|
Evfedu posted:Anyone able to recommend a good book about love? I've asked this same question in this thread before but didn't get many suggestions. Someone mentioned High Fidelity but I couldn't get into it.
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2011 18:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 21:38 |
|
|
Film was good, book was OK. Hornby is a bit of a whiny poo poo at the best of times (worst of times being the practically impenetrably miserable How To Be Good).
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2011 19:09
|
|
|
Quantify! posted:What are some good books about modern Arab or Arab-American women? Themes of "oppression" and "sexuality" are most useful. Fiction or non-fiction. If you're set on Arabs specifically, I have a couple friends who said Randa Abdel-Fattah's Does My Head Look Big In This? was really good. I haven't read it personally, so this is more of a second-hand recommendation, but it's all about a Palestinian-Australian teenager's decision to wear the hijab full-time, so I'd imagine it brings up a lot of questions about the woman's place in Islam/Palestinian culture and so on. Sorry if neither one is what you're looking for, I'm just starting to get into Middle-Eastern/Islamic literature myself. Also, if The Story of Zahra is one of the books you're ordering by al-Shaykh, let me know how it is! Some dick on Amazon spoiled the whole thing for me in a review, but I'm still really interested in reading it (partly out of spite for that spoiling rear end in a top hat  ).
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2011 19:34
|
|
|
WeaponGradeSadness posted:Also, if The Story of Zahra is one of the books you're ordering by al-Shaykh, let me know how it is!
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2011 19:50
|
|
|
Evfedu posted:Anyone able to recommend a good book about love? Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2011 21:21
|
|
|
I'm looking for a readable book about the history of human civilisation. Like most people I've grown up with a patchwork of historical knowledge, fuzzy in most parts and brightening in areas that are more famous or have had movies made about them. I know, for example, that Australian society began when the First Fleet landed in 1788, and I know that the population really boomed with the Victorian gold rushes in the 1860s, but what about all the in between stuff? When did Sydney go from being a ramshackle bunch of houses to being a proper city - and what was society like when it did? That was just an example, though - I'm looking for a global history. Also so I can follow the rise of civilisation chronologically, rather than by area, which is how people usually seem to read about it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 17:04
|
|
|
freebooter posted:I'm looking for a readable book about the history of human civilisation. Like most people I've grown up with a patchwork of historical knowledge, fuzzy in most parts and brightening in areas that are more famous or have had movies made about them. I know, for example, that Australian society began when the First Fleet landed in 1788, and I know that the population really boomed with the Victorian gold rushes in the 1860s, but what about all the in between stuff? When did Sydney go from being a ramshackle bunch of houses to being a proper city - and what was society like when it did? Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick does a decent job. There's a fairly heavy focus on indo-european history but it's mostly chronological and DOES cover history in other parts of the world as well, especially in the later volumes, and it's interestingly researched and thoroughly scientific even when discussing history from religious sources (Moses, etc.) edit: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Vol-Pt-1/dp/0385265204 http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Volumes-8-13/dp/0385420935/ref=pd_sim_b_1 http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Volumes-8-13/dp/0385420935/ref=bxgy_cc_b_img_b The only caveats I'll give about these are that 1) He tends to focus on "interesting" over "proven." Everything's well-researched, but given a boring theory and a cool sounding theory, each of which is potentially valid based on what we know, you'll get a panel on the cool one and maybe a footnote on the boring one, even if the boring one has more evidence. Still, he notes that he's talking theories when he does that kinda thing, and gives his sources. 2) They have a pretty weird mix of lots of religious history -- Jesus, Confucius, Buddha, Moses, etc. -- through an entirely secular/scientific lens. Given the author's obvious atheism, it's kinda weird that he spends that much time discussing religion at all, but then I guess it's a big part of human history. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Apr 12, 2011 |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 17:13
|
|
|
freebooter posted:I'm looking for a readable book about the history of human civilisation. Like most people I've grown up with a patchwork of historical knowledge, fuzzy in most parts and brightening in areas that are more famous or have had movies made about them. I know, for example, that Australian society began when the First Fleet landed in 1788, and I know that the population really boomed with the Victorian gold rushes in the 1860s, but what about all the in between stuff? When did Sydney go from being a ramshackle bunch of houses to being a proper city - and what was society like when it did? I would love something like this, too. That's what I thought I was getting when I read "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, but turns out that book is about the history of science(still, one of the most fascinating books I've ever read). So, seconding this post.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 17:16
