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AberrantBassist posted:I'm looking for really unique books that are borderline experimental. I love John Zorn when it comes to music and that atonal stuff that no one really listens to, and I'd love to find a John Zorn of fiction. I've read 'House of Leaves' and 'Only Revolutions' and I thought they were amazing. I've gone to http://www.bookarmy.com and I've searched Amazon and while they can recommend me 'similar' authors they're not similar in the a prose/experimental sense. Nabokov's Pale Fire (whole thread on this) and Jesse Ball's Samedi the Deafness: http://www.amazon.com/Samedi-Deafness-Vintage-Contemporaries-Jesse/dp/0307278859/ Samedi is pretty amazing even if the plot gets pretty tough to follow. You should have no problem with difficult plots since you like Only Revolutions, which kinda sorta almost has a plot (not really)
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Jun 14, 2009 23:38
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Destroy My Sweater posted:I'm looking for some more minimalist fiction or something that reads rather quickly while still managing to be somewhat "literary." I went on a Bret Easton Ellis binge but slowed down at The Informers as it read too much like Less Than Zero and figured I need to try someone new (or old, however you want to look at it). Not totally sure what you want here, but Donald Barthelme's 60 and 40 Stories collections contain very short surrealist/absurd/post-modern stories that are really easy to get through.
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Jul 31, 2009 06:50
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"or something that reads rather quickly" Barthelme writes super short fiction. It reads quickly 
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Jul 31, 2009 18:27
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appropriatemetaphor posted:I've really enjoyed most of Umberto Eco's books, are there other authors who have a similar style? Italo Calvino's work is a little more out there and fantastical at times but shares a lot of the same themes as Eco's books.
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Aug 7, 2009 01:11
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Invisible Cities is incredible. It's less of a novel and more of a love story to cities. Cosmicomics is also one of my favorites, it's a short series of related fairy tales and fantasies. Think Borges, not wizards and dragons. Actually there might be a wizard or two in there but that's not the point.
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Aug 7, 2009 15:54
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colonelsandy posted:Can anyone recommend a good place to start with Ray Bradbury? Golden Apples of the Sun. It can be found at just about every used bookstore in America for under 5 bucks and is one of the best short story collections ever.
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Aug 14, 2009 08:10
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Kosmo Kat posted:I'm looking for books about Africa, specifically books set during different civil wars of political upheaval. I've read The Poinsonwood Bible, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and a few others. I would also be interested in books about life and culture in different African countries or memoirs of African people. Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing is pretty fantastic. It's mostly short fiction with nonfiction introducing each section of the book. Really good variations between regions.
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Aug 29, 2009 09:46
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saahil92 posted:A Hundred Years of Solitude Crime and Punishment re-hashes the same thing for 300 pages and I'm biased against Siddhartha because I think Hesse wrote much better books. Hundred Years really lives up to the reputation as one of the best novels of all time.
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Oct 23, 2009 09:35
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Umbriago posted:Could anybody recommend any good collections of essays? I wish to read them partly for enjoyment but mainly to improve my own writing for university. I already own George Orwell's Essays and several volumes of work by Bertrand Russell. It doesn't matter what subject they concern as long as they are well-written and enjoyable. David Foster Wallace - Consider the Lobster
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Dec 29, 2009 06:21
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unleash the unicorn posted:Keep your ideologies in LF where they belong He clearly stated that this isn't about idealogies but the fact that the books are terribly written pieces of poo poo that aren't worth your time.
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Apr 1, 2010 23:46
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Frankenfatz posted:Looking for some rec's for my lady friend, who's a massive fan of Kundera, specifically The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Be it one of his other works or someone else who's style is comparable, your contributions might just brighten an Asian girls birthday, and get me laid to boot! This post is strange. He has a new one coming out in August, although you probably don't want to wait until then to get laid: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061894419?ie=UTF8&tag=conversatio07-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061894419
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Apr 2, 2010 20:14
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AreYouStillThere posted:I'm heading to Egypt this summer and I'm looking for something to get me in the mood. The only books people seem to immediately think of are Ramses: The Son of Light by Christian Jacq or The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George (the same lady who wrote The Autobiography of Henry VIII). Any other ideas or an idea of which to go for? I probably only have time to read one. Naguib Mafouz. He's a Nobel prize winner and wrote a trilogy set in ancient Egypt and many (better) books set in more modern times. Fantastic stuff.
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Apr 23, 2010 07:54
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CommunistMojo posted:So after another run to barnes and noble to try finish out my between semester reading stack I found myself staring at The Koran again and I was wondering if anyone knows a good translation or should I even worry about translation? Get a Abdel Haleem translation like the Oxford edition: http://www.amazon.com/Quran-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199535957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272658232&sr=8-1 A lot of schools use this version for teaching now, it's not full of goofy bowdlerisms like a lot of other English translations.
