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Hey goons, I'm looking for an extensive history of slavery and/or unfree labor across the world. I'm mostly interested in pre 19th century. Thanks in advance.
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Dec 10, 2014 03:53
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I'm looking for something to recommend to my wife's book club. A fictional-ish book involving marxist or anarchist themes... or something along those lines. Any advice? Modern African colonial exploits? Economic coercion? Industrializing societies with marginalized populations? Anything along these or similar lines?
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Dec 10, 2014 05:11
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Any recommendations for books on the supernatural/occult? I don't actually BELIEVE in the stuff, but I think the stories and images are pretty fascinating.
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Dec 10, 2014 05:55
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I'm looking for something similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle, but set in the US. Basically something that highlights an average, modern existence but written in an engaging way. Definitely doesn't have to be some 7 part magnum opus, just something that captures ordinary American life in an enticing way.
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Dec 10, 2014 06:46
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BisQuicken Deluxe posted:I'm looking for something similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle, but set in the US. Basically something that highlights an average, modern existence but written in an engaging way. Definitely doesn't have to be some 7 part magnum opus, just something that captures ordinary American life in an enticing way. I haven't read My Struggle, but "an average, modern existence" is basically the theme of John Updike's "Rabbit" series. Beautifully written too; reading them when I was 18 or so was the first time I found myself consciously appreciating how beautiful the English language could be, even in describing banal mundanity.
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Dec 10, 2014 08:30
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Kudaros posted:I'm looking for something to recommend to my wife's book club. A fictional-ish book involving marxist or anarchist themes... or something along those lines. Any advice? Modern African colonial exploits? Economic coercion? Industrializing societies with marginalized populations? Anything along these or similar lines? If you're okay with steampunk perdido st station
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Dec 10, 2014 09:30
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Elderbean posted:Any recommendations for books on the supernatural/occult? I don't actually BELIEVE in the stuff, but I think the stories and images are pretty fascinating. MacGregor Mathers' The Lesser Key of Solomon. It'll give you a ton of portentous-sounding rituals and fancy magickal sigils to amuse yourself with. (Recommender takes no responsibility in the event that you actually DO summon something!) Kudaros posted:I'm looking for something to recommend to my wife's book club. A fictional-ish book involving marxist or anarchist themes... or something along those lines. Any advice? Modern African colonial exploits? Economic coercion? Industrializing societies with marginalized populations? Anything along these or similar lines? Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed is the first thing that comes to mind. oh uckfay posted:Hey I'm looking for a good book on Circus Freaks or Freaks in general (ever see the Curb your enthusiasm episode Larry buys Ted Danson a book on Freaks? I want a book like that) Ricky Jay's Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women has a couple chapters on freaks and is a good read overall if you're curious about the whole sideshow scene.
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Dec 10, 2014 15:28
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Selachian posted:
Or China Mieville's stuff, Perdido Street Station etc.
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Dec 10, 2014 16:12
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Kudaros posted:I'm looking for something to recommend to my wife's book club. A fictional-ish book involving marxist or anarchist themes... or something along those lines. Any advice? Modern African colonial exploits? Economic coercion? Industrializing societies with marginalized populations? Anything along these or similar lines?
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Dec 10, 2014 18:02
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dammitcharlie posted:Hey goons, I'm looking for an extensive history of slavery and/or unfree labor across the world. I'm mostly interested in pre 19th century. Thanks in advance. I just finished Inhumane Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World by David Brion Davis, which was a really great overview of the history of slavery, but, as its title would suggest, pretty limited geographically to the Americas.
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Dec 10, 2014 22:07
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You know when people in sitcoms used to talk about "trashy romance novels"? I'm looking for some of those. Not classy romance novels. Trashy ones. As an added twist, if you made a scatter point graph with "popularity" on the y axis and "author's writing skill" on the x axis I am specifically looking for the books that would occupy the upper left corner. Terribly written, inexplicably well received by the intended audience. The Transformers of bodice-rippers.
