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Valkyn posted:Anyone recommend some gritty, dark fantasy/fiction? Something along the lines of GRRM and the better hosed up stuff by Stephen King.
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Nov 2, 2012 06:06
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Valkyn posted:Anyone recommend some gritty, dark fantasy/fiction? Something along the lines of GRRM and the better hosed up stuff by Stephen King. Currently, the very best in "gritty" fantasy is probably Joe Abercrombie's work. His first trilogy The First Law was the series that made a poster on the previous page ask us recommend something light-hearted to recover from reading it. It doesnt really have any sexual perversion, but if you want swearing, brutal violence and most importantly great characters you cant go wrong with it. If the perversion stuff is something you really do want though, check out Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series. Its got plenty of violence too and is well written. Edit: ^^^^ With regards to both suggestions made in the post above mine keep in mind that those series start strong but go steeply downhill towards the end.
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Nov 2, 2012 06:19
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Mr.48 posted:Currently, the very best in "gritty" fantasy is probably Joe Abercrombie's work. His first trilogy The First Law was the series that made a poster on the previous page ask us recommend something light-hearted to recover from reading it. Seconding the great The First Law series. I haven't read the Prince of Nothing series, but I just put the first book in my Amazon cart.
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Nov 2, 2012 19:18
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e: goddamn wrong TBB thread. new post: Look Homeward Angel aside, what's a good Thomas Wolfe book? Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Nov 2, 2012 |
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Nov 2, 2012 23:14
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Valkyn posted:I guess if it isn't full of graphic violence, depraved sex, crazy perversion and enough swearing to make a sailor blush I'm just not into it anymore. Urdnot Fire posted:The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson.
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Nov 3, 2012 00:21
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Valkyn posted:Anyone recommend some gritty, dark fantasy/fiction? Something along the lines of GRRM and the better hosed up stuff by Stephen King. Everyone else that recommended stuff is wrong because they didn't saying Prince of Thorns and/or King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Neither Abercrombie nor Erikson have started any of their books with the 13-year-old protagonist raping someone. It also helps that they're excellent books.
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Nov 3, 2012 02:03
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Can anyone recommend a book about voyages by world explorers? Crossing oceans, circumnavigating the world, going around Cape Horn etc. I don't really want biographies or details of settlements after making landfall. If there is anything else like Thor Heyerdahl's diaries that would be great, but I'd be happy with A Brief History of Several Notable Expeditions.
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Nov 3, 2012 09:57
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Can anyone recommend a book about voyages by world explorers? "A Voyage for Madmen" is a recounting of the Sunday Times Golden Globe race.
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Nov 3, 2012 10:22
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Can anyone recommend a book about voyages by world explorers? Marco Polo's memoirs are a fun read about him travelling across land to China and back to Italy by sea in the 13th century. I also liked Bernal Diaz' book about being a conquistador, too. This one's most about him serving under Cortez and overthrowing the Aztecs. The sections where they're fighting their way out of Mexico City are pretty crazy.
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Nov 3, 2012 17:08
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Can anyone recommend a book about voyages by world explorers? Here are two about English attempts at looking for the northwest passage. Both have a decent chunk about being on land because that's what happens when you're blocked in by ice. They can be companion pieces to one another, as while they both do the same topic, they focus in different ways. Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage (Glyn Williams) The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage (Anthony Brandt) I liked Williams' slightly more and it covers a larger period of time, but I thought both were tremendous.
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Nov 3, 2012 17:26
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I'm looking for a book on the lead-up to the American Revolution. I realized that I don't know too much about it beyond the assorted bits every American picks up in grade school history classes and by osmosis. I'm particularly interested in when and how the colonists came to think of themselves as "American", separate from Britain. And preferably something covering the British side of things as well.
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Nov 4, 2012 06:07
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Lord Hydronium posted:I'm looking for a book on the lead-up to the American Revolution. I realized that I don't know too much about it beyond the assorted bits every American picks up in grade school history classes and by osmosis. I'm particularly interested in when and how the colonists came to think of themselves as "American", separate from Britain. And preferably something covering the British side of things as well. 1776 is the only book I've ever read on the topic, and it doesn't sound quite like what you want. Basically it is a close look at just one year at the start of the war, and it focuses a lot on the military aspects like what ships are where and how badass George Washington was. It talks a lot about politicians raising money for the army, and people (on both sides) freezing their asses off (and some to death) during winter near and in Boston. As I said, it just looks at one year, so it really isn't a complete story. It starts and ends in the middle of a story. I thought I'd mention it since it seems likely you will come across it.
