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Picayune posted:Oh, oh, oh, I get to recommend one of my favorite non-fiction books! Nora Titone's My Thoughts Be Bloody is about the famous-in-his-day actor Edwin Booth and his lifelong rivalry with his jealous, grasping, less talented younger brother, John Wilkes Booth. The book makes the case that it could very well have been John Wilkes' desperate desire to outdo his brother and be famous and cool on his own merits for once that ended up driving him to political extremes and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; Edwin Booth was reasonably kind to his brother and tried to help him follow his dreams and John Wilkes just hosed himself over repeatedly with his shallow angry swaggering. Oh, it's so good. Now I have to go read it again. Oh, no, whatever will I do. Thank you, I'm keeping an eye on this one now.
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Aug 10, 2024 14:30
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Wow, thanks for all the Trek and Trek-adjacent recommendations, thread. Totted them up here: Star Trek-like comfort reading: Planet X (TNG and X-Men crossover novel, possibly the comics) The Final Reflection (John M. Ford) Planet of Judgement and World Without End (Joe Haldeman) Invasion! Trek series (extremely pulp recommendation) First Strike (TOS, Diane Carey) Soldiers of Fear (TNG, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch) Time's Enemy (DS9, L.A. Graf) The Final Fury (VOY, Dafydd ab Hugh) Q-in-Law (Peter David) Abrey Maturin series (not SF, Patrick O'Brien) Diane Duane stuff (Spock's World, My Enemy My Ally, The Romulan Way, Sword Hunt, Honor Blade, and The Empty Chair) Final Frontier (Diane Carey) Prime Directive (Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) Q-Squared (Peter David) Kahless (Michael Jan Friedman) Ship of the Line (Diane Carey) minor mentions (Strike Zone, Balance of Power, The Captain's Honor, The Peacekeepers) Starfleet Corps of Engineers novellas
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Aug 10, 2024 21:55
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New reader here looking for fantasy recommendations. Most of my recreational reading of the past few years has been horror stuff like Lovecraft and House of Leaves, but I'm looking for inspiration for my d&d campaign and also just kind of on a fantasy kick. Looking for something modern and accessible, I struggle to commit to books and while I've heard great things about the Wheel of Time series, I just don't think I have that in me yet. I'm gravitating towards something dark or high fantasy, I like the idea of something with a lot of magic, politics, and worldbuilding. I do prefer things that are character driven, with well rounded relationships, and while I'm not exactly looking for fantasy romance stuff like ACOTAR, I do enjoy romance subplots that feel meaningful to the characters. It's been kind of difficult for me to really find anything because I don't exactly have a like/dislike list (I can probably count on one hand the amount of books I've read in the past decade), so any help is appreciated.
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Aug 20, 2024 16:53
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I really enjoyed The Fifth Season series. It's somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi and dystopian future, though it is in no way high fantasy. It leans towards the darker side. The world building and character development are both great, I finished the series wanting more from that same world.
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Aug 20, 2024 17:05
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Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn (any of hers really). Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. The Mazalan series was inspired by the authors gurps campaign iirc and had lots of weird magic and politics. The first law series has plenty of politics, particularly the second book.
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Aug 20, 2024 17:31
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dweepus posted:New reader here looking for fantasy recommendations. Most of my recreational reading of the past few years has been horror stuff like Lovecraft and House of Leaves, but I'm looking for inspiration for my d&d campaign and also just kind of on a fantasy kick. Looking for something modern and accessible, I struggle to commit to books and while I've heard great things about the Wheel of Time series, I just don't think I have that in me yet. We were just talking about the Earthsea books itt. You should read them! I couldn’t put them down. Start with A Wizard of Earthsea. The Tombs of Atuan is different but also excellent.
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Aug 20, 2024 18:45
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Lois McMaster Bujold's World of the Five Gods series. The Curse of Chalion is the first and (to me) still best of the novels, but overall they're good for a feeling of how people might actually deal with divine magic and what kind of expectations might be upon those who have such blessings from the gods. Each stands alone, though the second book (Paladin of Souls) focuses on a side character whose backstory is important to the first. The third, The Hallowed Hunt, is set in a different time and part of the world with - to put it in D&D terms - kind of the local equivalent of druid magic. Aside from the novels, there's also a series of novellas in the same world starting with Penric's Demon, about a young minor noble who ends up getting accidentally possessed by a demon and has to join the church of one of the Five Gods for training on how to deal with it. They are also set apart in time and location from the other novels. As the series goes on he becomes a priest and church sorcerer, and gets involved in a lot of intrigues and some romance. Several of the novellas are basically just a single novel broken up into parts. Maybe Martha Wells's Ile-Rien books, starting with The Element of Fire. Medieval fantasy adventure and politics, heavy dose of fae bullshit going on. Haven't read any of the following ones yet. Just a bunch of stuff by T. Kingfisher. Ranges from silly to dark. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking is on the sillier end, where most magic is in the form of one theme of control a person has, and sometimes has to learn how to flex to get anything big done. The protagonist can control dough. Or there's the Clocktaur War duology of Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine, where one of the main characters is a disgraced paladin (in the very D&D sense). There's apparently a set of follow-up novels (the "Saint of Steel" series) in the same world starting with Paladin's Grace. Kingfisher loves poking at paladins.
