|
appropriatemetaphor posted:The Club Dumas sounds pretty interesting, I'll snag that one. I suppose literary thrillers or "like the Da Vinci Code but not stupid" describes what I was looking for a little better. As an addendum to my previous suggestion, I just remembered that An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears is really good as well - very Name of the Rose-ish in style.
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2009 23:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 03:46 |
|
|
Minotaurus Rex posted:I'm looking for any books similar to Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, any leads? I read that in the same class I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, so that might be worth looking into. Less Buddhism, more philosophy in general, but still very interesting philosophy being presented.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2009 23:32
|
|
|
Minotaurus Rex posted:I'm looking for any books similar to Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, any leads? Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis might be worth a read if you're looking for something that focuses on a character's spiritual development. Not if you're looking for something with Buddhist themes though, obviously.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2009 16:58
|
|
|
I'm looking for some generally light, humorous books. Novels, collections, collections of short stories, etc. Just as long as it's not essentially stand-up acts compiled into a book. Whatever you want to throw at me, I'm ok with. I just finished reading Skinny Dipping (Carl Hiaasen), and although it's my 2nd experience with him, I wasn't TOO enthralled. It was a good book to pass to read on the beach and pass the time, but nothing I found to be great. Also, any other books you really like that tell a fantastic story without being terribly depressing, sad, or full of guns-blazing action. I guess I've just had my fare share of depressing literature for a little bit, and having just finished The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao got me in the mood for books like I described.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2009 07:03
|
|
|
This might be a bit too esoteric a request for this thread but I'm looking for a good, substantial although sub-monstrous history of the Soviet Union, or a few. Thanks kindly.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2009 07:56
|
|
|
Ponuh posted:This might be a bit too esoteric a request for this thread but I'm looking for a good, substantial although sub-monstrous history of the Soviet Union, or a few. Thanks kindly. I can't speak about any others at the textbook level (most of the things I've read have been focused on the period from the Revolution to the beginning of WWII, and have been either primary sources or very academic works), but you should be very wary of any books you look at regarding Soviet history. It's still a relatively poorly researched and very, very contentious field. You'll find bizarre biases and misleading interpretations all over the place. If you have some formal history training it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but if not, read a bunch of reviews about anything you're looking at and keep in mind that a bunch of those reviews (and a bunch of the books) will come from Soviet apologists, another bunch from Trotskyists, and another bunch from people who are still angry that we didn't nuke the commie bastards when we had the chance.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2009 08:13
|
|
|
I have a pretty good grasp of the outlines of the history and the ideologies that seemingly compel people to abandon reality. Still, I guess I'm looking for something that is approaches the Soviet history with a "grey" lens; it may enthusasically examine the soviet question while not amounting to a subtle treatise on the merits/depravities of communism. Just as all the best histories and biographies about the US show a mixed picture. The academic route is probably the best bet, I just wish the books weren't so drat expensive. I'll check out that recommendation, although I might wait until I get back to school to look for it at the library. Thanks for the tip.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2009 09:08
|
|
|
I'm looking for a book similar to Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero aside from Bright Lights, Big City.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2009 19:30
|
|
|
KevinHeaven posted:I'm looking for a book similar to Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero aside from Bright Lights, Big City. I believe that BEE cited Play It as It Lays as one of his major influences for Less Than Zero. I'd recommend The Informers, although you may be trying to branch out towards different authors. What I've read so far is similar to Less Than Zero, yet I don't feel it's nearly as good.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2009 04:02
|
|
|
Destroy My Sweater posted:I believe that BEE cited Play It as It Lays as one of his major influences for Less Than Zero. I'd recommend The Informers, although you may be trying to branch out towards different authors. What I've read so far is similar to Less Than Zero, yet I don't feel it's nearly as good. Be warned that Play It as It Lays is an almost uniquely unpleasant book to read.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2009 05:45
|
|
|
Archibald Cox posted:Be warned that Play It as It Lays is an almost uniquely unpleasant book to read. What do you mean by unpleasant? Personally I love unpleasant moments in books. Like the part in Less Than Zero where Clay and Julian go to that Hotel Room. That poo poo rules.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2009 18:19
