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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? Any well-written vampire novel would be great, but I'd prefer one with a wide, epic scope that really embraces the whole 'immortality' aspect of the vampire mythos. I've previously read the following: You might check out "Those Who Hunt The Night" by Barbara Hambly. The first in the series, it was published quite a while ago, but another was added recently.
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Mar 22, 2013 01:16
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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? Let the Right One In is excellent. I hated them, but a fair number of people enjoyed The Passage and The Strain, so those might be worth a look, and the former certainly deals with a good-sized chunk of time.
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Mar 22, 2013 01:22
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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? Any well-written vampire novel would be great, but I'd prefer one with a wide, epic scope that really embraces the whole 'immortality' aspect of the vampire mythos. I've previously read the following: I really liked Vampire$, but I gotta admit it doesn't portray the vampires in a particularly sympathetic light or embrace the immortality aspect.
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Mar 22, 2013 01:58
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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? Any well-written vampire novel would be great, but I'd prefer one with a wide, epic scope that really embraces the whole 'immortality' aspect of the vampire mythos. I've previously read the following: As funkybottoms said, you should try Cronin's The Passage. The span of time it covers isn't huge, but it is like a century or so.
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Mar 22, 2013 02:04
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If you like YA fiction I had a lot of fun reading Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series. It involves Vampires about 95% of the time, the main character is a vampire.
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Mar 22, 2013 02:23
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Sorry, but Dracula and Salem's Lot are the best vampire books I have ever read (and I have read a lot of them). I am Legend is close, but it is more a zombie book to me (had a huge influence on Romero).
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Mar 22, 2013 02:58
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Edit: ^^^^Does Salem pick up at some point? I know I'm still in the first ~5% of the book but I'm accustomed to King hooking you in more or less right away, at least when he's on his game Thanks for all the recommendations everyone! My Kindle just got three new books thrown on it. funkybottoms posted:Let the Right One In is excellent. I hated them, but a fair number of people enjoyed The Passage and The Strain, so those might be worth a look, and the former certainly deals with a good-sized chunk of time. Is the novel very different from the film? I saw the Swedish version and kinda liked it, though admittedly less as a vampire-centric work of fiction and more as a bizarre coming-of-age tale. sentientcarbon fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 03:06
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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? Any well-written vampire novel would be great, but I'd prefer one with a wide, epic scope that really embraces the whole 'immortality' aspect of the vampire mythos. I've previously read the following: This doesn't have anything to do with vampires at all but if you like stories that span a long time I would recommend Cloud Atlas. I'm reading it right now and loving the hell out of it.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:06
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sentientcarbon posted:Can anyone recommend me a well-done vampire novel or series of novels? There is a novel by Steven Brust which unfortunately is so dead clever that I have to hide the loving title behind a spoiler tag: Agyar. The reason it has to be spoilered is that it is an implicit vampire novel; the titular main character is also the narrator, of the rather unreliable type, and while all the standard elements of the common vampire mythos are present none are ever named directly and the reader has to recognize them for himself.
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Mar 22, 2013 08:20
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sentientcarbon posted:
I like Let The Right One In, book and film, a lot. I think it's safe to say they're the same, as much as they can be given the length differences, etc. I just finished Memory of Light. I've read Song of Ice and Fire and liked both it and WoT a lot. My wife is recommending I read The Belgariad and I was wondering what you all think of it. Other than that one, any other big fantasy series I should consider? I tend to like fairly traditional fantasy, with characters you can really identify with. I also like magic as a big component. Edit: This isn't a recommendation, just a question. I did most of my fantasy reading when I was much younger, and so I don't remember many of what I read, but one series that has always stuck with me is Lloyd Alexander's Westmark series. Anyone else here read those? I loved them when I was young, but I wonder how they would read now. Old Janx Spirit fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 21:39
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Old Janx Spirit posted:I just finished Memory of Light. I've read Song of Ice and Fire and liked both it and WoT a lot. My wife is recommending I read The Belgariad and I was wondering what you all think of it. Other than that one, any other big fantasy series I should consider? I tend to like fairly traditional fantasy, with characters you can really identify with. I also like magic as a big component.
