Book Recommendations?

tagg wrote:

I'm reading Tigana and The Fionavar Tapestry, my impresions fall pretty much in line with what's already been said in this thread: they're both really good books, although I absolutely despise the whole "ordinary people thrown into an alternate fantasy world" thing that The Fionavar tapestry does. I also recently read the newest wheel of time book. It's finally heading towards some sort of conclusion and Brandon Sanderon's writing may actually be better; the lack of constant braid-tugging is refreshing.

GGK gets away from the traditional mode of fantasy and into alt-history fantasy right after Tigana and the Fionavar Tapestry. The Lions of Al-Rassan, set in his alternate Al-Andalus (pre-reconquista Spain) is one of the more lyrical and beautiful books I've read in any genre.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'll break up the SF/F love-fest here to recommend Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. Using interviews from North Korean defectors from the city of Chongjin now living in South Korea and China, the author constructs a fascinating portrait of what everyday life has been like in North Korea since the end of the Korean War. What's described here is the closest real-world country I've heard of to mimic Orwell's Oceania, but where most dystopian fiction is overwhelmingly pessimistic and one-dimensional, the reality here is much more complex as it's built from human stories, rather than polemical caricatures.

Thanks for that, I've just added it to my to-read list. Do you have any other books in similar vein to recommend?

There's North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea by Andrei Lankov. I haven't read it, but it's in my queue. I don't know what prices would be like in Poland, but all the non-Kindle editions of the book are insanely priced ($36 for a paperback?).

I show that one as $15 for the Kindle version. As to why so expensive, the author is a senior lecturer at a University, it's probably required reading for a class he teaches.

Katy wrote:
NSMike wrote:

Ugh, Mercedes Lackey is the Twilight of fantasy that no one knew about.

Some of her books are better than others. And for the most part, if I'm reading them, it's because I'm looking for something where I know there's likely to be a happy ending coming along, and I want to disengage my brain for a while. [breezy innocence]So what you're saying is, I'd like Twilight, too?[/breezy innocence]

I didn't mind her dragon books. I especially liked the Egyptian setting. However, I think she used the word "besotted" every time she described the boys' relationships with their dragons. Kinda makes me think there were some inappropriate thing going on in the stables.

The others I've read described as "My Little Pony Goes to War."

UCRC wrote:

Thanks for that, I've just added it to my to-read list. Do you have any other books in similar vein to recommend?

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short is both gripping and chilling. If you ever wanted to know how on Earth could genocide happen in 2nd quarter of 20th century without too much foreign protests, read it. You'll learn more about Cambodia than you ever wanted to know.

wanderingtaoist wrote:
UCRC wrote:

Thanks for that, I've just added it to my to-read list. Do you have any other books in similar vein to recommend?

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short is both gripping and chilling. If you ever wanted to know how on Earth could genocide happen in 2nd quarter of 20th century without too much foreign protests, read it. You'll learn more about Cambodia than you ever wanted to know.

Thanks. I'm not sure I dare to pick it up right now (I'm reading way too much non-fiction anyway) but I'll surely keep it on my list.

If anyone likes Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, the first two chapters of the upcoming book, Changes are up on his website.

Tanglebones wrote:

If anyone likes Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, the first two chapters of the upcoming book, Changes are up on his website.

I absolutely love the Dresden Files. Jim Butcher only lives like 25 minutes away from me - I always hope to run into him!

And now for something truly different. Everybody go kung fu fighting!

http://members.cox.net/foxs/loch.html

One of the most popular and beloved books in the Chinese language, fan translated to English.

It might be culturally jarring at first, however, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the names if you read fantasy. Set around the end of the Southern Song Dynasty when Genghis Khan was raging across the Asian continent. A story of a young boy whose meeting with a young girl leads him towards a grand destiny and his ultimate fate.

I finished The Name of the Rose and I did like the ending. Very biblical.

