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xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


Hieronymous Alloy posted:

James Michener's Hawaii but I'd actually recommend his short nonfiction collection _Rascals in Paradise _.

The Charlie Chan mystery books are set in Hawaii also.

Have you read the biography of the man who inspired those books?

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Kart Barfunkel
Nov 10, 2009


Are the books any good? I’m only familiar with the films and their...baggage.

Good Will Hrunting
Oct 8, 2012

I changed my mind.
I'm not sorry.
I read the first few bunch of books in the Malazan series and burnt out on fantasy for a while, are the Sanderson books less "disjointed" than the Malazan series? I've read a lot of fantasy but after the first 4 I couldn't soldier on.

Take the plunge! Okay!
Feb 24, 2007



Good Will Hrunting posted:

I read the first few bunch of books in the Malazan series and burnt out on fantasy for a while, are the Sanderson books less "disjointed" than the Malazan series? I've read a lot of fantasy but after the first 4 I couldn't soldier on.

They are super boring, so the cool stuff you get in Malazan like FFVIII style gunblade wielders, magical Neanderthals and armies riding in on velociraptors, don’t expect anything like that in Sanderson. He’s super dull and doesn’t have anything remotely interesting to say. Even by fantasy standards, it’s a waste of time.

funkybottoms
Oct 28, 2010

Funky Bottoms is a land man

Take the plunge! Okay! posted:

They are super boring, so the cool stuff you get in Malazan like FFVIII style gunblade wielders, magical Neanderthals and armies riding in on velociraptors, don’t expect anything like that in Sanderson. He’s super dull and doesn’t have anything remotely interesting to say. Even by fantasy standards, it’s a waste of time.

The last few Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books were terrible, but still way better than the ones Sanderson wrote to finish the series. I threw away my ARC of The Way of Kings.

Ornamented Death
Jan 25, 2006

Pew pew!

funkybottoms posted:

The last few Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books were terrible, but still way better than the ones Sanderson wrote to finish the series. I threw away my ARC of The Way of Kings.

If you had a full ARC and not just the sampler this is a great self-own since it's worth a couple hundred bucks now and was worth significantly more before WoK was released.

funkybottoms
Oct 28, 2010

Funky Bottoms is a land man
Nah, caring about anything Brandon Sanderson has done is a much bigger self-own.

Ornamented Death
Jan 25, 2006

Pew pew!

You don't have to care about him or his works to make a big profit off of something you got for free, but you do you.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Mattavist posted:

My two favorite books are Pushing Ice and House of Suns, both by Alistair Reynolds (I’ve read basically everything he’s written). My wife calls it the “sentient spaceship genre”, but I really like books set over long time periods where the author really explores how people adapt to changing circumstances.

I also really liked Children of Time and some of Asimov’s stuff like Foundation, The End of Eternity, and The Gods Themselves.

I'm not quite sure if you're actually asking for recommendations here but maybe try the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Jolene
Jan 1, 2019
I'd like some true crime recommendations. I loved Mindhunter (both book and show), I'll Be Gone In the Dark, and Jeff Guinn's Manson.

buffalo all day
Mar 13, 2019

Assume you’ve read In Cold Blood?

Jolene
Jan 1, 2019
I actually haven't yet!

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Jolene posted:

I actually haven't yet!

That's the big one.

The other biggies: Helter Skelter, The Devil In The White City, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Helter Skelter's a classic and the other two have been the most talked about in the past few years after Michelle McNamara's.

I'm not a true crime fanatic, though, so I'm sure die-hards have plenty of recs for more hidden gems.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Jolene posted:

I'd like some true crime recommendations. I loved Mindhunter (both book and show), I'll Be Gone In the Dark, and Jeff Guinn's Manson.

Zodiac

Roth
Jul 9, 2016

I saw kindle unlimited was 2 bucks for months so I decided to go ahead and grab that. Any good horror or sci-fi to check out? The weirder the better.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Roth posted:

I saw kindle unlimited was 2 bucks for months so I decided to go ahead and grab that. Any good horror or sci-fi to check out? The weirder the better.

What have you read and liked?

China Mieville is usually kind of weird, maybe look at Embassytown if you haven’t. I thought Kameron Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion was really good as well.

Roth
Jul 9, 2016

tuyop posted:

What have you read and liked?

China Mieville is usually kind of weird, maybe look at Embassytown if you haven’t. I thought Kameron Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion was really good as well.