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Dec 11, 2014 00:16
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Danger Mahoney posted:You know when people in sitcoms used to talk about "trashy romance novels"? I'm looking for some of those. Not classy romance novels. Trashy ones. Maybe Fifty Shades of Grey? Literally written as Twilight fan fiction, then the names changed around for publication.
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Dec 11, 2014 00:24
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13Pandora13 posted:Genome by Matt Ridley is a easy but not stupid read. I second this. It's a great book by any standard.
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Dec 11, 2014 03:10
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Danger Mahoney posted:You know when people in sitcoms used to talk about "trashy romance novels"? I'm looking for some of those. Not classy romance novels. Trashy ones. I am going off memory of my mother's bookshelf, so none of these are particularly recent, but you might try: Judith Krantz Jackie Collins Danielle Steel Kathleen Woodiwiss First three were all 80s glam and corporate power struggle themes, last one was weepy bodice rippers.
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Dec 11, 2014 05:04
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My Dad just readthe 3 original Peter Pan Novels and now is reading all of the Oz books. He remembers liking both series as a young adult, and feels like re-reading them. His birthday is come up, and I'd like to get him some book along a similar vein. Not sure where to start looking, or really even how to categorize those stories-- maybe English Fairy Tales? Anyone have any suggestions?
Megasabin fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Dec 11, 2014 |
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Dec 11, 2014 07:07
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He might enjoy the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.
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Dec 11, 2014 07:15
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Kudaros posted:I'm looking for something to recommend to my wife's book club. A fictional-ish book involving marxist or anarchist themes... or something along those lines. Any advice? Modern African colonial exploits? Economic coercion? Industrializing societies with marginalized populations? Anything along these or similar lines? Perhaps Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible? Most of the action takes place in the 1960s, with flashes to more modern stuff. A minister and family go to the Belgian Congo to convert the natives and the fallout of it.
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Dec 11, 2014 07:35
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wheatpuppy posted:I am going off memory of my mother's bookshelf, so none of these are particularly recent, but you might try: Thanks for your effort, but I'm looking for subbasement bargain bin. I feel like there is some cultural phenomenon that happened with this certain type of novel and I am floundering trying to find its source.
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Dec 11, 2014 07:40
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Megasabin posted:My Dad just readthe 3 original Peter Pan Novels and now is reading all of the Oz books. He remembers liking both series as a young adult, and feels like re-reading them. His birthday is come up, and I'd like to get him some book along a similar vein. Not sure where to start looking, or really even how to categorize those stories-- maybe English Fairy Tales? Anyone have any suggestions? The Little Prince is one of those kids books that kinda puzzles you as a kid, but then when you come back to it as an adult you see how loving poignant it is. That or the Moomin books. The Moomins are awesome.
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Dec 11, 2014 08:08
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Stuporstar posted:The Little Prince is one of those kids books that kinda puzzles you as a kid, but then when you come back to it as an adult you see how loving poignant it is. My BF lent me his copy of The Little Prince saying it was one of his favourite books as a kid. I haven't yet had the heart to tell him that I tried to read it, but found it just really obnoxious v  vMoomins definitely are awesome though, yeah
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Dec 11, 2014 08:16
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Megasabin posted:My Dad just readthe 3 original Peter Pan Novels and now is reading all of the Oz books. He remembers liking both series as a young adult, and feels like re-reading them. His birthday is come up, and I'd like to get him some book along a similar vein. Not sure where to start looking, or really even how to categorize those stories-- maybe English Fairy Tales? Anyone have any suggestions? These may or may not be applicable depending on what aspects of those books he is finding appealing but these are all pretty likeable fantasy books. Bone by Jeff Smith. It's a comic if that matters, but this is something I'd recommend to pretty much anyone. There is also a pretty slick comic adaptation of the Oz books by Skottie Young. The Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin and His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman are both young adultish fantasies that are still really readable by adults. Earthsea lacks the people from our world being transported to a fantasy world element that Peter Pan and Oz have, but the Pullman books don't. Little, Big by John Crowley if you want something a little more literary. This is also pretty much my favorite book. Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion for something a little more mythic. It's a retelling a Welsh legends. Watership Down by Richard Adams The other thing that I thought of but I can't really speak to the quality since it's been so long since I read any of them and really don't have that great of a memory of the contents is Madeline L'Engle's Time Quintet books.
