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A Good Read: Book Suggestions & Recommendations

^Thanks for the suggestions....I did read The Prestige a few years ago...and read Pavane many years ago....
I'm already a fan of Simon R Green....especially love the Nightside and Secret History books.
 
amyasleigh said:
...per my memory...the across-the-board enforced strict religiosity and curbs on technical development [depicted in Pavane by Keith Roberts] come from a totalitarian Catholic regime, not a Puritan Protestant one. The assassination of Liz I by the crazed youth, right at the time of the Armada, precipitates the success of that venture to reconquer England for Catholicism -- whence many centuries of total rule in all things by the Catholic Church...
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You are quite right. l hang my head in shame, and have corrected my original post.

:oops:

:loopy:

:mcoat:

maximus otter
 
I'm not sure if these have been mentioned but here are my stand out books in sci-fi and fantasy. I am not a fan of space opera type sci-fi, I prefer my sci-fi a bit more earth/human based.

The Thing Itself and Jack Glass - Adam Roberts: All the Adam Roberts books I have read have been highly enjoyable but there are my two favourites. He has the ability to write in different styles and clearly has a love of sci-fi fiction as well as science itself.

Fitz & The Fool Series - Rob Hobb: I am usually not a fan of fantasy fiction, but found this series of books thrilling and insightful. My least favourite aspects are the magical parts, my main enjoyment comes from her incredible characters which is a rare treat in fantasy. I have learnt about myself and humanity by reading this books.

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman: I really enjoyed this story as well as the sequels. Once we can travel close to the speed of light time becomes almost irrelevant and this book shows that in a very interesting way.

Robot Dreams - Asimov: I love Asimov's short stories and this collection for me is the best place to start.

The First Fifteen Live of Harry August - Claire North: This is a very recent book and is just fantastic. Time travel-ish with a great amount of paths and generally gripping, fantastic writing.
 
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https://danwang.co/girardian-mimetic-reading-of-game-of-thrones/

Game of Thrones: A Girardian Reading
And so we get a fundamentally Shakespearean, and that is to say, Girardian, model of conflict instead of a Marxist one. People are obsessed with fighting others like themselves. Wars aren’t fought to defeat collective, existential threats. Instead they’re fought to avenge honor, or sometimes for political or territorial gains. It’s Montagues vs. Capulets, not the huddled masses vs. capitalists.

Rene Girard is an interesting philosopher. Somehow, recently, I see his ideas in many weird quarters:

 
In a fit of nostalgia brought on by my having visited a Discworld art exhibition at a local museum, I re-read The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett on my flight home the other day. I first found it as a spotty eleven-year-old, having borrowed it from my art teacher, upon whose desk I had spotted the wonderful Josh Kirby cover (butchered on my recent reprint, incidentally).

I enjoyed it--especially the earlier parts in Ankh Morpork--but I'd mentally elided the fact that it is not nearly as tightly plotted as his later work. I think his first real masterwork is Mort (it might well be his best), but some of his latter-mature period novels, perhaps from Maskerade (1995) onward, were incredibly well-plotted with disparate threads woven together in the most unlikely yet satisfying ways.

Miss you, Terry.
 
Primitive Rebels by Eric Hobsbawm. Social Bandits, Millenarian Movements, Mobs, the early Mafia. How Trade Unions developed in Britain from Primitive Methodists and other Non-Conforming Sects. A great read.
 
dr wu said:
Looking up Pratchett's Discworld books...I have only read 2....I bumped into this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Read
What do the Brits here think of this list.....and are there some they would have put on the list?
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Do you mean to ask what we think of the list in general? Or what we think of the Discworld rankings on it?

It was a huge polling project and, with the usual caveats that the contemporary gets weighted unduly and people sometimes name books they think they should like, it's actually a great list.

Terry can't complain with so many entries on that list (given the historic competition) and those ranked the highest (in the top 100) are some of my favourites: the City Watch/Sam Vimes books: Guards, Guards (the first of that run), Night Watch (the best of the run), Mort, which I've already judged as my personal favourite, and Good Omens (not a Discworld novel) with Neil Gaiman, which is one of the funniest things I've ever read and heartily endorsed.

Some people seem to prefer the Witches series of all the Discworld books, but for me its the City Watch and the couple of Death books.

Go and read Good Omens if you have the time. It's a stand-alone book, both authors are masters of their craft and it's really very good.
 
^ I was asking about the Big Read list in general....but I will definitely get a copy of Good Omens for the future.
I have read several Gaiman things in the past.
 
Yithian said:
Some people seem to prefer the Witches series of all the Discworld books
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Yep, me - but the City Watch arc is also very good indeed.