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Nov 4, 2012 16:44
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Lord Hydronium posted:I'm looking for a book on the lead-up to the American Revolution. I realized that I don't know too much about it beyond the assorted bits every American picks up in grade school history classes and by osmosis. I'm particularly interested in when and how the colonists came to think of themselves as "American", separate from Britain. And preferably something covering the British side of things as well. A Leap in the Dark by John Ferling is terrific. You should also check out some of the contemporary writings, like Thomas Paine's Common Sense for a better understanding of the currents of thought leading up to the Revolution.
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Nov 4, 2012 17:26
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You should be able to access Alexis de Toqueville's Democracy in America through Project Gutenberg. It's a pretty influential and famous nineteenth century work of historical and political analysis, which deals with a range of themes and ideas surrounding the American revolution.
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Nov 4, 2012 19:21
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Convexed posted:You should be able to access Alexis de Toqueville's Democracy in America through Project Gutenberg. It's a pretty influential and famous nineteenth century work of historical and political analysis, which deals with a range of themes and ideas surrounding the American revolution. I'm reading this right now. It's pretty informative, but it covers a lot more than just the revolution (and it's a pretty dry read to boot).
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Nov 4, 2012 22:15
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I'm an aspiring young adult fiction writer and I've recently realized that I've not read nearly enough of the genre as an adult to have a good feel for the mechanics of it, and I was wondering if I could get some recommendations from the thread. Most of my influences to this point have been shounen manga and I have little talent for art, so I'm looking for something akin to light novels that were preferably written originally in English. Some criteria for what I'm looking for include: - Books that target the young adult genre, but aren't particularly pandering. Basically, stories that could be enjoyed by adults but aren't too complex for young adults. - Books that have a supernatural element to them, but are essentially grounded in the reality of the world we live in. Try to avoid stories that take place in fantastical worlds or in the far flung future, though fantasy and science fiction themselves are fine. - Originally written in English, as strange as that sounds. I've read plenty of light novels, and to be honest they aren't always translated the best. Also, they are written with a very different demographic in mind, and I'd like to see things written more for a US audience. For those who have read any amount of manga, think more Haruhi, Bakuman, or Death Note, and less Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece. Other then that, I don't really have any criteria other then suggest me the best of the best. If a piece really stands out to you as an important young adult work, suggest it. The more I read the better I can understand the genre. Thanks.
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Nov 6, 2012 22:02
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Can anyone recommend a book about voyages by world explorers? Sailing Alone Around the by Joshua Slocum, the story of the first man to circumnavigate the globe alone. It is fantastic.
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Nov 6, 2012 22:38
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CubeTheory posted:I'm an aspiring young adult fiction writer and I've recently realized that I've not read nearly enough of the genre as an adult to have a good feel for the mechanics of it, and I was wondering if I could get some recommendations from the thread. Most of my influences to this point have been shounen manga and I have little talent for art, so I'm looking for something akin to light novels that were preferably written originally in English. Some criteria for what I'm looking for include: Ursula K LeGuin has been writing YA fantasy lately. I haven't read them myself, but I love her adult fiction, and she's one of the greatest SFF authors of our time. Found a good link here: http://www.teenreads.com/authors/ursula-k-le-guin Also read Madeleine L'engle's Wrinkle in Time series if you haven't yet. It's a YA classic. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Nov 7, 2012 |
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Nov 6, 2012 23:57
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CubeTheory posted:I'm an aspiring young adult fiction writer and I've recently realized that I've not read nearly enough of the genre as an adult to have a good feel for the mechanics of it, and I was wondering if I could get some recommendations from the thread. Most of my influences to this point have been shounen manga and I have little talent for art, so I'm looking for something akin to light novels that were preferably written originally in English. Some criteria for what I'm looking for include: This may be a bit obvious but Harry Potter? Also, any original work by Brandon Sanderson. Edit: Oh, and Heinlein's Starship Troopers for something a bit more sci-fi.
