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Dr Scoofles posted:I was wondering if there are any good post apocalypse/zombie books or series out there? I was playing The Walking Dead 2 yesterday and thought it would be neat to read something (not comics though) about people trying to make it in a hosed up new world. Something that really tries to envision what life and society would be like rather than some gag cash-in on the zombie craze. I've read The Road which I loved, Word War Z which I found so-so and I tried to read Forest of Hands and Teeth which turned out to be some awful Twilightesque teen love triangle poo poo. I really like Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker, although it is very much a specialized taste -- the dialect it's written in can be horribly annoying.
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Apr 1, 2014 16:22
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Prune Juice posted:I would really appreciate getting any recommendations for a book (books) that have had a profound effect on you. I'm trying to go back to school and one of the application requirements is to write about a book (any book) in regards to the author's central argument/proposal/theme. I honestly hardly ever read anything but for this, obviously, I'll give it all I've got, I just need some recommendations. Something that's had a deep effect on you, thought-provoking, etc. Thanks very much in advance. The Illuminatus! Trilogy led to teenage me discovering James Joyce, Aleister Crowley, Flann O'Brien, the SubGenii, and a whole bunch of other entertaining weirdness. Still, I'm not sure it's the kind of thing I'd mention on a college application.
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Apr 14, 2014 20:36
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kuddles posted:As someone who stopped reading fiction for a long while, the last two books I read that I found incredibly enjoyable were Cloud Atlas and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Does anyone have a recommendation of books in a similar vein? (In other words, modern text meant to mimic another time period, and/or Fantasy/Sci-fi written as if it were non-fiction.) Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale might be what you want. Don't let the poo poo-tastic movie adaptation of a couple months ago dissuade you, the book is actually very good. His A Soldier of the Great War is also worth checking out.
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Apr 17, 2014 17:09
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Pulling Teeth posted:I'd like some recommendations please: For the second one, you might like Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series, starting with Altered Carbon.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:18
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Brainamp posted:Is the Damned Trilogy by Alan Dean Foster any good? Haven't read anything by him before. I've read a lot of ADF, and the kindest adjective I can use for him is "workmanlike." He won't blow you away, but he can get a story from A to B competently enough. That said, The Damned is probably some of his best work, and it's a fun premise -- I'd say it's worth a try to see if it suits you.
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Apr 30, 2014 01:09
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mcustic posted:I am looking for a noir or detective novel set in LA, preferably during the forties and fifties. I've already read The Big Sleep and the LA Quartet. Unless you hated The Big Sleep, you could do worse than hunting down the rest of the Philip Marlowe books. Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins books are pretty good too.
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May 1, 2014 00:51
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DirtyRobot posted:I want Robert E Howard in space! Closest I can think of is maybe Dune and... Warhammer 40k. No hard-sci fi, please. I want pulp, absurd scale and a sense of myth. Hell, the movie Chronicles of Riddick satisfies my requirements pretty well. I'm just kinda hoping for something... better. Ben Bova's Orion series might suit.
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May 10, 2014 16:23
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:I'm looking for modern murder-mysteries. I've read a lot of older noir (Raymond Chandler etc) but I'd like to find some stuff that's a little more contemporary. Somebody gets killed, somebody else tries to figure out who killed them. Don't need to be well written: it's for analysis more than pleasure. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct books? There are a ton of them, they're generally good reads, and they're written in a very simple, just-the-facts style. Although McBain was leaning pretty heavily on formula characters near the end of his life.
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May 11, 2014 15:23
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Captain Mog posted:I'd really like a good urban fantasy series that doesn't involve a detective type as a lead character. I loved The Dresden Files & liked the Southern Vampire Mysteries, but would like something with a bit less "there's a supernatural serial killer afoot!" stuff. They're not precisely a series, but you might enjoy Charles De Lint's Ottawa books (Moonheart, Spiritwalk, Jack of Kinrowan, Yarrow et al).
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May 11, 2014 23:57
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mcustic posted:Here's a question: what are some of the second person books that could be recommended aside from the few titles mentioned on Wikipedia? Best second-person book I know of is Tom Robbins' Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, but that can depend heavily on your tolerance for Robbins.
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May 19, 2014 18:27
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IShallRiseAgain posted:I'm looking for some books set in present day where a protagonist suddenly finds themselves involved in a community of supernatural beings. Nothing too angsty or sexual. You might also look into Tim Powers -- Last Call and Declare in particular are quite good.
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May 27, 2014 15:19
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It doesn't get as much attention as many other "Great American Novels," but I'll put in a good word for Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy. The structure can take a little getting used to, but it's fascinating once you get stuck into it. Oh, and Huckleberry Finn. Because.