|
|
|
edit: wow i hosed that up
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2009 18:20
|
|
|
The Mechanical Hand posted:Hey pals. I read Wiliam Gibson's Neuromancer and I decided that this sort of cyberpunk is a kind that I enjoy very much. I picked up Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive but I don't want to restrict myself to just Gibson's work. Does anybody know of anything similiar in style? I like the world and characters he crafted. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling, and Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams are the three books I know of that are probably closest to Neuromancer in theme. I would say Snow Crash was my definite favorite among those three. I remember Islands as being a lot slower and Hardwired was a lot more action-oriented. I know you said you weren't looking for manga necessarily, but Ghost in the Shell would also fit in with these fairly well.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2009 23:01
|
|
|
Anybody know of any good books about the early days of Arctic/Antarctic exploration? I ran across a little sketch of Shackleton's expeditions in another book and my curiosity is piqued.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2009 20:07
|
|
|
Archyduke posted:Anybody know of any good books about the early days of Arctic/Antarctic exploration? I ran across a little sketch of Shackleton's expeditions in another book and my curiosity is piqued. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World The Worst Journey in the World was written by a survivor of Scott's Terra Nova expedition, and it is excellent. Haven't read any others, though, so I don't have a real basis for comparison.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2009 21:20
|
|
|
Where can I find "old school chauvinist" type literature like The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation? I have a feminist friend whose birthday is coming up and I want to get her something like this as a gag gift (she's got a healthy sense of humor).
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2009 23:44
|
|
|
blargle posted:Where can I find "old school chauvinist" type literature like The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation? I have a feminist friend whose birthday is coming up and I want to get her something like this as a gag gift (she's got a healthy sense of humor).
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 00:41
|
|
|
Mors posted:I'm not familiar with The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation, but if you're looking for old anti-woman pro-stupidity texts, try the Malleus Maleficarum. It's the puritanical book about how to spot a witch and how to test said witch. It contains a scary level of ignorance, but be warned; as it is authentic, it is written in ye olde english. I'll check it out, but I'm looking for more of 1950s and 60s era stuff.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 01:18
|
|
|
I'm looking for some geo-political intrique, preferably with appealing fleshed-out characters, along the lines of the Ender's Shadow series moreso than Dune. I'm not married to Sci-Fi either, any setting and genre is fine. Any ideas?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 08:59
|
|
|
I'm looking for pop science books, preferably in the fields of medicine and biology in general. I've read a lot of Sagan, Dawkins, and the like, and several books I've loved have already been mentioned - A Short History of Nearly Everything, Stiff, and Mind Wide Open. I really loved both of Atul Gawande's books as well; sometimes it seems it can be difficult to find books by physicians that aren't a thinly veiled account of how great the author thinks he is. It would be nice to find authors dealing with the same sort of subject matter who write in a similar style, entertaining and informative without being condescending. Even more specifically I'd love books about the history of science and disease. Two of my favorite books are The Coming Plague and Plagues and Peoples, so anything along those lines would be very much appreciated.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 09:38
|
|
|
ApplePirate posted:I'm looking for pop science books, preferably in the fields of medicine and biology in general. I've read a lot of Sagan, Dawkins, and the like, and several books I've loved have already been mentioned - A Short History of Nearly Everything, Stiff, and Mind Wide Open. I really loved both of Atul Gawande's books as well; sometimes it seems it can be difficult to find books by physicians that aren't a thinly veiled account of how great the author thinks he is. It would be nice to find authors dealing with the same sort of subject matter who write in a similar style, entertaining and informative without being condescending. Books by physicians: Oliver Sachs, if you haven't read his stuff (though he does sometimes seem to succumb to Look At How Clever I Am Syndrome). I like Harold Klawans' collections of essays on clinical neurology better; they're not as self-consciously "well-written" as Sachs' books.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 10:56
|
|
|
If you like science but are science retarded like me check out the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, it contains excellent essays for general consumption.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2009 15:42
|
|
|
Can anyone recommend a good place to start with Ray Bradbury?