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Nov 7, 2012 00:33
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One of my regrets is not taking lit in college, and so I try to read as much as possible in my spare time, and I find like I'm sure most of you do that you get the most from a book by first reading it and then reading a bunch of crit which considers it. So the problem is now I'm frequently running into names like Lacan, Foucault, zizek and baudrillard (to name a few,) and so my understanding of them is mostly through tertiary tangential references to their ideas, and I'd like to have a broader and more fundamental knowledge of lit crit theory generally. Can anyone recommend any book/s which cover this material? I don't mind if its a college textbook. I'm afraid if I attack it chronologically through primary texts I'm gonna burn out pretty fast, and i don't think that's the best approach usually anyway.
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Nov 7, 2012 16:25
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Nick Cage posted:One of my regrets is not taking lit in college, and so I try to read as much as possible in my spare time, and I find like I'm sure most of you do that you get the most from a book by first reading it and then reading a bunch of crit which considers it. Obviously no Zizek in there, but Gary Gutting's very readable French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century is a good start. Not the cheapest book in the world, though.
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Nov 7, 2012 17:00
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CubeTheory posted:I'm an aspiring young adult fiction writer and I've recently realized that I've not read nearly enough of the genre as an adult to have a good feel for the mechanics of it, and I was wondering if I could get some recommendations from the thread. Most of my influences to this point have been shounen manga and I have little talent for art, so I'm looking for something akin to light novels that were preferably written originally in English. Some criteria for what I'm looking for include: The Hunger Games. You can believe the hype, especially for the first book and the second half of the second.
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Nov 7, 2012 21:38
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CubeTheory posted:I'm an aspiring young adult fiction writer and I've recently realized that I've not read nearly enough of the genre as an adult to have a good feel for the mechanics of it, and I was wondering if I could get some recommendations from the thread. Most of my influences to this point have been shounen manga and I have little talent for art, so I'm looking for something akin to light novels that were preferably written originally in English. Some criteria for what I'm looking for include: His Dark Materials comes to mind, especially considering your first criteria. Was marketed for young adults despite the author also wanting to target adults. The setting is in a parallell universum and is obviously fantasy. Either way, it's a really popular YA novel (a classic in my opinion) and is actually surprisingly deep. Also worth mentioning is Anthongy Horowitz's The Power of Five series. Can't say too much about it because I only read Pentagram, on which The Power of Five series was based. Still, it's truly a book set in real world with some supernatural elements added on and Horowitz is a pretty good YA author. Lastly, Scott Westerfields Leviathan books also meet your criteria.
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Nov 8, 2012 03:55
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Thanks to all of you that have given me suggestions so far, I'm definitely going to check out as many of these as possible, and keep'em comin' if you've got anymore. My Christmas list is going to be easy to put together this year!
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Nov 8, 2012 04:07
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Nick Cage posted:One of my regrets is not taking lit in college, and so I try to read as much as possible in my spare time, and I find like I'm sure most of you do that you get the most from a book by first reading it and then reading a bunch of crit which considers it. I liked the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism; its primary materials, but its more on the order of representative selections that give you a point of entry for deeper digging than an overwhelming presentation (although its plenty long).
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Nov 8, 2012 04:17
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Sorta similar to CubeTheory but I'm looking for something closer to Firestarter by Stephen King. Supernatural powers, modern setting, things like that. I guess The Dead Zone would be another similar title, I'm looking for more of an adult over YA but either would probably be fine.
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Nov 8, 2012 05:39
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CubeTheory posted:Thanks to all of you that have given me suggestions so far, I'm definitely going to check out as many of these as possible, and keep'em comin' if you've got anymore. My Christmas list is going to be easy to put together this year! There's a whole YA thread here
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Nov 8, 2012 14:42
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PatMarshall posted:Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism inktvis posted:French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century Hey guys thanks for the recommendations they are pretty much 100% on target for what I was looking for and I look forward to getting through them both 
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Nov 8, 2012 14:58
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For literary theory Paul Fry's intro to literary theory course on YouTube, iTunes or the Yale Online site* is pretty aces. You can pick and choose which classes and associated readings you want to do, or do them all, and I think most of them can be found online, or in that Norton that was mentioned (note Fry'll be referencing page numbers in the blue/grey second edition). Some of them you'll benefit just from the readings (e.g., Peter Brooks) and some of them benefit from some guy at the front of the room breaking down what you're about to read (e.g., the first chapter of Jameson's The Political Unconscious). * The Yale Online Education site will have the syllabus and other materials so you should check it out. However, a lot of them you don't really need the video, so you might just want the mp3, to listen in your car or whatever.