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Dec 11, 2014 15:19
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Megasabin posted:My Dad just readthe 3 original Peter Pan Novels and now is reading all of the Oz books. He remembers liking both series as a young adult, and feels like re-reading them. His birthday is come up, and I'd like to get him some book along a similar vein. Not sure where to start looking, or really even how to categorize those stories-- maybe English Fairy Tales? Anyone have any suggestions? Maybe the Blue Fairy Book.
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Dec 11, 2014 16:00
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BisQuicken Deluxe posted:I'm looking for something similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle, but set in the US. Basically something that highlights an average, modern existence but written in an engaging way. Definitely doesn't have to be some 7 part magnum opus, just something that captures ordinary American life in an enticing way. I think you would really like 10:04 by Ben Lerner, it's nothing but highlights of modern existence.
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Dec 12, 2014 06:12
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Otto von Ruthless posted:His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman I don't understand how the Peak  YA series is in any way like Oz.
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Dec 15, 2014 08:06
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Lutha Mahtin posted:I don't understand how the Peak Ok?  The guy is looking for young adult fantasy, it might scratch the itch. Thought of a few other things - -Pipi Longstocking -Little Nemo -The Neverending Story
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Dec 15, 2014 17:19
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Florida Betty posted:I just finished Inhumane Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World by David Brion Davis, which was a really great overview of the history of slavery, but, as its title would suggest, pretty limited geographically to the Americas. It does have some bits about historical slavery which were fascinating including some of the early slave revolts. It's a book that everyone in the US should read, honestly.
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Dec 15, 2014 23:05
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Danger Mahoney posted:You know when people in sitcoms used to talk about "trashy romance novels"? I'm looking for some of those. Not classy romance novels. Trashy ones. I am horrifically well-versed in this world. Here are a few of the biggest examples that come to mind: For His Pleasure by Kelly Favor This is book 1 of 21 in a 50 Shades ripoff series. It's common for Kindle erotica authors to split stories into multiple novellas and price them at a dollar or two each, and apparently it worked out well for Favor as the series was "#1 at Barnes and Noble and the top 100 of Amazon.com". The Dark Brotherhood by J.R. Ward These are incredibly popular and by far the most mainstream on this list; you can probably find them at your local department store. I read the first few books and basically it's a bunch of vampire bros (with names like Wrath, Rhage, and Zsadist, no joke) chilling in a frat house playing Halo and eating pizza (or "'za", as the thousand-year-old creatures of the night like to call it). In each book, one of the single vamps meets the love of his life and moves her into the frat house so they can live in immortal bliss or whatever. There are 12 books so far. Anything by Lora Leigh Lora Leigh has been on the New York Times bestseller list. Her biggest series is Breeds, which as far as I can tell is a porn version of Animorphs. For the record I don't think any of these are "inexplicably" well-received by their audience. Many people who love romance novels will happily read trash. It's not that they're too stupid to see the bad writing or flimsy plot; the writing is just irrelevant to them. What's important is the type of fantasy and emotion that the writer evokes. A lot of romance/erotica fans are looking for something they can speed through in a sitting or two, enjoying the angst/romance. For those readers, the above authors are perfect because they update consistently and in the same universe: you know the rules of the fantasy, you know the characters, you can just skip straight to the good parts! As for a big cultural phenomenon causing a sudden surge in popularity: ebooks. Writing books like this would not have been sustainable 20 years ago because you'd go bankrupt before building up your fanbase. And people are obviously going to read more trashy books if they can buy them discreetly and then read them on the bus without flashing a half-naked Fabio at the other commuters. Romance writers don't have to conform to Mills & Boon standards to get their books out there, they can write whatever weird poo poo they want and connect straight to their readers!