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May 28, 2014 23:08
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Red Crown posted:I'm in the mood for an absolutely fantastic and complex villain. It doesn't matter to me what the genre is, although I'd prefer an individual book to a series if it can be helped. David Copperfield? I always found Uriah Heep skin-crawlingly fascinating. Alternatively, The Talented Mr. Ripley. If you haven't read James Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet," there are plenty of fine villains there, although I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers. There's also Steerpike from the first two Gormenghast books, although some question whether Steerpike is really a villain at all; he definitely does evil things to benefit himself, but he's still one of the most interesting and active characters in the books.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:46
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Can I get a recommendation for a work where the narrator is unreliable because of insanity that actually works? I was thinking earlier about how "insane narrator" is kind of a cliche, yet I can't really think of many authors that actually managed to pull it off. Wittgenstein's Mistress and The Yellow Wallpaper were all I could think of off the top of my head, and the former is even kind of questionable. I can't openly name the first story that came to mind, because if I do, I'll spoil it. Robert Bloch's "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper." There's Conrad Aiken's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," which is a genuinely creepy look at schizophrenia, but it's not an unreliable-narrator story. Selachian fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jun 8, 2014 |
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Jun 6, 2014 16:37
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After Rebecca, Du Maurier's second-best-known novel is probably Jamaica Inn, which is a nice little suspenser.
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Jun 9, 2014 16:53
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Disappointing Pie posted:I read tons and tons in high school and then took a very extended break. I recently picked up a Kindle Paperwhite and want to get back into it! I really enjoy fantasy and Sci Fi but even though I read a ton it was basically just Young Adult books and so on. I recently read Ready Player One and Ender's Game and loved them both! I really enjoy approachable books at least until I get myself back into the swing of things. I know some Sci-Fi and Fantasy can be very uh dense. Some of my favorite books of all time are The Giver, Jurassic Park, Rendezvous with Rama and (don't kill me) The Harry Potter series and most mainline Tom Clancy stories. You might like Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, then.
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Jun 20, 2014 04:33
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InequalityGodzilla posted:Could anyone recommend me a solid and readable biography of Dwight Eisenhower? I've been doing some light reading on him that got me real interested. His career as a general and some of the more left wing moves he made while president are what captured my interest specifically so if possible I'd like one that focuses more on his life starting at the military but I doubt most biographies get that specific so I'm fine with full life ones. I'm also hoping someone can recommend one that isn't incredibly dry since that's my problem with most biographies. For a long time, Stephen Ambrose's Eisenhower bio was the definitive version. Unfortunately, a few years ago, it was discovered that Ambrose had simply invented a bunch of interviews with Eisenhower. So while Ambrose's books are still a good read you can't trust their reliability.
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Jun 28, 2014 16:24
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It's not really horror, but Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood might also interest you along those lines.
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Jul 9, 2014 23:34
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frenchnewwave posted:I know steampunk is now passé but for reasons I won't get into I'm interested in exploring the genre. Any recommendations for decent steampunk that is well written and had an interesting plot as well as setting? I'm very fond of K. W. Jeter's Infernal Devices, which has the advantage of being published long before the steampunk craze. Chris Wooding's Ketty Jay novels are well worth checking out, too.
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Jul 20, 2014 14:12
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Galick posted:So, any books centered/themed around time travel/manipulation that aren't YA trash? Probably a shot in the dark there, but hey, it's a theme I'm loving lately. Another possibility: Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates. I also liked L. E. Modesitt's The Fires of Paratime, although it may be a bit dated now.
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Jul 21, 2014 18:13
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TheRamblingSoul posted:So: I like sci-fi and have a sudden urge to read stuff by Isaac Asimov. I know little about Isaac Asimov other than recognizing titles and hearing that he was a smart dude for ahead of his time for sci-fi and science in general. Asimov's books tend to be about people standing around and talking and talking and talking. He doesn't go in much for emotion or action. That said, you should at least take a stab at the Foundation Trilogy. The first book is dull, and it took me two tries to get through it, but it picks up after that. If you're interested in his robot stories, I, Robot is probably the best starting point -- it's an easy read and it will help give you a feel for his approach to the subject. If you want a biography, you could do worse than to read his autobiographies, In Memory Yet Green, In Joy Still Felt, and I, Asimov. The first two can be dry, the third is a bit more personal. Selachian fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Jul 30, 2014 |
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Jul 30, 2014 14:28
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Smart Bitches Trashy Books should have you covered.
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Aug 7, 2014 04:22
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Doc_Uzuki posted:I am looking for the same thing. I have a long commute and love listening to long rear end epic fantasy. Steven Erikson, the Malazan Books of the Fallen. Ten books (plus a bunch of spinoffs), all of them massive enough to break toes if you drop them. That should keep you busy for a while. The first one is Gardens of the Moon. Re Zodack: Have you tried Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books? They're pretty fun.
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Aug 9, 2014 02:59
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hallo spacedog posted:Does anyone have any good nonfiction about environmental pollution or industrial disasters, told from a human interest kind of standpoint? Alex Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century is an interesting read, but it will also depress the gently caress out of you.
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Aug 14, 2014 13:45
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Time Cowboy posted:Octavia E. Butler's Wild Seed has given me a taste for stories of immortal superhumans living through various eras of history. Are there any other good books along those lines, that don't involve vampires? I could swear I've recommended this before in the thread, but Ben Bova's Orion series. It's probably a lot pulpier than Butler, though.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:30
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Mechafunkzilla posted:I recently read Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem and thought it was absolute torture to read. Is it pretty indicative of Lem's writing style, or is there something else of his worth checking out? My favorite Lem books are his robot fairy tales from Mortal Engines and The Cyberiad -- I think they're more fun, and certainly less bleak, than some of his other work.