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Apr 30, 2010 21:16
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How is a love story "geared toward men" exactly? http://www.amazon.com/Best-Gay-Love-Stories-2009/dp/1593500882/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278868753&sr=8-2 Like this?
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Jul 11, 2010 18:21
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endlessmug posted:but yea, right now, no one does it for me like Herman Hesse. just read Demian. phenomenal. Have you read Pictor's Metamorphoses? http://www.amazon.com/Pictors-Metamorphoses-Fantasies-Hermann-Hesse/dp/0312422644 It's a collection of his fantasy short stories. Think more fairy tale than Elven maidens with swords. Great stuff.
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Aug 24, 2010 05:44
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Hedrigall posted:Recommendations for travel writing/travelogues about China please? I'm thinking of reading Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar and Jan Wong's Beijing Confidential but was wondering what other good stuff there is. I'm more interested in modern China, especially Beijing and Shanghai (because I went there last year). China Underground is a fascinating read for some of the seedier sides of the megacities. It's a must if you're at all interested in the rock in China scene: http://www.amazon.com/China-Underground-Zachary-Mexico/dp/1593762232 Peter Hessler's work is pretty interesting and I've been meaning to check out his newest one: http://www.amazon.com/Country-Driving-Journey-Through-Factory/dp/0061804096/ ShutteredIn fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Oct 11, 2010 |
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Oct 11, 2010 07:20
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Read At the Mountains of Madness... stop.
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Nov 17, 2010 07:13
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Rubber Biscuit posted:I'm considering visiting LA (UK goon here) again in the near future, and i'd like to read a few novels that capture something of the spirit of the place. It's vague I know but when I think about it I don't think i've ever read a novel set there. I'm not sure what this says about my taste or what. Nyeh. So yeah, Los Angeles. The Day of the Locust is pretty much the quintessential Hollywood story of people fleeing their old lives to pursue dreams (and failing miserably). Their Dogs Came with Them by Helena Maria Viramontes is a great read that's a really interesting depiction of latino life in '60s LA.
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Dec 15, 2010 05:08
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Not at all Zuckerman is just a stand in for Roth, it's not really a series.
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Jan 2, 2011 04:39
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Serious Men by Manu Joseph came out last year, it's a really interesting look at caste relations in modern India. It's also a satire on the science and technology boom in India, with the powerful wealthy classes pushing to establish India more on the global stage while completing ignoring most of their problems at home. And it's loving hilarious.
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Jan 4, 2011 01:43
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OrangeGuy posted:There's a lot of emphasis on family background, incomes, level of education (management or IT is widely preferred) and a lot of the ads seemed to have been put in there by the family looking for an arranged marriage rather than the single woman herself. Yeah this happens online too, this is a hugely popular Indian matrimony site: http://www.shaadi.com Pick Hindu for religion and look at the caste list.
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Jan 4, 2011 21:00
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:Jeez, that's crazy. How do they even keep up with that? Yeah it's complex, but it's almost entirely regional and community based. Nobody using that site knows all of those castes, just some of the ones in their part of the country. On another note, has anyone here read Ismail Kadare and could recommend where to start?
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Jan 4, 2011 22:00
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Lord Solitare posted:Is there a version of Don Quixote that is considered the best English translation? I've been wanting to read the book really badly ever since I saw Man of La Mancha, but googling brings up a bunch of different versions. Edith Grossman's version by a long shot.
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Jan 14, 2011 08:52
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:I know this was from weeks ago, but I just finished this a couple hours ago and wanted to thank you again for the recommendation--it was fantastic and I never would have heard of it if it weren't for your post. Awesome, glad you liked it! I only heard about it from Anis Shivani mentioning a bunch on his blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/manu-joseph-india_b_674544.html
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Jan 21, 2011 20:48
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Jean-Christophe Valtat's Aurorarama is set in a pretty steampunky fictional city in the Arctic Circle and it's amazing.
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Feb 7, 2011 06:37
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Quantify! posted:Paul Gauguin? I don't know of any good biographies on him, but this collection of his essays and correspondence is a really good read: http://www.amazon.com/Writings-Savage-Paul-Gauguin/dp/0306807009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306341697&sr=1-1 For other artists, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees about Robert Irwin is by far the best artist biography I've ever read.
