Book Recommendations?

TAZ89 wrote:

I read Hemingway's The Sun also Rises every few years. I read it back in college (non assignment) and loved it. Still enjoy going back and re-reading it regularly. I think its a great way to start with his work. For Whom the Bell Tolls would be my second recommendation, with A Farewell to Arms after that. The rest of his work is better read after reading those three and honestly aren't as good.

Actually, The Sun Also Rises is one of my Big Three Books. I read the following every couple of years:
The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway
The Good Soldier - Ford Maddox Ford
Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

These books were very important to my development as a reader and my artistic taste overall. The only other book I re-read regularly is Anna Karenina, which requires much more dedication due to length.

I wish I read like this. I really do. I have crammed hundreds of books in my NYC apartment, more on my Kindle, but my actual reading output on a yearly basis is frighteningly low. But imagine *re-reading* these masterpieces every few years! My wife is a Russian literature nut, so she irregularly reads or re-reads Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov every five or so years. I can only dream...even as I keep collecting.

I'm only a little way in, but Max Gladstone's new Craft sequence novel "Ruin of Angels" is pretty great.

I believe it's intended to be a separate entrypoint to the series, so you don't have to read the previous five, but I'm not sure I would really know what's going on if I hadn't already read them. They are also very good so my advice is to just read them all anyhow.

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

MikeSands wrote:

I'm only a little way in, but Max Gladstone's new Craft sequence novel "Ruin of Angels" is pretty great.

It is an amazingly inventive world. It's not well-explained, not like a Sanderson book with a coherent magic system that he's eager to talk about, but the raw creativity in that series rivals anything I've ever read. It feels more like SF than fantasy in many ways, and the series as a whole gets a very enthusiastic thumbs-up from me.

It's a fantasy series with a court system and lawyers, insurance companies, claims adjusters, banking, and stock markets. Sometimes they're a lot like the ones we know.... sometimes, not so much. Arguing in court, for instance, is exercising a form of magic, and an inconsistent argument is actively dangerous to both parties, but especially to the person advancing it. You apparently need to be exceedingly careful and precise, if you want to work as a lawyer in this world, or you might accidentally summon demons to eat your brain.

This is only one part of a great deal that's going on. That's a highlight, but it's one (important) detail among many.

What are you looking to do, Natus?

I finished The Quantum Thief, a fantastic sci-fi novel about the Solar System's greatest thief being broken out of prison and trying to restore his memory, and the detective trying to figure out what's going on. It blends some interesting themes of memory, surveillance, future societies, and personalities. It's very much of the "show, don't explain" school of writing that drops you straight into the world, which can put a lot of people off. I found a non-spoiler glossary that was really helpful.

Mixolyde wrote:

I finished The Quantum Thief, a fantastic sci-fi novel about the Solar System's greatest thief being broken out of prison and trying to restore his memory, and the detective trying to figure out what's going on. It blends some interesting themes of memory, surveillance, future societies, and personalities. It's very much of the "show, don't explain" school of writing that drops you straight into the world, which can put a lot of people off. I found a non-spoiler glossary that was really helpful.

It left me a little cold. Felt like it wasn't so much throwing spaghetti at the wall as trying to build an entire house our of spaghetti.

That said, it was certainly "fresh".

A friend of mine just finished writing his book and is releasing it on Amazon. Here's the Link if you want to check it out. It's called I am Newman: 75lbs of Muscle and Gas and it is about the life of his beloved Boxer.

Natus wrote:

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

Like Robear said, what are you looking to do? Just keep a list of books you've read or want to read? GoodReads is good for that. If you want something more flexible and capable, something like Delicious Library might be it.

LeapingGnome wrote:
Natus wrote:

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

Like Robear said, what are you looking to do? Just keep a list of books you've read or want to read? GoodReads is good for that. If you want something more flexible and capable, something like Delicious Library might be it.

I'm starting to buy duplicates since my library is so extensive and spread all over the place. My wife and I want to track the books we own, but creating a spreadsheet on Excel just seems like it would take weeks of drudgery. Are there any other options?

Thanks for any advice!

Natus wrote:

I'm starting to buy duplicates since my library is so extensive and spread all over the place. My wife and I want to track the books we own, but creating a spreadsheet on Excel just seems like it would take weeks of drudgery. Are there any other options?

