Ms Adequate posted:

I, too, come to beseech the wise and learned goons for recommendations for my Christmas list. I am always especially interested in sci-fi as a whole (The household already has a decent collection of genre classics so more off-beat, overlooked, etc. novels would be best), but am currently feeling an urge for cosmic horror, and I have always had a fascination for stories of mysterious, lost, or dead places; or the process by which those states of being come about. So, sci-fi as a whole, with an emphasis on Lovecraftian, Dying Earth, and apocalyptic fiction.

My thanks in advance!

Ms Adequate posted:

I, too, come to beseech the wise and learned goons for recommendations for my Christmas list. I am always especially interested in sci-fi as a whole (The household already has a decent collection of genre classics so more off-beat, overlooked, etc. novels would be best), but am currently feeling an urge for cosmic horror, and I have always had a fascination for stories of mysterious, lost, or dead places; or the process by which those states of being come about. So, sci-fi as a whole, with an emphasis on Lovecraftian, Dying Earth, and apocalyptic fiction.

My thanks in advance!

tuyop posted:

For fiction:
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu is an epic “silkpunk” fantasy about an opportunistic bandit rebelling against a corrupt empire. Set in a fantastical medieval SE Asia, lots of leftist themes and ideas played with brilliantly.

Radicalized by Cory Doctorow is a series of short stories about radicalization. I believe I understand your husband based on your description and he’ll find these very enjoyable.

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue is about a village that has its water poisoned by an oil company in a fictional West African country. The surreality of the experiences of the villagers is complimented with some light magical realism.

For non-fiction:
Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674241053
This is an incredible book about how capital captured public health in New Orleans and let Yellow Fever roll through the population for 100 years. Olivarius coins the term “immunocapitalism” to describe the system of privilege and perverse incentives that made this so stable and destructive. The parallels to the present are clear.

The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels
I think the blurb is perfect:

It’s public domain and available as audiobooks through Librivox so I wouldn’t buy it anywhere but it’s an excellent look at how far conditions can decline for us.

He’s likely read it, so it’s last but: The Dawn of Everything by Davids Graeber and Wengrow is an ambitious work on the history of anthropology and modern political philosophy, based on new breakthroughs in archaeology. I’ve probably ruined it, but in there is the story of how Indigenous North American political economy fueled the Enlightenment and the foundations of liberal philosophy (which, of course, led to the age of revolutions and the independence of the US). It’s written beautifully and cites hard evidence from all over the world that you don’t need violent hierarchies to run any kind of society worth living in. It’s kind of a masterpiece and the only issue is there were supposed to be three volumes but Graeber died of something.

boquiabierta posted:

Thank you, these all sound great! I bought him Radicalized and am noting the others to tell him to put on his list.

Selachian posted:

You might want to look into M. John Harrison, particularly Viriconium or The Centauri Device. Or Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy.

Or if you want to go really old school, have you read Clark Ashton Smith?

fez_machine posted:

Dunsany's Pegana books were hugely influential on Lovecraft and still rule today even as proto-fantasy

You'll love basically anything by Michael Cisco

You might enjoy the Malazan books. There's a big emphasis on mysterious, lost or dead places.

Valancourt's re-releases of Robert Westall's horror fiction.

The Vampire Hunter D novels

City Under The Stars

Piranesi

The House On The Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Opopanax posted:

That would be the aubrey maturin books

Selachian posted:

David Cordingly's Under the Black Flag is a really good history of the Golden Age of Piracy in the Americas if he might be interested in that sort of thing.

tuyop posted:

Oh man, I think Empire of Blue Water might be perfect for this. It’s about the rise and fall of captain morgan, including harrowing land expeditions to attack Spanish cities and stuff.

Gnoman posted:

Hard to go wrong with the classic Bounty trilogy by Nordhoff.. The middle book, Men Against The Sea, in particular sounds fitting.

yaffle posted:

Eric Newby's "The last Grain Race" might suit. At 16 (18 maybe?) he signs on as crew on the sailing ship Moshulu to bring grain from Australia back to Europe in 1938. He might also enjoy "Love and War in the Apennines" which take up where The Last Grain Race leaves off (more or less) and is about Newby's experiences during the war.