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Nov 8, 2012 15:53
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Nick Cage posted:Hey guys thanks for the recommendations they are pretty much 100% on target for what I was looking for and I look forward to getting through them both A couple more recommendations for you if you want to get a background in literary criticism: Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory is the place to start for a rundown of modern literary theory schools. The only problem with it is that Eagleton is a crusading marxist, so while he does a good job of listing the pros and cons of every other school of criticism, he puts Marxism at the end and then says it's great and the whole book turns into why Marxist critiques rule and all others drool. Still, as long as you're aware of that bias, it's a good text. Frederick C. Crew's The Pooh Perplex and it's sequel are great parodies of literary theory that will give you a decent grounding in the approaches it's parodying.
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Nov 8, 2012 16:31
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Edit: Wrong thread!
FourLeaf fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Nov 9, 2012 |
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Nov 8, 2012 20:11
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Thanks to you guys as well! So much stuff and it all looks good I'm def glad I asked in here.
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Nov 9, 2012 01:59
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory is the place to start for a rundown of modern literary theory schools. The only problem with it is that Eagleton is a crusading marxist, so while he does a good job of listing the pros and cons of every other school of criticism, he puts Marxism at the end and then says it's great and the whole book turns into why Marxist critiques rule and all others drool. Still, as long as you're aware of that bias, it's a good text. Seconding Eagleton. If you're looking for a survey, I think he wins for keeping the right proportions of readability/efficiency/detail. Yes, he's a funny old Marxist, but he manages to control himself most of the time. dream owl fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Nov 9, 2012 |
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Nov 9, 2012 02:48
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Anyone that likes sci fi or apocalyptic stories needs to go read Wool by Hugh Howey right now. The omnibus edition that collects the first five stories is what I just finished and I loved every minute of it. It's self published, but I thought it was very well written. This guy needs to get more popular, because these things were great. Thanks to whoever recommended these in this thread awhile back!
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Nov 10, 2012 03:04
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Strontosaurus posted:Nah, I'm pretty much looking for "people eaten by nanites." Otherwise I'll just have to write about regular, boring, nonviolent nanotech sci-fi. Way old because I'm trundling through this thread doing a library book order, but Blood music by Greg Bear kind of fits your request. http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Music-Greg-Bear/dp/0759241740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352576999&sr=8-1&keywords=blood+music
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Nov 10, 2012 20:50
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I'm looking for a book that discusses conversation. I've been watching Mad Men and really like the way that the women are able to direct and lead the conversations. Does anyone know of any books that will make you a better conversationalist?
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Nov 11, 2012 06:13
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Anyone have any good suggestions on post-war spy stories? Like early 50s-70s stuff, not as interested in the Clancy Reagan-era fantasy. Just watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and thought I could use more in the genre, so I guess British spy stuff would be a preference.Day Man posted:Anyone that likes sci fi or apocalyptic stories needs to go read Wool by Hugh Howey right now. The omnibus edition that collects the first five stories is what I just finished and I loved every minute of it. It's self published, but I thought it was very well written. This guy needs to get more popular, because these things were great. Thanks to whoever recommended these in this thread awhile back! It was good, I thought the first book was the best, then it lost some steam and fell into some fairly predictable story-telling cliches. The world that was painted was quite interesting. Worth reading.
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Nov 11, 2012 07:25
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Lockback posted:Anyone have any good suggestions on post-war spy stories? Like early 50s-70s stuff, not as interested in the Clancy Reagan-era fantasy. Just watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and thought I could use more in the genre, so I guess British spy stuff would be a preference.
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Nov 11, 2012 08:53
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Edit: Sorry, wrong thread.
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Nov 11, 2012 10:04
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Lockback posted:Anyone have any good suggestions on post-war spy stories? Like early 50s-70s stuff, not as interested in the Clancy Reagan-era fantasy. Just watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and thought I could use more in the genre, so I guess British spy stuff would be a preference. Spy stuff isn't really my thing, but I read Jeremy Duns' Paul Dark trilogy (Free Agent; Song of Treason; The Moscow Option) and loved the writing. The books are recent, but are set in the late 60s.
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Nov 11, 2012 16:24
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man