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IBroughttheFunk posted:This is a pretty broad request - I've been in a bit of reading rut and have been trying to get back in through historical fiction, one of my favorite genres. Anyone have any favorite titles they'd like to recommend? I particularly enjoy works that take place outside the US and Europe (Pachinko, The island of Sea Women, and Amitav Ghosh's entire Ibis trilogy are particular favorites of mine). But definitely not opposed to solid works set there (I've enjoyed nearly everything I've read from James Mcbride, Louis Erdrich, and Carlos Ruiz Zafón). The big names in historical fiction we talk about here are Patrick O'Brian, Mary Renault, and sometimes Arturo Perez-Reverte. Sounds like you've probably read them already though.
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Feb 19, 2024 00:29
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The big names in historical fiction we talk about here are Patrick O'Brian, Mary Renault, and sometimes Arturo Perez-Reverte. Sounds like you've probably read them already though. Actually, no! The only Renault book I read was The King Must Die back in school, never read anything by O'Brian or Perez-Reverte. I'd definitely be up for any recommendations for any of those three if you have any.
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Feb 19, 2024 00:43
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Perez-Reverte has the "Captain Alatriste" series which starts, appropriately, with Captain Alatriste. The English translation is pretty good. They're set during a latter stretch of the Spanish Golden Age, while the Thirty Years' War is raging. He's also got a bunch of stand-alones set across various points during the past few centuries, including various titles set during the Napoleonic Wars, the Spanish Civil War, and stuff in the present day. The Club Dumas is a present-day (well, early 1990s when it was written) novel that the movie The Ninth Gate was based upon.
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Feb 19, 2024 01:03
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IBroughttheFunk posted:Actually, no! The only Renault book I read was The King Must Die back in school, never read anything by O'Brian or Perez-Reverte. I'd definitely be up for any recommendations for any of those three if you have any. For Renault, she was basically famous for two reasons -- the first being that she was and remains the undisputed queen of historical fiction set in the hellenistic world, the second that her protagonists were often classically homosexual in an unashamed, wonderful way that's, hell, still rare in modern fiction, and she was writing from like the 1950s to the 70s. King Must Die is probably her most well known work but it's uncharacteristically straight. I'd suggest The Last of the Wine (two young men fall in love during the Peloponnesian War) or The Fire from Heaven and The Persian Boy (her version of the Alexander the Great story). We did Last of the Wine as Book of the Month here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3647305 . For Patrick O'Brian, you may be familiar with the Russel Crowe movie (arguably Crowe's best film). O'Brian is the best writer out of the entire napoleonic-wars-era british historical fiction type thing -- if you've read Horatio Hornblower or Cornwell's Sharpe books, this is better. STart with Master and Commander which is the first book in the series.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHTHCNYiiHk https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3393240&pagenumber=82 Neither of those are exactly non-European but the Alexander books will get you into Asia and Patrick O'Brian goes around the world in twenty volumes (via British naval vessels, natch) Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Feb 19, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 02:03
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any recs for stuff McCarthy-esque westerns or neo-western books like Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy except with punctuation?
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Feb 19, 2024 06:22
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Kvlt! posted:any recs for stuff McCarthy-esque westerns or neo-western books like Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy except with punctuation? Have you checked out any of the Splatter Westerns? Those would probably be up your alley
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Feb 19, 2024 06:32
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Opopanax posted:Have you checked out any of the Splatter Westerns? Those would probably be up your alley hm i havent heard of it is it a series or a subgenre?
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Feb 19, 2024 07:05
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Kvlt! posted:hm i havent heard of it is it a series or a subgenre? https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/161192.Splatter_Westerns Some of them are quite good.
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Feb 19, 2024 09:22
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Kvlt! posted:hm i havent heard of it is it a series or a subgenre? Technically a series but they aren't connected, more like an anthology but with feature length books
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Feb 19, 2024 16:21
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IBroughttheFunk posted:This is a pretty broad request - I've been in a bit of reading rut and have been trying to get back in through historical fiction, one of my favorite genres. Anyone have any favorite titles they'd like to recommend? I particularly enjoy works that take place outside the US and Europe (Pachinko, The island of Sea Women, and Amitav Ghosh's entire Ibis trilogy are particular favorites of mine). But definitely not opposed to solid works set there (I've enjoyed nearly everything I've read from James Mcbride, Louis Erdrich, and Carlos Ruiz Zafón). Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond books are beauties, starting with Game of Kings.
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Feb 19, 2024 22:38
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Who has recommendations for books on mythical and hero stories from an anthropological perspective of over arching development? If that request makes sense
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Feb 21, 2024 03:03
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The Hero With a Thousand Faces is the natural starting point, basically the first work to discuss the topic for the general public.
regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Feb 21, 2024 |
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Feb 21, 2024 04:31
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My daughter is 12 and she asked for a non-fiction book about fantasy. I've found some kids books on monsters and on mythology, but I don't have any idea as to their quality and was just wondering if anyone here had any particular recommendations. (Her reading level is typical for her age, so anything for adults or even older teens is going to feel "boring" for her.)
