the reading experience even if not strictly in terms of genre: Tana French 'The Searcher', Dan Simmons 'Song of Kali', Catriona Ward 'Sundial', Iain Reid 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things'.
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Apr 23, 2023 09:25
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Ooo kind of a left field suggestion but try Piranesi. Excellent book revolving around a weird mystery. But it definitely qualifies as weird fiction. Possibly The city and the city by China Miéville if weirdness is on the menu.
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Apr 23, 2023 11:52
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boquiabierta posted:I’m looking for mystery thrillers that are like any of Gillian Flynn’s books (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, and Dark Places). Super dark, twisty, well written, twists you don’t see coming, wholly and utterly consuming. Try Dennis Lehane. He wrote Mystic River, which was turned into an excellent film, and Shutter Island, which was turned into a fantastic film. Staff writer on The Wire, too. I'd recommend both of those books.
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Apr 23, 2023 15:17
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I want to read someone's collected essays and articles, hopefully with at least a few penetrating book/movie reviews, maybe even music reviews.
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Apr 24, 2023 13:37
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FPyat posted:I want to read someone's collected essays and articles, hopefully with at least a few penetrating book/movie reviews, maybe even music reviews. I really enjoyed The Wave in the Mind by Ursula Le Guin, and it's got great essays on Tolkein, Tolstoy, and Twain (among others).
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Apr 24, 2023 14:56
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FPyat posted:I want to read someone's collected essays and articles, hopefully with at least a few penetrating book/movie reviews, maybe even music reviews. How modern? My desert island book is Cultural Amnesia by Clive James. It's obscenely good - 100 or so short biographical sketches of (mainly) thinkers and writers, with then a short quote that caught James' eye, followed by a few pages of his own thoughts and musings. It's hard to explain just how good it is. It's a 20th C book (rather than 21st), and dominated by the thinkers lost in the middle years of that century. Lots in there about authors and auteurs, also some (older) music. 
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Apr 24, 2023 16:24
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FPyat posted:I want to read someone's collected essays and articles, hopefully with at least a few penetrating book/movie reviews, maybe even music reviews. I found Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror quite good and illuminating. All those types of essays are there, feminist focus with some leftist takes and some liberal takes.
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Apr 24, 2023 16:46
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tuyop posted:I found Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror quite good and illuminating. All those types of essays are there, feminist focus with some leftist takes and some liberal takes. Does she have any essays about her slaves?
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Apr 24, 2023 19:34
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COPE 27 posted:Does she have any essays about her slaves? I think so, it’s one about plantation weddings iirc.
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Apr 25, 2023 00:26
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boquiabierta posted:I’m looking for mystery thrillers that are like any of Gillian Flynn’s books (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, and Dark Places). Super dark, twisty, well written, twists you don’t see coming, wholly and utterly consuming. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes Also seconding the Ripley recommendation.
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Apr 25, 2023 04:06
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What's a good starting point for the Philip K Dick bibliography? Something a little more narratively clear than I think he's know for. I'm kind of dumb. But not Man in the High Castle, I'm looking for sci fi. Is Ubik a possibility? Or is that one not really for beginners?
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Apr 27, 2023 05:28
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:What's a good starting point for the Philip K Dick bibliography? Something a little more narratively clear than I think he's know for. I'm kind of dumb. But not Man in the High Castle, I'm looking for sci fi. Do Androids Dream is good for an entry (and much better than the admittedly excellent movie), Flow My Tears is a personal favourite, Martian Time Slip, Dr. Bloodmoney, A Scanner Darkly, Time Out of Joint, Now Wait for Last Year, all good stuff. Ubik and the Valis trilogy are a bit more, so if you click with what he's doing then go for it. But honestly Ubik isn't inaccessible or anything so go for it
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Apr 27, 2023 05:49
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:What's a good starting point for the Philip K Dick bibliography? Something a little more narratively clear than I think he's know for. I'm kind of dumb. But not Man in the High Castle, I'm looking for sci fi. His short stories are probably the best place to start for clarity, get one of the collections.
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Apr 27, 2023 07:26
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