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Dec 16, 2014 00:52
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naptalan posted:I am horrifically well-versed in this world. Here are a few of the biggest examples that come to mind: This is a perfect list, thank you very much.
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Dec 16, 2014 04:53
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In that genre, http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ is a great source for recommendations and snark.
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Dec 16, 2014 06:19
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BisQuicken Deluxe posted:I'm looking for something similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle, but set in the US. Basically something that highlights an average, modern existence but written in an engaging way. Definitely doesn't have to be some 7 part magnum opus, just something that captures ordinary American life in an enticing way. Not set in the U.S. but have you read anything by Alice Munro? Or if you want something that isn't so challenging, try Personal Days by Ed Park.
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Dec 16, 2014 15:32
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Does anybody know of any books where-in alien/unatural or otherwise strange forces or happenings change the earth or nature itself? I'm thinking along the lines of Roadside Picnic or War against the Chtorr. Stephen Kings' The Mist would also apply, as its story is basically about a new biological system forcing itself into our world. And maybe Day of the triffids I guess. I've always been fascinated by such concepts after reading Roadside Picnic and The Mist shortstory, however its hard to find other books with the same premise of altered nature or altered bio-diversity. (Fake edit: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer seems to deal with such a premise, but I havent read it yet. )
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Dec 17, 2014 21:10
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Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia comes to mind, but I read it as a teenager, when my taste was even more questionable than it is now. Reading plot summaries and reviews now, I hesitate to recommend it. But it's all I can think of.
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Dec 17, 2014 21:29
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GyverMac posted:Does anybody know of any books where-in alien/unatural or otherwise strange forces or happenings change the earth or nature itself? I'm thinking along the lines of Roadside Picnic or War against the Chtorr. iirc, mentioning this story as applicable to your request is a bit of a spoiler, but the Arthur C Clarke short novel Childhood's End fits. E: or not. It's not nature / the environment per se that gets altered
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Dec 17, 2014 22:02
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GyverMac posted:Does anybody know of any books where-in alien/unatural or otherwise strange forces or happenings change the earth or nature itself? I'm thinking along the lines of Roadside Picnic or War against the Chtorr. Octavia Butler's Xenogenisis trilogy is about the entire Earth and drat near all of humanity being altered by aliens.
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Dec 18, 2014 03:53
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Time Cowboy posted:Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia comes to mind, but I read it as a teenager, when my taste was even more questionable than it is now. Reading plot summaries and reviews now, I hesitate to recommend it. But it's all I can think of. Wilson's Spin should also fit the bill.
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Dec 18, 2014 05:36
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Selachian posted:Wilson's Spin should also fit the bill. I haven't read that yet, though it's on my list.
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Dec 18, 2014 05:55
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GyverMac posted:
Having read this, I think you'll find that definitely fits your criteria. It's a fantastic book.
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Dec 18, 2014 09:42
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Reread The Book Thief recently and was wondering if anyone knew something written in a similar style?
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Dec 18, 2014 17:03
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Galick posted:Reread The Book Thief recently and was wondering if anyone knew something written in a similar style? Non-YA, but Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated comes to mind, or at least parts of it.
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Dec 18, 2014 21:25
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What's a good book that combines mystery, science fiction, and police work? I know my dad likes the TV series Person of Interest and wants to get back into reading. He's an astrophysicist so it doesn't have to be dumbed down or whatever. It also has to be rather recent so I'll be sure he hasn't read it... last 5 years or so?
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Dec 18, 2014 23:02
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