Book Recommendations?

Well, thanks, guys! Just bought a load of heavily discounted titles, among them Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Children of Time by Tchaikovsky, and Underland by MacFarlane. I'm probably not done yet.

Two things about Audible drive me nuts: they don't always post the name of the translator for books written in a foreign language, and they auto-apply credits even when you've de-selected that option. I've literally looked my list over at the Subtotal page, Confirmed the purchase, and then have seen the credit applied to a $5 sale title. Grrr!

RawkGWJ wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Also I'm guessing it's worth it to buy the 3 credits for $35.88 deal?

The monthly are the best deal. If you’re out of monthly credits then the 3 for $35.88 is a hell of a deal. I’ve somehow accumulated quite a few credits via the monthly membership. Probably because there are so many great books included in the membership. You have to spend some time seeking out stuff that interests you, but there is plenty.

The real best deal is to keep an eye out for the year for $100 deal. I've gotten that the last 3 years outside a couple of months I think. Then hoard credits for the 2 for 1 style deals and work your wish list.

I might bite on "A Man with One of Those Faces”. Checking it out now.

Thanks for the tips and recommendations all. @Mannish, you certainly are right about the discovery. It is lacking.

Natus wrote:

Well, thanks, guys! Just bought a load of heavily discounted titles, among them Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Children of Time by Tchaikovsky, and Underland by MacFarlane. I'm probably not done yet.

I enjoyed Children of Time a lot!

Agreed. Best book I have read in years. Children of Ruin was plenty interesting, but the story wasn't quite as captivating.

Spoiler for those who creeped out by spiders

Portia specializes in eating spider-eating spiders...

Spoiler:

I finished The Inheritance Trilogy, three excellent fantasy novels by N.K. Jemesin. They were great, and it was nice to see some new ideas about gods and magic. The three novels all being in 1st person, but from three different characters was neat, too.

But, after reading about the author, I realized that I have never read any Ursula LeGuin, or Octavia Butler. Anyone have thoughts on who to start with and what works of theirs?

I just finished both the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Talents by Butler. Both were quite good. I like the first so much that I immediately read the second. (And also because I felt it ended abruptly…I wasn’t ready for it!)

I can only compare those against Le Guin’s the Left Hand of Darkness, which I loved. Of the three I’ve read, I’d say start there.

Seconding Left Hand of Darkness for Le Guin.

Ooohh! Both Parable of the Sower and Left Hand of Darkness were available on audiobook without a waiting period on Libby. Which is great, but also makes me sad that the books aren’t so beloved that many people want to experience them.

I’d tried the audiobook for Kindred but it was so corny that I couldn’t get through it. From what I’ve heard, Parable of the Sower trilogy is Octavia Butler’s best work.

Also reading Fifth Season at the moment. I Second Parable of the Sower. I really should get to Talents once I clear out some backlog. Kindred is also high up my list.

stupidhaiku wrote:

Seconding Left Hand of Darkness for Le Guin.

I'd suggest A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore first. The Left Hand of Darkness is full of great ideas, but I didn't enjoy it as much.

MikeSands wrote:
stupidhaiku wrote:

Seconding Left Hand of Darkness for Le Guin.

I'd suggest A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore first. The Left Hand of Darkness is full of great ideas, but I didn't enjoy it as much.

I just re-read the first two on this list a few months ago and they are very well written but so different from what passes as fantasy nowadays. It's as if she wasn't following a formula or something.

I just finished Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the first Red Dwarf novel. I knew nothing about it before I started reading and only recently discovered that the Red Dwarf novels even existed despite being a fan of the show for decades. At first I was a little disappointed that it seemed to just be an adaptation of the first season, but it expands, revises, and improves upon the show in a lot of interesting ways and I think it’s a must-read for any Red Dwarf fan.

Now I’m disappointed that Grant & Naylor spent a bunch of time making the rather lukewarm latter seasons of the show when they could have been writing more of these books.

I recently finished The House In The Cerulean Sea. Audiobook. It’s quite good. Nothing super groundbreaking, but really really good. Magic. Supernatural. LGBTQ+. Social commentary. Young adult.

Then I knocked out the audiobook of Of Mice And Men in one day. It’s only 3.5 hours long. I first read it about twenty years ago. Seen both movies. This audiobook is narrated by Gary Senice, who played George in the newer film. He did a great job of narrating.

I feel that this book is primarily about power dynamics and power struggle. It is steeped in commentary about ableism, sexism, classism, and racism. I’ve loved Steinbeck ever since I’d read the first chapter of Grapes of Wrath. This book is a masterpiece. It’s really short and says everything it needs to say quickly and concisely. The text is rich. Each sentence is bursting with detail. I had to slow the audio down to 90% to keep up with the expressive prose.

ruhk wrote:

I just finished Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the first Red Dwarf novel. I knew nothing about it before I started reading and only recently discovered that the Red Dwarf novels even existed despite being a fan of the show for decades. At first I was a little disappointed that it seemed to just be an adaptation of the first season, but it expands, revises, and improves upon the show in a lot of interesting ways and I think it’s a must-read for any Red Dwarf fan.

Now I’m disappointed that Grant & Naylor spent a bunch of time making the rather lukewarm latter seasons of the show when they could have been writing more of these books.

Nice. The Red Dwarf books belong in my special list of 'Novelizations read without realizing they were novelizations'. Made it a few years before I bumped into the show on PBS.