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Mar 22, 2013 22:14
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I'm currently reading the recently released Ghana Must Go, and, as a result of how much I'm enjoying it and today's awful news of Chinua Achebe's death, I've been thinking more of African literature. I haven't read much, but I did love Things Fall Apart so anything from that era (but I'll take any recommendation whatsoever), would be great. Thanks.
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Mar 23, 2013 02:08
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Dead Man Saloon posted:I'm currently reading the recently released Ghana Must Go, and, as a result of how much I'm enjoying it and today's awful news of Chinua Achebe's death, I've been thinking more of African literature. I've heard nothing but good things about Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat. But anything under the African Writers Series banner is usually good, although they're mostly out of print.
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Mar 23, 2013 02:53
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Old Janx Spirit posted:I just finished Memory of Light. I've read Song of Ice and Fire and liked both it and WoT a lot. My wife is recommending I read The Belgariad and I was wondering what you all think of it. Other than that one, any other big fantasy series I should consider? I tend to like fairly traditional fantasy, with characters you can really identify with. I also like magic as a big component. From the somewhat like George R R Martin file:
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Mar 23, 2013 04:02
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Lex Talionis posted:[*]Glen Cook, Black Company series. Mercenaries working for the bad guys in an epic fantasy. Just be aware that this stops being true past the first trilogy, and the series has a pretty big dip in quality. In my opinion the last two books go back to being good but just be aware that to read the entire series you'll have to slog through four mediocre books. Many people read the original trilogy and The Silver Spike only.
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Mar 23, 2013 04:06
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Old Janx Spirit posted:I just finished Memory of Light. I've read Song of Ice and Fire and liked both it and WoT a lot. My wife is recommending I read The Belgariad and I was wondering what you all think of it. Other than that one, any other big fantasy series I should consider? I tend to like fairly traditional fantasy, with characters you can really identify with. I also like magic as a big component. I'm fairly new to fantasy series, so I can't really give you any recommendations, (if you don't mind Darker Fantasy, I did enjoy C.S. Friedman's Magister Trilogy, and yes, read Le Guin's Earthsea books, I should go finish those myself) but I really do not recommend the Belgariad. I only read the first two books and stopped there. While I liked the premise, when I put down the second book I came to the epiphany, "I just read the first book again. Very little happened." Conflict felt sort of half baked to me.
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Mar 23, 2013 17:23
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Old Janx Spirit posted:Other than that one, any other big fantasy series I should consider? I tend to like fairly traditional fantasy, with characters you can really identify with. I also like magic as a big component. For a long series, The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Her writing style isn't for everyone, but it's worth trying. Carol Berg's work has shorter series and isn't what I'd call "traditional", but she writes excellent characters. The Collegia Magicka trilogy in particular features a mystery that starts out with investigating a failed assassination attempt and ultimately gets into the very nature of the world's magic. The Nightrunner books by Lynn Flewelling also have great characters, but though there are six books in the series, the fourth and fifth are pretty bad so you may want to stick to the first three.
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Mar 23, 2013 18:33
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Lex Talionis posted:Do not read the Belgariad. People remember it fondly because they read it when they were teens, but there are many epic fantasy series that are better. I think that the Belgariad is fine as a "beach novel" set of books. I think it's important to remember that it came out in 1982, making it  31 years old. Picking it up now, there's a lot of stuff that seems formulaic (and there's a lot of stuff that IS formulaic), but as I said in another post once, it was one of the first US published LOTR-style fantasies, predating almost all the big fantasy series other than Sword of Shannara. For example, Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Weis and Hickman) came out in 1984, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master (Feist) was released in the US in 1986 (the UK version, which combines the two, came out in 1982, so most Americans wouldn't have had access to it), Forgotten Realms and related novels started showing up in 1987... Having re-read it fairly recently, I can honestly say it held up better than the Riftwar saga and the Shannara series, but definitely, it's the fantasy equivalent of a trashy summer novel. Taken for what it's worth, it's enjoyable, especially when you realize that a lot of the tropes that seem so tired now were fresh and new when the book originally came out. Certainly, you can do better quality-wise, but as an early example of the genre, it isn't at all bad. General Goon question--can you think of any other "blockbuster" (for lack of a better word) fantasy series that came out earlier?
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Mar 23, 2013 18:46
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Zola posted:I think that the Belgariad is fine as a "beach novel" set of books. I think it's important to remember that it came out in 1982, making it The first Earthsea book came out in 1968.
