|
Octy posted:I'm about to finish up with The Forsyte Saga after a decade of it sitting unread on my shelf. Is there anything else by John Galsworthy that I should read (the Wikipedia list is massive) or some similar author? What I really love is the examination of Victorian and Edwardian society and culture and morals. So more of that would be good. I haven't read Galsworthy, but there is Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians. It's not great, but does fit the bill. If you don't mind American counterparts, there's Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence as well as The House of Mirth. The Buccaneers does have an English perspective to it, but Wharton died while writing and it was completed by another author much later. Wharton's stub of a book and the "finished" version both saw print. The "finished" version falls off a cliff as soon as the original bits ended. Henry James'The Turn of the Screw falls into the category, too. I'd love more suggestions for Edwardian literature myself. I can find a bunch that hover around the tail end of it, but they all seem to mainly focus on the Jazz Age instead.
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 06:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:26 |
|
|
RC and Moon Pie posted:I haven't read Galsworthy, but there is Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians. It's not great, but does fit the bill. If you don't mind American counterparts, there's Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence as well as The House of Mirth. The Buccaneers does have an English perspective to it, but Wharton died while writing and it was completed by another author much later. Wharton's stub of a book and the "finished" version both saw print. The "finished" version falls off a cliff as soon as the original bits ended. Familiar names there. I've mostly focused on interwar period literature the last few years. Well, more like six years. How time flies! I've always meant to read Henry James, but I'd never thought of Wharton or Sackville-West, who certainly led an interesting life from what little I know of her.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 12:36
|
|
|
RC and Moon Pie posted:I haven't read Galsworthy, but there is Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians. It's not great, but does fit the bill. If you don't mind American counterparts, there's Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence as well as The House of Mirth. The Buccaneers does have an English perspective to it, but Wharton died while writing and it was completed by another author much later. Wharton's stub of a book and the "finished" version both saw print. The "finished" version falls off a cliff as soon as the original bits ended. This is a shot in the dark because I' haven't read it -- it's on my list, but so are many other things -- but maybe try The Grandissimes by George Cable? quote:The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life is a novel by George Washington Cable, published as a book in 1880 by Charles Scribner's Sons after appearing as a serial in Scribner's.[1][2] The historical romance depicts race and class relations in New Orleans at the start of the 19th century, immediately following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.[3] The book examines the lives and loves of the extended Grandissime family, which includes members from different races and classes in Creole society.[4] The novel juxtaposes a romanticized version of the French Creole culture with the atrocities committed under the European-American system of slavery in the United States.[5] d'oh nevermind the book was *written* in 1880 but *set* 1800, nvm
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 12:42
|
|
|
Have you read any Anthony Trollope? He churned out blockbusters where you know who's going to marry who by page 10, to see it eventually confirmed after much ado on page 800. To find grist for the mill he did focus on various facets of (rich, upper class) society: the Pallisters series centres on Parliament, for example. I'd read The Warden of his first. It's one of his few short novels (300~ pages) and is a devastatingly incisive yet still incredibly affectionate look at the warden of a pension, who through inflation and generations of inertia, finds himself pocketing the majority of the stipend and how he reacts when changing society challenges that. If you read that and like it, then that's a positive as Trollope wrote tonnes of the bloody stuff. Thomas Hardy is also a great writer with an eye on society, though this time the rural doings of wheat-factors and peat farmers in Wessex. It's distorted rather by his incredibly depressive eye but the majority of his output (ie not Jude the Obscure) manufactures a greek tragedy from the humble life of agrarians. I'd second the suggestion to read Henry James. I'd advise you to go for The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, and so on. Later works where he's finished exploring the novelty of his transatlantic origins which rather tiresomely dominates his early stuff. He also wrote an awful lot of short stories, which are often less linguistically challenging. I enjoyed the Aspern Papers. If you want to stretch a point and count everything before the war as Edwardian, then Ford Maddox Ford is good. So is Aldous Huxley; a lot of his early stuff kicks around the artistic community of the time. I'd suggest Eyeless in Gaza and Point Counterpoint. There's also Joseph Conrad of course, but he's fixed more on people hovering dangerously outside of society. You should read Lord Jim anyway, if you haven't already.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 13:59
|
|
|
Good call on Trollope. The entire Chronicles of Barsetshire series is great, start with The Warden. His writing does have some skippable sections but when he's "on" he's great. The real problem with Trollope is that he's sort of halfway in between Austen and Wodehouse and not quite as good a writer as either of them, so if you haven't read those, I'd recommend starting with either Pride and Prejudice or the early Jeeves stories (a few of the early ones are out of copyright now and hence free downloads).