I'm almost done with Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt. It's the first book of a series set in a steampunk / Victorian world. I've spent most of the book trying to figure out how the world fits together (this is a good thing). It's full of high adventure, airships, steam-powered sentient mechanical men and mutants, all in conflict amidst a People's Revolution under the command of a general using human sacrifice to harness the power of the Old Gods. Recommended.

The first chapter is available on the author's website.

I just finished The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. It's a 900 page bruiser with some interesting twists and turns. I've always enjoyed a good "the ocean fights back" and this one fits the bill. The protagonist can be a bit annoying (he says obnoxious things like "even I can't believe how much charisma I have" and "I'm 56, good-looking, well-off, and well-educated; there's no shortage of women", but not so often as to make you wish for a painful death for him)

Plus, it may be the first book where zebra mussels and whales team up together to kick some Homo sapiens ass, so that's a bonus right there.

Grenn wrote:
Katy wrote:
NSMike wrote:

Ugh, Mercedes Lackey is the Twilight of fantasy that no one knew about.

Some of her books are better than others. And for the most part, if I'm reading them, it's because I'm looking for something where I know there's likely to be a happy ending coming along, and I want to disengage my brain for a while. [breezy innocence]So what you're saying is, I'd like Twilight, too?[/breezy innocence]

I didn't mind her dragon books. I especially liked the Egyptian setting. However, I think she used the word "besotted" every time she described the boys' relationships with their dragons. Kinda makes me think there were some inappropriate thing going on in the stables.

The others I've read described as "My Little Pony Goes to War."

I'll freely admit she's a guilty pleasure of mine, I own a solid chunk of the the books she's written.

Then again I've got decent sized sets of Stephensons, Heinleins, Herberts, saberhagen, Brin, Pratchett, Varley and Wingroves works as well... I'm a book whore, I just paid $13 for a freaking paperback (Juliette McKennas Southern Series seems to have been published only over in the UK or something, so finding them Stateside is a bit of a pain)

Books ive read and enjoyed:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Hits home on a couple notes, especially if your a nerd.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If you haven't read this you really should give it a try.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Dangofrank88 wrote:

Books ive read and enjoyed:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Hits home on a couple notes, especially if your a nerd.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If you haven't read this you really should give it a try.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I like everything by Neil Gaiman - seconded.

As to The Road - I don't know what the big deal about this book is. I really didn't think it was all that good, but because it made it on Oprah's book list, america loves it.

Not dogging you, bud - I am glad you enjoyed it.

After finishing The Name of the Rose, I moved on to A Canticle for Leibowitz. It was not my intention to read two consecutive books about Catholic monks, it was simply coincidence.

Oh an Enders game by Orson Scott Card. Yeah i know hes a bigot in real life, but his Ender series is pretty good.

Dangofrank88 wrote:

Oh an Enders game by Orson Scott Card. Yeah i know hes a bigot in real life, but his Ender series is pretty good.

I loved Ender's Game when I was a kid, as well as the first book or two of the Alvin Maker series, but I've pretty much disliked everything he's written since then, even before I knew about his real life opinions.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

After finishing The Name of the Rose, I moved on to A Canticle for Leibowitz. It was not my intention to read two consecutive books about Catholic monks, it was simply coincidence.

Ooh, can I vote that you read Anathem next?

Tanglebones wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

After finishing The Name of the Rose, I moved on to A Canticle for Leibowitz. It was not my intention to read two consecutive books about Catholic monks, it was simply coincidence.

Ooh, can I vote that you read Anathem next?

Nah, I've decided to stay away from Neal Stephenson. Besides, I already have 3 books in my stack and 2 TPBs.

I'm getting a huge kick out the the short-story anthology Warriors.

There is a ton of variety and some really solid writing in these stories. I bought it solely for the third Dunk and Egg novella, which was excellent, but I'm enjoying reading the other stories much more than I anticipated.

SallyNasty wrote:

As to The Road - I don't know what the big deal about this book is. I really didn't think it was all that good, but because it made it on Oprah's book list, america loves it.

