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I realized the other day I've never read a really well-written biography (or autobiography) of anyone. I know I've read a few biographies that were poorly written and mostly just a collection of dates, back in school. What are some really fantastic biographies? I'm actually not picky about the subject, though I'm mostly interested in figures from the last century or so. I know that's a really broad question, but I'm open to reading anything, and figure there's probably a good biography or two of people I wouldn't necessarily seek out from my own knowledge of history, which is... well, spotty and American. On the fiction end of the spectrum, I'm looking for something along the lines of Universal Harvester or The Grip of It, something literary and well-written with either subtle or overt horror elements. I guess I'd throw The Haunting of Hill House in the mix too, as it's probably one of my favorite books.
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Feb 21, 2018 22:35
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Transistor Rhythm posted:The Hike, Southern Reach Trilogy, Hex, Head full of ghosts Weird, I've never heard of The Hike, but I've read the other three (and should have mentioned them, along with Hill House they also top my list of favorites). I'll check it out, thanks! StrixNebulosa posted:MockingQuantum, I tend not to read biographies, but my mother does, and she highly recommends An Autobiography by Agatha Christie. My mom's words were "it's not like the others that go nan-nan-nan but it delves into the war, the way things were" - so give it a go! I will indeed give it a go, I've read a ton of her fiction so it'd be interesting to hear about her life.
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Feb 21, 2018 22:44
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Franchescanado posted:The Vegetarian by Han Kang (it was a BOTM) Thank you for this list! I've read a few but lots here that I haven't. I actually have not read Wolf In White Van. I only just finished Universal Harvester a week or so ago, and Darnielle wasn't really on my radar before that (as a novelist anyway.) Also I love A Good Man Is Hard To Find, I think I might need to reread it and dig into more O'Conner. How's Wise Blood? As a side note for anyone unfamiliar with it, Blackwater was not at all what I expected, but really hit home for me. An excellent read, though also more Southern Gothic than out-and-out horror.
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Feb 21, 2018 22:54
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chernobyl kinsman posted:The Southern Reach Trilogy is not in any way like Hill House and is also not literary. Head full of Ghosts is good, though. It isn't, though it strikes some of the same "subtle, creeping unease" notes that I enjoy in books. Thanks for these recs! I read my first Aickman collection late last year and it was fantastic.
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Feb 22, 2018 04:26
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chernobyl kinsman posted:i'm sorry i just really hate jeff vandermeer. he is my enemy I won't hold it against you, I loved Southern Reach but it's certainly the sort of thing I could see people hating with a passion.
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Feb 22, 2018 05:31
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I've got a couple of requests: I think this one is a long-shot, but is there anything out there kind of like Library at Mount Char? Maybe also a long-shot, I'm looking for a book that's similar to the weirder supernatural/absurd/sinister parts of Twin Peaks. I've asked elsewhere and had Wayward Pines suggested a couple of times, but those books didn't really fit what I was looking for.
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Mar 1, 2018 19:45
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chernobyl kinsman posted:Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year Cool, I read his Twilight Pariah earlier this year and enjoyed it, so I'm all for that recommendation.
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Mar 1, 2018 20:52
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I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao not that long ago and it was my first exposure (sadly) to any kind of history concerning the Dominican Republic, Trujillo, or the US's broad interference (meddling?) in the political mechanisms of Central America. Are there any good books that kind of delve into the history of US-backed dictators in Central and South America, why it happened, the repercussions, etc.? If there's not a book that delves into it that broadly, I'd also take anything that kind of specifically focuses on US involvement in an individual country or leader. It's just an area of Western hemisphere history that I know nothing about and I'd like to change that. Fake edit: nobody should use the word "delves" three times in a post this short
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Apr 22, 2018 05:59
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LionYeti posted:I really like Cosmic Horror the idea of the unknowable evil lurking in the shadows, these strange cults and our ultimate insignificance in the face of cosmic oblivion. But is there a good spot for this without the ya know racism of lovecraft? The above poster's suggestions are pretty good, I agree Char isn't strictly-speaking cosmic horror though. Here's some others: Songs of a Dead Dreamer - Thomas Ligotti Imago Sequence - Laird Barron (this is a short story collection, and I strongly recommend it over The Croning. Barron is definitely more comfortable writing short stories, and The Croning suffers for it) The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle definitely qualifies, and is specifically a response to the racism present in Lovecraft. Might be worth reading Horror at Red Hook beforehand though. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson if you want a roughly similar style to Lovecraft with less anglophile pearl clutching about other races. I haven't read it, but North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud comes pretty highly recommended. It's a mammoth offering, but The Weird has a lot of cosmic horror stuff in it. In general, cosmic horror tends to work better in short story format, so it's worth seeking out collections with a bunch of different authors and making note of who you like. Clark Ashton Smith was a friend of Lovecraft's, and also has a similar style, I'm not a big fan of him personally, though. Lovecraft even named the sorcerer Klarkash'ton after him, so... make of that what you will. There's like a billion other modern short story authors who do cosmic horror pretty drat well, Caitlin Kiernan springs to mind purely because I was just reading some of hers, but dig around and you'll find some good names.
