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I’m looking for books that have a similar feel to Dungeon Crawler Carl, I really like the serious, semi dark storyline presented in a fun way. Harry Potter is another book that kind of shows what I’m looking for, although I prefer adult characters but that’s not a hard requirement. I’m having trouble finding books like this that have characters and a world that feels real. I’ve tried Buymort which felt like it had potential, not much depth or growth of characters but I enjoyed it. Fred, The Vampire Accountant was like a fun snack but I didn’t really get into the characters, same with Necrotic Apocalypse. I grew up reading high fantasy and I think I want that kind of depth with comic relief? Like Wheel of Time meets Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I tend towards fantasy but down to try sci-fi and long books in big series is a wonderful bonus. I just started listening to Bobiverse because it’s been mentioned a few times in this thread and it sucked me right in, I’m not sure if it’s cast of characters will keep me interested but good so far.
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Sep 16, 2025 21:18
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How to survive at the end of the world, maybe. It's not as good as Carl, but the system managing the end of the world has similar humor to it
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Sep 16, 2025 21:30
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100th Run by Flossindune is pretty good. Its a fairly similar setup to DCC: godlike aliens have turned earth into a deadly, madcap gameshow, protagonist turns the system on its head, yadda yadda yadda. The central premise is that the main character has beaten the game 99 times in the past and has voluntarily chosen to timeloop every time, all in preparation for a hyper-optimized final run to save the maximum number of people. Its not quite up to the level of DCC, but its pretty good in its own right. The character work is quite good for the genre, and its not afraid to have fun with its dumb premise.
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Sep 16, 2025 22:25
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Vicious Panda posted:I’m looking for books that have a similar feel to Dungeon Crawler Carl, I really like the serious, semi dark storyline presented in a fun way. Harry Potter is another book that kind of shows what I’m looking for, although I prefer adult characters but that’s not a hard requirement. I’m having trouble finding books like this that have characters and a world that feels real. Bobiverse is great until the premise wears thin a few books in. The Daily Grind is another that hasn't been mentioned but is kinda close, but nothing really touches DCC in terms of consistent writing quality, character depth despite absurdity, and humor + actual storytelling. The Wandering Inn is good but very different. Cradle is less humorous but about 85% as well written as DCC, it's also more a western take on an anime protagonist than DCC is.
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Sep 17, 2025 15:14
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The Perfect Run is another series that is fun and enjoyable but not as good as DCC. But worth looking into.
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Sep 17, 2025 18:44
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Thanks a ton for the recs, going to be driving a lot and excited to check them out 
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Sep 19, 2025 06:01
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Are Grisham books actually any good? In the mood for a court room drama style book
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Sep 19, 2025 14:20
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They're thrillers so don't try to dig too deep and just let yourself enjoy the story. They're far and away better than James Patterson, the other big famous author loved by the same demographic. The key to enjoying a thriller is to let the fast paced plot distract you from coincidences, lucky assumptions, and other things you might notice in a more leisurely paced book.
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Sep 19, 2025 14:59
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Could also try the Nathan Shepherd series by Michael Stagg, I enjoyed the one audiobook anyway. Probably less thriller-y
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Sep 19, 2025 19:08
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Maybe the better question is are there any good courtroom drama , Law & Order style books? I feel like that's more what I'm looking for
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Sep 19, 2025 19:38
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Opopanax posted:Maybe the better question is are there any good courtroom drama , Law & Order style books? I feel like that's more what I'm looking for The Firm and A Time to Kill will probably do you just fine, but here's a few others: Scott Turow, David Baldacchi, Stacey Abrams Also if you haven't read it in a while, To Kill a Mockingbird is solid. Or if you're down bad, The Trial by Kafka.
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Sep 19, 2025 19:46
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Good call, embarrassingly enough I've never actually read Mockingbird. It didn't come up in school like it did for most people and then I just never got around to it, I've always meant to rectify that so this is probably a good chance. Thanks
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Sep 19, 2025 19:50
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Opopanax posted:Maybe the better question is are there any good courtroom drama , Law & Order style books? I feel like that's more what I'm looking for Thats p much exactly what Grisham is
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Sep 19, 2025 20:26
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Opopanax posted:Maybe the better question is are there any good courtroom drama , Law & Order style books? I feel like that's more what I'm looking for Not exactly what you’re asking for but Make No Law by Anthony Lewis is a great law book and pretty relevant today.