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May 25, 2011 17:44
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Watermelon City posted:I like I'm going to recommend 3 Williams: Vollmann, Europe Central Gaddis, The Recognitions Gass, The Tunnel
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May 31, 2011 07:07
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Caddrel posted:Are Simenon's Inspector Maigret novels worth looking into? I've never read any of them, but I enjoy the TV and film adaptations from time to time. They are really well written but the english translations seem to vary quite a bit. I've only read a couple and they got pretty repetitive, but that seems to be a fault of the genre. You should check out Simenon's other work too though, he wrote some darker, not as popularly accessible novels that are amazing. I thought Dirty Snow and Tropic Moon were especially good.
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Aug 18, 2011 17:17
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Rollersnake posted:What translation/specific edition of the Arabian Nights should I get? The Husain Haddawy translated Everyman's Library version. ShutteredIn fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Aug 30, 2011 |
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Aug 30, 2011 23:09
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:Are there any good crime novels set in the Middle East, North Africa, or India? I've read Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games and loved it, but was disappointed by Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game because it abandoned the crime aspect incredibly early into the book in exchange for "main character fucks around and is an rear end in a top hat." I'd prefer it to be set in the Middle East and be contemporary, but any crime fiction in that general part of the world would be good. So an Indian friend of mine told me that Surender Pathak is the king of super cheesy Indian pulp, but as far as I can tell there are only 2 books available in English: http://www.amazon.com/Lakh-Heist-Surender-Mohan-Pathak/dp/8190605658/ Look at that cover! Publisher is here: http://blaft.com/ I kinda want to buy everything on this site. Have you read The Thief and the Dogs by Mahfouz? It's not a crime novel exactly, but I feel like you'd dig it. ShutteredIn fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 08:17
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z0331 posted:Wasn't sure where else to post this question, but is anyone familiar with Paul Auster's work? Any particular novels that might be worth trying? I read about him in a critical essay I've been reading and he sounded kind of interesting but he doesn't seem well known enough to have a stand-out work to start with. The New York trilogy is fantastic. Every other (2 or 3) Auster I've tried has been horrible.
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Oct 31, 2011 03:47
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Conduit for Sale! posted:I'd like to check out some literary journals/magazines but I don't really know of any besides The New Yorker, and I'm not pro enough for that yet. Anybody have some recommendations? Electric Literature is an amazing quarterly short story journal. They're also available on kindle for decent prices, which is nice.
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Feb 11, 2012 23:13
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Hedrigall posted:I'd love to read about modern day life in Antarctica, especially books that focus on the scientific research that goes on there. I also just really want to read about what day to day life is like on the bases there. I'd really prefer books from the last decade or so. I thought Big Dead Place by Nicholas Johnson was pretty funny. Not about science at all though, more about how weird living there is. The author just killed himself a couple months back so uh yeah, it's dark. This blog is probably the best day in the life imagery you're going to find: http://jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/tag/antarctica/
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Apr 9, 2013 21:08
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Mr. Squishy posted:Anyway, what's a good Carlos Fuentes book to start off with? The Crystal Frontier is a good start as it's made up of connected short stories that kinda hit a lot of Fuente's themes.
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May 4, 2013 00:24
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a kitten posted:I just watched the 2011 version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and loved it, I was wondering if the novel(s) are worth picking up for someone, like me, who has never read any spy fiction at all (unless Hunt For Red October counts, I guess). Definitely, le Carre is a great writer. His plots can get ridiculously complicated though, so don't be afraid to look up summaries to follow along at points. I had to look up what the hell some of the cold war technology he talks about was too.
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May 16, 2013 04:18
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Red Garland posted:I would love a good book about the late 70s/early 80s new wave/punk/no-wave scene of New York. Know any? Preferably as doc as possible. Rip It Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds and Just Kids by Patti Smith
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May 30, 2013 21:11
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Philthy posted:It may have been Proust, but the book itself was a quite small paperback. Around 200-300 pages, in a smaller format. That entire Proust series is made up of huge volumes. It could have been a Zola Les Rougon-Macquart book, there are 20 of those that are all sort of related: http://www.amazon.com/Fortune-Rougons-Oxford-Classics-ebook/dp/B0090K58V2/ref=la_B000AQ092I_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382641255&sr=1-6
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Oct 24, 2013 20:04
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Philthy posted:This is it. Wow, thank you so much! My reading list probably extends beyond my life time at this point. You don't have to read these in any order by the way. The first one introduces a bunch of characters but then the books are all really different. And some of them are a pain in the rear end to find in English.
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Oct 25, 2013 19:44
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Time Cowboy posted:That reminds me. Please recommend me some historical fiction with (emphasis on this) jaw-dropping good prose. Something along the lines of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang and Parrot & Olivier in America, or the "historical" portions of Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor. Any place or period before 1900 is good. (I've read Shogun, which has more of a bestseller than literary prose style anyway, but not much else in the historical fic genre.) The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
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Apr 1, 2014 04:58
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