[ping] Recommendations

[digitaldiscipline]

I'm out of books to read at the house, and could use some recommendations for things that will entertain, and, hopefully, induce me to write.

What I want: Fiction with cojones, and hopefully some wit. SF, horror, c-punk, nontraditional fantasy, or slipstream. Other genres also keen, but that's where my tastes tend to reside. Science in the vein of COSMOS for non-fiction.

What I don't want: Endless navel-gazing introspection, gratuitous slavery to a style (PoMo, especially), Historical non-fiction, crappy romance.

Recent Reads:
- Christopher Moore[1] (Stupidest Angel, Fluke)
- Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep*)
- Aldous Huxley (Brave New World*)
- Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhoue Five[2])
- Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's series*)


* - Re-reads

[1] - If you haven't read these, and find yourself looking for some light, funny, summer reading, I heartily recommend everything this guy's written.
[2] - I haven't the first fucking idea why this is canonized as being a classic of whatever genre it's supposed to be a towering work of. Nigh unto unreadable, and pretty goddamned boring.

Comments

[ex-desertson422.livejournal.com]

I actually liked Brave New World. Definately has a place of use in the "political commentary" and "social criticism" section of my library.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

It's kept on the shelf with the other "classics" in my collection [ie: books I arbitrarily think everyone should read: "Farenheit 451," "Watership Down," "Catch 22," "The Fountainhead," "1984," "Fair New World," "The Princess Bride," and others].

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

I think it's high time you read some HST, but that's me talking...

[critus.livejournal.com]

You mean he hasn't???

[mykal.livejournal.com]

George RR Martins "A Game of Thrones" has some meat to it. Martin is not afraid to completely screw over any and every one of his characters. Political intrigue, supernatural nasties, incest and dragons - what more could you want?

[helcat.livejournal.com]

GRRM--Seconded. Because I recently bought trade editions of these, Rafe, I'll be willing to ship you my mass market copies.

Books

[ashesngolddust.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... Well, the one that changed my life was "Loose Change" by Sarah Davidson, but it's kind of a Feminist book, so I will not recommend it to you unless the 60's at Berkely University and inward and social revolution intrest you at all..... I would recommend that K read it, though... Awesome Book!

As for you, if you want some heavier reading, I would recommend the "Unholy Bible" It's a Blake/Jung project that delves into the Collective Unconscious... Amazing. Or "Will To Power"

Beyond that, if you want some lighter but still creepy stuff, I would recommend Poppy Z. Brite's "Are You Loathsome Tonight?" It's a short-horror/gore- story compilation.

[critus.livejournal.com]

As far as nontraditional fantasy, I'm a big fan of Peter David and his Sir Apropos of Nothing series.

[theonebob.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant Series you might like that. You'd definitely like his "Gap" series. I have the "Gap" books, if you'd like to borrow them. My Covenant books are in disrepair.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

K has the Covenant series, and from what I gather from her discussion of them, I'm not sure they're for me (if there's one thing I learned from "Interview with a Vampire," it's that I have no patience for stories where the main character is an asshole, and that's the impression I've gotten from her about TC). *ponders*

[bitogoth.livejournal.com]

try Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle"- happy to lend if you so desire (once i figure which box its in, of course- heh)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Is it better than "Slaughterhouse"?

[the-yellow-king.livejournal.com]

How about gritty political-and-intrigue fantasy? "Song of Ice & Fire" series by George R. R. Martin.
It starts with "A Game Of Thrones"; I think it would be up your alley.

[the-yellow-king.livejournal.com]

Wait, already recommended. Never mind.

John Barnes:

[ross-winn.livejournal.com]

Kaleidoscope Century, Finity, or A Million Open Doors.

This guy may be the best SF writer working today.

[rachellll.livejournal.com]

Gah! Insulting Slaughterhouse Five. I'm sorry, I can't recommend anything to someone who didn't enjoy that book.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

can you explain why you hold it in high regard?

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Ender's Game.

Sorry I can't think of more right now, but my reading is relegated to Denon DVD-3910 and Pioneer VSX-59TXi manuals right now.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

already have it, mon.

[selkiesiren.livejournal.com]

If you liked the Hitchhikers series, you may also like Douglas Adams' other series about "Dirk Gently", a kind of Sci-Fi private eye thing.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

already have that, too. ;-)

[nener.livejournal.com]

Anything by Neal Stephenson, but Snow Crash was my favorite, I love the unique way that he describes things

Robert J. Sawyer - Calculating God and Frame Shift were the best, but I'll read anything he writes

S.M. Stirling does some great historical fiction I think the first one is Island in a Sea of Time, he creates great characters

I also like Alan Dean Foster, he does a lot of series and he tends to write like he swallowed a Thesaurus, but I would recommend Midworld or Starplex as a stand alone novels

If you want a great old time non-traditional sci-fi writer, try Spider Robinson, I read some of his short stories set in a bar called Callahan's. I read them on my palm pilot, so I forget the title.