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Mar 23, 2013 19:19
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Quidnose posted:Are you specifically looking at avoiding reading the legend itself due to time constraints? I'm fairly certain this was the version of the tale I read in middle school, and I'm sure it'd be a quick read to get the basics now: Radio! posted:This is the translation I've always seen recommended: Hieronymous Alloy posted:The seminal critical essay about Beowulf is actually by J.R.R. Tolkien and it is here: Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
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Mar 23, 2013 19:44
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sentientcarbon posted:Edit: ^^^^Does Salem pick up at some point? I know I'm still in the first ~5% of the book but I'm accustomed to King hooking you in more or less right away, at least when he's on his game It's been a while, but if definitely is worth the build-up. He spends a while building up most of the town, characters, the local legends and hinting at backstory. But by the time you hit 100 pages it should be rolling smoothly. 'Salem's Lot is a pretty important landmark for modern vampire lit, from what I understand. It's what really started getting me into King and is one of his best earlier novels (The Stand being my favorite). Also, I think it sets up some aspects of The Dark Tower series, but I haven't read those yet.
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Mar 24, 2013 01:17
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Smoking Crow posted:The first Earthsea book came out in 1968. I knew someone was going to post that. I don't count it in the "blockbuster" fantasy series because it's not a LOTR-type takeoff. It's an excellent trilogy, though.
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Mar 24, 2013 03:05
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Zola posted:I knew someone was going to post that.
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Mar 24, 2013 03:32
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Lex Talionis posted:OK, well there's the first Thomas Covenant books (like them or not...I lean towards not...they at least are trying something different than Tolkien within the context of the epic fantasy subgenre). I don't really know how closely something has to hew to LOTR to meet your criteria but Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy also deserves mention. Guy Gavriel Kay's Finovar Tapestry trilogy also came out about the same time as the Belgariad. Definitely I'd count the Thomas Covenant books. The Riddlemaster trilogy is just great. I'm debating to myself whether it fits into that LOTR blockbuster mode--according to Wikipedia, it does fit into the High Fantasy category. I think I wouldn't have included it just because I was thinking more in terms of an intrepid band of heroes on a quest, which is what I actually meant by "blockbuster" LOTR, you know, the stuff that got done to death in later TSR novels. The point about Belgariad, though, was that it was definitely one of the early blockbuster fantasy series, so what might now appear to be a tired old retelling was actually pretty fresh and exciting when it came out.
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Mar 24, 2013 04:26
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I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story. My favorites in this category are House of Leaves, The Raw Shark Texts and Blindness. Currently reading The Shadow of the Torturer and really like how it's written. Any suggestions on where to go next?
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Mar 24, 2013 16:45
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Franchescanado posted:It's been a while, but if definitely is worth the build-up. He spends a while building up most of the town, characters, the local legends and hinting at backstory. But by the time you hit 100 pages it should be rolling smoothly. Yeah, one of the characters shows up in book five of The Dark Tower. Obviously going to be a spoiler re: who survives Salem's Lot: Father Callahan
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Mar 24, 2013 16:52
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The Malazan books are weird in that way. it starts in the middle, jumps around, and has really flowery odd prose. You also want to look at random Phillip K. Dick stories considering they are a product of a truly twisted mind. Zealazny's Lord of Light. Peter Watt's Blindsight goes in the same direction, only in ideas rather than prose. If you're looking for more stylistic stretching, Harlan Ellison has always been one to disregard common tropes and labeling.
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Mar 24, 2013 16:55
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Zedlic posted:I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story.
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Mar 24, 2013 17:08
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Zedlic posted:Currently reading The Shadow of the Torturer and really like how it's written. Any suggestions on where to go next? Keep reading the Sun books. A few of my other favorite examples are A Scanner Darkly, The Tin Drum and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for a slightly different take on the idea. And PKD, as stated above, is good for general WTFery, and if you want something historically hosed up, holler at Les Chants de Maldoror. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Mar 24, 2013 |
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Mar 24, 2013 17:29
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Zedlic posted:I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story. If you haven't read it before, Sterne's Tristram Shandy would be good. Nabokov's Pale Fire, too.
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Mar 24, 2013 17:30
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Thanks everyone; always good suggestions to be had in this thread.