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Aug 20, 2024 18:51
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disposablewords posted:Lois McMaster Bujold's World of the Five Gods series. The Curse of Chalion is the first and (to me) still best of the novels, but overall they're good for a feeling of how people might actually deal with divine magic and what kind of expectations might be upon those who have such blessings from the gods. Each stands alone, though the second book (Paladin of Souls) focuses on a side character whose backstory is important to the first. The third, The Hallowed Hunt, is set in a different time and part of the world with - to put it in D&D terms - kind of the local equivalent of druid magic. Came here to recommend Chalion, but now I am gonna go read me some Kingfisher.
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Aug 20, 2024 19:20
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dweepus posted:New reader here looking for fantasy recommendations. Most of my recreational reading of the past few years has been horror stuff like Lovecraft and House of Leaves, but I'm looking for inspiration for my d&d campaign and also just kind of on a fantasy kick. Looking for something modern and accessible, I struggle to commit to books and while I've heard great things about the Wheel of Time series, I just don't think I have that in me yet. You're explicitly describing Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon. One of the main characters is a queen so there's plenty of politics but the main thing is an ancient dragon that's about to wake up and wreck everyone's everything. There's magic and secret societies and it's very very character focused. There's a slow burn romance that isn't overpowering but definitely a major plot. It's a standalone (there's a prequel now but it's largely a separate story in the same world, it's like 200 years before this) but it is pretty chunky, like 1000 pages. It's also one of my favorite fantasy novels ever.
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Aug 20, 2024 20:47
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I just got the first Wheel of Time book. Is it worth starting the journey?
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Aug 20, 2024 22:35
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no
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Aug 20, 2024 22:57
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dweepus posted:New reader here looking for fantasy recommendations. Most of my recreational reading of the past few years has been horror stuff like Lovecraft and House of Leaves, but I'm looking for inspiration for my d&d campaign and also just kind of on a fantasy kick. Looking for something modern and accessible, I struggle to commit to books and while I've heard great things about the Wheel of Time series, I just don't think I have that in me yet. I am about halfway through The Lies of Locke Lamora and I can't recommend it enough. I don't know what the general opinion is (and while I imagine it's positive, I don't care, I love it so far), but it seems like a perfect fit. It's an occasionally swarthy and fun fantasy caper.
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Aug 20, 2024 23:20
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Humerus posted:You're explicitly describing Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon. One of the main characters is a queen so there's plenty of politics but the main thing is an ancient dragon that's about to wake up and wreck everyone's everything. There's magic and secret societies and it's very very character focused. There's a slow burn romance that isn't overpowering but definitely a major plot. It's a standalone (there's a prequel now but it's largely a separate story in the same world, it's like 200 years before this) but it is pretty chunky, like 1000 pages. It's also one of my favorite fantasy novels ever. My friend gave me a copy of this, this endorsement has me excited now!
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Aug 20, 2024 23:38
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Thanks all for the recommendations,I have plenty of things to wade through. I forgot about it but I did start Lies of Locke Lamora a while back and I enjoyed what I read, I don't remember why I didn't finish it. I'll have to try that one again. I've started on a Kingfisher book for now, I'll work my way up to some of the more dense books listed above
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Aug 21, 2024 00:08
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pro starcraft loser posted:I just got the first Wheel of Time book. Try it. It's often pretty rough but if you can get through the book, the next few might also work for you. But for me the decline started around book 5 or so and just got slowly but steadily worse as things got increasingly stretched out. Even then, I probably wouldn't have fallen off the series if the whole thing had been out when I was reading it, instead of waiting years between books. Also, the concluding books are done by Brandon Sanderson so if you have an opinion on him already, take that into account. Just don't be afraid to drop it if you find yourself thinking it's just completely unfun for you. Because there's gonna be a lot of worse on that front before it gets better.
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Aug 21, 2024 02:02
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pro starcraft loser posted:I just got the first Wheel of Time book. I reread it occasionally, it's fine, but it's also definitely about twice as long as it needs to be
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Aug 21, 2024 02:06
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pro starcraft loser posted:I just got the first Wheel of Time book. I tried my best but I feel like my life is too short for stuff like this. Branderson, Rothfus, Jordan, all to be avoided imo. Of course, it's ok to like a book. Except for Rothfuss, that guy loving sucks.