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 14:16
|
|
|
Nthing the Henry James recommendation, though I'll offer that he doesn't necessarily stop exploring relations between Europe and America, but looks at them in more nuanced ways and, perhaps more importantly, drives his stories through conflicts that are more deeply personal or universal than just said transatlantic relations. But yes, absolutely read The Wings of the Dove. I wish I knew enough to talk about the other writers mentioned, and I wish that my backlog wasn't already full of other stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 14:27
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Good call on Trollope. The entire Chronicles of Barsetshire series is great, start with The Warden. His writing does have some skippable sections but when he's "on" he's great. If the other poster hasn't read Wodehouse, it's well worth recommending his non-Jeeves writings too, like Psmith, Lord Emsworth and Mr. Mulliner. Great stuff. I had meant to read Austen a few months ago but it slipped under the pile of new books to read. But thank you. With any luck I won't have to come back here for recommendations for at least a year.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2014 00:17
|
|
|
Pork Pie Hat posted:The Oxford History of Britain edited by Kenneth O. Morgan is a good one-volume general history. It covers about 2000 so you get a little of most things. You should be aware though, that it is a collection of essays written by specialists on the particular periods covered, so you won't get a consistent voice, but you do get excellent knowledge in each of the essays. I really liked Barry Cunliffe's Britian Begins but it only covers from prehistory to the Norman invasion. Does that brilliantly however, and I happened to be in London after I finished it so going to the British Museum to see the artifacts discussed in the book was a nice treat. Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jul 19, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2014 05:50
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:What's a really good, gritty "portal fantasy" book? I just finished Lev Grossman's The Magicians for the third time and I'm looking for something similar: people from our world who get transported to a second world and realise how loving terrifying it is to suddenly be fighting to survive amongst all these weird creatures and landscapes. I guess also something like Eddie and Jake's experiences in the Dark Tower books. I don't want anything wholesome like Narnia. Have you already read The Talisman? Wikipedia posted:Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding a crystal called "the Talisman." Jack's journey takes him simultaneously through the American heartland and "the Territories", a strange fantasy land which is set in a universe parallel to that of Jack's America. Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled. Twinners can also "flip" or migrate to the other world, but only share the body of their alternate universe's analogue.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2014 04:27
|
|
|
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?
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2014 13:52
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2014 14:12
|
|
|
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? The best steampunk tends to be Marxist to some degree because it can explore a lot of interesting issues that way. So start with any of the Perido Street Station universe books by China Mieville, maybe Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwyck. For an opposite take on the genre try Harm's Way by Colin Greenland. It's basically a Victorian era wooden-sailing-ships picaresque novel . . in space!, but it's just a great book all around and I've been looking for chances to recommend it. (Colin Greenland is the life partner of Susannah Clarke).