Thanks for any advice!

I think there are apps for both Goodreads and LibraryThing that allow you to scan in the book barcodes for physical books. Not sure how well it works though as I haven't used them. Not sure what would help for adding digital books. Might still have to add all of those manually.

Jonman wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:

I finished The Quantum Thief, a fantastic sci-fi novel about the Solar System's greatest thief being broken out of prison and trying to restore his memory, and the detective trying to figure out what's going on. It blends some interesting themes of memory, surveillance, future societies, and personalities. It's very much of the "show, don't explain" school of writing that drops you straight into the world, which can put a lot of people off. I found a non-spoiler glossary that was really helpful.

It left me a little cold. Felt like it wasn't so much throwing spaghetti at the wall as trying to build an entire house our of spaghetti.

That said, it was certainly "fresh".

I really liked it but feel next to no impulse to finish the series.

I used to use Bookcrawler for scanning barcodes and it worked fairly well. Not sure how it deals with ebooks though. You might be able to export a CSV of your ebook library from Calibre or whatever and import that. There's a free trial and then you pay a few bucks to unlock an unlimited DB.

Natus wrote:

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

I can recommend BookBuddy for iOS. I needed an app so I don't buy books I already own, and can keep track of what books I'm looking for. BookBuddy can import/export, scan barcodes, add tags and series, track reading/read/wishlist/loaned/borrowed, and more. I used to use GoodReads, but I found it not optimal for maintaining a personal library. BookBuddy does everything I've needed since Delicious Library's app stopped working years ago.

If you buy on a Kindle, it will tell you if you've bought it before. Saves a lot of shelf space too!

Robear wrote:

If you buy on a Kindle, it will tell you if you've bought it before. Saves a lot of shelf space too! :-)

Yes, at least there, Amazon is kind enough to tell you on a book's Kindle page if you've purchased it before.

Natus wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:
Natus wrote:

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

Like Robear said, what are you looking to do? Just keep a list of books you've read or want to read? GoodReads is good for that. If you want something more flexible and capable, something like Delicious Library might be it.

I'm starting to buy duplicates since my library is so extensive and spread all over the place. My wife and I want to track the books we own, but creating a spreadsheet on Excel just seems like it would take weeks of drudgery. Are there any other options?

Thanks for any advice!

I use Library Thing and I love it. Goodreads seem to be popular too. It's one of those things where once you choose one stick with it, it's too much trouble to migrate your library.

TAZ89 wrote:
Natus wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:
Natus wrote:

Any recommendations on apps that help categorize or at least digitize lists of books? Is the technology there, yet?

Like Robear said, what are you looking to do? Just keep a list of books you've read or want to read? GoodReads is good for that. If you want something more flexible and capable, something like Delicious Library might be it.

I'm starting to buy duplicates since my library is so extensive and spread all over the place. My wife and I want to track the books we own, but creating a spreadsheet on Excel just seems like it would take weeks of drudgery. Are there any other options?

Thanks for any advice!

I use Library Thing and I love it. Goodreads seem to be popular too. It's one of those things where once you choose one stick with it, it's too much trouble to migrate your library.

The ones I've looked at and used all have import/export options for migrating. GoodReads to BookBuddy was simple.

Natus wrote:
Robear wrote:

If you buy on a Kindle, it will tell you if you've bought it before. Saves a lot of shelf space too! :-)

Yes, at least there, Amazon is kind enough to tell you on a book's Kindle page if you've purchased it before.

Until an author releases a slightly tweaked version under a different listing. I've been gotten by that before.

Anybody read the Brian Jay Jones bio of George Lucas?

George Lucas: A Life

I figured the man behind one of the biggest franchises of all time, and a man with a good amount of controversies would have a definitive bio made of him, but this is the only one I've seen. Any word on how it is?

Been meaning to read it for months, and finally got around to the Fifth Season series, by N.K. Jemisin. (They sounded kinda depressing, and I was more looking for popcorn fluff.)

These are exceptional books, far more powerful and nuanced than most SF ever gets. They're so complex that they're rather hard to describe... I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to write the darn things. She uses second-person for probably about a third of the overall story. Normally, that's the sort of thing done in exercises for writing class, not in real production novels, but she makes it work. She is seriously talented, and those books stand toe to toe with any of the great classics of the field. In retrospect, A Canticle for Leibowitz comes to mind for overall feel, but that's just in the sense of my emotional state after reading them. (I remember almost no details about Canticle, after so many years.)