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May 10, 2018 19:39
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I don't know how Giger-ish his stuff gets but "weird sex stuff with cats" is the subtext of a ton of Cordwainer Smith
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May 16, 2018 22:02
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Djeser posted:More seriously I'd be interested in something that takes that sort of de-personalization/transhumanism deal and runs with it. Cordwainer Smith does sound interesting though, might see what I can find of his short stories. My non-joke answer would probably be Blindsight by Peter Watts. The Cipher strikes some of the same chords in me as some of Giger's stuff, though it's not sci-fi if that's what you're looking for.
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May 17, 2018 00:58
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I'm not ESL and as such am not a great judge of this, but I actually think it might be the easiest book to read of all of the titles mentioned (except maybe the Gaiman, but for all I know that was chernobyl trolling). All of them are pretty approachable though.
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Jul 9, 2018 17:31
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I don't hate JDATE (at least not enough to have stopped reading midway through) but I didn't think it was very good and holy lord I've never encountered a book so wildly overhyped as it was.
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Jul 14, 2018 01:00
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yeah okay you have me there, I happened to read that one before I got drowned by the hype wave so I forget about it. it did have the effect of making me wonder if I was being gaslighted (gaslit?) because surely the book everyone was talking about wasn't what I read, and was in fact another, actually good book with an identical title, right? But seriously, I kinda feel like JDATE is the closest thing that horror has to Name of the Wind in terms of overhype, though it doesn't compare in terms of scale.
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Jul 14, 2018 03:47
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tuyop posted:Yeah The Fireman is so loving bad but people raved about it. I’d agree that it’s similar to Rothfuss’s garbage. That's another one I managed to get to before the hype train started rolling, thankfully. As it was, it was just an aggressively uninteresting book. I think I would have thrown furniture at the wall if I had expected it to be fantastic or something. Heart Shaped Box was also hailed as the second coming of Horror Jesus by a lot of reviewers and I couldn't tell you a single plot point.
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Jul 14, 2018 05:45
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Re: botm I like Night Film a lot, but it's not a good fit for BotM. Too long, for one, the print version is upwards of 600 pages. Also I doubt it would pull in either the people who only do the casual or pulpy BotMs or the people who only do the literary ones.
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Jul 31, 2018 20:02
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Clearly they mean to be reading the epic southern gothic sextet by famed Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, duh
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Aug 5, 2018 16:09
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I was a little meh on Twenty Days of Turin in general (not a criticism, just didnt do it for me) but goddamn if there isnt one scene in the book that I still think about monthly.
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Aug 9, 2018 05:50
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I haven't read it yet and thus can't attest to its quality, but I think Ka by John Crowley would qualify.
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Aug 15, 2018 19:06
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Huh, I've been reading Discworld in publication order and I actually really like everything I've read so far. Colour of Magic absolutely feels like a fantasy writer's first book and has all the attendant problems you'd expect, but I don't despise Rincewind as much as a lot of people. That said, the last one I finished was Mort and it's absolutely the best so far, by a wide margin. I'm excited to get to the books everybody actually recommends.
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Aug 24, 2018 02:52
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:I definitely agree with recommending the City Watch books (starts with Guards! Guards!) I tried to read The Color of Magic first and I couldn't get into it. Then I tried again after I was done with the Watch books and already liked the series and I still didn't like it. Then I abandoned Discworld for awhile but I do intend to go back and read the Death books at some point. Oh yeah, forgot this was the Rec thread and not the chat thread. I'd second Howl's Moving Castle, I'm reading it for the first time right now and it's a lot of fun, and just dripping with charm.
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Aug 24, 2018 03:22
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I'm kinda leaning this way, it keeps popping up in rec threads and I've never gotten around to reading it I'd participate if it was The Magus, I've been meaning to read it for a while.
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Aug 30, 2018 16:42
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Mel Mudkiper posted:hold the presses Plus it's free on Kindle Unlimited. Which is still more than it's worth.
