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Esme posted:The last two books that I read were 11/22/63 and The Plot Against America, and I couldn’t put either of them down. Any recommendations for other books along those lines? What really hooked me was the somewhat recent alternate history angle. American Tabloid by James Ellroy is a roughly JFK era, somewhat alternate history novel. If you happen to like it, there’s a sequel
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Aug 26, 2020 06:21
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I just finished Day of The Jackal and loved it. Anything in a similar vein? To be more specific, I really loved how meticulous the basics of procedure were described. Everything from rifle construction to getting a fake passport to choosing a sniper’s nest were detailed so exquisitely that you had no choice to believe it. It grounded the fiction in a way less plausible thrillers just can’t manage. Assassin stuff would be ideal, but any kind of intricate planning with excruciating detail given to the smallest elements would probably do the trick. I didn’t like The Martian, but that kind of high degree of competency is what Day of The Jackal did, and so much better. To draw another comparison if it helps... anyone who ever watched Mike do any ordinary thing in Better Call Saul knows exactly what I’m looking for.
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Aug 26, 2020 07:11
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Sham bam bamina! posted:The Public Burning, by Robert Coover. Thank you, I checked this out last night and it seems interesting. Take the plunge! Okay! posted:American Tabloid by James Ellroy is a roughly JFK era, somewhat alternate history novel. If you happen to like it, there’s a sequel I'm not sure if I'll be into Ellory's writing style, but I will keep this in mind - thank you.
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Aug 26, 2020 16:35
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BurningBeard posted:I just finished Day of The Jackal and loved it. I know what you're talking about, and for that sort of thing Forsyth is in a class alone with Forsyth. If you haven't read the Fist of God or the Afghan, they're a pair of his best. But if you're looking for that hyper-competent sense of fieldwork, LeCarre's Karla Trilogy is a pretty good bet.
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Aug 26, 2020 17:54
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Cool. Thanks. I had a feeling. How’s Dogs of War? I’m far less interested in his modern output because it seems maybe he went all brexit lunatic in his later years? Nervous about weird paranoid political poo poo sneaking its way into my books. If that’s not an issue, then so be it and I’ll check them out. But Dogs seems interested in weird colonial exploitation poo poo, which is super my jam because it intersects with a writing project I’m workin on thematically.
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Aug 26, 2020 17:58
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BurningBeard posted:Cool. Thanks. I had a feeling. How’s Dogs of War? I’m far less interested in his modern output because it seems maybe he went all brexit lunatic in his later years? Nervous about weird paranoid political poo poo sneaking its way into my books. If that’s not an issue, then so be it and I’ll check them out. But Dogs seems interested in weird colonial exploitation poo poo, which is super my jam because it intersects with a writing project I’m workin on thematically. Dogs of War is very good, and has a lot of that detailed sense of planning you're looking for. It's been probably twenty years since I read it, but I remember it a) being fast out the gate but slow in the stretch (not a bad thing, in the case of the book, but you can tell Forsyth learned to trim the fat as his career went on), and b) a pretty neat piece of history that captured just how analog things were back in the day. (Him and LeCarre have that in common, a sense of their contemporary fiction becoming our historical fiction, and I guess Tom Clancy's early stuff does that too, but the historical detail in Clancy's books seems to be more encyclopedic than dramatically useful, and I never found any of his characters as compelling as Forsyth's or LeCarre's.) Anyway. I can't speak to Forsyth's later stuff (The Afghan was the last book of his I read), but the description for The Cobra sounds just pants-on-head lol: quote:The Cobra is a 2010 thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth about the international cocaine trade. In it, an unnamed Obama-like (said to have a wife named 'Michelle' and a deceased Kenyan father) U.S. President colludes with an unnamed Cameron-like (having a wife named 'Sam') British prime minister to put an end to the international cocaine trade and brings in ex-CIA Director Paul Devereaux who is basically given carte blanche to accomplish this task by any means necessary. which is the worst-camouflaged political turd I've read since that time Terry Goodkind named a weaselly political couple Bertrand and Hildemara Chanboor in Soul of the Fire (or Richard Cypher Versus the Clinton Government). So I'll probably give that one a pass. edit for clarity Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Aug 26, 2020 |
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Aug 26, 2020 19:04
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BurningBeard posted:I just finished Day of The Jackal and loved it. Eason mentioned but it's worth suggesting, le Carre's "The Spy who came in from the cold" may do a good job scratching the itch if you are looking for something away from Forsyth, and with a political reality that is a bit more grounded. I think that is a better spot than the Karla trilogy to start. If you want to go the other way you can check out the "The Hunter" by Stark. It stars a competent thief and the planning he goes through, but the world definitely plays by a bit more hollywood rules and the main character is a glorified sociopath. Still though, there are like 30 books and a bunch of the early ones are good noir fun. I got pretty bored of them quick 5 or so books in, but its pretty easy to blow through a book in an afternoon or two.