I don't think that's fair. There is no doubt that Oprah drives sales, but it was highly regarded before Oprah read it.

Oprah take far too much grief for her book club. It really has been an excellent selection of books over the years, and has done wonders getting a large segment of women that didn't read as much, reading really good literature.

That said, my wife loathes having to buy a book with the Oprah's book club emblem on the cover. She hates it almost as much as getting the movie tie-in covers of books.

Jayhawker wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

As to The Road - I don't know what the big deal about this book is. I really didn't think it was all that good, but because it made it on Oprah's book list, america loves it.

I don't think that's fair. There is no doubt that Oprah drives sales, but it was highly regarded before Oprah read it.

Oprah take far too much grief for her book club. It really has been an excellent selection of books over the years, and has done wonders getting a large segment of women that didn't read as much, reading really good literature.

That said, my wife loathes having to buy a book with the Oprah's book club emblem on the cover. She hates it almost as much as getting the movie tie-in covers of books.

May not be fair - but it is my opinion, and I am sticking to it:)

Oprah, while I love her, has some book opinions that I don't agree with. She said Anna Karenina was one of the best love stories of all time. That statement alone calls her judgment on fine literature into question.

SallyNasty wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

As to The Road - I don't know what the big deal about this book is. I really didn't think it was all that good, but because it made it on Oprah's book list, america loves it.

I don't think that's fair. There is no doubt that Oprah drives sales, but it was highly regarded before Oprah read it.

Oprah take far too much grief for her book club. It really has been an excellent selection of books over the years, and has done wonders getting a large segment of women that didn't read as much, reading really good literature.

That said, my wife loathes having to buy a book with the Oprah's book club emblem on the cover. She hates it almost as much as getting the movie tie-in covers of books.

May not be fair - but it is my opinion, and I am sticking to it:)

Oprah, while I love her, has some book opinions that I don't agree with. She said Anna Karenina was one of the best love stories of all time. That statement alone calls her judgment on fine literature into question.

You do realize The Road won the Pulitzer? Oprah or no Oprah, The Road is a great novel, by one of the greatest novelist of his generation.

Badferret wrote:

You do realize The Road won the Pulitzer? Oprah or no Oprah, The Road is a great novel, by one of the greatest novelist of his generation.

I'll add my voice to this. McCarthey had earned his place in the modern Pantheon before Oprah picked his book. Blood Meridian and the Crossing trilogy established this.

On the other hand, his terse style takes some getting used to. The writing is so spare that if you aren't familiar with it, you may not be looking for or notice what he's doing, at least that has been my experience. I find that unless I concentrate, I can blow through one of his books without seeing much besides the bare plot. Reading The Road just to find out what happens isn't a very fulfilling experience. For me, his stuff is like Japanese watercolor drawings, beautiful for capturing the essence of a thing.

I think that is great that you all enjoyed the book so much, but in my opinion, it wasn't that special, and I don't get the hype.

That goes for House of Leaves as well. *ducks*

SallyNasty wrote:

That goes for House of Leaves as well. *ducks*

I'll give you both, actually. House of Leaves and The Road are both interesting but deeply flawed works that are long on setup and ideas but short on execution.

SallyNasty wrote:

I think that is great that you all enjoyed the book so much, but in my opinion, it wasn't that special, and I don't get the hype.

You're perfectly entitled to your own opinion of the book, but implying that everyone else only likes it because of Oprah's book list was a little insulting.

muttonchop wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I think that is great that you all enjoyed the book so much, but in my opinion, it wasn't that special, and I don't get the hype.

You're perfectly entitled to your own opinion of the book, but implying that everyone else only likes it because of Oprah's book list was a little insulting.

In all fairness, I did follow that up immediately by saying(in an effort to not be insulting) -

SallyNasty wrote:

Not dogging you, bud - I am glad you enjoyed it.