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2014 14:41
|
|
|
I loved Theodore Judson's Fitzpatrick's War. It's like a retelling of Alexander the Great's story set in a post apocalyptic steampunk world. The way its set up is that it's a biography written by one of the Alexander character's closest friends and advisers but it goes against the modern government's narrative/sensibilities in places, so there's footnotes, forward, etc by a professor years after the facts denouncing the main character.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2014 23:18
|
|
|
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? If you want a comedy Victorians In Space sort of thing try the Space Captain Smith books by Toby Frost. I don't know how well the humour translates to non Brit goons though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 13:42
|
|
|
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. As mentioned above, Connie Willis has done this quite well. Doomsday Book is the best example (and also a great story of Europe during the Black Death), but the Blackout/All Clear duology was also excellent.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 14:09
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 18:13
|
|
|
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? Read The Difference Engine by cyberpunk pioneers Bruce Sterling and William Gibson. Basically it's about if the information age arrived during the Victorian age with the perfection of Charles Babbage's mechanical analytical engine. E: it's not much like the average "slap some brass gears on it" brand of steampunk that had been so popular with geeks lately. I guess that could be good or bad, depending on what you're looking for. a kitten fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jul 21, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
frenchnewwave posted:I know steampunk is now passé I don't think steampunk could have at any point be called cool or in fashion
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 22:41
|
|
|
ONITABAS posted:Can any goons recommend me some books on the Arab-Israeli conflict? Preferably one that is free from bullshit. Firstly, page one gravedig because this got passed over and I am also interested in this topic. Secondly goons, I would like to read some non-fiction  science books for people not incredibly knowledgeable (see: not knowledgeable) about the subject. I'm versed in other subjects but trying to learn about science is like trying to learn swedish - I am interested in space exploration, space phenomenon, etc. but when I try to read things on wikipedia, I encounter 10,000 'Bausch-Lomb Effect' mumbo jumbo terms. However, I'm open to lots of subjects - if people have good recommendations about chemistry for example, that works too. Basically, I would like a no-bullshit science book that will make me smarter without being incredibly dry or pretentious. I don't like Neil Degrasse Tyson, if that helps (probably not).
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:26
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:Firstly, page one gravedig because this got passed over and I am also interested in this topic. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything quote:A Short History deviates from Bryson's popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Unless you hate books that are funny as well as smart.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:36
|
|
|
mcustic posted:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything No sir, this looks about right! awesome, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:38
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:No sir, this looks about right! awesome, thanks. It's the most interesting book I've ever read
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:42
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:No sir, this looks about right! awesome, thanks. You can also check out books by Mary Roach and Steven Johnson, both of whom are entertaining and fairly easy to read. If you want to go for more basic reference, the Basher Science Books are actually pretty drat good despite being aimed at a younger audience.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 22:58
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:Secondly goons, I would like to read some non-fiction In addition, if you try to look up something in Wikipedia and it's too jargon-filled, see if there is a corresponding article in the Simple English Wikipedia. Generally, if jargon is used there, it's defined so it's easier. Then if you go back to the regular article, you have at least a clue.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 02:06
|
|
|
Anyone have any recommendations for some decent Horror Short Stories collection? Anything in the lovercraft style would be great, or anything you found to be scary.
Dr. Pancakes fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jul 23, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 06:15
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:Firstly, page one gravedig because this got passed over and I am also interested in this topic. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. One of my favorite books of all time its a flying survey of Astronomy, Natural History, Chemistry, and Physics. In his words "something not too technical or demanding but not entirely superficial either." If you're only interested in space the astronomy is only in really the first half but the rest of the book is so awesome. He has great prose and a friendly very accessible style.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 07:29
|
|
|
Dr. Pancakes posted:Anyone have any recommendations for some decent Horror Short Stories collection? Anything in the lovercraft style would be great, or anything you found to be scary. North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud is a pretty interesting collection of stories.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 14:33
|
|
|
Dr. Pancakes posted:Anyone have any recommendations for some decent Horror Short Stories collection? Anything in the lovercraft style would be great, or anything you found to be scary. I'm assuming you've read Stephen King's short story collections? If not, start with Skeleton Crew. Or head on over to the Stephen King thread for specific recommendations regarding which stories are specifically and more obviously Lovecraftian.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 15:09
|
|
|