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2009 00:06
|
|
|
Morlock posted:Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice and History (a "biography" of typhus); Rats, Lice, and History has a footnote that reads: quote:If the reader does not know what this term means, it is too bad. When I read it I put little bits of paper between pages where Zissner said something good but I gave up partway through because there were just too many. Carl Zimmer also had Parasite Rex, which was only marginally about human disease, but it's a good book. A Nation of Laws posted:If you like science but are science retarded like me check out the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, it contains excellent essays for general consumption. one can often get older editions of these for real cheap at remainder stores
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2009 02:21
|
|
|
colonelsandy posted:Can anyone recommend a good place to start with Ray Bradbury? Golden Apples of the Sun. It can be found at just about every used bookstore in America for under 5 bucks and is one of the best short story collections ever.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2009 08:10
|
|
|
I really like Sci-fi, but only when it doesn't take itself seriously, a la The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The same way with fantasy. Any writers you guys can recommend?colonelsandy posted:Can anyone recommend a good place to start with Ray Bradbury? The Martian Chronicles, without a doubt. One of the first books I read as a kid, still one of my favorites.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2009 16:04
|
|
|
I am a huge fan of Martin's SoIaF series and Martin's writing style in general. I enjoy space based Sci-Fi and loved Heinlen's Time Enough For Love as well as SPIN which won some awards a few years ago. A friend recommended Blood Meridian to me and while I wait for it to arrive I wondered if you guys might have a suggestion for someone who likes adult themed books with really good characterization.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2009 22:56
|
|
|
Unzip and Attack posted:I am a huge fan of Martin's SoIaF series and Martin's writing style in general. I enjoy space based Sci-Fi and loved Heinlen's Time Enough For Love as well as SPIN which won some awards a few years ago. A friend recommended Blood Meridian to me and while I wait for it to arrive I wondered if you guys might have a suggestion for someone who likes adult themed books with really good characterization. Blood Meridian is a great book, definitely. As far as fantasy genre stuff with more focus on characters, I can suggest a few: Guy Gavriel Kay's stuff is generally character-driven fantasy that reads more like historical fiction (SoIaF with much less emphasis on magic/fantasy elements). I'd recommend Tigana, A Song For Arbonne, The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic and The Last Light of the Sun. I'm not a huge fan of Robin Hobb's later stuff but the original Farseer trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest) is pretty good - Hobb is pretty solid with characterizations and it has something of a SoIaF feel to it. Finally, I'll suggest the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen R. Donaldson. You may like them or hate them - I'll grant they are difficult to get into since Covenant is an intensely unlikeable (if well-done) character for much of the original trilogy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2009 04:41
|
|
|
Encryptic posted:As an addendum to my previous suggestion, I just remembered that An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears is really good as well - very Name of the Rose-ish in style. Instance sounds pretty cool too, I have it incoming. I'm looking for some sort of murder mystery sort of forensics book; but not something dumb that'd you find in a supermarket. I have no clue about the genre, are there any particular books that stand out?
