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Kenning posted:I'm looking for fiction that is set in a particular time and place, that gives a good feel for that time and place, where the action and narrative voice is tied to that time and place. Examples of this that I've enjoyed include The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I'd love to find more things situated in China, or even something out there like ancient Sumeria or something, but really any time and place is of interest. I prefer non-aristocratic characters as a rule, since I find regular people more interesting and relatable. I think pillars of the earth is pretty good for this, actually.
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May 6, 2023 20:17
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Thanks for the recommendations, several of these look really good!Bandiet posted:Are you interested in Dublin, 16 June 1904 … ?? This one got me lol
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May 6, 2023 23:05
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anilEhilated posted:e: Ooh, Baudolino might be a great pick for this, being about medieval mystification from medieval point of view.
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May 7, 2023 00:07
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Kenning posted:I'm looking for fiction that is set in a particular time and place, that gives a good feel for that time and place, where the action and narrative voice is tied to that time and place. Examples of this that I've enjoyed include The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I'd love to find more things situated in China, or even something out there like ancient Sumeria or something, but really any time and place is of interest. I prefer non-aristocratic characters as a rule, since I find regular people more interesting and relatable. The Name of the Rose is very much this.
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May 7, 2023 00:24
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Apparently it's finally time for me to become an Umberto Eco guy.
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May 7, 2023 00:40
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Haystack posted:The Name of the Rose is very much this. Oh yeah, definitely a good rec
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May 8, 2023 19:17
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I'm looking for a good biography of Otto Von Bismarck that doesn't require a lot of foreknowledge of German/HRE history up to that point.
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May 11, 2023 13:49
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If I want to read one Steven Millhauser collection what would I want to pick? I like stories with a Borges-like bent.
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May 11, 2023 15:27
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FPyat posted:If I want to read one Steven Millhauser collection what would I want to pick? I like stories with a Borges-like bent. I don't think you can go wrong with The Knife Thrower and Other Stories, although I'm more familiar with Millhauser's novels than his short stories.
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May 11, 2023 17:25
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I’m wondering if there are fictional tales about soccer (Football, for non-Americans). Stories about not just the players, but the fans as well. (Though not necessarily both.) Searching Football in Goodreads mostly showed non-fiction stuff and romance novels with American Football players.
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May 15, 2023 22:14
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The man called M posted:I’m wondering if there are fictional tales about soccer (Football, for non-Americans). Stories about not just the players, but the fans as well. (Though not necessarily both.) Searching Football in Goodreads mostly showed non-fiction stuff and romance novels with American Football players. If you can handle manga, Blue Lock, though it centers around strikers: quote:In 2018, the Japanese national team finished 16th in the FIFA World Cup. As a result, the Japan Football Association hires the football enigma Ego Jinpachi. His master plan to lead Japan to stardom is Blue Lock, a training regimen designed to create the world's greatest egotist striker. Those who fail Blue Lock will never again be permitted to represent any Japanese team. Yoichi Isagi, an unknown high school football player who is conflicted about his playing style, decides to join the program in order to become the best egotistical striker in the world.
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May 18, 2023 16:31
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Can anyone recommend a book like Stoner by John Williams? Dealing with the hardships of life and taking the good with the bad. It reminded me of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
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May 19, 2023 00:19
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err posted:Can anyone recommend a book like Stoner by John Williams? Dealing with the hardships of life and taking the good with the bad. It reminded me of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. For a very black humor take, Something Happened by Joseph Heller, although a lot of it focused on the bad, but in a very... human way? I've read both and felt there were similarities but YMMV. Edit perhaps also Siddhartha by Herman Hesse although it's got more of a cosmic perspective. magic cactus fucked around with this message at 04:16 on May 19, 2023 |
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May 19, 2023 04:12
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PRADA SLUT posted:If you can handle manga, Blue Lock, though it centers around strikers: If we're opening the door to manga, whoo boy. There's so many soccer manga. Giant Killing, about a underperforming team that brings in a new coach to turn it around is pretty good. Days isn't bad either, about a high school kid who wants to join the soccer team despite absolutely sucking poo poo at soccer and never improving.