Honestly, I haven't read a whole lot deeper than fairly mainstream genre fiction. I liked Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon, but that's about as obscure as I've read.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

Roth posted:

I saw kindle unlimited was 2 bucks for months so I decided to go ahead and grab that. Any good horror or sci-fi to check out? The weirder the better.
Unto Leviathan/Ship of Fools (name depending on where you're at) by Richard Paul Russo is both. Probably isn't on KU, though.

Terrible Opinions
Oct 18, 2013



Humbug Scoolbus posted:

The Black Company series
The Black Company series is very good, it is absolutely vital to warn new readers that the 2018 interquel is terrible and should not be read even if it is chronologically second.

Lady Jaybird
Jan 23, 2014

to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022



I'm looking for good sci-fi, I've read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, a little Heinlein (A Door Into Summer and Starship Troopers), and the first Scalzi book. I'm open to anything.

buffalo all day
Mar 13, 2019

dervinosdoom posted:

I'm looking for good sci-fi, I've read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, a little Heinlein (A Door Into Summer and Starship Troopers), and the first Scalzi book. I'm open to anything.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman would fit right alongside Starship Troopers and Old Man's War (I assume that's what you're referring to). It also deals with a grunt shipping off to the space wars. It's viewed as a classic of the genre, has been very influential and won a bunch of awards when it came out.

If you liked Heinlein, I think A Moon is a Harsh Mistress is his best book - essentially a 1776-style revolution set on the Moon in the year 2076. And if you like that, you could read Ian McDonald's Luna: New Moon trilogy, which is basically Game of Thrones meets TMIAHM. McDonald's written a bunch of other near-future stuff set on Earth that's quite good. The Dervish House is my favorite of those.

If you want other space-based sci-fi, Becky Chambers's A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is well-liked around here. It's often described as "cozy" and feels a bit like the TV show Firefly.

The Expanse series is a very popular recent entry that is similar to what you've read so far. Some people (including me) don't like it much but many do. The first book is called Leviathan Wakes. It's has to do with a spaceship crew zipping around a near future Earth solar system and dealing with various internal and external threats. I believe it was originally an RPG campaign of some kind and the first book definitely shows it.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

dervinosdoom posted:

I'm looking for good sci-fi, I've read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, a little Heinlein (A Door Into Summer and Starship Troopers), and the first Scalzi book. I'm open to anything.

The last couple of pages had this same question a few times if you want those recs (and to save us going back and quoting).

But tl;dr: The Light Brigade is the Starship Troopers for late-stage capitalist empire and Kameron Hurley loving gets it. If you like Heinlein I think you’ll really enjoy that book.

Stringent
Dec 22, 2004

by sebmojo
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson is my favorite sci-fi I've read in recent memory. Player of Games by Iain Banks is one of my favorites as well.

Lady Jaybird
Jan 23, 2014

to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022



Thanks for the recommendations!

chernobyl kinsman
Mar 18, 2007

a friend of the friendly atom

Soiled Meat

dervinosdoom posted:

I'm looking for good sci-fi, I've read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, a little Heinlein (A Door Into Summer and Starship Troopers), and the first Scalzi book. I'm open to anything.

dune :getin:

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Stringent posted:

The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson is my favorite sci-fi I've read in recent memory. Player of Games by Iain Banks is one of my favorites as well.

I just finished Red Mars and am unsure if I want to continue on. I liked it overall and loved some parts, but I felt a few parts dragged, specifically Frank playing politics, which I found a little difficult to follow due to KSR's narrative style. I know his politics (which I largely agree with) come hand in hand with KSR's writing, but I liked the story more than the political musings, if that makes any sense. What's the balance like in the next two books?

Stringent
Dec 22, 2004

by sebmojo

Human Tornada posted:

I just finished Red Mars and am unsure if I want to continue on. I liked it overall and loved some parts, but I felt a few parts dragged, specifically Frank playing politics, which I found a little difficult to follow due to KSR's narrative style. I know his politics (which I largely agree with) come hand in hand with KSR's writing, but I liked the story more than the political musings, if that makes any sense. What's the balance like in the next two books?

It gets progressively more political, you should probably bail.

A human heart
Oct 10, 2012

dervinosdoom posted:

I'm looking for good sci-fi, I've read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, a little Heinlein (A Door Into Summer and Starship Troopers), and the first Scalzi book. I'm open to anything.

Fourth Mansions, by RA Lafferty.

High Warlord Zog
Dec 12, 2012
Are there any female military fic/techno-thriller writers? I was talking gender in genre fiction with a friend recently, and while we could easily come up with a long list of detective stories and historical adventure novels written by women, we couldn't think of a single "Tom Clancy type book" by one.