I've never read a Harry Potter, probably won't, but no Iain M. Banks? Travesty...
 
dr wu said:
^ I was asking about the Big Read list in general....but I will definitely get a copy of Good Omens for the future.
I have read several Gaiman things in the past.
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Well, 200 books--it's epic and for once the wisdom of crowds has come up trumps.

I could recommend countless things from it (no, I haven't read the lot!).

What genres do you usually enjoy? Give us some parameters: do you fancy a modern book, a mid-century-ish read, a Victorian novel? Something long, something short? Something lighthearted or deep?

Have to say, some of the children's books on there are wonderful.

Edit: a single criticism. It's absurd that there's nothing by Graham Greene on the list. Brighton Rock? The Heart of the Matter? The End of the Affair? (My mother read that recently and loathed it; I replied that it was one of my favourite books!). Or if the public can't take all that guilt, how about Our Man In Havana or Travels With My Aunt?
 
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..It's absurd that there's nothing by Graham Greene on the list..

Just looking at my bookshelves.

'Graham Greene: The collected works'.

A while since I read it, but I do recall enjoying the stories.

INT21
 
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And no Chesterton either!

Saw this today on an economics site. It's from 1939 and it's free:
Here is a study of the actual workings of business under national socialism. Written in 1939, Reimann discusses the effects of heavy regulation, inflation, price controls, trade interference, national economic planning, and attacks on private property, and what consequences they had for human rights and economic development.

It's not neutral, coming from Mises, but still could be interesting:
https://mises.org/library/vampire-economy

The comments are interesting too, including this link:
http://ihr.org/other/bauer1939economicpolicy

This overview of the economic policy of Third Reich Germany during the first six years of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist government was written by Dr. Wilhelm Bauer, an economist with the German Institute for Business Research (Institut für Konjunkturforschung) in Berlin. It is based on a lecture he gave on August 11, 1938, to a group of visiting American scholars

This could also go into "forgotten history".
 
The list appears to be mostly popular reading.

I have read about 90 of the titles.

But hard core sci-fi isn't well represented. No K S Robinson, or Stephan Donaldson for instance.

JG Ballard doesn't do too well either.

INT21.
 
Ballard, as with Chesterton, is best represented by his short stories in my opinion. The survey was novels only.

Mind you, The Drowned World is excellent.
 
Strange coincidence, on my radio slot the one hit wonder of the week was Video Killed the Radio Star, by The Buggles. Trevor Horn said that it was inspired by Ballard's "The Sound Sweep" from the 4-Dimensional Nightmare collection, I was explaining to my producers, between links, who Ballard was (I mentioned The Drowned World). Then reading the review section of Saturday's Guardian (I save it to read while eating my Sunday evening Quarter Pounder meal) I came across a review of a book about Ballard. INT21's and Yith's comments are my third encounter with to references Ballard's work in two days. I must dig out his books again. Crash and High Rise are still pretty transgressive and dark, and the short stories and the Crystal World are are outstanding.
 
I just finished Bleeding Edge, the most recent novel from Thomas Pynchon, released about 5 years ago.

It was quite similar in tone and style to the one before, Inherent Vice, and not nearly so incomprehensible as his earlier word. That said, it was fairly dense and took me a long time to get through.

I always feel that Neal Stephenson has been influenced by Pynchon; this one has an unexpected cyberpunk vibe in parts (being set in the early-2000s tech world, it makes sense), which makes it feel like the influence has been reciprocated.

All said, it didn't all leap off the page but it has a lot of good jokes and was very wide-ranging in what it covered. Recommended.

After that, I read the new short story collection from Murakami, Men Without Women. I did find the whole thing a bit well, sexist. Like, in the first story, the protagonist gets a female chauffeur, and we know that's unusual because the author has spent the last two pages reminding us that women can't drive. Et cetera.

A couple of the stories I found to be less 'magical' and 'ambiguous' and more 'contrived' and 'vague'. That said, some of them were really nice.

I've been a fan of Murakami for a while but I think I might be a bit over his schtick, as once you've read one, you've read them all.
 
INT21 said:
Timble2,

I suggest Ballard's 'Vermillion Sands' and 'Concrete Island'.

But I don't rate 'Rushing to Paradise'.

INT21
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I've read most of JGB's work, and 'Rushing to Paradise' does read like he's just going through the motions.
 
INT21 said:
Timble2,

I suggest Ballard's 'Vermillion Sands' and 'Concrete Island'.

But I don't rate 'Rushing to Paradise'.

INT21
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I love the Vermillion Sands stories.

And the fact that on my travels I keep running across what I feel could easily be elements of the place.

Some of his work was positively visionary and gets more concrete by the day.
 
I listened to a two-and-a-half hour podcast interview with Mike Rowe the other day while out on a walk and when the conversation turned to books he recommended Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life and the Travis McGee stories of John D. MacDonald (starting with The Deep Blue Good-by). Bill Bryson is familiar, of course, but I've never heard of John D. MacDonald or his creation and I was attracted by his description of the books as being highly enjoyable pulp trash (or words to that effect).