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Feb 21, 2024 15:20
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The Tough Guide to Fantasyland and/or The Dictionary of Imaginary Places e: probably the former is more suited If you want specifically mythology and are okay with specifically Greek mythology, it's hard to beat the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. The Illustrated Book of Myths by Neil Phillip is a good one too. Leraika fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Feb 21, 2024 |
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Feb 21, 2024 15:33
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Feb 21, 2024 15:34
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Hard to beat the Book of Imaginary Beings by Borges. It's never too early to get your kids started on Borges
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Feb 21, 2024 15:41
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Jimbozig posted:My daughter is 12 and she asked for a non-fiction book about fantasy. I've found some kids books on monsters and on mythology, but I don't have any idea as to their quality and was just wondering if anyone here had any particular recommendations. I've always loved "Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths" by Michael Gibson and Giovanni Caselli, the illustrations are fantastic, Caselli really gets into it.
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Feb 21, 2024 16:23
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Jimbozig posted:My daughter is 12 and she asked for a non-fiction book about fantasy. I've found some kids books on monsters and on mythology, but I don't have any idea as to their quality and was just wondering if anyone here had any particular recommendations. I'll never pass up a chance to recommend the D'Aulaires' Greek Myths and Norse Myths books.
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Feb 21, 2024 16:45
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regulargonzalez posted:The Hero With a Thousand Faces is the natural starting point, basically the first work to discuss the topic for the general public. also The Power of Myth
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Feb 22, 2024 06:24
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feedmyleg posted:Amusing/silly/goofy historical fiction? Something that might be a literary companion to Our Flag Means Death or Blackadder or Jack of All Trades. Or, I suppose, the Monkey Island games. Maybe "Terry Prachett without the magic' kind of vibes? I Forgot Brigadier Gerard, Arthur Conan-Doyle's wonderful Napoleonic war stories: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/11247
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Feb 22, 2024 15:40
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I want the best English grammar textbook for someone whose intuitive grasp of the language is proficient but needs to learn all the technical terminology they ignored in high school.
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Feb 23, 2024 03:36
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I recently watched the movie Ikiru and its remake/reimagining Living, and I was looking for the literary equivalent. Essentially any books where the theme is "bitter people, and/or people who have been through great hardship, learn to appreciate/love life". Ideally something relatively modern, and by modern I mean more recent than a Christmas carol. I read the Tolstoy stories those movies are based on but I'm looking for something a little more positive. Fiction only please.
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Feb 23, 2024 05:12
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Kvlt! posted:I recently watched the movie Ikiru and its remake/reimagining Living, and I was looking for the literary equivalent. Essentially any books where the theme is "bitter people, and/or people who have been through great hardship, learn to appreciate/love life". Remains of the Day by Kazu Ishiguro comes to mind.
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Feb 23, 2024 05:41
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FPyat posted:I want the best English grammar textbook for someone whose intuitive grasp of the language is proficient but needs to learn all the technical terminology they ignored in high school. Martha Kolln's Understanding English Grammar has always been my favorite, but it's a textbook so pricey everywhere I see it
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Feb 23, 2024 05:51
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FPyat posted:I want the best English grammar textbook for someone whose intuitive grasp of the language is proficient but needs to learn all the technical terminology they ignored in high school. Dreyer's English isn't a textbook but it'll improve almost anyone's grasp of the language.
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Feb 23, 2024 07:07
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FPyat posted:I want the best English grammar textbook for someone whose intuitive grasp of the language is proficient but needs to learn all the technical terminology they ignored in high school. These aren't textbooks but I've been going a period of trying to correct for my neurodivergence and lack of a thorough high school education in grammar. So I've got a few Commonwealth orientated suggestions, The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever by Ruth Colman. Exactly what it says on the tin. All the basics in a slim approachable book. You won't need to go further than here for day to day grammar. Highly recommended. My Grammar and I by Caroline Taggart and J. A. Wines. Grammar learning for the anxious, a light tone but there's a lot of old grammar canards referenced in here which might reinforce the old tired poo poo. Covers much more than you'd ever need. Not a strong recommendation. The Collins Complete Writing Guide Huge and outdated but the grammar section takes up only a thin slice. Genuinely well written and encouraging if prescriptive. The prescriptivism is the result of the book originally being pitched as guide on how to write effectively. Recommended English Grammar: the basics by Michael McCarthy. Much denser and text book like, this book is pitched mainly at those learning grammar in order to teach it. It covers far more than you'd need in everyday life. Oxford Everyday Grammar by John Seely. The most textbook like. Has the advantage of very clear formatting.
