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Funyon posted:I'm looking for some recommendations for good non fiction titles, preferably history. I know it's a broad topic, but I want to learn about pretty much anything. I just got done reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and it opened my mind towards lot of things. I've posted a general list below, but if you think I should read about a certain topic, or learn more about something, please go ahead and recommend it. I'd like the best of the best titles. David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest is probably the best book about Vietnam. Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie and Michael Herr's Dispatches are no slouches, either. One focuses on why America lost the war while the other is a collection of front-line reporting by a journalist who spent time with the troops. For the CIA, I thought Bob Woodward's Veil was a great look inside the organization and at it's activities under the Reagan administration.
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Aug 18, 2009 23:46
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Behold! A Elk! posted:I am not really into fiction but I love comedic essayists like Augusten Burroughs, John Hodgman, and Micheal Ian Black. Does anyone have any recommendations for me. I already tried David Sedaris and I just couldn't get into it. I also wouldn't mind some funny fiction I just don't know where to start in regards to that. You can't go wrong with some of Mordecai Richler's collections of essays. Personally, I'd recommend Belling the Cat or Broadsides if you can find them.
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Aug 24, 2009 01:06
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coolbian57 posted:I'll just start by saying I know almost nothing about literature. (So don't hesitate to recommend me anything!) Fear and Loathing doesn't really have a deeper meaning or philosophy or anything. It's pretty much all there on the surface. If you're interested in something a little deeper, try something by Mark Twain (Roughing It, for example - it's both got a bit of depth to it and is a book about crazy adventures through a yet-to-be-settled America).
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Sep 25, 2009 23:13
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CharlesWillisMaddox posted:I like a lot of people hated reading and school, and only recently picked it up as a hobby, therefor I missed out on a lot of classics since I probably read them hating every minute of it. Well, what interests you? That can narrow it down. An easy trap to fall into is that there's a set of books out there that you must read, like it's some obligation or initiation to the world of reading. There's no list. Just read stuff that interests you in some way - don't feel like you have to read The Old Man and the Sea or War and Peace or The Corrections or whatever.
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Oct 3, 2009 01:45
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Billy Maize posted:Dispatches by Michael Herr Go with Dispatches and The Things They Carried. For my money, Dispatches is the best war memoir written by a journalist ever (only AJ Liebling's stuff on WW2 is close). The Short Timers is good too (it was the basis for Full Metal Jacket) but I'm pretty sure it's long out of print. I didn't see it on there, but the Library of America has a couple good volumes of Vietnam writings; mostly features and reporting from the front lines. There's some neat stuff in there.
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Oct 4, 2009 21:08
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northerain posted:I'm interested in reading some fiction taking place in Alaska. Any suggestions? It's not fiction, but John McPhee's Coming into the Country is supposed to be really good.
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Oct 27, 2009 05:42
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Ghost Boner posted:Also, I want to start into Charles Bukowski. I've read a couple of his poems, along with his novel Pulp. Any suggestions? I really liked Women and Ham on Rye, both were fun reads. But if you're just getting into Bukowski, try Run with the Hunted, a collection of fiction and poems that spans his career. It's what got me into him.
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Nov 4, 2009 04:40
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Encryptic posted:I just saw Frost/Nixon recently and I realized I don't know that much about Nixon aside from Watergate. Any good books? I'm planning on reading All The President's Men. Their other Nixon book, The Final Days is pretty good too, since it covers the aftermath of Watergate and the downfall of Nixon.
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Nov 22, 2009 21:33
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keyframe posted:Guys I am looking for fiction\real books on: I didn't see anybody say it, but Stephen King's The Stand pretty much fits the bill here. It's also one of his best books, too.
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Dec 2, 2009 04:52
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Toupee posted:Can anyone recommend some good "audiobook" podcasts? I listened to Pseudopod for a little while and enjoyed most of the stories, but got tired of the genre. I don't particularly care for their sci-fi or fantasy sister casts. I'd prefer it not to be one genre. Maybe CBC Radio's Between the Covers? I think it's mostly Canadian lit, but it's a pretty solid podcast. Used to be a good radio show, too.
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Dec 13, 2009 21:21
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Umbriago posted:Could anybody recommend any good collections of essays? I wish to read them partly for enjoyment but mainly to improve my own writing for university. I already own George Orwell's Essays and several volumes of work by Bertrand Russell. It doesn't matter what subject they concern as long as they are well-written and enjoyable. Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs comes to mind - it's my favourite collections of essays. You can't go wrong with a collection of stuff by either AJ Liebling or David Foster Wallace, either. You could always check out the Best American series. There's an annual volume for essays and the Nonrequired Reading series usually has a few too.