Dubsy posted:Secondly goons, I would like to read some non-fiction As a slightly left-field suggestion for this you might like The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind & George Hrabovsky. It's a book that teaches you just enough classical physics in an easy but thorough way so you can have a better appreciation of other pop-sci/physics books. It's really good, and I speak as someone who was woeful at maths at school.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 16:30
|
|
|
I actually haven't read the king collection and that is at my local library I'll probably pick that up today. The North American Lake Monsters looks a little more interesting to me though and I have a coupon for barnes and noble so I hope they have it there since its not at any of my local libraries. Thanks that should keep me busy for a bit. I've been craving some good horror short stories for a while.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 17:16
|
|
|
Someone was asking a while ago about books from around the world. I went back a bunch of pages but couldn't find the post. The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan has just been long listed for the Man Booker Prize which reminded me and sort of validates that it's a book Worth Reading (from Australia). So, that's another book you could read, after On The Beach by Nevil Shute. The Narrow Road is a book mostly set well in the past that jumps about in time - the majority is the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. It's very good, but also really loving brutal in a lot of the war chapters.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 17:51
|
|
|
I'm a huge fan of the Deus Ex games, and was looking for some sci fi novels that explore similar themes (transhumanism and shadowy cabals trying to control it). I don't have much experience with cyberpunk novels aside from Gibson.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2014 22:39
|
|
|
Duncan Doenitz posted:I'm a huge fan of the Deus Ex games, and was looking for some sci fi novels that explore similar themes (transhumanism and shadowy cabals trying to control it). I don't have much experience with cyberpunk novels aside from Gibson. Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon (and, presumably, the sequels; I've only read the first so far) could not be more spot-on to your description if they were custom written just for you. The book gets tons of love around here. I liked it but wasn't blown away, but it's a good read. e: also Charles Stross's work. Accelerando comes to mind as fairly close to what you're looking for. While it's the only novel of his I've read, I believe he works almost exclusively in a cyberpunk'ish vein. regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jul 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 00:49
|
|
|
Yeah, if you want Deus Ex style SF, you want Altered Carbon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Neuromancer, maybe maybe The Stars my Destination. This was actually a problem when they were developing the new DX relaunch game -- market research found that kids these days had almost no idea what "cyberpunk" was as a genre and thought stories about cybernetics and evil corporations were just, like, "the news."
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 00:53
|
|
|
Any good war memoirs, particularly with a mind for readability? No offense to any vet who wants to write about their service, but I've been finding the level of writing in some of these books pretty dire, even with examples presumably written with the help of professional ghostwriters. So far, I've really enjoyed George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 03:57
|
|
|
My favorite war memoir is probably the series of books that starts with Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall by the British comedian Spike Milligan. quote:I suppose," said Suitcase, "you know you are three months late arriving?" Milligan was an inspiration to Monty Python and worked with Peter Sellers. His chief claim to fame is probably as the actual guy who has "I told you I was ill" on his tombstone.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 04:10
|
|
|
moot the hopple posted:Any good war memoirs, particularly with a mind for readability? No offense to any vet who wants to write about their service, but I've been finding the level of writing in some of these books pretty dire, even with examples presumably written with the help of professional ghostwriters. Good-Bye to All That. Originally published in 1929 - it's about World War I - and this version contains a page or so of later commentary from Robert Graves. It's not strictly a war memoir, but most of it is. RC and Moon Pie fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Jul 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 06:50
|
|
|
moot the hopple posted:Any good war memoirs, particularly with a mind for readability? No offense to any vet who wants to write about their service, but I've been finding the level of writing in some of these books pretty dire, even with examples presumably written with the help of professional ghostwriters. WWI: Black Fokker Leader Winged Victory - semi-autobiographical, but fiction. Sagittarius Rising The Red Fighter Pilot Knight of Germany Peter Hart has a lot of good books on various stages of the war filled with all kinds of excerpts from pilots, soldiers, generals etc about their feelings and the poo poo they were going through at the time. Vietnam: A Rumor of War Baptism: A Vietnam Memoir Dispatches
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 14:00
|
|
|
pixelbaron posted:Vietnam: This is a fantastic book, and Puller's Fortunate Son isn't too bad, either. Kinda opposite ends of the spectrum, though. You could also sort of count Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn, as much of it is thinly-fictionalized memoir, and his follow-up/companion piece, What it is Like to Go to War, definitely qualifies. My favorite is still EB Sledge's With the Old Breed, though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 14:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:26 |
|
|
Matterhorn is an amazing novel. I would also add James Webb's Fields of Fire to that list. While both books are fiction, I can tell you as a Marine (91-95) these books might as well be non-fiction when it comes to capturing Marines. Stay away from books like American Sniper or pretty much any recent book with SEAL in the title.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2014 14:54
|
|