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Aug 26, 2020 21:14
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Oh yeah I read a bunch of Stark/Westlake poo poo some years back, but the formula wore itself out pretty quick. I tried some of le Carre’s work, but found it painfully drab. Though, I’m thinking fresh off of Jackal and in a totally different headspace I’d probably have a different experience. Thanks for the suggestions guys. I’ll do Dogs and give le Carre another shot. Where to start with le Carre always seems to be a point of contention though. What do the different entry points have to recommend them?
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Aug 26, 2020 21:52
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Just finished the Interdependency trilogy by Scalzi. Pretty dece space opera.
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Aug 26, 2020 22:08
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Eason the Fifth posted:But if you're looking for that hyper-competent sense of fieldwork, LeCarre's Karla Trilogy is a pretty good bet. Yeah I was gonna say, LeCarre is about as close as you're going to get.
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Aug 27, 2020 17:15
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I'm not sure about these le Carré recommendations. They definitely have a certain amount of spy stuff which would fit the bill and which posters have mentioned, but maybe not as much as OP is looking for, and that stuff is generally not key to the novels. If you want a better written The Martian, you won't get it in Le Carré. More key stuff is people talking and lying to each other, a lot of repressed emotion, and a thousand knives for the British class system. And after the Berlin wall falls, even more knives for first world society generally. I love those novels. Has anyone done a Let's Read of a Le Carré novel recently?
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Aug 27, 2020 17:29
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Sarern posted:I'm not sure about these le Carré recommendations. They definitely have a certain amount of spy stuff which would fit the bill and which posters have mentioned, but maybe not as much as OP is looking for, and that stuff is generally not key to the novels. If you want a better written The Martian, you won't get it in Le Carré. I don't disagree with this, but it fits the bill in the sense of "Lots of detail, competent people, plans coming together". I don't think anyone does Forsyth like Forsyth so you have to compromise somewhere, and I got the impression OP wanted "Detail and nuance". BurningBeard posted:
I'd start with "The Spy who came in from the cold". It's standalone, I think his best work, and it sets the tone of what leCarre is writing about without spoiling much of the characters that will drive the later books. From there I'd do "Tinker Tailor" and see what you think as the start of the Karla trilogy. Tinker Tailor works well as a standalone, the next Karla book is Hounorable Schoolboy which has a ton of in the field spycraft and a book I really enjoyed, though it's not as well received. Smiley's people wraps everything up and isn't as much about spycraft, really. The early Smiley books are more murder mysteries, and probably wouldn't be interesting and a lot is retconned away anyway.
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Aug 27, 2020 18:50
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It’s out of print but The Last Canadian is very process book-y in a The Martian way if you can find it. Otherwise I think: Heads by Greg Bear maybe Doggerland definitely A few Michael Crichton books like Airframe or The Andromeda Strain Man Plus by Pohl
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Aug 27, 2020 19:13
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tuyop posted:It’s out of print but The Last Canadian is very process book-y in a The Martian way if you can find it. Oddly enough I just read the Andromeda Strain for the first time the other week, and you're right, it's a book that's heavily into process. Also it's an incredible page-turner and written before Crichton started using mouthpiece characters to proselytize, so I can recommend it just on that alone. edited for clarity Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Aug 27, 2020 |
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Aug 27, 2020 19:54
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I think Michael Crichton's Prey was the first time as a kid I realized books could be bad.
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Aug 27, 2020 20:03
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Oh and also maybe Justin Cronin’s The Passage. Stay away from the sequels though, woof.
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Aug 27, 2020 20:58
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tuyop posted:Oh and also maybe Justin Cronin’s The Passage. Stay away from the sequels though, woof. No, stay away from The Passage, too; it's complete dogshit.
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Aug 27, 2020 21:22
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Read The Passage and did not enjoy it. I can't remember why i dropped it because it's been like eight years. Thanks for the additional recommendations though.
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Aug 28, 2020 00:13
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I'm looking for something to read about the war on drugs. Mostly interested about the history of how and why it started, and the impact it left on black communities
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Aug 28, 2020 03:34
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A[qq a[QaQa a Q[q[QQQq QQ [QqQuxQ[u a A[
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Aug 28, 2020 22:09
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Hell, same.
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Aug 28, 2020 23:14
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Looking for a good translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Some cursory research seems to suggest that the Cambridge edition, translated by Roger Crisp, is a solid choice, and I'm wondering if people here agree.
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Aug 29, 2020 17:45
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neosloth posted:I'm looking for something to read about the war on drugs. Mostly interested about the history of how and why it started, and the impact it left on black communities Chasing The Scream by Johann Hari
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Aug 31, 2020 12:44
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After seeing both of them recommended here I devoured City of Light, City of Poison and The name of the Rose, looking for some more recommendations along those lines.
