Topic: Recommend a book (Read 15692 times)

JLM · « **on:** 27 Sep 2005, 16:45 »

Ok. So we have the "what are you reading" thread, but most of the time threads like that just sort of turn into lists where everyone is just trying to prove that they're literate, without paying attention to what other people are reading.

So here's the deal:

Recommend a book. The person that takes up that recommendation will then recommend another book, and so forth. When you're done reading, post a quick review/thoughts on the book you read.

A couple of rules:
1) No genre fiction. I love the occassional sci-fi and mystery novel, but let's aim to raise the discourse.

2) No Graphic Novels. I don't care how good it is. In the end, it's a picture book. Not a serious literary work.

3) No agenda non-fiction. I'm not really worried about too much Sean Hannity, Michael Moore, Lyndon LaRouche et.al. popping up here, but I figured I'd say it anyways.

4) If you've already read the book, wait until someone posts something you haven't read. Give other people an opportunity to enjoy the work.

Other than that, it should be pretty open ended. Fiction is always, in my opinion, more interesting, but as long as you feel it's justifiably intriguing then post it.

I'll get the ball rolling:

The Doctor Is Sick by Anthony Burgess.

Any takers?

Vlishgnath · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 17:09 »

Trying to get this straight here before I jump in. Do we read the book being suggested, then post a reccomendation?

Quote

1) No genre fiction.

This term is something I've been looking for a definition on for a while. Isn't everything in one genre or another?

Quote

2) it's a picture book. Not a serious literary work.

I'm perfectly fine with keeping GN's out of this, but keep it in your pants, alright? I own "picture books" that tell stories better than many prose books I've read. Thanks.

JLM · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:21 »

no, you needn't actually read a book all the way through before making your own recommendation. We'll just go on the honor system.

The "keep it in your pants" comment wasn't called for. I've got a few graphic novels of my own and still read quite a few comics. They generally don't win the booker prize, though, do they? I was going to put a "no poetry" rule in there as well.

Genre fiction is fiction tailored to a specific format, i.e. Romance novels, Sci-Fi novels, Mystery Novels, Horror, etc. Things that would primarily be classified in one of those sections were you to search for them in an average bookstore.

shrimp · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:50 »

See, I would really like to take part in this type of thing, but seeing as I generally hate bestsellers and things that are "heartachingly wonderful" with "writing the flows off the page into your imagination" and tend to prefer genre books more than the usual pile of pretentious wank, I might start a genre thread with the same premise

dessa · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:51 »

ok, ill start it off really good with a giant list...
"The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
"Midnights children" and "The satanic verses" by salman rushdee
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"The Cossacks" and "Anna karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (don't read war and peace its a massive waste of time)
"The Heart of Darkness" by Joseph conrad (an absolute must read, a one nighter read too)
"Siddhartha" and "Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse (i think siddhartha is better)
theres so many i have read but can't remember at this moment.
if i can find a publisher for my story you should buy it...

i hate most bestsellers, when i see the best seller book as "The da vinci code" i just want to shoot all those idiots that rant on about how great it is (though it is terrible and completely ripped off another Non-fiction book called holy blood holy grail)

Stranger Dan · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:55 »

Quote from: JLM

The "keep it in your pants" comment wasn't called for. I've got a few graphic novels of my own and still read quite a few comics. They generally don't win the booker prize, though, do they?

Maus won a Pulitzer. I'm not sure but that might count for something.

Inlander · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 20:08 »

Also, Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth won the Guardian First Book Award in 2001.

JLM · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 20:34 »

Whoops.
see below.
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JLM · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 20:37 »

Okay fine. I want to force people to read words and use their imaginations to figure out what characters look like.