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Aug 21, 2024 15:42
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I just read "The Will of the Many" by James Islington in 3 days. Could not put it down. Firstly, it's a fantasy book and the first of a planned 3 book series. It's roughly 600 pages long, but the writing style doesn't feel like it. Classic coming of age story (as the better fantasy books often are) but the pacing is good in that there are mysteries introduced but many of them get answered and wrapped up as you go, so it's not one of those books where a hundred things are introduced but only a few get developed. Worldbuilding is impressive; you get a variety of places introduced and the writing style doesn't make it hard to imagine what it would look like. Also, the characters are fleshed out such that you give a drat about them which is not always something delivered in a fantasy setting. For a very brief summary of the concept without giving away anything plot specific (spoilered in case you want to go in cold, as I did): A world where the majority of the population donates a person's actual will to people in power in a tier system. Empowered people have a variety of extra abilities like imbuement, toughness, and strength. Society is loosely based on Rome. All in all, I can say confidently that I haven't been this absorbed by a book in years. It's fun! Next book in the series got submitted for editing a couple of months ago, so probably a mid 2025 release.
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Aug 21, 2024 16:42
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pro starcraft loser posted:I just got the first Wheel of Time book. Sure!
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Aug 22, 2024 00:55
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Ya it's decent
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Aug 22, 2024 14:03
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Long shot, but how do I find any contemporary fiction / nonfiction by Ethiopian writers that have been translated from Amharic to English?
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Aug 23, 2024 00:31
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dweepus posted:New reader here looking for fantasy recommendations. Most of my recreational reading of the past few years has been horror stuff like Lovecraft and House of Leaves, but I'm looking for inspiration for my d&d campaign and also just kind of on a fantasy kick. Looking for something modern and accessible, I struggle to commit to books and while I've heard great things about the Wheel of Time series, I just don't think I have that in me yet. I can strongly recommend the Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust for brisk, fun fantasy that is primarily about politics and social forces, but manages to do that while also incorporating lots of high-fantasy bullshit archetypes in a fun and surprising way. The first book is a bit too short and the plot points can seem unearned, but the series jumps around chronologically and by book 3 it's clear how we got here. Also he's got a great 5 book prequel series (essentially) that's a wonderful pastiche of Alexandre Dumas and is just great reading. Opopanax posted:Looking for historical fiction, but not from the usual suspects (ie: Japan, Europe etc). I'm open to non fiction if it's not super dry, but just want to get some history I don't already know about Just in case you haven't read them already, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck are classics that are within your parameters. I would also recommend Island of the Lost by Joan Druett for a piece of non-fiction about 2 separate shipwrecks that happened on the same Antarctic Island at the same time back in the mid-19th century. Very gripping and a well-told story. Kenning fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Aug 26, 2024 |
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Aug 26, 2024 05:30
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I'm about a quarter of the way through Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun which has been sitting neglected on a shelf since I finished I'm absolutely spellbound and I am going to be sad when I finish it, so, tremendous recommendation for the entire original series (which starts with Shadow of the Torturer). The way he does world creation without any explicit explanations has something in common with some of the Willam Gibson trilogies, but these books are just conceptually weird in a way I can't really describe that is also entirely distinct from anything else I've ever read. I'll probably buy the rest of the Solar Cycle books when I put this to rest. I actually have never read very much about the series, it was something my brother first put in my hands when I was about 12 but the first book's torture depictions scared the hell out of me and I didn't pick it back up until I was like 36.
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Aug 28, 2024 23:55
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This question might be better suited to a language thread, but I'm learning Spanish and want to read native Spanish literature. Does anyone have recommendations that would be approachable for an intermediateish level? So far I've read Las Batallas en el Desierto, which was very doable if sometimes challenging, to give an indication of where I'm at.
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Sep 18, 2024 22:19
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The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith Powerful narrative about a moment in time that we should all study. The central premise complicates simplistic narratives about race and racism that ignore its relationship to colonial domination. A Black US-American goes to France in the 1950s to get away from racism in the US. Initially him and his other Black friends are living their best lives: they are welcome in every club and establishment, European women love them, and the French cops even protect them from exported racism from the US. But as the main character, Simeon, befriends a group of Algerians connected to the ongoing decolonial liberation war, he realizes that that the French racial utopia is a farce. Different characters express political perspectives eloquently and simply, rooted in their own different perspectives. From Maria, a Polish Jewish survivor of the Nazi death camps, we hear a compelling case for living your best life and keeping your head down. From several of Simeon's Black American friends, we hear a similar argument, with one or two specifically noting that there is no singular liberation war to go back and support in the US - they do not have an 'Algeria.' From Simeon's Algerian friends, we hear a range of perspectives on national liberation. A bourgeois student struggles with his distance from the struggle and his relative comfort, which resonates deeply with Simeon. Another militant expresses harsh anti-Semitic views, which the book clearly rejects even as the author makes the historical context clear and does not condemn the character. As I grapple with understanding the nature of national liberation movements and what solidarity looks like from my vantage in the imperial core, I found this book essential. High recommend.