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May 19, 2023 15:38
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Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Is there anything out there containing this stuff? I'd prefer horror or mystery but any genre will do, if it features that stuff strongly.
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May 19, 2023 19:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall would fit your 2nd criteria. Gets pretty House of Leaves-ish. As for footnote heavy stuff that kind of also fits your second point, try Pale Fire by Nabokov. Unfortunately I'm coming up blank on books with weird architecture that aren't house of leaves, with the exception of There Is No Year by Blake Butler. Weird abstract story about a family in a spooky house. Might scratch that House of Leaves itch a little.
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May 19, 2023 19:31
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StrixNebulosa posted:Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The Night-Bird's Feather by Jenna Moran has quite a bit of weird architecture in the episode of Evdeniya and the thing that shouldn't be, not to mention stuff like the structure of the Outside and the Bleak Academy. Arguably it has some of the nature of a puzzle book as well, and it definitely has footnotes.
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May 19, 2023 20:29
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StrixNebulosa posted:Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. For point 2 I bought that Cain's Jawbone book awhile back but have been too nervous to really dig in. I would look it up and see if it's something you would be interested in. For footnotes, David Foster Wallace is an obvious cliche answer there although i will probably get boo'ed and hissed for suggesting him around these parts. Still, while he has some dumb white guy problems I still enjoy a lot of his stuff. Infinite Jest has basically an entire normal book's length of endnotes including fun stuff like an entire experimental filmography that's pretty funny. Another one with footnotes and weirdness and horror is Cyclonopedia by Reza Negastani, which is similar to Khazars in that it's framed as basically a weird fictional textbook, and also similar in that I barely understood either of them
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May 19, 2023 20:30
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StrixNebulosa posted:Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Piranesi.
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May 19, 2023 20:50
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StrixNebulosa posted:Weird request time! I'm looking for unnerving novels like House of Leaves. Specifically, I want one or two elements: 1) books involving weird architecture. Places that change, shouldn't exist, etc. The titular house, the myhouse.wad thing from Doom, backrooms, etc. and 2) Puzzle books that make you go back and forth with pages and thinking and so on. My favorite example here is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, as it's literally a dictionary, and going through it requires jumping around. A small bonus 3) books with large amounts of footnotes, e.g. Discworld, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Pale Fire is like a… mystery/comedy/re-read it a bunch and flip around
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May 19, 2023 21:35
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Nick Bantock's The Egyptian Jukebox is one of my favorite puzzle books. If you liked House of Leaves, you might also like S. (aka Ship of Theseus). As for books with weird houses, the obvious answer is Gormenghast.
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May 20, 2023 01:42
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Charles Palliser's The Quincunx is a massive Dickensian puzzle novel that has a strong cult following. Particularly because as wikipedia says, "Many of the puzzles that are apparently solved in the story have an alternative solution in the subtext" He also wrote Betrayals which is a big meta book of many different stories, maybe there's a puzzle here, maybe there's not I didn't enjoy it all that much.
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May 20, 2023 03:55
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looking for novels with the same prose style as the tumblr blog seat safety switch it doesn't have to be as car obsessed as this guy, but it wouldn't hurt
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May 20, 2023 20:50
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Kenning posted:I'm looking for fiction that is set in a particular time and place, that gives a good feel for that time and place, where the action and narrative voice is tied to that time and place. Examples of this that I've enjoyed include The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I'd love to find more things situated in China, or even something out there like ancient Sumeria or something, but really any time and place is of interest. I prefer non-aristocratic characters as a rule, since I find regular people more interesting and relatable. Lu Xun is a cool chinese writer who wrote about mostly everyday people.
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May 22, 2023 02:51
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I'm trying to read more fiction, I'm looking for good dark Southern noir books. I'm not that familiar with the literary genre so forgive me for describing what I'd like with movies, anything with the vibe of stuff like True Detective Season 1, Night of the Hunter, Angel Heart (I've read Falling Angel, which hits the spot but I don't want the supernatural stuff). Darker/grittier the better but I'm open to anything that someone feels fits the vibe right.
