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Chronological order makes more sense. However, the secret to the Asian Saga is this: there's actually a third order, which is "Is the book any good order?" In descending order, Shogun is a fascinating historical novel that is not as "White Savior" focused as you would think, King Rat is a great WW2 story based on the author's own experiences, Noble House is kind of a cool near-modern (for the time it was written) heist novel, Taipan is a fun "how much poo poo can some pirates steal" novel, Gaijin is pretty much just porn, and Whirlwind is super boring. So I would suggest reading them in that third order, and stopping when they get too bad to enjoy.
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Feb 29, 2024 05:04
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Kvlt! posted: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!! Awesome! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I loved it when I read it a few years ago.
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Feb 29, 2024 14:06
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DarkLich posted:Seeking recommendations for a friend-group book club - the genre this month is HARD SCI FI Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield.
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Feb 29, 2024 17:47
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Fate Accomplice posted:also posted this in the historical fiction thread, but just in case: Publication order is never wrong but chronological order could work well also for those books. I think I read them in roughly chronological order and don't regret it. Shogun is such a strong start and Tai Pan might be the best book of the overall series.
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Feb 29, 2024 22:05
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This one's a long shot, but anyone have any suggestions for english-language books about the Ainu, particularly ones about the language? Dictionaries etc are fine if they're more recent than, like, the 1900s.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:12
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Leraika posted:This one's a long shot, but anyone have any suggestions for english-language books about the Ainu, particularly ones about the language? Dictionaries etc are fine if they're more recent than, like, the 1900s. I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but the series Golden Kamuy deals pretty heavily with Ainu culture.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:15
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Thanks for the HARD SCI FI recommendations everyone! It generated a very healthy list of choices. My book club voted and we're going with Children of Time. tuyop posted:
Also special thanks for this. There are several  in the group so it was nice to diversify our author perspectives.
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Mar 6, 2024 17:05
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Hi friends. I’m looking for a non fiction book on religion on China, how Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism affected each other and shaped China. It sounds really interesting
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Mar 12, 2024 11:14
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Is there anything I'm overlooking in the fantasy selection of Audible? I've read: Hobbit, Lord of the Rings Wheel of Time The First Law Between two Fires Dr. norrel and Mr. strange Nettle and Bone (only just started it, seems great). Also read Medievalist historical fiction like the Kings bridge series, Wolf Hall. What I'm really looking for is something that's either spooky (Between two Fires, Dr. Norrel and Mr. Strange) or cozy (Hobbit/LOTR, first WoT novel) Where I find myself not so satisfied with the above books is with anything in the WoT after the first book. Twice now I grind through the second and it's not great and then I can't even finish the third. I'm just such a sucker for the Tolkien style journey and the "homely house" motif in his works, and The first WoT novel follows that. Also, both WoT and The First Law have this problem of being just kind if plainly written, compared to something like Between Two Fires or Dr. Norell and Mr. Strange. So, are there any exciting new fantasy/fantasy horror works on audible I may have overlooked? The last time I looked it is when I ended up up getting Between Two Fires and that was perfect.
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Mar 12, 2024 20:37
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Given that list, you'd probably also like he Earthsea Cycle and The Goblin Emperor. They've born got that sense of weighty tranquility that LoTR has.
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Mar 12, 2024 22:15
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Wouldn't call it new, but you could try The Dragonbone Chair. Only 130 hours of audible if you enjoy the series
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Mar 12, 2024 23:14
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Witcher books
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Mar 12, 2024 23:23
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Thanks all, I'm familiar with some of these, but others are new, or I needed a recommendation to try them, this gives me a lot of options, thanks again.
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Mar 13, 2024 03:26
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Hello! I'm back to ask for recs. I'm on a big history of video games / computers kick, and I've been all over Bitmap Books Publishing's output, and I've been through Masters of Doom and the Game Engine Black Books and so on - but I want more. I just found Digital Antiquarian, so diving in there. What are the best books / blogs / etc you know of that cover the history of video games? I'd prefer deep dives and genre-examinations over a general history, if at all possible.
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Mar 17, 2024 21:22
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StrixNebulosa posted:Hello! I'm back to ask for recs. There’s the Sid Meier autobiography. Lots of interesting anecdotes about how some of the best known games ever came into being. It was a fun read for me, but I’ve been a huge Sid Meier nerd since the eighties.
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Mar 17, 2024 22:02
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StrixNebulosa posted:Hello! I'm back to ask for recs. Ars Technica's war stories are interesting, generally a deep dive on some specific aspect of a specific game, like how the Myst developers were able to reduce cd load times https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBPwuu3eCYkScmqpD9xE7UZsszweVO0n&si=K5r0-D0BFWZ7dji5 Granted, not really reading material
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Mar 17, 2024 22:53
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Looking for books where Language is a big factor. Not sure how to describe it exactly but things like Embassytown and Story of Your Life
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Mar 17, 2024 23:00
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:There’s the Sid Meier autobiography. Lots of interesting anecdotes about how some of the best known games ever came into being. It was a fun read for me, but I’ve been a huge Sid Meier nerd since the eighties. I'll have a look, thanks! Azhais posted:Ars Technica's war stories are interesting, generally a deep dive on some specific aspect of a specific game, like how the Myst developers were able to reduce cd load times That's fine, thank you!