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Sep 18, 2024 22:35
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Can anyone recommend any books on the finer points of Rastafarian spirituality?
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Sep 19, 2024 20:19
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shwinnebego posted:The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith This sounds good as hell.
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Sep 19, 2024 21:03
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This site seems legit Terry Pratchett's entire catalogue for $41 (ebooks)
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Sep 21, 2024 17:40
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Opopanax posted:This site seems legit Bitdefender is warning me away from it, but there is a bundle like that on Humble Bundle right now (fulfilled through Kobo).
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Sep 21, 2024 18:46
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Where are you seeing it? All I can find is one from January
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Sep 21, 2024 18:54
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Opopanax posted:Where are you seeing it? All I can find is one from January https://www.humblebundle.com/books/terry-pratchetts-discworld-harpercollins-encore-books
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Sep 21, 2024 20:24
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Oh, not available in Canada. I think I'll roll the dice on it. Digging around they seem to be a real site, and their office address is UK based not in Russia or anything.
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Sep 21, 2024 21:39
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Does anyone have recs for fantasy or sci-fi books in the flavour of “two bitter enemies grow to like each other very reluctantly” where there’s a lot of tension for a solid chunk of the book and it doesn’t resolve very quickly? This Is How You Lose the Time War, Shards of Honor or The Locked Tomb trilogy for examples, tho it doesn’t have to end explicitly romantically. It’s just a lot of books I’ve found advertised in that niche so far have jumped right into the “I hate them… but their abs are so tight!” by page 10 or the enemy bit is just overinflated sports rivalries, where I’m looking more for page 100 stabbings.
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Sep 22, 2024 11:46
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Maybe Ninefox Gambit? It's kind of a forced cooperation thing, hard to explain but it may be up your alley. It's very science fantasy and weird in a way I really loved. I should get around to the sequel one of these days...
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Sep 22, 2024 11:58
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Humerus posted:Maybe Ninefox Gambit? It's kind of a forced cooperation thing, hard to explain but it may be up your alley. It's very science fantasy and weird in a way I really loved. Oh yeah, that’s another great example! I enjoyed Ninefox Gambit and it has the right “we don’t trust each other, there’s the constant threat of betrayal, but we’re stuck together in this situation and our best shot is to co-operate” vibes I’m looking for.
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Sep 22, 2024 12:04
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coolusername posted:Does anyone have recs for fantasy or sci-fi books in the flavour of “two bitter enemies grow to like each other very reluctantly” where there’s a lot of tension for a solid chunk of the book and it doesn’t resolve very quickly? This Is How You Lose the Time War, Shards of Honor or The Locked Tomb trilogy for examples, tho it doesn’t have to end explicitly romantically. Elric and his sword? Similarly, the Lands of The First Born series The Prestige? Hugh Cook's Age of Darkness series might feature a few as with Steven Erickson Elmore Leonard's Underworld USA trilogy
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Sep 22, 2024 12:29
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Anyone got any recs for particularly good books about living with less/minimalism sort of thing?
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Sep 22, 2024 13:34
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coolusername posted:Does anyone have recs for fantasy or sci-fi books in the flavour of “two bitter enemies grow to like each other very reluctantly” where there’s a lot of tension for a solid chunk of the book and it doesn’t resolve very quickly? This Is How You Lose the Time War, Shards of Honor or The Locked Tomb trilogy for examples, tho it doesn’t have to end explicitly romantically. Holly Black's Elfhame trilogy (The Cruel Prince et al) is the classic "enemies eventually realize they're really hot for each other" type of romance.
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Sep 22, 2024 14:46
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coolusername posted:Does anyone have recs for fantasy or sci-fi books in the flavour of “two bitter enemies grow to like each other very reluctantly” where there’s a lot of tension for a solid chunk of the book and it doesn’t resolve very quickly? This Is How You Lose the Time War, Shards of Honor or The Locked Tomb trilogy for examples, tho it doesn’t have to end explicitly romantically. If you have any interest in 40k, I would say The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath would be a fun recommendation that could fit.
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Sep 22, 2024 16:20
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Opopanax posted:Oh, not available in Canada. Lemme know how it worked out!
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