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StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

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

tuyop posted:

I was thinking Voltaire's Candide but I was wrong, Rousseau didn't do a similar thing.

I am revealed as an uneducated bore! I had only vaguely heard of Candide, and didn't know it was fiction! That said, I'm not up for reading a satire currently.

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Take the plunge! Okay!
Feb 24, 2007



StrixNebulosa posted:

Oooh, this sounds fantastic. Are there any translations I should look for, or will the gutenberg edition do me fine?

I was happy with the Gutenberg edition

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:
Seconding Zola. Read Germinal. Or maybe The Ladies’ Paradise for an easier starting point, but it’s not as good as Germinal

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

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

Prism Mirror Lens posted:

Seconding Zola. Read Germinal. Or maybe The Ladies’ Paradise for an easier starting point, but it’s not as good as Germinal

Same question: any specific translations I should look out for?

(drat if I don't miss my library system, as then I could just slam order everything being recced here, but nope, I have to do careful research and consider buying things)

Bilirubin
Feb 16, 2014

The sanctioned action is to CHUG


What about that Dickens novel?

xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


anilEhilated posted:

This is a bit of a longshot, but anyone know anything good on the history of stage magic, especially with regards to the process of it transforming from ritual to con to entertainment?

e: Regarding the French request, maybe some Zola?
The Magical Life of Long Tak Sam, a graphic novel, which is just a small slice of that history.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tack_Sam

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:

StrixNebulosa posted:

Same question: any specific translations I should look out for?

I don’t speak a word of French so I can’t recommend one translation over another for any good reason. The Gutenberg translations are fine and I read Germinal on there first, but my personal preferences were Penguin for Germinal and Oxford for Ladies’ Paradise.

Sham bam bamina!
Nov 6, 2012

ƨtupid cat
I would not trust Gutenberg for any French novel. Most Victorian French translations are bowdlerized/abridged at best and incompetent at worst.

For Hugo, I would (broadly, and as a layman) recommend the Modern Library Classics editions; for Zola, Oxford World's Classics. Both of those imprints are also safe bets for Russian literature, with which I have more experience.

Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Apr 19, 2020

Stringent
Dec 22, 2004


image text goes here
Dunno if it qualifies as historical fiction or not, but Journey to the End of the Night should be at the very top of anyone's French novel reading list.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

xcheopis posted:

The Magical Life of Long Tak Sam, a graphic novel, which is just a small slice of that history.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tack_Sam
This looks really good, thanks!

Ras Het
May 23, 2007

when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Sham bam bamina! posted:

I would not trust Gutenberg for any French novel. Most Victorian French translations are bowdlerized/abridged at best and incompetent at worst.

Yes - I once ended up with an old out of copyright translation of Nana, and it was practically unreadable, and Zola is certainly not an author of who you want a bowdlerized experience. Oxford has reissued almost all of the Rougon-Macquarts with new translations or edits of good existing ones. The Penguins are probably fine too but they've only published half a dozen or so of them

Selachian posted:

I would recommend The Red and the Black, but if you don't like Les Mis, it might not be your thing either.

I'm not sure what "historical novel" entails, but from my pov The Red and the Black isn't one, but The Charterhouse of Parma certainly is

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:
Yeah I almost edited my last post to say “except Nana.” There is an old/free translation out there which is probably what Gutenberg has. Unreadable is the word for it.

lost in postation
Aug 14, 2009

StrixNebulosa posted:

Are there any good french historical novels? I mean I assume so, but like, I have no idea where to start.

Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian and The Abyss. Zoé Oldenbourg's Destiny of Fire. Anatole France's The Gods Are Athirst. Also seconding Salammbô, which is very atypical of Flaubert but unbelievably lurid and well-written.

e: For more pulpy stuff, I wanted to recommend Paul Féval's The Hunchback, which is kind of the quintessential French swashbuckling novel alongside The Three Musketeers, but it doesn't seem to have been translated... Féval's The White Wolf does have an "adaptation" in English, but I wouldn't necessarily trust it, considering the cover (the book takes place in 18th-century France).

lost in postation fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Apr 20, 2020

Peggotty
May 9, 2014

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

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

Grimey Drawer

cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

Steinbeck's Travels With Charley

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

Franchescanado posted:

Steinbeck's Travels With Charley

This, also Three Men in a Boat

I think Graham Greene wrote some good travelogues too, can't remember titles

krampster2
Jun 26, 2014

I've been getting into essays recently and I especially love the experiential essays of Joan Didion and David Foster Wallace. Can anyone recommend me specific authors I should check out or perhaps a collection with multiple authors?

Safety Biscuits
Oct 21, 2010

cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon - a man drives all around the continental US chatting with people.

funkybottoms
Oct 28, 2010

Funky Bottoms is a land man

cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia is really, really good. Non-fiction, but dude is a great storyteller and there's way more to it than just "hey, i went here." Further afield, Simon Winchester's Atlantic is kind of a biography of the ocean and talks a lot about travel, naturally.

xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


krampster2 posted:

I've been getting into essays recently and I especially love the experiential essays of Joan Didion and David Foster Wallace. Can anyone recommend me specific authors I should check out or perhaps a collection with multiple authors?

George Orwell.

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

krampster2 posted:

I've been getting into essays recently and I especially love the experiential essays of Joan Didion and David Foster Wallace. Can anyone recommend me specific authors I should check out or perhaps a collection with multiple authors?

Stating the obvious: Borges and Eco.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.
Richard Halliburton. He was very much a travel writer there's a lot of heart and sense of wonder in his stories. Historical trip too, since it's travel reports from almost a hundred years ago. Extremely good at sharing his feeling of wanderlust with the reader.

anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Apr 20, 2020

Selachian
Oct 9, 2012

anilEhilated posted:

Richard Halliburton. He was very much a travel writer there's a lot of heart and sense of wonder in his stories. Historical trip too, since it's travel reports from almost a hundred years ago. Extremely good at sharing his feeling of wanderlust with the reader.

I agree that Halliburton is a lot of fun.

Another travel book I enjoyed was Nick Danziger's Danziger's Travels, which is about the author's trip along the old Silk Road from Istanbul to Beijing -- illegally crossing several borders, including the Pakistan-China border, along the way.

I could also recommend Joe McGinniss's The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, where he goes to a small Italian town and spends a season writing about their minor-league soccer team.

regulargonzalez
Aug 18, 2006
UNGH LET ME LICK THOSE BOOTS DADDY HULU ;-* ;-* ;-* YES YES GIVE ME ALL THE CORPORATE CUMMIES :shepspends: :shepspends: :shepspends: ADBLOCK USERS DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY, DON'T THEY DADDY?
WHEN THE RICH GET RICHER I GET HORNIER :a2m::a2m::a2m::a2m:

cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton made me want to just say gently caress it all and start traveling. Basically, it's a college student around 1920 who says gently caress college, I want to have adventures and just starts traveling. It's a fun, fast read

E: I was so eager to reply that I didn't see this was already recommended haha. Take it as a solid vouch, then.

Sham bam bamina!
Nov 6, 2012

ƨtupid cat

cebrail posted:

[there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?]
Restless. Stir-crazy. Having cabin fever.

Peggotty
May 9, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'll be sure to check them out.

LionYeti
Oct 12, 2008


cebrail posted:

Hi I need some travel related literature because I'm very [there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?] due to having to stay at home all the time. I just reread Kerouacs On the road and The Dharma Bums and those scratched the itch pretty well but I need more. I don't think I like "travel writers" though, judging from the one Paul Theroux book I read.

I really like Bill Bryson's books about England and Australia Notes from a Small Island and In a Sunburned Country respectively. His new one Little Dribbling is very not good very "Old man yells at cloud" the older ones are quite funny and interesting travelogue with some light history

Hackers film 1995
Nov 4, 2009

Hack the planet!