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Aug 26, 2014 00:10
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I'd throw in John Bellairs' The Face in the Frost.
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Aug 29, 2014 16:24
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yoctoontologist posted:I finally got around to reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and enjoyed it. I'll read more Le Carre at some point, but can anyone recommend other spy novels that are similarly character-focused and emphasize dialogue over action? I'm fond of Alan Furst, whose novels are all about European espionage in the run-up to World War II. He's very much in the Le Carre talky/cerebral vein. I haven't read all his books yet, but so far the ones I've enjoyed the most have been The World at Night and Dark Star. Although honestly, both Furst and Le Carre (and a lot of other spy writers) owe a huge debt to Eric Ambler. If you like the genre you should really try his A Coffin for Dimitrios at least.
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Sep 3, 2014 05:35
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Crack posted:I'm looking for something noirish, set in 20's - 60's America, with a (preferably an alcoholic or drug/gambling addicted) protagonist who is a bad person. To add to the pile of recommendations you've already gotten: try Jim Thompson. His protagonists are almost always unredeemable shitstains who are teetering on the verge of a breakdown.
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Sep 9, 2014 14:31
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Turtlicious posted:I tried searching the thread, but I couldn't find anything, (dumb bad search,) anyways I just finished "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy, I was wondering if there was anything similar that I might like. The Tolkien fantasy was great, and it never got really rapey like Game of Thrones. Producing imitation Tolkien has been a fantasy industry for oh, 50 years now. Tad Williams (the "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" trilogy) and David Eddings (the Belgariad series et al) do that sort of "adventuring party traveling through a big sprawling world on an epic quest" kind of thing. So does Terry Brooks, but I don't like him much myself -- The Sword of Shannara is a shameless ripoff of LOTR down to the plot details. If you like gay characters in fantasy, you might enjoy Samuel Delany's Neveryon books, although those are more sword-and-sorcery than Tolkien-style epic fantasy.
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Sep 12, 2014 22:42
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QuasarIntheMist posted:Try Richard Ford's Sportswriter trilogy. Try Lou Cannon's President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. It's very insidery, but doesn't sink into partisan hackwork.
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Sep 15, 2014 02:34
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Franchescanado posted:With the way my schedule is right now, I'm just having a hard time sticking with a novel. I can devote time on short stories, though. Are there any fantastic short story collections that I can look into? Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow has gotten a lot of attention lately because of True Detective, and it's worth reading. You might also enjoy Lord Dunsany, whose works are on the border between fantasy and horror.
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Sep 18, 2014 20:11
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Farecoal posted:I'm looking for some good (as opposed to bad I guess???) historical fiction. Preferably set in more obscure areas and/or times not covered by most other HF books? I enjoyed Gentlemen of the Road by Chabon, and sort of liked the The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin although I found it to be kind of dull (mostly I loved the setting). Have you tried George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman" books? The hero is a rotten liar, coward, and lecher who keeps getting involved in the worst fuckups of the late-19th-century British Empire. It's a far from untapped historical era, I know, but they're fun reads and Fraser did his research, with extensive footnotes.
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Sep 20, 2014 13:05
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Kvlt! posted:Hey all, I have pretty bad ADHD and ain't much of a reader but I'd like to get back into it. Why not go back to the wellspring of the Western genre: Owen Wister's The Virginian. (I also really want to recommend Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage, but it's a more complicated book and it might not be for you if you want something simple.)
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Nov 4, 2014 18:00
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Mechafunkzilla posted:The Flashman series. Not sci-fi but otherwise exactly what you're looking for. This. Also, the Parker novels by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake), although they're not sci-fi either.
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Nov 8, 2014 05:16
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I was gonna say Christopher Moore too. Terry Pratchett's another option.
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Nov 16, 2014 06:20
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CelestialScribe posted:So I just finished Ready Player One and I guess I liked it - most of it was enjoyable. Matt Ruff's Sewer, Gas, and Electric perhaps. You might also enjoy Charles Stross's Accelerando, although that's less cyberpunk and more transhumanism.
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Nov 17, 2014 03:43
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Reaganball Z posted:What are some good books about legends and historical belief in vampires and/or werewolves? If you're willing to check out older stuff, try Montague Summers's books: The Vampire in Europe; The Vampire, His Kith and Kin; and The Werewolf in Lore and Legend.
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Nov 23, 2014 02:09
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Noctis Horrendae posted:Does anyone know of any books similar to Deus Ex or The Matrix? Basically, I want dark, edgy, cyberpunk conspiracy fiction. Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books might be up your alley -- although they're a little too advanced tech-wise to qualify as cyberpunk.
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Nov 26, 2014 15:50
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You might also look for books by J. Z. Knight, who's one of the best-known past life channelers. A Beginner's Guide to Creating Reality is loads of fun to point and laugh at.
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Dec 4, 2014 15:36
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