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Mar 17, 2024 23:01
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Opopanax posted:Looking for books where Language is a big factor. Not sure how to describe it exactly but things like Embassytown and Story of Your Life Project Hail Mary The Teixcalaan series has some of that, but only starting with the second book
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Mar 17, 2024 23:14
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Opopanax posted:Looking for books where Language is a big factor. Not sure how to describe it exactly but things like Embassytown and Story of Your Life Shogun Le Ton Beau de Marot (non fiction but fascinating and directly relevant to your request) 1984, though to a lesser extent than the above Contact fits I think
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Mar 17, 2024 23:41
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Oh no I've read all these  To clarify though I listed those examples as they're closer to what I'm looking for; not so much where Language plays a role (like in Shogun) but more about the concept of language and how its structure affects people
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Mar 18, 2024 00:03
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C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner.
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Mar 18, 2024 00:08
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Opopanax posted:Oh no I've read all these The obvious one here is "Stories of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. It was the basis for the movie Arrival. Edit: Sorry, just saw that you cited it in your original post.
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Mar 18, 2024 01:57
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The Embedding by Ian Watson. A couple of the stories in Le Guin's Changing Planes also feature unusual languages.
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Mar 18, 2024 02:18
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Opopanax posted:Oh no I've read all these Babel - 17 The Languages of Pao
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Mar 18, 2024 02:26
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Opopanax posted:Oh no I've read all these The Autobiography of Helen Keller? Language, Thought, and Reality by Benjamin Whorf (of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, of which you're probably familiar and what your request directly touches upon)
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Mar 18, 2024 05:19
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regulargonzalez posted:The Autobiography of Helen Keller? The first one is dogshit tho.
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Mar 18, 2024 10:12
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Opopanax posted:Oh no I've read all these Did you read Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by RF Kuang yet? Won the nebula fwiw and the magic system revolves around semantics. What about The Truth About Stories by Thomas King? It’s one of my favorite books. Kind of nonfiction, though there are fictional stories throughout. Though it’s about narrative rather than language itself I guess. For something lighter, Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles is about a translator and has lots of reflections about translation and life. A page-turner for me.
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Mar 18, 2024 20:23
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Opopanax posted:Oh no I've read all these You should check out Heterogenia Linguistico. It’s a series about a human who travels to the part of the world controlled by monsters to try to learn their languages. There’s a ton of detail about technical stuff like how wolfmen can seem really rude and abrupt but it’s because they’re getting so much information through smell, and lizard people’s written language is completely inscrutable until you realize that they see beyond the spectrum humans do. The main character is driven by this belief that if humans and monsters can learn to communicate it will prevent a genocide, but is consistently troubled by the idea that there is a divide in perception that is simply too broad to ever be fully bridged.
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Mar 18, 2024 20:39
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Other than the Bartimaeus books, what's the best YA fiction from around 2000 to 2007? I was obsessively reading Artemis Fowl, Alex Rider, Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, and Mortal Engines back in the day.
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Mar 19, 2024 04:29
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I haven't read them but my kid loves the Percy Jackson books
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Mar 19, 2024 04:31
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I haven't read them or Gaiman's American Gods, but they sound like they might make for interesting comparison.
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Mar 19, 2024 04:38
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FPyat posted:Other than the Bartimaeus books, what's the best YA fiction from around 2000 to 2007? I was obsessively reading Artemis Fowl, Alex Rider, Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, and Mortal Engines back in the day. WARRIOR CATS
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Mar 19, 2024 05:59
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Opopanax posted:Looking for books where Language is a big factor. Not sure how to describe it exactly but things like Embassytown and Story of Your Life Sphinx by Anne Garréta, you can get it directly from Deep Vellum
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Mar 19, 2024 17:56
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Kvlt! posted:WARRIOR CATS Yeah my 9yo is nearly done inhaling the literal dozens of these.
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Mar 19, 2024 20:29
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My niece is reading those like crazy. They've got an Animorphs number of titles in the series too.
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Mar 20, 2024 00:05
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I’m in between books right now and probably going to start Empire of Silence, but I’ve been enjoying House of Ninjas on Netflix, so I’m curious if there are any recommendations for ninja/shinobi sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy or whatever. Preferably outside of the graphic novel and YA realms.
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Mar 22, 2024 02:38
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How's The Magicians? I see very varied opinions about the books; I watched a handful of episodes of the TV show and I liked it, but I know the books is not exactly the same.
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Mar 23, 2024 00:09
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They're alright, if you can stand how much of a whiner the main character is.
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Mar 23, 2024 01:44
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Looking for some recommendations on post apocalypse type books that are set far after the disaster and civilization is rebuilding. Horizon Forbidden West got me thinking about how much I like hearing about the world developing after some kind of ending event. I read the Silo series and that was great.
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Mar 24, 2024 01:53
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