|
|
|
freebooter posted:I'm looking for a readable book about the history of human civilisation. Like most people I've grown up with a patchwork of historical knowledge, fuzzy in most parts and brightening in areas that are more famous or have had movies made about them. I know, for example, that Australian society began when the First Fleet landed in 1788, and I know that the population really boomed with the Victorian gold rushes in the 1860s, but what about all the in between stuff? When did Sydney go from being a ramshackle bunch of houses to being a proper city - and what was society like when it did? If you're looking for all the in between stuff, I'm pretty sure that book would run 5000 pages. It may be more useful to focus on certain areas, eg Norman Davies's Europe is thorough and very readable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 17:22
|
|
man
|
Novels that have a similar vibe to "Norwegian Wood" or to the Wong Kar Wai movies set in modern day (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, etc)?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 17:50
|
|
|
AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Jan 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 18:47
|
|
|
Yeah, I really wanted to recommend something for both of you, but I haven't really found a book yet focusing on Post-Elizabethan England or the Holy Roman Empire. The closest I've found to the former was Schama's History of Britain and Norman Davies' Europe for the latter, but both works cover more ground and consequently can't go into the kind of depth on these eras that I'm sure you're looking for.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2011 19:11
|
|
|
AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Jan 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2011 16:56
|
|
|
I also placed an order for Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. 1 Hopefully it's good.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2011 17:08
|
|
|
blue squares posted:I also placed an order for Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. 1 Hopefully it's good. Good luck, let me know what you think of it =)
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2011 18:46
|
|
|
I'm looking for a light book that explains what Marx's ideology was. I'd rather not read what Marx wrote as his stuff is pretty dense but a version that makes it easier to digest.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2011 21:20
|
|
|
Kneel Before Zog posted:I'm looking for a light book that explains what Marx's ideology was. I'd rather not read what Marx wrote as his stuff is pretty dense but a version that makes it easier to digest. The main thrust is here, I copied that into OpenOffice and got 19 pages. It's pretty doable. If not, how easy-to-digest do you want? "The rich want to gently caress the poor, and they are."
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2011 02:41
|
|
|
What's a good translation of Dante's Inferno? I've been kicking around Amazon, looking at the masses of editions available and Ciaran Carson's seems to stand out but if anybody's read one they especially liked, I'd be interested in hearing about it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2011 04:20
|
|
|
blue squares posted:I also placed an order for Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. 1 Hopefully it's good. Those books are great. My entire knowledge of world history comes from those books. It got me through AP History, more or less
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2011 05:57
|
|
|
Kismet posted:Huh, I'm not sure. You mean where to start on a Faust-related reading list? I suppose it depends which titles you want to read. Goethe's Faust and Marlowe's Dr Faustus are both basically re-tellings of the same story, and would probably be fairly heavy going to read one after the other unless you're really into reading variations of the Faust story (like me Somehow I missed this reply. Thank you, this is exactly what I wanted and I can see why you add The Name of the Rose to it. On a slight derail, I tried tricking friends into believing an april's fool this year that The Name of the Rose II: Revenge of Jorge de Burgos was ready for preorder. No luck
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2011 10:28
|
|
). They're both worthwhile, but maybe with a gap between them. Personally, if you were only to read one, I'd recommend Goethe's Faust, which is longer but has vastly more depth and human interest to it. There are also multitudes of translations available - my favourite modern translation is Walter Kaufmann's, which chops out quite a lot of Act II but does a good job of sticking close to the original text while keeping it readable and capturing the humour.
|
Kneel Before Zog posted:I'm looking for a light book that explains what Marx's ideology was. I'd rather not read what Marx wrote as his stuff is pretty dense but a version that makes it easier to digest. Read Marx's stuff* with Wikipedia and Marxists.org open beside you. * The Communist Manifesto, as suggested, and Chapter 1 of Capital (on commodities and commodity fetishism).