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2009 06:13
|
|
|
I just finished reading Time and Again by Jack Finney which I absolutely loved, and I'm interested in checking out the sequel From Time to Time, although most of the reviews I've seen have mentioned to avoid it. However they are hardly articulate on why other than for the sake of "SEQUELS SUCK!!!!" it seems. Has anyone read both the books who can provide a better case for or against the book. I'm sort of surprised at negative reviews although I can understand how its plausible since the second book was written 25 years later while Finney was nearly on his death bed.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2009 22:18
|
|
|
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. The Revolutionary War The Civil War World War II Vietnam The Cold War Economics Panama Oil Prison/Gangs The Middle East CIA/other government agencies
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2009 06:54
|
|
|
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. John Adams by David McCullough is really good. Adams views about many events of the day are pulled right out of letters he wrote to his wife and other folks. It paints a very clear portrait of who Adams was. It doesn't concentrate on the Revolutionary War itself though, since Adams was off in Europe most of the time. McCullough also wrote 1776, which I haven't read, but it deals more with Washington and stuff on the home-front. Buut, that one didn't win the Pulitzer and John Adams did.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2009 10:07
|
|
|
I know this is pretty broad but it's a cool topic to me as a whole so any recommendations on Pirate books, and no I'm not 12 and I'm not looking for children books, fiction or non-fiction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2009 03:43
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2009 23:46
|
|
|
ShutteredIn posted:Golden Apples of the Sun. It can be found at just about every used bookstore in America for under 5 bucks and is one of the best short story collections ever. It should be noted that this book is currently printed under the name A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories. I picked it up a couple months ago, it's a really great read. Bradbury stories are a great thing to take with you on a slow night at work.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2009 03:40
|
|
|
I just started getting into Science Fiction. All I've read so far are Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and the Foundation Series. I went to the local Borders to see if I could find one to pick up, but there's so many to choose from. What I'm looking for are books on either space exploration, huge galactic empires, or humanities first contact with aliens. Or just a good SciFi series to read. I just have no idea where to start.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2009 19:30
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2009 05:10
|
|
|
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. Chuck Klosterman is pretty funny but his tone can be sort of grating. Personally I like him more than Sedaris. David Foster Wallace's nonfiction is usually at least a little bit funny if not hilarious, and is quite meaty in terms of subject matter too. For some more classic stuff, Hazlitt can be funny and Mencken can be a riot if you can stomach some of his more odious opinions.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2009 05:54
|
|
|
Mustang posted:I just started getting into Science Fiction. All I've read so far are Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and the Foundation Series. I went to the local Borders to see if I could find one to pick up, but there's so many to choose from. John Varleys Eight Worlds series is awesome. It's about humanity being evicted from Earth by invisible, omnipotent aliens and forced to live on the other worlds of the solar system. The first one was written in the 70's and was called The Ophiuchi Hotline, and it talks about the actual circumstances of the Invasion, and how humanity has since survived on a hotline of technological information beamed to them from the star Ophiuchi. There's also a whole bunch of short story collections in the same universe; The Barbie Murders was pretty good. He wrote some more in the 90s which show leaps and bounds of improvement in his writing ability. Steel Beach covers the life of a reporter living on the moon under a benevolent dictatorship run by a computer, while The Golden Globe (one of my favourite books of all time) covers the adventures of a travelling actor as he tries to make it from Pluto to Luna in time for a production of King Lear, while being pursued by the mafia. They're not hard science fiction, and the last two books don't even focus on the Invasion much. They're just really amusing, enjoyable and funny (but still serious) travels through a fascinating sci-fi world. And they all stand alone, so don't worry about reading in order or anything. Robert Heinlein is also pretty good for light/adventurous science fiction, as long as you stick to his juvenile novels and stay the gently caress away from his 1,000 page adult novels about incest and libertarianism. Between Planets and Citizen of the Galaxy are probably the best juveniles. If you want first-contact set on Earth, John Cristopher's Tripods trilogy is aimed at young aduls but holds up really well, set hundreds of years after humanity has been enslaved by a race of gigantic robotic tripods. Follows the journey of two English boys as they try to reach a resistance hideout in the Swiss Alps. John Wyndham wrote two really brilliant first-contact novels: The Kraken Wakes, in which aquatic invaders land in the depths of the ocean and start terraforming (aquaforming?) the world against our will, and The Midwich Cuckoos, where aliens artificially inseminate human women with alien children in several strategic locations around the world. And that's the limit of my knowledge... I think I need to read more science fiction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2009 08:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 03:46 |
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2009 01:06
|
|