Hackers film 1995
Nov 4, 2009

Hack the planet!

anybody read a book before thats “babys first rene descartes”? i want a book about his life and writings but also i want it to be at a casual level. i doubt this exists but i want to know more about him.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

High Warlord Zog posted:

Are there any female military fic/techno-thriller writers? I was talking gender in genre fiction with a friend recently, and while we could easily come up with a long list of detective stories and historical adventure novels written by women, we couldn't think of a single "Tom Clancy type book" by one.

I read this first as military sci fi and wrote: Kameron Hurley, Lois McMaster Bujold and Ann Leckie off the top of my head. Depending on what you think Oryx and Crake is, there’s also Margaret Atwood. Hell, I think maybe a bit of Le Guin would qualify.

But now I see you’re asking for dad-fic and I’m also at a loss.

wheatpuppy
Apr 25, 2008

YOU HAVE MY POST!

tuyop posted:

I read this first as military sci fi and wrote: Kameron Hurley, Lois McMaster Bujold and Ann Leckie off the top of my head. Depending on what you think Oryx and Crake is, there’s also Margaret Atwood. Hell, I think maybe a bit of Le Guin would qualify.

But now I see you’re asking for dad-fic and I’m also at a loss.

All the 'airport thriller' type books I can think of with woman authors are firmly in the 'romantic suspense' circle of the Venn diagram. Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, Suzanne Brockmann all have series with lots of derring-do by military and FBI types, but they're written for the "women's market" so there is a different kind of formula they have to follow.

Which is too bad, I would like to read more Forsyth/LeCarre/Clancy-style books regardless of author gender.

High Warlord Zog
Dec 12, 2012

tuyop posted:

But now I see you’re asking for dad-fic and I’m also at a loss.

You call it that, but a lot of bloke-lit authors have a large female readerships. More women than men read the Jack Reacher books. Wilbur Smith as well. Clancy mostly sells to dudes though.

Prism Mirror Lens
Oct 9, 2012

~*"The most intelligent and meaning-rich film he could think of was Shaun of the Dead, I don't think either brain is going to absorb anything you post."*~




:chord:

Hackers film 1995 posted:

anybody read a book before thats “babys first rene descartes”? i want a book about his life and writings but also i want it to be at a casual level. i doubt this exists but i want to know more about him.

If you want to go really casual there’s “Introducing Descartes: A Graphic Guide” and “Action Philosophers!”

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

High Warlord Zog posted:

You call it that, but a lot of bloke-lit authors have a large female readerships. More women than men read the Jack Reacher books. Wilbur Smith as well. Clancy mostly sells to dudes though.

Can confirm, my mom will ONLY read nonfiction and Tom Clancy novels these days. I keep reccing her cool sci-fi but no, nope, she wants stuff set in modern times.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry

High Warlord Zog posted:

Are there any female military fic/techno-thriller writers? I was talking gender in genre fiction with a friend recently, and while we could easily come up with a long list of detective stories and historical adventure novels written by women, we couldn't think of a single "Tom Clancy type book" by one.

There is 'The Chemist' by Stephanie Meyer (Yes, THAT Stephanie Meyer) which is extremely violent and has a lot of gun and high-speed/low-drag poo poo in it.

GorfZaplen
Jan 20, 2012

High Warlord Zog posted:

Are there any female military fic/techno-thriller writers? I was talking gender in genre fiction with a friend recently, and while we could easily come up with a long list of detective stories and historical adventure novels written by women, we couldn't think of a single "Tom Clancy type book" by one.

Not quite the same genre but a handful of mass paperback spy novels were ghostwritten by women. The Nick Carter series had multiple women writers although they kind of disappear in the mid 70s

Carly Gay Dead Son
Aug 27, 2007

Bonus.
Any recommendations for books about 19th century working class scotland? Fiction or non.

nadav
Sep 6, 2005
My last name is actually something very jewish. Like Leibovitz, only longer. And more jewish.
This is broad, but does anyone have recommendations for learning about (20th century) Chinese politics/culture?

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Mokelumne Trekka
Nov 22, 2015

Soon.

I've been on a war kick lately.

Is 1776 by David McCollough a solid choice on the American Revolutionary War? I prefer something as realistic and factual as possible, some honest criticism of America wouldn't hurt, and I want to steer clear of propaganda and liberal tropes. I guess I'm just a little suspicious of the book's popularity is all.

(I also happen to watching the HBO series John Adams based on the same author and I find it mostly good)

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