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Aug 31, 2018 16:56
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Bareback Werewolf posted:The Ritual looks pretty good. I'll probably pick that up and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and maybe Deliverance. I will say if you've seen the movie version of The Ritual, the book is pretty bad in comparison. The first half of the book is great and was the inspiration for the majority of what made it into the movie. The back half ranges from mediocre to monumentally stupid, depending on your tolerance for some poorly written characters. YMMV but I kind of found the main character to be unbearable for most of the book too. Even if you haven't seen the movie, the above still applies. You will know when you hit the part of the book I'm referring to, it's very strange and kind of comes out of left field, and doesn't pay itself off well at all. It's one of very few books I'd recommend skipping entirely in favor of the movie, as the movie chops out a bunch of the dumb poo poo and adds a plot detail that makes the whole book make way, way more sense. As to your original question, I've been told that At Fear's Altar by Richard Gavin is pretty much what you're looking for, I haven't read it myself though.
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Sep 5, 2018 23:32
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Kvlt! posted:Does revenge have to be exacted or does it just have to be a revenge oriented story? I love revenge stories and found the Revenant to be excellent because of the sheer lengths the main character goes through to get his revenge I don't think you need to spoil that given that the full title of the book calls it "A Novel of Revenge"
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Sep 7, 2018 20:43
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Whats that catholic scifi book that does this? Canticle for Leibowitz has some feudal stuff in it, is that what you're thinking of?
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Sep 12, 2018 18:26
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Junkie Disease posted:The Elementals, and Blackwater trillogy, Im about the read the Amulet unless someone stops my McDowell chain I love Blackwater but there was nothing in it that I'd call "legitimately horrifying" or even that scary, but I also don't think it's supposed to be. It's southern gothic family drama first and foremost, with some horror/traditional gothic trappings. Though I guess I can think of a couple of scenes I'd call at least unsettling. But most of it I wouldn't call scary. The Elementals creeped me right the gently caress out though. To add to the list, I personally found A Head Full of Ghosts and The Haunting of Hill House frightening... but having said that, I actually think that whether a horror novel is "scary" is a terrible metric by which to judge its quality. It's one thing to look at movies or video games in that light, since visual media often does a better job of delivering visceral, emotional scares, but even the best book can't keep you 100% emotionally engaged every moment it needs you to be. Some of the worst horror novels I've read are the ones that work very hard to scare the pants off you, some of the best never try that hard to actually scare the reader. Plus, no two people will be scared by the same book. I personally found American Psycho kind of funny but not remotely scary or really all that disturbing, I thought Pet Sematary was good but it never once actually scared me, I thought The Terror was a tedious mess with a dumb monster and a terrible ending, but actually think of a few really good moments in the book from time to time.
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Sep 25, 2018 16:16
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Franchescanado posted:Right. I don't get the same scared feeling as I do when I watch a really effective horror movie. I like reading horror, but it just doesn't give me that reaction. Ugh, The Troop. It might just be that I'm getting older, but my tolerance for gross-out horror has dropped precipitously in recent years. It's not even that I can't take it or can't read it without getting squicked out, it just feels cheap and ineffective. I spent a lot of The Troop just rolling my eyes at how hard Cutter tries to make the reader feel really uncomfortable/sick but all of it felt so predictable. I think some of the body horror stuff he did in The Deep was infinitely more effective because he was less heavy-handed with it. Hell I feel that way about horror in general--horror books that just kind of drop things in place, then let me draw my own terrifying conclusions or fill the dark spots with my own flavor of terrifying always seem more effective than ones that go into great detail on anything. Which is probably why my favorite horror novels are what they are--Shirley Jackson is kind of the reigning champ, in my mind, of horror writers who just get out of your way and let you freak yourself out with what you've been given. fake edit for actual recommendations: I've been wracking my brain to think of a single book I've read in recent memory that's genuinely scared me, and I think The Elementals might be the only one I've read in the last year and a half. But there's some books that have deeply unsettled me in a horror-ish way: The Grip of It I'm Thinking of Ending Things seconding Franchescanado's mention (if not quite recommendation) of I'll Be Gone In The Dark Universal Harvester (okay, this one is patently not at all horror and don't let the publisher tell you otherwise, but there's one moment that is one of the most creepy/unsettling moments I've ever encountered in a book, probably because I was entirely unprepared for it and/or quite stupid) The Cipher MockingQuantum fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 20:57
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Himuro posted:I’ve always wanted to read Stephen King. Where do I start? Pharmaskittle posted:Read IT to see if you like him. If you do, I'd move on to The Stand, then pretty much whatever. Only jump into the Dark Tower series if it turns out you REALLY like him, since it's a lot of books that, imo, aren't as good as his standalone entries. I dunno, IT has a couple of scenes that are pretty batshit for someone new to King, so I'd probably reverse that order personally. Basically, though, most of the "best of" King novels are safe starting points, so you can kind of pick which ever interests you. The Shining for a somewhat traditional supernatural horror, 'Salem's Lot for vampires, The Stand for an apocalyptic tale, etc. Pet Sematary, Misery, and The Dead Zone are also good first King novels. Alternatively, check out some of his short stories. He's arguably a much stronger short writer. I can't remember the names of any of the standouts off the top of my head though. And yeah, don't start out with Dark Tower. Dark Tower is especially tough because even the first DT novel isn't gonna be a great indicator of whether or not you'll enjoy the rest.