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2011 15:28
|
|
|
barkingclam posted:What's a good translation of Dante's Inferno? I've been kicking around Amazon, looking at the masses of editions available and Ciaran Carson's seems to stand out but if anybody's read one they especially liked, I'd be interested in hearing about it. This is the version I read in my Dante class in college, it seems to be a really good translation (I don't read Italian, so I can't say exactly how faithful of a translation it is) and there is a ton of additional info and end-notes (at the end of the canto, not the end of the book, which is nice). One complaint I have is that the spots for the end notes aren't marked in any way in the text so you find yourself flipping back and forth between the text and the end notes more than you need to. Other than that I thought it was fantastic and really a fascinating read. The amazon reviews seem to warn against the Kindle version, though, so try and pick it up in hard copy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2011 01:43
|
|
|
Anybody want to recommend some Kindle store non-fiction?
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2011 18:53
|
|
|
Arnold of Soissons posted:Anybody want to recommend some Kindle store non-fiction? http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Benjamin-Franklin-ebook/dp/B000JMLMXI/ref=cm_lmf_tit_2 http://www.amazon.com/The-Rough-Riders-ebook/dp/B000JMLDD2/ref=pd_sim_kinc_95?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 http://www.amazon.com/Through-the-B...02890531&sr=1-4 http://www.amazon.com/Man-Eaters-Tsavo-African-Adventures-ebook/dp/B002RKRQ4Y/ref=pd_sim_kinc_17?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-an-Autobiography-ebook/dp/B004TPAPHA/ref=pd_sim_kinc_40?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2011 19:03
|
|
|
Arnold of Soissons posted:Anybody want to recommend some Kindle store non-fiction? It's a shame there isn't more of his stuff on Kindle, but you can never go wrong with John McPhee. Here's Uncommon Carriers which is as good an introduction to him as any. It's a shame neither of his anthologies are available, they're really good reads. Here's another one I read recently. Under Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, a really in depth and detailed look at North Korea. It's everything you could want to know about the most secretive country on the planet and more. The refugee stories are mind blowing, too.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2011 04:17
|
|
|
hellvis454 posted:I need a recommendation on a book (or series) about "the war in heaven", i.e. war between angels and demons. God's Demon, by Wayne Barlowe, is more or less about this. I read it a while ago and enjoyed it. The author is an illustrator apparently and that comes through in the images and locations he describes. It takes place long after the war in heaven, with one of the demons wanting to fight back against lucifer and return to heaven. There are all kinds of twisted demons and Beelzebub is composed of millions of black flies and there are huge demonic fortresses constructed of human souls etc. It's not great literature, I guess, but "cool" is a good descriptor.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2011 20:43
|
|
|
Any good nonfiction books on con games? Just watched The Sting and have been reading a bunch of financial crime fiction where the crimes get analogized to basic con games, so I'm wondering if there's an index/history of con games somewhere that I could read. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 21:21
|
|
|
WeaponGradeSadness posted:Also, if The Story of Zahra is one of the books you're ordering by al-Shaykh, let me know how it is! Some dick on Amazon spoiled the whole thing for me in a review, but I'm still really interested in reading it (partly out of spite for that spoiling rear end in a top hat Hieronymous Alloy posted:Any good nonfiction books on con games? Just watched The Sting and have been reading a bunch of financial crime fiction where the crimes get analogized to basic con games, so I'm wondering if there's an index/history of con games somewhere that I could read. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 21:57
|
|
|
Quantify! posted:I didn't care for it much. It didn't have much depth and could've been any "wartime novel". I was curious for recommendations along perhaps a more general line of white collar crime, perhaps not unlike American Greed or related shows. I just finished reading Inside Job and would like more true crime non fiction. Will check out these two books myself.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 05:45
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Any good nonfiction books on con games? Just watched The Sting and have been reading a bunch of financial crime fiction where the crimes get analogized to basic con games, so I'm wondering if there's an index/history of con games somewhere that I could read. Thanks! I picked up a book called The Con Artist Handbook by Joel Levy five or six years ago. Although rather brief, it does serve as a good catalogue of confidence games throughout history. (On a side note, you might also want to check out the British TV series Hustle and its 'non-fictional' counter-part The Real Hustle as well as the movies House of Games and Nine Queens).