Quote from: shrimp

See, I would really like to take part in this type of thing, but seeing as I generally hate bestsellers and things that are "heartachingly wonderful" with "writing the flows off the page into your imagination" and tend to prefer genre books more than the usual pile of pretentious wank, I might start a genre thread with the same premise

Who said anything about bestsellers? I just wanted people to recommend books outside of the mainstream. I avoided genres because I sort of take it for granted that a lot of people already read those things.

will: wanton sex god · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 04:05 »

I'm reading "In Cold Blood"

it's good.

shrimp · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 11:07 »

Apart from graphic novels the written word in general requires you to take part using your imagination to figure out what the characters and sets look like etc.

Mih. Carry on, I'll shut up

Blarney Mollusk · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 12:44 »

Aren't we supposed to be recommending books while agreeing to read a recommended book?

NO! I am a non-conformist! BLA BLA BLA!...

Errhmm.. What was that?

Anyway, I recommend
"The Elegant Universe"

This book has forever changed my perception on life altogether - kind of weird for a book about one of the most intriguing theories of science today. Yet the book’s easy reading, laymen comparisons, and excellent writing have careened me onto a train track of thought only discovered by certain train passengers traveling in the most remote areas.
……..What?

Anyway, it's a good book. The first quarter of the book gently recaps Einsteinien views of reality in a playful manner, only to be jostled into more "modern" views where even some of Einstein’s ideas no longer hold. That's okay tho, because Einstein takes a back seat to the weird sense of everything and nothingness that can emerge from thinking about the rest of the book while taking a shower. That is, not reading the book while in the shower unless you decide to purchase one of my "Read your book in the shower" book cover inventions.

For all you people who think you're stupid, I guess you are. But for those who actually enjoy thinking beyond the X number of walls in your head, this book is a good read. Not too scientific-ee and not too stupid either. It's just right.

Okay.

Now, I think I'm going to agree to check out Crime and Punishment because I've never read it, but I've heard about it.

Sure.

ChibiSatan · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 22:04 »

I would recomment Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It is kind of like a modern day Lord of the Flies with a japanese middle school. Another book that I would highly recommend is The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav. The "new physics" of Zukav's 1979 book comprises quantum theory, particle physics, and relativity. Even as these theories age they haven't percolated all that far into the collective consciousness; they're too far removed from mundane human experience not to need introduction. The Dancing Wu Li Masters remains an engaging, accessible way to meet the most profound and mind-altering insights of 20th-century science.

dessa · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 23:39 »

Quote from: ChibiSatan

I would recomment Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It is kind of like a modern day Lord of the Flies with a japanese middle school.

seen the movie of that, pretty cool ultra violent film.
i love world movies channel

Skibas_clavicle · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 Sep 2005, 21:32 »

Electric Jesus Corpse.

Zombies, Jesus,apocalypse, sex, drugs, punk, 12 hulligan apostles. What else do you want?

Abattur · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 Sep 2005, 23:42 »

Electric Jesus Corpse? I shall read that! If i can find it that is.

Zombies AND jesus? That has to be good.

*edit* Oh damn, the local library does not have it. But i HAVE TO GET THAT BOOK!

Luke · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 13:22 »

I'm reading Eldest, sequel to Eragon. When I'm done with this, methinks I'll finally pick up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I almost watched the movie recently, and I've been informed that it doesn't follow the book at all, so I'd like to read the book before watching the movie.

darkhorizons · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 15:12 »

I've read Eldest, it's amazing.

For the love of GOD, read H2G2. The movie doesn't even begin to compare to it. Not even.

Someone should read The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth.

Never seen the movie, but the book is great. It's about this guy who reads an old man's recollections of the concentration camps of WWII and goes on a hunt for some Nazi war criminal. V. good.

Peet · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 16:15 »

I know it may seem obvious, and somewhat predictable given my username, but I want recommend Lord of the Rings. I don't know about in the US, but over here in little old England it's a pretty love/hate thing. It's really remarkably good- although admittedly it's not for everyone.