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Sep 5, 2020 21:38
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Does anyone know of any good audiobooks about corporate cover-ups of the type that get covered on the podcast Swindled? Edit: or about industrial pollution/disaster incidents in general.
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Sep 6, 2020 21:25
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So I'm kinda writing something on Mishima's early life and I wanted a broader understanding of I guess what life was like in Japan during WW2. Any recs? Sorry if that's a little vague.
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Sep 7, 2020 17:35
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Try Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa, an autobiographical manga about living through the war, the atomic bombings, and the post-war occupation.
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Sep 8, 2020 04:59
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hallo spacedog posted:Does anyone know of any good audiobooks about corporate cover-ups of the type that get covered on the podcast Swindled? It is not the main focus, but the podcast Behind The Bastards has a few episodes on industrial disasters. The NASA write up of Challenger is freely available. It’s pretty dense and can be hard to read. The managers most at fault tried very hard to hide their bad behavior. Feynman’s summary is much easier to get into.
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Sep 8, 2020 05:56
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Mira posted:So I'm kinda writing something on Mishima's early life and I wanted a broader understanding of I guess what life was like in Japan during WW2. Any recs? Sorry if that's a little vague. Showa: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki is super in depth although it's also insanely long
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Sep 8, 2020 13:57
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binaryslacker posted:A[qq a[QaQa a Q[q[QQQq QQ [QqQuxQ[u a A[ Anu maksa pillu kakka kulli paska muna. HTH.
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Sep 8, 2020 14:06
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hallo spacedog posted:Does anyone know of any good audiobooks about corporate cover-ups of the type that get covered on the podcast Swindled? Hoo boy. Tom’s River and Silent Spring, if you haven’t read them. You also might like thread favourite Bad Blood, about Theranos. If you need more I can definitely rustle up some others from my library. It’s like, my wife’s favourite nonfiction genre.
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Sep 8, 2020 15:42
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GorfZaplen posted:Showa: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki is super in depth although it's also insanely long Long is good. Thank you!
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Sep 8, 2020 17:47
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Sort of vague, but: I know there are a couple books on the history of the IWW -- I'd like one that is reasonably comprehensive but not super academic and dry, if it exists. But if I had to choose between a book that's a bit too cursory and a book that's a bit too thorough, I'd prefer a book that's a bit too thorough.
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Sep 9, 2020 03:03
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june genet posted:Sort of vague, but: I know there are a couple books on the history of the IWW -- I'd like one that is reasonably comprehensive but not super academic and dry, if it exists. But if I had to choose between a book that's a bit too cursory and a book that's a bit too thorough, I'd prefer a book that's a bit too thorough. look up the IWW Publishing Bureau
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Sep 9, 2020 04:39
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neosloth posted:I'm looking for something to read about the war on drugs. Mostly interested about the history of how and why it started, and the impact it left on black communities Narconomics is very good at explaining the war on drugs. Last call: the rise and fall of prohibition is really interesting for the social and racial aspects of drug policy. Although not specifically about the War on Drugs.
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Sep 9, 2020 08:33
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LLSix posted:It is not the main focus, but the podcast Behind The Bastards has a few episodes on industrial disasters. Behind the Bastards is another of my favorite podcasts for that reason. I actually don't know much about the Challenger incident so thanks for this recommendation! tuyop posted:Hoo boy. Tom’s River and Silent Spring, if you haven’t read them. Thanks! Silent Spring & Toms River are longtime favorites - I am originally from New Jersey and the state's long history of industrial pollution, cover-ups and all of our superfund site issues were what got me into the topic in the first place. I saw the HBO special and listened to some podcasts on Theranos but did not know there was a book - need to check it out because it is so fascinating of a story.
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Sep 9, 2020 19:43
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Does anybody know some good novels about werewolves? I want to read a werewolf story.
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Sep 13, 2020 12:13
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Red Bones posted:Does anybody know some good novels about werewolves? I want to read a werewolf story. The owner of my old bookstore loved Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf, which is a more "literary" take on the classic werewolf tropes. I really liked Toby Barlow's Sharp Teeth, which is about gangs of non-traditional werewolves (they're shape-shifters who turn into big dogs) and is written in verse. For something quick and fun, there's always King's Cycle of the Werewolf.
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Sep 13, 2020 14:12
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Red Bones posted:Does anybody know some good novels about werewolves? I want to read a werewolf story. I'd recommend Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones and Animals by John Skipp and Craig Spector. The former is probably the better books, but the latter is a werewolves via splatterpunk and is a lot of fun.
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Sep 13, 2020 14:23
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Red Bones posted:Does anybody know some good novels about werewolves? I want to read a werewolf story.
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