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Nov 1, 2018 19:37
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Ornamented Death posted:Lot of questionable responses to this. Yeah this is better than my suggestion, I forgot how much of a doorstopper The Stand is as well.
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Nov 1, 2018 20:06
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tuyop posted:In no particular order: Aurora, Pushing Ice, Spin, The Three Body Problem, Seveneves, Rendezvous with Rama. Speaking as someone who did 3 Body Problem on Audible I can't recommend it. The reading wasn't great and I think it's a book that you really need to read yourself to get the most out of it.
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Dec 12, 2018 17:36
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anilEhilated posted:Almost anything by China Miéville. Fair warning: guy writes like he swallowed a thesaurus. Still enjoyable. It's like he realized nobody says "bathos" anymore and feels the primal need to make up for decades of the word going underutilized That aside, the books are good. The Bas-Lag books are in a very unique setting, highlights there are probably Perdido Street Station and The Scar, for different reasons (former is just a wild fantasy city setting, latter takes place mostly on a giant ship-city). Embassytown is also excellent, the setting is sort of secondary to the story, but the alien culture is deeply unique and there are some compelling ideas there. MockingQuantum fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Dec 13, 2018 |
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Dec 13, 2018 17:36
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A human heart posted:Porius by John Cowper Powys is set in the year 499 AD and features extensive discussion of the socio-political formations of the time as well as the effects of the sinking of the lost continent of Atlantis on the demographics of Britain. That sounds fascinating, I may have to check that out. On another note, were you the one that recommended Dreams of Amputation somewhere on the forums? I have a terrible habit of adding books that interest me to a "to-read" list but never making note of why I added the book, so if you can tell me anything about it, that'd be great.
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Dec 13, 2018 17:40
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I'm looking for good/fun books on cryptozoology. I don't really care if the writer is a true believer or not (I am definitely not), I just find the subject matter fascinating regardless of how silly it is. Encyclopedia or textbook style is okay, but I'd love something that's a little more... travelogue-y, if that makes sense? I remember reading Mothman Prophecies in high school and loving it, and I'm sure it was probably actually terrible, but something along those lines would be neat. Also if somebody could tell me whether Mothman Prophecies was, in fact, terrible, that'd be great. If it's okay, I might give it another read.
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Jan 8, 2019 20:42
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Hey wait why is bear loving ok for botm but not babyfucking I was gonna say because the titles are "Bear" and "babyfucker" and are a little less worrying should our loved ones find us reading it, but honestly I doubt my loved ones would be surprised by anything I read anymore
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Jan 31, 2019 21:21
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You're never too old for Diana Wynne Jones.
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Apr 12, 2019 15:55
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Franchescanado posted:I'm trying to get my significant other back into reading. I feel like I'm recommending this book back at you after you suggested it to me a year ago, but I'm Thinking of Ending Things is fantastic and feels like it's kind of in the mood-wheelhouse of those books, though it's not as investigative. Or I just read it at the same time as a couple of those and I'm conflating them in my mind. Also, oof, I'm a huge horror fan and I couldn't even finish The Girl Next Door. I know it's highly regarded, and I'm sure plenty of people have read it without issue, but man, what a rough read that was.
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Apr 15, 2019 18:42
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Selachian posted:Maybe The Book of Three or A Series of Unfortunate Events as well? I absolutely loved The Chronicles of Prydain when I was a kid, and it's got a fun world. It does get a bit dark as the books go on, though I can't remember if it was any more or less dark than The Hobbit, for example. I think I read them when I was about 9 or 10.
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Apr 30, 2019 20:28
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Yeah I was going to say Chekhov short stories.
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May 23, 2019 20:11
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If you're open to plays, then yeah Beckett is good though the majority of his plays were written when he was in France and were much more influenced by French artistic movements so I'm not sure they're what you're looking for. For other Irish playwrights, try Brian Friel (The Faith Healer, Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa), Sean O'Casey (Juno and the Paycock), Conor McPherson (The Seafarer), or for something completely different, Martin McDonagh (The Connemara trilogy). Works in parentheses aren't necessarily their best or anything, just plays I liked and that are either set in Ireland or have a heavy Irish literary influence. You could also try Brendan Behan or Frank McGuinness, though I haven't read either personally.
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Jun 19, 2019 20:07
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