LionYeti posted:

I really like Bill Bryson's books about England and Australia Notes from a Small Island and In a Sunburned Country respectively. His new one Little Dribbling is very not good very "Old man yells at cloud" the older ones are quite funny and interesting travelogue with some light history

yeah bryson is some good, light pop history reading. i liked The Mother Tongue too.

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

That one is full of ignorant fallacies and outright lies about language, FYI. Bryson's a hack.

No idea about the other books as obviously I didn't buy any more of his works after stumbling into that as the first one.

Solitair
Feb 18, 2014

TODAY'S GONNA BE A GOOD MOTHERFUCKIN' DAY!!!

cebrail posted:

[there doesn't seem to be an english word for the opposite of homesick?]

homestuck

Hackers film 1995
Nov 4, 2009

Hack the planet!

3D Megadoodoo posted:

That one is full of ignorant fallacies and outright lies about language, FYI. Bryson's a hack.

No idea about the other books as obviously I didn't buy any more of his works after stumbling into that as the first one.

lol oh my bad i guess. i read it like 15 years ago.

poisonpill
Nov 8, 2009

The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.


regulargonzalez posted:

The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton made me want to just say gently caress it all and start traveling. Basically, it's a college student around 1920 who says gently caress college, I want to have adventures and just starts traveling. It's a fun, fast read

E: I was so eager to reply that I didn't see this was already recommended haha. Take it as a solid vouch, then.

Strong agree on Halliburton. A lot of fun.

I want to recommend a book for a friend, genre agnostic. Criteria are good, fun, compelling characters, with an engaging story and some level of escapist setting. Cosy cottage mysteries, King Solomon's Mines, that kind of thing. Good (but not junk) reading for stress relief, ideally not relating to a global pandemic.

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007
No. 1 Lady’s Detective Agency.

funkybottoms
Oct 28, 2010

Funky Bottoms is a land man

Captain Monkey posted:

No. 1 Lady’s Detective Agency.

This is a good one, as is Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri series.

xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


poisonpill posted:

Strong agree on Halliburton. A lot of fun.

I want to recommend a book for a friend, genre agnostic. Criteria are good, fun, compelling characters, with an engaging story and some level of escapist setting. Cosy cottage mysteries, King Solomon's Mines, that kind of thing. Good (but not junk) reading for stress relief, ideally not relating to a global pandemic.

Dunsany's Don Rodriguez.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

poisonpill posted:

Strong agree on Halliburton. A lot of fun.

I want to recommend a book for a friend, genre agnostic. Criteria are good, fun, compelling characters, with an engaging story and some level of escapist setting. Cosy cottage mysteries, King Solomon's Mines, that kind of thing. Good (but not junk) reading for stress relief, ideally not relating to a global pandemic.

The Curse of Capistrano (first Zorro book)

Three Men in a Boat

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

RIght Ho, Jeeves

The King Must Die by Mary Renault

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

funkybottoms
Oct 28, 2010

Funky Bottoms is a land man

xcheopis posted:

Dunsany's Don Rodriguez.

Don Rodriguez from the Bronx? Don Rodriguez?

learnincurve
May 15, 2014

Smoosh
There is a unabridged version of the moonstone on audible narrated by Peter Jeffrey and it’s as close to perfection as anything is ever going to get.

Sonderval
Sep 10, 2011
Looking for some sci fi recommendations.

Currently going back through my kindle cos I cant get to my book collection during lock down. Need a nice long sci fi series to burn through or a few long stand alone books. I have read ... a lot of stuff but nothing in the last few years (I think it’s hard to keep track) so I guess anything good and modern?

Grabbed Steel Frame on the sci fi thread recommendation and that was pretty good. Just need something a bit longer to pass the time.

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poisonpill
Nov 8, 2009

The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.


Thanks for the recommendations. I'll let you know if Moonstone, Dunsany, or No.1 Ladies' clicks.

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