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Sep 19, 2025 20:47
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Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day? (Maybe that criteria takes them out of the genre - but I’m looking for noir/mystery style books set in magical fully secondary worlds with a less than modern technology level) The best books that I’ve read so far that kind of fit this are the Locke Lamora books and the Discworld Watch books (both of which I enjoyed greatly)
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Sep 23, 2025 16:16
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day? I've only read the first one, but the Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara have a main character who works for the police (The "Hawks") in a fantasy world with vampires, dragons, immortals, bird people and cat people. The first book is Cast in Shadow. I think she is up to around 20 of them.
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Sep 23, 2025 17:32
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the imaginary corpse
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Sep 23, 2025 17:52
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The Vlad Taltos books are the first thing that comes to mind. China Miéville's New Crobuzon too. The Viriconium stories are centered around a city, but I'd be hesitant to call them urban fantasy -- they don't have much in the way of noir elements (except, maybe, In Viriconium). Maybe the Thieves' World books?
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Sep 23, 2025 18:05
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day? Adjacent to your request but you might like the Brother Cadfael books. Theyre historical fiction about a monk investigating murders but are basically "detective/noir/mystery" in a medieval setting, though no magic/fantasy.
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Sep 23, 2025 19:00
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day?
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Sep 23, 2025 19:07
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I've got a sort of odd question. Are there any content guides to books in the way that they exist for movies? I'm moderately squeamish, so I try to avoid movies with fleshy gore, but blood squibs under shirts don't bother me. IMDB has a "Parents Guide" which I use if I'm not sure. I'm not as bad for books, but still sometimes can't manage it. There was one Sherlock Holmes story I just had to skip because it was unusually graphic about a murder. I see that doesthedogdie.com has expanded into this and it includes books, but it has so many varied content warnings it feels hard to navigate, which is a good thing I suppose. It also seems to have much more spoilery descriptions than IMDB. Are there any others? I'm a little afraid that any content guidance I'd find would be some fundamentalist site.
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Sep 23, 2025 19:17
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day?
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Sep 23, 2025 20:27
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day? The Garrett P.I. books by Glen Cook are both hard-boiled private-eye detective novels and relatively dark fantasy. As far as I can tell it fits all your criteria. The world is entirely imaginary and fantasy-based with magic and all that stuff, and the level of technology is relatively low (since magic exists).
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Sep 23, 2025 22:43
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Chuf posted:Anyone got any recommendations for urban fantasy books that aren’t set on Earth or set in the modern day? I wonder if you’d like Soldier of the Mist and the other two in the trilogy. It’s Memento but a soldier bouncing around the classical Mediterranean, trying to recover his memory and figure out his life. Oh and it’s probably not an appropriate rec because it takes place in Poland, and the protagonist has an interesting perspective but it’s not magical, but Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tocarczuk is such a good and atypical mystery book that I have to recommend it. tuyop fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Sep 24, 2025 |
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Sep 24, 2025 00:07
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Magnetic North posted:I've got a sort of odd question. Are there any content guides to books in the way that they exist for movies? I'm moderately squeamish, so I try to avoid movies with fleshy gore, but blood squibs under shirts don't bother me. IMDB has a "Parents Guide" which I use if I'm not sure. I'm not as bad for books, but still sometimes can't manage it. There was one Sherlock Holmes story I just had to skip because it was unusually graphic about a murder. You might try Common Sense Media?
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Sep 24, 2025 02:48
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yaffle posted:You might try Common Sense Media? Thanks for the suggestion, I forgot about these guys. Looks like they gate their material to X view per month, and they have violence as a top level category without specifying blood, so it's sort of the reverse problem where it's quite broad but less spoilery.
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Sep 24, 2025 10:20
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Any non-fiction/pop history books about the history of mealtimes across the world and through history? What people ate and when depending on period, culture, and class? It seems like a big topic, I feel like there must be a decent book about it but I can't find one.Magnetic North posted:Thanks for the suggestion, I forgot about these guys. Looks like they gate their material to X view per month, and they have violence as a top level category without specifying blood, so it's sort of the reverse problem where it's quite broad but less spoilery.  you can skirt the paywall with a private/incognito browser window
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Sep 24, 2025 16:23
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Magnetic North posted:Thanks for the suggestion, I forgot about these guys. Looks like they gate their material to X view per month, and they have violence as a top level category without specifying blood, so it's sort of the reverse problem where it's quite broad but less spoilery. I think Storygraph (goodreads alternative) has a lot of "Content Warning" stuff, but I honestly haven't looked at it. You may want to check out a few books you've read and see if they are properly "labeled".