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Dec 31, 2009 04:50
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Diabetes By Sundown posted:I finished Infinite Jest recently, and really enjoyed it. I'm looking for a book that's somewhat comparable. For example, I'd like it to be a decent length. I'd also like it to be somewhat modern (as in takes place in the 20th or so century; for some reason I have trouble getting into books that take place real far in the past or future.) I am also a fan of Wallace's prose, specifically the humor, so anything that's not only a good story, but funny, is a plus. Well, why not another one of Wallace's books? I've heard that The Broom of the System and Girl With Curious Hair are both good.
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Jan 11, 2010 02:58
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Diabetes By Sundown posted:I actually just finished The Broom of the System and enjoyed it, I'll have to check out Girl With Curious Hair. Thanks. If you're willing to check out his essays, I can't recommend Consider the Lobster strongly enough.
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Jan 12, 2010 04:34
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Musta Kraken posted:Alternatively if you can think of any alternate history that's been entertaining in the same kind of mindless way, that would be p sweet too... every time I look at the genre though all I see are piles of 'hyuck, what ifin the South had won dat dere Civil Warg? Yup, I wanna fantasize about THAT!' Well, I don't. I'm sure there's a few gems in that bunch, but I'm not gonna dig to find em. How about Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America? It's set in an America where Charles Lindberg ran for, and was elected, president in 1940.
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Jan 17, 2010 03:52
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Pudgygiant posted:I have everything from The Kite Runner to Vonnegut books to Tucker Max on my Kindle. I'm a huge fan of the Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, Jeremy Clarkson style of humorous travel anecdotes as well. Right now I'm in the middle of The Gamble and I have Too Big to Fail and Fiasco queued up. I'm leaving for Afghanistan in about a week for a year and I'd really like to add 5 or 6 more books before I head out. Any ideas? Either of PJ O'Rourke's two travel books are good (and hilarious). I especially like All the Trouble in the World, myself.
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Feb 9, 2010 22:34
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Big Centipede posted:A few friends of mine suggested that I should look into Bukowski. What would be a good introduction into his writing for someone not familiar with his work? Run With the Hunted is a good overview of his career, mixing his novels and columns with his poetry. You can't go wrong with Post Office, Women or Ham on Rye either.
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Mar 14, 2010 20:39
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dokmo posted:Also recommended to me was William Shirer's classic The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Haven't read it but it seems to have maintained a high critical opinion despite being 50 years old. I've read this. It's a dry read, but if there's anything you want to know about the European front (and everything that led to Hitler's rise to power and war), it's essential. Shirer's other books (Berlin Diary, The Nightmare Years) are also good. They're memoirs of his years living and reporting from Berlin in the late 30's and into the first year or so of the war.
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Mar 19, 2010 03:28
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Hopes Fall posted:Earlier today my sister asked me to help her recommend a book for one of her friends. If he likes baseball, maybe Jim Bouton's Ball Four? It's a sarcastic, funny and brutally honest behind-the-scenes diary of a washed up pitcher on the fringes of pro baseball. It's a little long, but it's broken down into small pieces he can read at will. It's even got a few twists here and there, too.
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Mar 21, 2010 17:04
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meanolmrcloud posted:I read infinite jest around the new year. Its a stunning and whacky book that, unfortunately, I don't think has many contemporaries. Since reading it, i've read: If you liked Libra, why not another DeLillo book? White Noise is excellent and I'd stack it up against LJ any day. I haven't read it, but I hear Underworld is no slouch either.
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Mar 29, 2010 18:08
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meanmikhail posted:I just finished Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris and am looking for some other great books about film. Any suggestions? I really enjoyed William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade. You can't go wrong with either of Roger Ebert's The Great Movies books either.
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Apr 11, 2010 21:36
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brenz.dude posted:Now I'm not sure what to read. I've been interested in reading On the Road for quite some time, but it looks like I'll have to hold off on it for a while. Any suggestions? If you're really interested, talk to a librarian. My library can lend you a book from another library, although it takes a little while. I'd imagine other ones do this, too. If they don't have On the Road, they probably don't have The Dharma Bums, but that's a good read too.