If you've read all those, I can make more recs, I've read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy stuff, I'm a book-a-holic.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

i just gnawed my way through 'quicksilver,' and am debating if i want to bother with the rest of stephenson's baroque cycle - see also, "stylistic wanking."

[ex-xn667.livejournal.com]

[2] - I haven't the first fucking idea why this is canonized as being a classic of whatever genre it's supposed to be a towering work of. Nigh unto unreadable, and pretty goddamned boring.

No shit. Even watching the movie was painful. Sorry to the die-hard Vonnegut fans, but ouch. I just didn't like it. Cat's Cradle was far more my cup of tea.

I definitely second the TC series, even though the protagonist/anti-hero is utterly reprehensible through much of the first book, the character development through the series makes up for much of it. To be fair though, I don't know that I'd say it's in the same vein as Tolkein so much as it's almost entirely derivative of Tolkein. Nevertheless, I read it before I read Tolkein, and loved it immensely.

Also second Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series. Fantabulous stuff.

I would highly recommend Umberto Eco's Foucoult's Pendulum. Such camp as is to be found in it is very intentional and doesn't detract at all imho.

Philip K. Dick - Valis

Robert Anton Wilson/Robert Shea - Illuminatus!

Definitely anything by Neal Stephenson, especially Cryptonomicon.

If you want something that is painfully complex and provocative, perhaps Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. May be guilty of navel-gazing introspection and gratuitous slavery to a style, but it's a good read for drubbing people with :)

Steve Erickson's Tours of the Black Clock

Glen Cook - The Black Company (and the rest of the series)

For pure cojones and a relaxing romp through HST-land, try his collection of editorials, Generation of Swine : Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's. At least if you don't like his style you're not terribly invested in a long plot, and he's nothing if not provocative.

Asimov's Foundation series.

Gotta second the Robert Asprin suggestion and add Piers Anthony's Anthonology to the mix. Some really screwy shorts in that collection. Didn't care for his Xanth series so much, though.

HUGE second for The Essential Ellison - Harlan Ellison. If you want grit and don't find it there, you're a corpse.

And let me know if you need a hookup for any particular titles. 2nd hand books are my specialty :> Shipping and discounts for the likes of you not a problem *g*

George Bataille! Too styly, maybe, but *fucked* up.

Le Chants de Maldoror by Conte De Lautreamont. Also a bit styly, but damn. So's a utilikilt ;) Sometimes ya just gotta do it, heh.

If I hadn't been handling coins more than books lately I'd probably come up with a ton more suggestions. If you run out of things you want to try (hah!) I can certainly take a quick romp through our fiction section. Also, if you find something online at another dealer I can maybe play intermediary for the dealer's discount if it's a high-end thing that would make the extra 10% off worth it.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series. Fantabulous stuff.

couldn't disagree more.
- E'sG & E'sS - great books (esp. the former)
- However, the xenocide/shadow of the hegemon series should both be dragged out and shot, and i -will- eventually kick OSC right in the nads for wasting those hours of my life, plus the two weeks i spent dreaming in porguguese, as a result of reading that crap. see also: navel-gazing of the first order.

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

If you've got an insane amount of time on your hands....

Stephen Wolfram's: A New Kind of Science

He's the same dude that invented mathematica. Got bored with that, so he started writing a book....a rather *beeg* book.

Wouldn't mind meeting someone that's actually finished the thing....it's the type of book that provokes discussion and reflection.

Oh yeah, if you want to borrow it, LMK, I'd have to dig it out.

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

http://www.wolframscience.com/

1280 pages.

May I assume....

[smaugchow.livejournal.com]

...that you have read the Dune books? If not, there's your next assignment. Tippity-top notch, all. Well, I Have not read the new ones done by his son and some other guy. Up to Chapterhouse they are primo.

Re: May I assume....

[etcet.livejournal.com]

i have an atavistic distaste for Dune, so, no thank you. :-)

[ex-requiella957.livejournal.com]

Okay, I usually do not make recommendations without having first read the book myself, but in this case, I think it's a safe bet:

Heard of Hopscotch? (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394752848/qid=1118711085/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/104-1725298-0866365?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ()

[http://users.livejournal.com/masque__/]

I know your reading style and think I've got at least one new book you'll enjoy:

Gun With Occaisional Music - Johnathan Letham (similar to Philip K. Dick, but even stranger)
Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey (you should have already read this, but just in case)
Surveillance - Julian May (interesting series that starts in the pliocene and ends in the future. This one is the middle, but is the first of the future books.)

That's all for now.