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I've found myself in a mood of deliberately paced, depressing drama with a slight science fiction twist after reading Let the Right One In and The Road. Does anyone have anything along these lines they'd recommend?
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Jul 21, 2009 09:19
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Anyone know of any good modern books set in ancient Greece? Adventure preferable over drama/war, and grounded in reality preferable over mythical, but I'm open to anything if it sounds good. e: Roman is fine too, but for some reason doesn't seem as appealing.
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Oct 20, 2009 21:01
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I really enjoy Jurassic Park and The Lost World (as well as several other Crichton novels) because of the way they mix fascinating scientific concepts with a fun story and great characters. Is there anything else out there that does the same thing while not having a completely awful underlying story? I would prefer something similar in scope, as I'm sure there is plenty of sci-fi by the great authors that include plenty of science, but I'm "thinking man's trash" rather than "high concept science fiction." "Technothrillers," perhaps?
feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jan 23, 2011 |
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Jan 23, 2011 18:05
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I just rewatched Blade Runner and am almost done reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I'm wondering what other futuristic (or perhaps cyberpunk - I really like the Detective Story segment from the Animatrix) books there are that really feel like classic detective pulps.
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Mar 7, 2011 04:38
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Theomanic posted:Try Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon - the first of a few books. It reads like a somewhat noir mystery set in the distant future, where people have "sleeves" instead of bodies sometimes, and people can back up their memories on computer... for a price (thus living essentially forever). The world is very interesting, and I like the main character, Takeshi Kovacs. Thanks, I'm about halfway through Altered Carbon right now and it's exactly what I wanted. I skimmed a bit of Hardboiled Wonderland and the narrative structure seems a little offputting to me. If anyone else has any I'd be open to more suggestions.
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Mar 9, 2011 21:02
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Oo.m
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May 28, 2011 23:25
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I loved the section of Patton Oswalt's Zombie Spaceship Wasteland where he was working in the movie theater. I found myself a bit disappointed when that section was over because it was so good, and I was left wanting more of the same. Is there anything out there that has that same feel? I loved everything about it: the setting, the time period, the tone, the pacing, etc.
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Jan 29, 2012 22:22
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e: posted to Audiobooks thread instead. Must have sorted wrong when looking for it.
feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Feb 13, 2012 |
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Feb 13, 2012 21:51
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I just finished Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer (the book that Pirates of Silicon Valley is based on) and want something that picks up where it left off, around the mid 80s. I'd be into either an objective Jobs/Woz/Gates account or, preferably, a general overview of how the computer industry got from the Macintosh to today. I've read iWoz and parts of the Steve Jobs book already but want something a bit more broad. I don't mind if it gets too technical (loved Racing the Beam) but the history and evolution of technology is mostly what I'm interested in. I'd also be interested in other books that cover the Fire in the Valley timeframe too, tangentially.
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May 3, 2012 02:25
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Are there any good books that take place in ancient Rome/Greece but aren't about actual historical figures or kings or generals or whatnot? Ideally something non-military as well.
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Jun 2, 2012 12:51
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If I wanted something light, funny, and clever along the lines of Pratchett or Douglas Adams but that were grounded in a real historical era, where would I start? I've enjoyed replaying the Monkey Island series lately and have been watching a few shows along those lines as well, but when it comes to prose fiction I'm fairly ignorant of what's out there. Ideally something in the 17th or 18th century—early America, colonial Europe, pirates, that sort of thing—but pretty open.
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Feb 17, 2020 13:57
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Thanks for the suggestions so far! I'll take a look at Lonesome October, and Mason & Dixon looks potentially interesting. I'd been thinking about Austen but was worried that it's so dry that I won't connect with it, but that may be unfounded. I was definitely hoping for suggestions of more comedy-forward material, though.
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Feb 17, 2020 15:12
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Awesome. Can't believe Twain didn't occur to me, and the Pirates series sounds ideal. Thanks, all! That'll definitely get me started. I also read a lot of old pulp books which have pretty gross content, so I can push my way past a decent amount of ethnocentric nonsense. I'll keep Austen in the back pocket, too.
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Feb 17, 2020 18:33
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Been on a pre-history kick lately and would love some suggestions of fiction books about ancient peoples. Reading The Inheritors right now and digging it. It would be great to have something with more of an adventure tone to it, though. Anything pre-bronze age would be ideal—neolithic, megalithic, cave people, etc. I'm even good with slightly fantastical takes with magic or whatnot as long as it fits the vibe. Pre-civilization is more what I'm after, but also good with following people living, say, a hunter-gatherer or nomadic lifestyle outside of an existing civilization. Or just anything that's really good adjacent to those ideas (Raptor Red comes to mind).
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Mar 27, 2021 18:15
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Haha fair, I haven't read Raptor Red since I was 11 so I might have some rose-tinted glasses there. Cave Bear is what I saw on a handful of lists so I'll pop it on next. Non-fiction isn't really what I'm looking for since I have plenty of that in documentary and podcast form at the moment. Thanks!
feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Mar 27, 2021 |
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Mar 27, 2021 20:07
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I just finished The Ten-Cent Plague about the rise and fall of horror comics in the 40s and 50s and loved it. I also loved Shock Value about the rise of a new generation of horror filmmakers in 60s and 70s New Hollywood and how they pushed horror to new levels. I also watched a documentary about the censorship of DTV horror in Britain in the 80s called Video Nasties. I might be a bit burnt out on horror history (might!) but I really enjoy that intersection between history and pop culture, getting really in depth with the figures and politics behind the scenes. I'm big on movies so that seems like an obvious area, though I'm not really a music guy so I'm not particularly interested in anything in that arena. But is there anything else that pops to mind that might tap that same itch? It doesn't even have to be anything particularly nerdy. I have Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes' Hollywood that I might jump into, but wanted to see if there's anything else that someone might recommend. Open to tangentially-related suggestions, too!
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Jul 14, 2021 14:15
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I'm in a real Blade Runner headspace and would love some good future detective fiction, ideally something that has an audio book so I can listen while I work. In the cyberpunk realm I've read Altered Carbon, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Snow Crash, and Neuromancer but I'm not necessarily looking for something along those lines. I'm looking for noir vibes. I'm thinking slightly more akin to pulp detective fiction of the 60s than other PKD works, though I did enjoy Electric Sheep. But really I just want a pulpy noir Blade Runner ripoff with all the cliche detective genre trappings, and I assume there's a decent number of those out there. e: also ordered a few of those non-fiction recommendations, so appreciate all those! feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Jul 23, 2021 |
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Jul 23, 2021 18:06
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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?
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Feb 11, 2024 07:41
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