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Apr 15, 2010 19:27
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Namirsolo posted:Can anyone recommend me some good books about baseball? I already read Moneyball from a recommendation here and loved it. I'm particularly interested in understanding sabermetrics better. I'd also enjoy just general baseball history. As Dokmo pointed out, you can't go wrong with Bill James' Abstracts for learning about sabremetrics. There's an out of print collection of his, Let's Not Eat the Bones, that's a really good sampling of his stuff from all the abstracts and assorted magazine pieces. If you can find it online, that's the one to go for. Otherwise, go for the Historical one. If you want something more conventional, you can't go wrong with David Halberstam's Summer of 49, Roger Kahn's Boys of Summer, Jim Bouton's Ball Four or Richard Ben Cramer's amazing biography on Joe DiMaggio, The Heros Life.
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May 6, 2010 03:14
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Bonus posted:Please recommend me some good that involve road trips around the US, preferably through small towns, deserts, etc. I just dig that sort of thing. For instance, I really liked all the traveling through various towns and roadside attractions that went on in American Gods. I enjoyed Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. It's pretty much what you're describing, a road trip through American small towns and backwaters. It's pretty funny, too.
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May 11, 2010 19:43
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shodanjr_gr posted:I just read Game-change and I'm in the mood for some more politics-related reading. While browsing Amazon, I came across "Making of a President" which, from what I gather, is like Game-change, but in the Nixon/Kennedy era. Any ideas/suggestions? The ones that Theodore White wrote? They're okay, but I remember them being really stuffy. If you're interested in presidential politics, check out Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes. It's the best book on politics I've read.
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May 31, 2010 05:21
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TheOtherContraGuy posted:Does anyone have a good history book on 20th century music? That seems really general, but I'm looking for broad overview how punk became post-punk and where genres like dream pop started. I thought Simon Reynolds Rip It Up and Start Again was a pretty good book on the roots of postpunk. The stuff on Public Image Ltd was really good. I've heard the english version (which is unabridged but out of print) is the one to go for, but I didn't mind the American one.
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Jun 12, 2010 21:59
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I've been thinking a lot lately about ancient Greek lit (in particular Homer's The Odyssey and The Illiad). I've never read either, so I'm not sure which translation to go for: one that keep's it as a poem or one that's done more in the style of a novel. On one hand, I figure it might be best to read it fairly close to the way it was written, but the idea of a 500-page poem is daunting at best.
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Jun 15, 2010 00:30
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Facial Fracture posted:7 y.o. bitch's advice is good. I'll mention a bit about specific translations; I'm not an expert but I've read a bunch of both and prefer the poetic translations on the whole. Don't be daunted by them. There's as much variation between poetic versions as there is between them and prose translations. Thanks for the advice, 7 y.o. bitch and Facial Fracture. I'm going to go for Fagles' translation. Penguin uses it for both the Odyssey and the Iliad and they've been pretty good to me in the past.
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Jun 16, 2010 19:57
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Kukash posted:I've been playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption lately and now I'm in the mood for a book that is similar. Are there any good western novels that cover a large area (either real world or fictional)? I generally stick to fantasy books so even a western with some elements of that thrown in might be okay. Everybody and their uncle's going to recommend Cormac McCarthy, and with good reason. Both All the Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian are very good. If you really want to go old school western, track down some Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour. Pretty much any used bookstore will have a bunch of their stuff in paperback.
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Jun 18, 2010 00:53
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jmaze posted:So, I was just listening to NPR, and they were talking about deep cave exploration. That ignited the urge to read some cave-based horror fiction. I've read a short story posted from somewhere on the forums that's set up like a blog that was really cool. I tried to find it to link it here, but I don't remember what it was called. It was Ted the Caver.
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Jun 21, 2010 04:25
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Mustang posted:I'd also like to get a bible with footnotes as well if there is one. Despite being raised a Catholic (now agnostic, not that it matters) I know hardly anything about the bible. I've been told that the Oxford University Press has a really good one, but I haven't read it. You should check the bible thread out too: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3307609
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Jun 23, 2010 18:30
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Steiv posted:I'm looking for a good read about the intelligence community, be it CIA or NSA or whatever, but something less That kind of sounds like Spycatcher by Peter Wright. He was part of MI-5 for a good chunk of the 20th century and memoir is an interesting look at just what spies did in the Cold War (mostly either planting bugs or trying to find bugs, from what I recall).
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Jul 4, 2010 22:57
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and more, "I was here, I did this, it was awesome/horrifying/whatever." Preferably non-fiction.