Khizan posted:

Maybe mountain climbing stuff like Into Thin Air? It’s a similar kind of non-fiction adventure story, and the kind of thing I definitely think of as prime dad lit.

rollick posted:

I liked the Thor Heyerdahl books about the Kon Tiki and Ra expeditions -- building boats with pre-industrial technology and sailing across the ocean. Tim Severin also did something similar, retracing famous voyages.

Other ideas: The Perfect Storm by Sebastien Junger (sea rescue), The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (space travel), maybe Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods too (just a light travelogue about a funny guy going hiking).

If he might like books that have been made into Tom Hanks vehicles, could try A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin, Lost Moon by Jim Lovell or even Band of Brothers by Stephen A. Ambrose.

I feel like polar exploration and the space race are both classic dad fixations, so if he's into one of them there's like a million books out there for him.

(e: the number one classic dad fixation is obviously World War II, followed by Some Other War (misc), and the Roman Empire. But exploration books are up there).

escape artist posted:

Sounds like he might be into Nathanial Philbrick's nonfiction

RCarr posted:

Looking for recommendations for anything similar to Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books.

RCarr posted:

Looking for recommendations for anything similar to Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books.

RCarr posted:

Looking for recommendations for anything similar to Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Going slightly afield though Michener and James Clavell both wrote similar stuff set in Asia and the Pacific that probably matches better in tone. Check out _Shogun_, boomer dads will love it.

C-Euro posted:

Forgot to say thanks for the book ideas for my dad, scooped up something by Edward Rutherford for him.

I would have loved to have gotten him a copy of Shogun, but Hulu is putting out a Shogun miniseries early next year. Which owns except for the fact that now everyone is rushing out to buy copies of the book and they seem to be sold out all over the place

malnourish posted:

Just finished Mort today and rightly enjoyed it

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

deep dish peat moss posted:

Maybe they're just following Ray Bradbury's advice that it's impossible to write 52 bad novels in a row

Magnetic North posted:

Odd, how come I never heard of the 8-ish good books he wrote before Fahrenheit?

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme

fez_machine posted:

The Wire writer's room had a bunch of authors in the vein you're looking for:
George Pelecanos
Dennis Lehane

Azhais posted:

And nobody ever talks about Farenheit 1-450

Magnetic North posted:

Bookish posted:

I'm in need of a good sci fi book for a book club for ladies who have never read science fiction before. I was thinking maybe of Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro, but I'm worried that they will look it up ahead of time and I feel that one is best if you read it without knowing anything about it. I don't trust those bitches! Any ideas? I love science fiction but I guess I'm trying to think of something more entry level but also just a good read.

Bookish posted:

I'm in need of a good sci fi book for a book club for ladies who have never read science fiction before. I was thinking maybe of Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro, but I'm worried that they will look it up ahead of time and I feel that one is best if you read it without knowing anything about it. I don't trust those bitches! Any ideas? I love science fiction but I guess I'm trying to think of something more entry level but also just a good read.

Bookish posted:

I'm in need of a good sci fi book for a book club for ladies who have never read science fiction before. I was thinking maybe of Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro, but I'm worried that they will look it up ahead of time and I feel that one is best if you read it without knowing anything about it. I don't trust those bitches! Any ideas? I love science fiction but I guess I'm trying to think of something more entry level but also just a good read.

caspergers posted:

The audiobook or the dramatization? I listened to the latter from audible recently, it was my first intro to prattchet and I liked it too. As an American I delight in regional English accents and dramatizations are a good way to enjoy that.

tuyop posted:

Friend,, you should definitely read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

caspergers posted:

Need a non-cliche crime thiller from an author who doesn't write a thousand books a year. A never ending bibliography is a huge red flag for me. Something that has a good character arc/development rather than just bodies with hasty backgrounds to serve a pristine plot. But also something with strong plot structure. Gimme