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May 30, 2023 05:59
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Jim Thompson might do for you. His specialty is brutal noir, usually set in the Southwest (Texas/Oklahoma/Arizona). I'm thinking particularly of Pop. 1280, The Killer Inside Me, or South of Heaven.
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May 30, 2023 11:58
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Kvlt! posted:I'm trying to read more fiction, I'm looking for good dark Southern noir books. I'm not that familiar with the literary genre so forgive me for describing what I'd like with movies, James Elroy might also be a good fit. Not so much southern stuff, but very gritty and noir.
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May 30, 2023 12:13
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Kvlt! posted:I'm trying to read more fiction, I'm looking for good dark Southern noir books. I'm not that familiar with the literary genre so forgive me for describing what I'd like with movies, You could try The Executioner's Song by Mailer - the biography of the murderer Gary Gilmore. It won a Pulitzer. for what it's worth. I've not read it for a while, but I remember it being good. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - another non-fiction/true crime. EDIT of course now I notice that you're looking for fiction. 
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May 30, 2023 14:41
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I think the Dave Robicheaux detective stories by James Lee Burke should fit the bill. I stopped reading the series after a while but I do remember them being very enjoyable.
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May 30, 2023 17:41
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Thank you everyone!!
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May 30, 2023 18:53
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hello thread, can you recommend some spy and/or detective stories? In terms of spy books I've been reading the Alex Milius and Thomas Kell books by Charles Cumming and enjoyed them. As for detective/police stuff it has mainly been the Bosch books. So stuff in that vein, which I know is pretty broad.
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Jun 3, 2023 12:45
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Have you tried Graham Greene? Our Man in Havana is great.
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Jun 3, 2023 13:11
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MrBling posted:hello thread, can you recommend some spy and/or detective stories? I know this is super obvious, but if you like Cumming (no pun intended), you will probably enjoy John le Carré. Probably start with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, it will give you a good taste of what he’s about.
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Jun 3, 2023 13:50
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MrBling posted:hello thread, can you recommend some spy and/or detective stories? Seconding the previous recommendations and adding Olen Steinhauer. err posted:Can anyone recommend a book like Stoner by John Williams? Dealing with the hardships of life and taking the good with the bad. It reminded me of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Stewart O'Nan has a bunch of these, the Emily/Henry stories in particular.
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Jun 3, 2023 14:32
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For spy stuff, I like Alan Furst, whose specialty is espionage in pre-World War II Europe. Like Le Carre, he's more cerebral than action-oriented. As for detectives, if you like police procedurals like Bosch, you should check out Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels.
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Jun 3, 2023 15:59
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Looking for historical fiction about healthcare providers, preferably nurses and even more preferably nurse-midwives or other repro health providers. One that I loved was The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue.
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Jun 13, 2023 16:41
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boquiabierta posted:Looking for historical fiction about healthcare providers, preferably nurses and even more preferably nurse-midwives or other repro health providers. One that I loved was The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. My first thought was Call the Midwife. It is a memoir, not fiction, though.
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Jun 13, 2023 17:17
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wheatpuppy posted:My first thought was Call the Midwife. It is a memoir, not fiction, though. Similarly the All Creatures Great and Small series. It has more descriptions of assisting livestock births than any other popular book series.
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Jun 13, 2023 17:34
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boquiabierta posted:Looking for historical fiction about healthcare providers, preferably nurses and even more preferably nurse-midwives or other repro health providers. One that I loved was The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. I recall Clan of the Cave Bear had some interesting herbalism and techniques that sounded legit but otherwise I have no idea if the book is good at all because I was very young when I read it!
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Jun 13, 2023 23:01
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What are some books like Einstein's Dreams or Invisible Cities? Short stories exploring weird alternate worlds or thought experiments.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:55
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