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Sep 25, 2025 06:20
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As I think Duterte and Bolsonaros time for being active menaces to humanity I ask my fellow goons what books on these buttholes would they recommend? I wanna work my way through recent histories poo poo bags till, well you know...
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Sep 25, 2025 23:11
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Anyone have any strong feeling or insights on the Goodreads alternatives Storygraph vs Fable? I signed up for them both, and they both seem to have their pros and cons. Fable seems to have a much better app and UI, but their database (and possibly userbase?) seems not as big as Storygraph. There were a couple books I searched for that were not in Fable’s database that I found on Storygraph. Also, I’ve found Fable seems to recommend the same books over and over again with no regard as to them already being marked as “read”, while Storygraph does seem to take this into account. Storygraph seems like the better option even though it’s a slightly worse UI and user experience, just wondering if anyone here uses either and has any thoughts. I’m not really interested in the social aspect of Fable, I’m just looking for something to track books I’ve read, books I want to read, and give me suggestions for similar books. The one thing I don’t like about either of them is there doesn’t seem to be an option to mark a book as “not interested”. Some googling tells me there might be an option to do this on the Storygraph site but I don’t see it anywhere in the app.
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Oct 2, 2025 16:36
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I use Storygraph. Though, I rarely use its recommendation feature because I get enough of those through friends, this thread, and the "what did you finish" thread. I like it well enough, and it's not owned by Amazon. I haven't tried this, but I'm wondering if marking something you don't want to read as "did not finish" would get it out of your recommendations. Might mess up your reading stats a bit, though, since it's implied that you at least tried to read it. Edit: I was looking around the Recommendations list in the app. If you go into Recommendations and then click "Browse" for a specific list, there should be a little "x" in the top right of each item in that list. That should remove it from your Recommendations. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Oct 2, 2025 |
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Oct 2, 2025 22:01
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There’s another one called LibraryThing that’s supposed to be run by a nonprofit or something?
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Oct 2, 2025 22:50
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Sandwolf posted:There’s another one called LibraryThing that’s supposed to be run by a nonprofit or something? I used to use it but it's barely supported and the app broke all the time. Switched to StoryGraph and it's a lot more useable
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Oct 3, 2025 00:55
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Recc me weird poo poo like City of Glass by Paul Auster. George Saunders maybe? Donald Barthelme possibly but he can be too dense for me sometimes. By weird I just mean peculiar and bordering sureal, but not in a doofy way like Pynchon
caspergers fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Oct 3, 2025 |
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Oct 3, 2025 05:47
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caspergers posted:Recc me weird poo poo like City of Glass by Paul Auster. George Saunders maybe? Donald Barthelme possibly but he can be too dense for me sometimes. By weird I just mean peculiar and bordering sureal, but not in a doofy way like Pynchon Clarice Lispector Milorad Pavić
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Oct 3, 2025 06:21
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caspergers posted:Recc me weird poo poo like City of Glass by Paul Auster. George Saunders maybe? Donald Barthelme possibly but he can be too dense for me sometimes. By weird I just mean peculiar and bordering sureal, but not in a doofy way like Pynchon extremely weird: children of the dead by Elfride Jelinek, The obscene bird of night by Donoso, pretty weird: Solenoid by Cǎrtǎrescu slightly weird, but possibly dense: Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright slightly weird, but not dense: Tomb of sand by Geetanjali Shree
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Oct 3, 2025 13:17
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caspergers posted:Recc me weird poo poo like City of Glass by Paul Auster. George Saunders maybe? Donald Barthelme possibly but he can be too dense for me sometimes. By weird I just mean peculiar and bordering sureal, but not in a doofy way like Pynchon I love weird poo poo The Memory Police by Yoko Agawa: kind of the title. There’s an island and things disappear actively, with the titular police enforcing this. Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera: a reincarnation story about various things, like if the dead came back what would their legal status be in like 20th century India. Snail on the Slope by the Strugatsky’s: a very disorienting story about a place that does weird things to your memory. tuyop fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Oct 3, 2025 |
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Oct 3, 2025 14:45
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Any fantasy novels along these lines:
Hugh Mann fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Oct 3, 2025 |
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Oct 3, 2025 16:59
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Hugh Mann posted:Any fantasy novels along these lines: The Earthsea books are usually set among islands and meet your other criteria iirc.
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Oct 3, 2025 17:23
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Currently reading Earthsea for the first time and it's very enjoyable, and checks all those points off yeah
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Oct 3, 2025 20:16
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