I've been sitting here for a bit, trying to figure out how give a synopsis, and I just don't feel qualified to do it. Almost no matter what I pull out and emphasize, I'll be stomping horribly on some other part of her story. The world is revealed so elegantly and carefully that it feels like I'd be doing a real disservice to say anything more than, "you should probably read these."

And, yes, they were kind of depressing. But totally worth it. These are books people will be talking about for many years, I suspect.

Agreed.

I've avoided those so long because I disliked/was bored by the earlier book of hers I read. You guys will eventually talk me into reading these I guess.

I agree, they are tremendous books. Even somewhat hard to take, emotionally.

MannishBoy wrote:

I've avoided those so long because I disliked/was bored by the earlier book of hers I read. You guys will eventually talk me into reading these I guess.

I had tried one of her earlier books, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms I think, and found it only alright. I did not feel compelled to go on in that series at all. But The Fifth Season, and the rest of the Broken Earth series, I would say are probably the best Fantasy series I have read in quite a while, and I would recommend them to pretty much anyone. So I wouldn't worry about not loving previous books of hers, these are very different.

As others have said, they are not light or cheery, but they are also not homework. They are very compelling and engaging, and (at least in my experience) pull you in very quickly.

Pacman wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I've avoided those so long because I disliked/was bored by the earlier book of hers I read. You guys will eventually talk me into reading these I guess.

I had tried one of her earlier books, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms I think, and found it only alright. I did not feel compelled to go on in that series at all. But The Fifth Season, and the rest of the Broken Earth series, I would say are probably the best Fantasy series I have read in quite a while, and I would recommend them to pretty much anyone. So I wouldn't worry about not loving previous books of hers, these are very different.

As others have said, they are not light or cheery, but they are also not homework. They are very compelling and engaging, and (at least in my experience) pull you in very quickly.

This was my experience as well.

Does anyone have any seasonally spooky favorites they bring out to read for the Halloween season?

My book club usually tries for something monster-related around this time of year, and I'm looking for something different to throw into the hat. (Last year we read _Feed_; consensus was that it was a little too politics-focused for an escapist book in October 2016.)

It's a genre-fiction book club, so science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romance are all fair game. (Related non-fiction would probably pass muster as well.)

Edit: as a group we really haven't delved into serious horror novels, so I'm not sure how something deeply horrific would go over. But that may just be my prejudice speaking -- it's not my genre of choice by any means. Let's just say that I'm not going to be the one suggesting "Let The Right One In", no matter how good a fit it might be for a creepy tone.

Katy wrote:

Does anyone have any seasonally spooky favorites they bring out to read for the Halloween season?

My book club usually tries for something monster-related around this time of year, and I'm looking for something different to throw into the hat. (Last year we read _Feed_; consensus was that it was a little too politics-focused for an escapist book in October 2016.)

It's a genre-fiction book club, so science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romance are all fair game. (Related non-fiction would probably pass muster as well.)

Edit: as a group we really haven't delved into serious horror novels, so I'm not sure how something deeply horrific would go over. But that may just be my prejudice speaking -- it's not my genre of choice by any means. Let's just say that I'm not going to be the one suggesting "Let The Right One In", no matter how good a fit it might be for a creepy tone.

If comics will work then I recommend Wytches.

WYTCHES: A COMIC ABOUT MONSTERS, WHERE THE REAL FEAR IS BEING A PARENT

Katy, I'm not too into horror, but I thoroughly enjoyed Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort, lo these many years ago. Simmons is a talented writer, and while I don't want to say too much about the book because it shouldn't be spoiled, I will say that he will probably surprise you multiple times.

I think it's been almost twenty years since I read it, and it still stands tall in my memory. I read so little horror that I can't really compare-and-contrast with anything, but just taken as a book, it holds up with almost anything I've read in any genre.

edit: I'm not sure it would be too suitable for use as a yearly reader; it's just too long and too intense for that. But it's an exceptional book.

@Katy - A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny is my go-to October book. It's a whimsical monster mashup told from the perspective of one of the character's dogs, and was one of the last books by a true master.