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Mar 24, 2013 19:35
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Zedlic posted:I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story. Why don't you try Joyce's Ulysses? Unless you're only looking for more modern stuff. It's kind of the gold standard for that kind of thing.
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Mar 25, 2013 01:16
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Old Janx Spirit posted:Why don't you try Joyce's Ulysses? Unless you're only looking for more modern stuff. It's kind of the gold standard for that kind of thing. Anything by Faulkner is good for that, too.
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Mar 25, 2013 01:32
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Zedlic posted:I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story. Kurt Vonnegut is pretty famous for this. Check out Cat's Cradle for a narrator obsessed with a fictional religion that embraces the absurd. Also seconding The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Narrator is an autistic child who finds comfort in mathematics. One many people haven't read is James Gunn's The Toy Collecter. A guy becomes a drug dealer to afford a lifestyle of collecting toys to reclaim his childhood. Very dark, and still funny. Similar to his film Super in tone, but grittier. Anything by Daniel Handler for adults. The Basic Eight is like a darker version of Heathers set in the 90's, Adverbs is a collection of intertwined stories where questionable narration is a major focus, and Watch Your Mouth is an unreliable narrator with the first half of the book is told in opera form, second a twelve step program. Watch Your Mouth is my favorite, but it's extremely hosed up  , even if it's well written and funny.Also, Dice Man is alright. It's an interesting premise and the narrator is a horrible person.
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Mar 25, 2013 01:49
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Zedlic posted:I am looking for books that play with the medium in some way. Unreliable narrators, strange chronological order, stylistic weirdness, anything that twists and bends the medium while using it to tell a story. How could I forget Infinite Jest? Lots of unreliable narrators, messing with chronology, and general weirdness. Plus it's one of the best novels ever written.
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Mar 25, 2013 20:59
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I want to buy a book for my dad for his birthday. I don't really dig his taste in fiction (Dean Koontz et al) but he enjoys science/math books as well. Stuff I've gotten him in the past that he claims to have enjoyed are: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity by David Foster Wallace and some book about the flu I've forgotten the name of. I'm wondering if you guys have any similar popular-science-type recommendations. Thanks!
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Mar 26, 2013 02:09
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Angstronaut posted:I want to buy a book for my dad for his birthday. I don't really dig his taste in fiction (Dean Koontz et al) but he enjoys science/math books as well. Stuff I've gotten him in the past that he claims to have enjoyed are: I've always enjoyed Richard P. Feynman's auto-biography Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, which isn't directly about science but involves anecdotal first-hand accounts of interactions with the 20th century's most well-known physicists. Also because Feynman was a brilliant physicist in his own right, a lot of science does spill out onto his writings. The other part of the book are accounts of interesting escapades in his life.
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Mar 26, 2013 09:40
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Angstronaut posted:I'm wondering if you guys have any similar popular-science-type recommendations. Thanks! Ghost Map is the flu book and the author is Steven Johnson, whose Invention of Air is also really good. Naked Statistics just recently came out and looks awesome, but I haven't read it yet, and since he likes math, Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise might be worth a look. Similar things I've enjoyed are The Killer of Little Shepherds, Blood Work, King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things, The Tiger, A History of the World in 100 Objects, and pretty much any Mary Roach or Simon Winchester
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Mar 26, 2013 11:15
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Angstronaut posted:I want to buy a book for my dad for his birthday. I don't really dig his taste in fiction (Dean Koontz et al) but he enjoys science/math books as well. Stuff I've gotten him in the past that he claims to have enjoyed are: Since he likes books about the flu, science, and horror fiction (Dean Koontz), let me recommend one of the scariest non-fiction books you can read, Spillover: Animal Infections nd the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. "From Amazon posted:A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases. Also Mary Roach has several other books that he may like (if he hasn't read them yet).
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Mar 26, 2013 13:57
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Furious Lobster posted:I've always enjoyed Richard P. Feynman's auto-biography Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, which isn't directly about science but involves anecdotal first-hand accounts of interactions with the 20th century's most well-known physicists. Also because Feynman was a brilliant physicist in his own right, a lot of science does spill out onto his writings. The other part of the book are accounts of interesting escapades in his life. This got to be my recommendation as well. It's an absolutely fantastic book.
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Mar 26, 2013 16:14
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