RawkGWJ wrote:

I recently finished The House In The Cerulean Sea. Audiobook. It’s quite good. Nothing super groundbreaking, but really really good. Magic. Supernatural. LGBTQ+. Social commentary. Young adult.

I've recommended this to my daughter. Will try again.

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Pretty good fantasy story, but it was overly long, the violence was grotesquely explicit given the otherwise jaunty Ocean's Eleven vibe, and I wished there'd been a bit more interiority to the characters. Not sure I'll read the others in the series, and it sounds like there's no telling when it will be finished anyway.

I have a few choices for what's next: Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, Jim Butcher's first Dresden Files book, and Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emporer. Any recommendations for what I should pick?

The Blade Itself is maximum Grimdark deconstructionalist fantasy. It is more tonally consistent than Locke Lamora, however. I liked it a lot less than Locke Lamora, but your opinion would depend on whether you want tonal consistency or not so much violence in general.
Dresden Files are breezy urban fantasy yarns. The series doesn't reach its stride until the third book. It has some problematic r/menwritingwomen type sections. It's the MCU of these three choices to my mind.
I haven't read The Goblin Emperor, but it sounds more upbeat than Abercrombie, and possibly a better written book than the other two. The reviews talk a lot about the subtle characterisation, so it could be a good candidate if you want the interiority that you felt was missing from Locke Lamora.

beanman101283 wrote:

Jim Butcher's first Dresden Files book

Literally the worst book I've ever read in my life.

Goblin Emperor was alright, but nothing I'd go out of my way to recommend.

The Blade Itself is the start of an entertaining trilogy, and at this point Abercrombie has several other books set in this world, so you will have a lot to look forward to if you end up liking it.

I enjoyed Locke Lamora considerably less than a lot of folks, it was passably entertaining but left me with no interest in reading other books in that series.

Beanman, I’ll recommend “Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City”, by KJ Parker (AKA Tom Holt). He definitely does interiority for his characters, and humor, complexity, irony, shock, all sorts of twists and turns and dislocations for his characters. Wonderful stuff.

The Blade Itself was Abercrombie's first novel, and you can tell. While there is a good story and some nice world-building, it's definitely clumsy and clunky. If the book were a video game, you'd call it "entertaining jank".

The trilogy improves in a hurry, though. Without going too deep into spoiler territory: by the third book, I was staying up way past bed time, desperate to discover the outcome of a pivotal duel. I can't remember being as gripped by a book - at least not as an adult.

I second (or third) the downvotes for the first Dresden book, which I thought was terrible.

Not familiar with Goblin Emperor.

Have you tried any Robin Hobb?

beanman101283 wrote:

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Pretty good fantasy story, but it was overly long, the violence was grotesquely explicit given the otherwise jaunty Ocean's Eleven vibe, and I wished there'd been a bit more interiority to the characters. Not sure I'll read the others in the series, and it sounds like there's no telling when it will be finished anyway.

I have a few choices for what's next: Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, Jim Butcher's first Dresden Files book, and Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emporer. Any recommendations for what I should pick?

I would go with The Dresden Files.

I got the first three Dresden books in a bundle and forced myself to read through all three due to how generally recommended they are and I just do not understand the love at all. If you want a good series in the same vein as Dresden, The Laundry series is infinitely superior in every aspect.

My hot takes:
Dresden Files #1 - bad
The Blade Itself - OK, especially when you figure out what is really going on which may not be until book 2 (was for me at least)
The Goblin Emperor - decent enough I guess

The Blade Itself is the best of this little group IMO.

Why not read the sequel to Lies of Locke Lamora?

+1 on the Laundry series as an alternate option, I too was always mystified by the adoration for Dresden Files… like you Ruhk I forced myself through the first three on advice that it gets good from there but I have never wanted to not pick up the next book in a series as much as I did after that… Just naked Gary Stu work that was about on par with Salvatore’s first FR novels quality-wise, and I cannot stand Salvatore’s writing

No love for Tom Holt’s fantasy alter ego? I figured he’d be popular here. He’s been quite prolific.

beanman101283 wrote:

Not sure I'll read the others in the series, and it sounds like there's no telling when it will be finished anyway.

Do not ever read the later books after The Lies of Locke Lamora. Went to sh*t, badly. Someone will follow this post talking about how they actually liked them, but don't listen.

beanman101283 wrote:

I have a few choices for what's next: Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

I think Joe Abercrombie is the most consistently great author writing today. The first three books are enjoyable, but he was still figuring out this "novel" stuff, and they could have done with some more editing. If you enjoy them at all, then the later standalone-ish books in same world are all super duper fantastic awesome.

Easy litmus test: if you like the way he paints his characters in the first book, you'll love him. If the characters don't grab you, then there's no need to continue reading after The Blade Itself.

He's two books in to a new trilogy, also in the same world. First one is a bit "standard Joe" (so, still better than 99% of other books) but the second one is great and I am eager for the third.

ruhk wrote:

I got the first three Dresden books in a bundle and forced myself to read through all three due to how generally recommended they are and I just do not understand the love at all.

Yeah I can be down with some pulp, even generic stuff but when someone recommends these books I just nope on any opinion they have to offer. I dont care if they get better after the first book because it would be impossible to get worse. Having some kind of taste and standards is the basis for any recommendation and sorry to be a hot take elitist but anyone that champions this garbage has neither.