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 11:17
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Good luck, let me know what you think of it =) Read the first 24 pages of Cartoon History today, really good so far. Thanks a ton for recommending it!
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2011 18:00
|
|
|
Has anyone read any Sheri Holman? I heard a neat podcast with her and I was wondering if her work was any good and where one might start with it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2011 19:39
|
|
|
Mr. Banana Grabber posted:Has anyone read any Sheri Holman? I heard a neat podcast with her and I was wondering if her work was any good and where one might start with it. I'm only familiar with her latest, Witches..., which is fantastically well-written, but my understanding is that The Dress Lodger makes the best starting point. She visited my store recently and was really great, both reading and discussing her work.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2011 21:44
|
|
|
A friend of mine is apparently looking for cheesy fantasy novels that include (I quote) "Dungeons, quests, dragons, knights riding dragons, good, evil, dark wizards, evil magic, mighty heroes etc." He has tried some of the DnD books and said they were not really goony enough to merit reading. Sorry if this is a retarded question.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2011 04:04
|
|
|
Megafunk posted:A friend of mine is apparently looking for cheesy fantasy novels that include (I quote) "Dungeons, quests, dragons, knights riding dragons, good, evil, dark wizards, evil magic, mighty heroes etc." He has tried some of the DnD books and said they were not really goony enough to merit reading.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2011 04:32
|
|
|
Quantify! posted:Joe Abercrombie has what you need. Joe Abercrombie is almost exactly opposite of what Megafunk is looking for if his friend has said the loving D&D books aren't goony enough. Which kind of begs the question, if licensed books based on Dungeons and Dragons isn't goony enough, what is? I think your friend is going to have to delve into the black abyss of fan-fiction to find what he's looking for.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2011 14:16
|
|
|
Megafunk posted:A friend of mine is apparently looking for cheesy fantasy novels that include (I quote) "Dungeons, quests, dragons, knights riding dragons, good, evil, dark wizards, evil magic, mighty heroes etc." He has tried some of the DnD books and said they were not really goony enough to merit reading. Wouldn't the Dragonlance books be just the thing?
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2011 01:40
|
|
|
If someone could recommend me a good horror novel/short story collection, it'd be much appreciated. I've never really read horror before and I figured I might as well get into it, since I'm in the mood to be scared. Books that are horror-ish that I've read are: Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist It by Stephen King Horns by Joe Hill My Work is Not Yet Done and Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti Pretty much every Edgar Allen Poe story Some Lovecraft short stories...whatever's in the Penguin compilation, I've read. Akarshi fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Apr 24, 2011 |
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2011 18:24
|
|
|
Old Janx Spirit posted:Wouldn't the Dragonlance books be just the thing? Yeah, if Dragonlance isn't goony enough I have no idea. Hell, it's licensed AD&D fiction, what more does he want? Spock riding a dragon? Maybe Goodkind, just for terribility points? Does he want good-awesome-schlock or honestly bad? He could try the original Conan novels.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2011 20:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 21:38 |
|
|
Akarshi posted:If someone could recommend me a good horror novel/short story collection, it'd be much appreciated. I've never really read horror before and I figured I might as well get into it, since I'm in the mood to be scared. Since you already know him, Stephen King's short story collection Skeleton Crew is pretty drat good.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2011 03:15
|
|