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Feb 25, 2024 08:02
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I'm a big fan of _The Transitive Vampire_ but it's more for helping you develop a good intuitive grasp of the rules, not technical details.
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Feb 25, 2024 17:59
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Kvlt! posted:any recs for stuff McCarthy-esque westerns or neo-western books like Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy except with punctuation? The Son by Philip Meyer Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth Joe Lansdale The Thicket All God's Children by Aaron Gwyn
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Feb 26, 2024 02:48
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Seeking recommendations for a friend-group book club - the genre this month is HARD SCI FI Previous sci fi books we've read: - The Diamond Age (unanimously loved) - Dune (unanimously liked) - Annihilation (divisively liked) - Dark Matter (unanimously disliked) My suggestion so far is Children of Time by Tchaikovsky. Any other bright ideas from recent decades? I'm trying to stay away from anything that requires a multi book investment. And naturally anything with magical talismans, space wizards, or "proto-molocules". DarkLich fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 27, 2024 |
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Feb 27, 2024 22:28
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You gently caress with the Culture? It's a series but they're all mostly standalone, just some shared historical events and a character who repeatedly shows up. I think Player of Games is a little stronger than Consider Phlebas for an entry point, but they're all good. You could also try the Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata. Also the start of a series of books that are mostly standalone, about nontechnology and post-humanism. Plays around with a lot of the same ideas as The Diamond Age
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Feb 27, 2024 22:41
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Maybe the works of Alastair Reynolds? He's got some stand-alones and does hard SF. Had an acquaintance who praised Pushing Ice pretty heavily.
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Feb 27, 2024 22:49
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DarkLich posted:Seeking recommendations for a friend-group book club - the genre this month is HARD SCI FI Children of Time is fantastic. Pushing Ice, as mentioned, is a great rec. I love all these books and try to give some eclectic options: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is about a weird asteroid passing by earth and the team sent to investigate it in the near future. Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward is about a neutron star passing through the solar system and the interesting implications of extreme gravity and magnetism and time dilation for evolution. Diaspora by Greg Egan is about a race of sentient software and how it interacts with humanity in the not-too-distant future. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking book about time and identity and finitude. Or read some stuff by women: Semiosis by Sue Burke is about settlers on a distant planet who have to contend with a sentient plant. Except for instantaneous communications, any of the Hainish Cycle books by Ursula K. LeGuin are technically hard sci fi. The two standouts (they’re all excellent though) are The Left Hand of Darkness about a planet where the people have no set sex but change throughout their lives, and The Dispossessed about a planet with a moon with an exiled anarchist society. The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley is sort of hard sci fi, but with a society based on weird biotechnology. It doesn’t let them bend laws of physics. Anyway, this book is about an armada of colony ships that get stranded in space. The important feminist twist is that the surviving crew gives birth to components of the ship, sort of involuntarily (though not in a violent way, just like, through the food or water or something because the ship needs a new gizmo). Or maybe an old book: 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is about a scientist and his plucky entourage get shipwrecked by a submarine run by a mysterious swarthy captain. tuyop fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Feb 28, 2024 |
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Feb 28, 2024 00:21
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DarkLich posted:Seeking recommendations for a friend-group book club - the genre this month is HARD SCI FI Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Fairly hard SF about a generation ship from Earth seeking to colonize another star.
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Feb 28, 2024 00:23
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DarkLich posted:Seeking recommendations for a friend-group book club - the genre this month is HARD SCI FI Blindsight is excellent.
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Feb 28, 2024 09:25
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FPyat posted:I want the best English grammar textbook for someone whose intuitive grasp of the language is proficient but needs to learn all the technical terminology they ignored in high school. Greenbaum & Quirk is what you want. Also wouldn't hurt to read Trask's Language: The Basics. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Feb 28, 2024 |
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Feb 28, 2024 09:49
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tuyop posted:
Both this and the sequel (Starquake) are on the short side as well, so it is a nice selection for a club format.
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Feb 28, 2024 17:15
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Franchescanado posted:Remains of the Day by Kazu Ishiguro comes to mind. just wanted to say ive been reading this and really enjoying it. Excited to check out the movie once ive finished it which ive heard is quite good as well!!
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Feb 29, 2024 00:52
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Gnoman posted:Both this and the sequel (Starquake) are on the short side as well, so it is a nice selection for a club format. Also one of the few depictions of aliens having beloved pets. So important in that regard alone.
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Feb 29, 2024 01:33
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also posted this in the historical fiction thread, but just in case: should I read Clavell's Asian Saga in publication or chronological order? publication: King Rat Taipan Shogun Noble House Whirlwind Gaijin chronological: Shogun Taipan Gaijin King Rat Noble House Whirlwind
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Feb 29, 2024 02:25
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Yes.
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Feb 29, 2024 02:26
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