Has anybody read any of them?

Podcast is here in case anybody is interested:

 
Timble2 said:
Strange coincidence, on my radio slot the one hit wonder of the week was Video Killed the Radio Star, by The Buggles. Trevor Horn said that it was inspired by Ballard's "The Sound Sweep" from the 4-Dimensional Nightmare collection, I was explaining to my producers, between links, who Ballard was (I mentioned The Drowned World). Then reading the review section of Saturday's Guardian (I save it to read while eating my Sunday evening Quarter Pounder meal) I came across a review of a book about Ballard. INT21's and Yith's comments are my third encounter with to references Ballard's work in two days. I must dig out his books again. Crash and High Rise are still pretty transgressive and dark, and the short stories and the Crystal World are are outstanding.
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Another coincidence: I've been reading the classic compilation Dangerous Visions recently (RIP Harlan) and yesterday read the Ballard entry, a creepy circus tale.
 
Yithian said:
Well, 200 books--it's epic and for once the wisdom of crowds has come up trumps.

I could recommend countless things from it (no, I haven't read the lot!).

What genres do you usually enjoy? Give us some parameters: do you fancy a modern book, a mid-century-ish read, a Victorian novel? Something long, something short? Something lighthearted or deep?

Have to say, some of the children's books on there are wonderful.

Edit: a single criticism. It's absurd that there's nothing by Graham Greene on the list. Brighton Rock? The Heart of the Matter? The End of the Affair? (My mother read that recently and loathed it; I replied that it was one of my favourite books!). Or if the public can't take all that guilt, how about Our Man In Havana or Travels With My Aunt?
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Regarding the list...I was curious what some of everyone's favorites were on the list. I mostly read sci-fi fantasy , horror, adventure things the last few years though I have read many genres over my lifetime . I have dipped into just about every genre covered on that list...and have read many of the 'classics' .
Currently reading a 'Bryant and May' novel called 'Ten Second Staircase' and before that read Atrocity Archives..a 'Laundry' series book. Before that read the complete Nightside and Secret Histories series by Simon Green. I also enjoy the Sandman Slim series by Kadrey. I really enjoyed the Culture series by Banks and I'm going to start digging into his mainstream novels. I have read Ballard, PKDick, Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Simak, Zelazny, Herbert, etc...many sci-fi things over the years.
There are many 'classics' I still want to read . I tried Titus Groan but couldn't get going...it seemed very slow moving. I also started Ulysses some years back and had the same trouble. I have read a few Dickens and probably will read a few more. I have the Moonstone by Collins waiting to be read and a few other Gothic things like Castle of Otranto and Melmoth the Wanderer and La Bas. A few years back I started to get into Gothic novels but switched to modern sc-fi horror adventure. I also have several collections of ghost stories by people like MRJames, Le Fanu, Machen, Chambers. etc. But for some reason the modern thriller/horror detective novel has captured my interest.
I saw The Laundry and the Bryant and May books mentioned here.....I find that genre fun to read though I might be getting a bit burned out on it.
 
Castle of Otranto is better read as a summary :) It's fascinating as the start of The Gothic, from a literary history viewpoint, but I didn't care about the book that much.

From the classics Moby Dick is surprisingly (post-) modern. A lot of psychology, business, sociology, theology and even economics in there. And whales, lots of them. Told in many different voices and styles.

The short stories of Christopher Fowler are good solid horror.

If you're into Enron fraud literature (business doom porn :) ) then this is a good one. I've read all the Enron classics many times, but didn't know about this one: https://www.forbes.com/2003/09/04/0904bookreview.html
 
Dr wu,

I would recommend The Gap Series by Stephan Donaldson. I think it is in five parts; maybe four.
important that you start with the first one 'The Real Story'.

Rather heavy space opera, but worth the effort.

Also 'Mordant's Need'. Two part by Donaldson.

'The Mirror of her dreams' and 'A man rides through'.

Maybe better to read these before starting on the Gap series.

INT21
 
^I'll ck out the Donaldson books...the name sounds familiar.

The Gap cycle looks interesting...I like 'space opera' if it's well done....I highly recommend The Culture series by Banks...the best space opera I have ever read.
As for fantasy the best I have ever read is the 9 Princes In Amber series by Zelazny.
 
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Asimov's Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and Robots of Dawn was also a good trilogy.

I liked Asimov, though he could appear a bit dated.

One of the original 'Caves of Steel' covers that is depicted in the wiki on 'caves' would have been enough to put me of reading it.
I am not a fan of the Dick Tracy 'trench coat and big gun gumshoe' genre. And I don't recall Asimov's Elijah Baley carrying a gun.

I. Robot was not one of my favourites.

INT21
 
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