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ChirpChirpCheep posted:I recently read The Wrestler's Cruel Study and loved it. I'd like a recommend on books in the same vein- things that are postmodern and funny. I'm already working on Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow, so books other than those would be appreciated. Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius perhaps? I thought Don Delillo's White Noise was great, too, but I can see it not being everybody's cup of tea.
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Jul 17, 2010 05:38
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Son of Quakerman posted:I'm looking for any good histories of the Diadochi, or a good history of the expansion of the early roman republic, including the Punic Wars. Any suggestions? I haven't read them (yet, anyway, they're sitting on my shelf), but Livy wrote a bunch of stuff on the rise of the Roman Empire and seems like a good starting point.
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Jul 17, 2010 23:55
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Can anybody recommend a good anthology of English (or American) literature for a non-student? I've been reading my sisters Norton and Longman anthologies while she's home for the summer and really been enjoying them. But they're both a little too textbook-ish and expensive for me to go out and buy myself. Is there anything like this meant for more general reading?
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Jul 26, 2010 23:18
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7 y.o. bitch posted:Also, you can get a 3000-page single-volume used Norton English Lit Anthology for 40 bucks on Amazon. Considering the small size of the text, that's 300 hours of entertainment, a full year's worth of reading if you wanted... They really aren't that expensive considering. Honestly, my biggest concern with the Norton or Longman anthologies is more the way they're put together: the paper's really thin and they're all huge paperbacks. I can see them cracking or getting ripped pretty easy. Plus, I'm not really that interested in all the extra stuff - essays, biographical sketches, responses from other texts - since I'm barely acquainted with the original works themselves. But you make a really good point on their cost. I'll keep my eyes open for a used copy. Nostratic posted:If you don't mind old editions that I used way back in the dark ages, I might be able to dig out some anthologies for you for free. Just PM me if you're interested. I wouldn't mind at all. I don't have PM.
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Jul 27, 2010 21:15
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teacup posted:I'm looking for like a good, not totally dry history book. Almost any really. Two I really enjoyed were 'Guns, Germs and Steel' and 'Collapse' both by Jared Diamond... both kinda dealt with things like why did evolution of culture and technology seemingly favour western cultures in terms of going and dominating half the world and it was a really good look at a lot of cultures on earth throughout history, collapse was similar but more dealing with why some just didn't work out. If you're interested just reading anything about history, there's some really good Greek and Roman stuff put out by Penguin. I enjoyed Herodotus' Histories and Suetonius' The Twelve Casears and I've been meaning to read Livy's books on Rome. Suetonius's book is especially fun, since he dishes a lot of dirt about ancient Rome - affairs, rumors, backroom deals, bribes (so many bribes) and such. He even included little mocking rhymes people used to say whomever was in power, like this one on Augustus from the Sicilian War: quote:He took a beating twice at sea, and threw two fleets away / So now to achieve one victory, he throws dice all day barkingclam fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Jul 29, 2010 |
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Jul 29, 2010 17:28
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:If you're into Herodotus, there's a GREAT edition out fairly recently :The Landmark Herodotus. It's MASSIVELY annotated, with maps on almost every page, etc. Pretty much unbeatable. Wow, that's a pretty awesome book. The ones on the Peloponnesian War look interesting too. I may have to check them out in the future.
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Jul 30, 2010 02:16
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King Plum the Nth posted:I don't want any sappy, saccharin religious or Hallmark type fiction. If at all possible, I'd like to avoid fluff in general. Just wondering if there's a vein of uplifting, or at least less bleak, literature out there. Anyone? So you want a good book that's also not a downer? Why not Don Quixote - it's long, but it's a great and hilarious read. Or one of these: - Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint (or The Great American Novel, if you like baseball) - Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron - Henry Fielding, Tom Jones
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Aug 11, 2010 19:26
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appropriatemetaphor posted:I find it's easier to read if you imagine that it's an English translation of some old Norse legend. It works especially well if you have the red fake leather version. Has anybody read any of Tolkien's translations? I saw this at a used bookstore the other day. It looked interesting, although I'd never heard of it before.
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Aug 16, 2010 04:41
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Mr Darcy posted:I'd love to find out more about the myths of various cultures. especially Greek & Norse. But pretty much anything would be of interest. You could always go with Njal's Saga which is available in a bunch of forms. Penguin Classics has a few books on Norse mythology, but I can't say I've read any of them.
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Aug 20, 2010 18:25
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