And of course ZOMG ELVES!!!11!!1ONEELEVENTYONE

noise_wave · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 18:19 »

I'd like to recommend "Light in August" by William Faulkner, "Fall On Your Knees" by Ann-Marie Macdonald and I must agree with dessa by also recommending "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy and "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodeor Dostoyevsky.

dessa · « **Reply #20 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 18:56 »

crime and punishment is great till the epilogue that ruins the entire book.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #21 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 19:01 »

I recommand Ishmael

noise_wave · « **Reply #22 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 19:15 »

You make a good point about C&P, dessa ... but if you ignore the epilogue it's great!

Johnny C · « **Reply #23 on:** 30 Sep 2005, 19:44 »

The Brothers Karamazov, while under-recognized, is a greater summation of the themes Dostoyevsky wanted to emphasize.

dessa · « **Reply #24 on:** 01 Oct 2005, 03:55 »

yeah the brothers is great and everything, but i personally think that crime and punishment is a superior text, i think dostoyevsky knew what he was writing in crime and punishment but wrote what he wanted to write in the brothers i can't spell the name, and as a writer i can tell you its easier to write what you know to what you want.

Luke · « **Reply #25 on:** 01 Oct 2005, 12:14 »

Quote from: Blue Kitty

I recommend Ishmael

Read it in high school... meh. It was interesting I guess. Probably would've been better if I'd been able to read it on my own time at my own pace.

Stifled Dreams · « **Reply #26 on:** 01 Oct 2005, 12:36 »

Most books are much better when you are reading them because you want to, as opposed to reading them because you have to.

JP · « **Reply #27 on:** 01 Oct 2005, 13:52 »

Quote from: dessa

crime and punishment is great till the epilogue that ruins the entire book.

What's wrong with the epilogue??

Skibas_clavicle · « **Reply #28 on:** 02 Oct 2005, 09:55 »

*covers ears*

LALALALALA...still reading the book....LALALALALA!

La Creme · « **Reply #29 on:** 02 Oct 2005, 13:47 »

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan

Satan is offered a chance back into heaven. Basically the whole book is just a running dialogue by Satan offering counterpoints to the bible and one mans (quite interesting) alternate interpretation of it.

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

This one is kicking ass. Chuck is for the fucking win. So far it's sort of part mystery, part phsycological thriller, part philosophical nonsense. Quite excellent.

All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Best goddam book I've ever been forced to read for school.

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

This is written humor in its most potent form. If you've never read any Sedaris, this is a great place to start. Of these four books, if I was forced to make you all read one, it would be this.

ChibiSatan · « **Reply #30 on:** 02 Oct 2005, 21:09 »

Quote from: dessa

Quote from: ChibiSatan
I would recomment Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It is kind of like a modern day Lord of the Flies with a japanese middle school.
seen the movie of that, pretty cool ultra violent film.
i love world movies channel

The book was so much better than the movie, the movie was good but nowhere near as good as the book.

Another book (its more of an essay than a book) that I would recommend is The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake.

Abattur · « **Reply #31 on:** 03 Oct 2005, 05:49 »

Quote from: La Creme

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
Satan is offered a chance back into heaven. Basically the whole book is just a running dialogue by Satan offering counterpoints to the bible and one mans (quite interesting) alternate interpretation of it.

I also recommed this, it made me laugh almost as much as the hitchikers quide.

StupidityKills · « **Reply #32 on:** 03 Oct 2005, 06:33 »

Quote from: Vlishgnath

Quote
2) it's a picture book. Not a serious literary work.

I'm perfectly fine with keeping GN's out of this, but keep it in your pants, alright? I own "picture books" that tell stories better than many prose books I've read. Thanks.

Agreed. Picture, thousand words and all that.
Buuuut if you like thems wordses then I'd recommend;
Glen Duncan - I Lucifer
Chuck Palaniuk - Survivor (Yeah, he's popular now but Survivor is his best, IMO)
Douglas Coupland - Shampoo Planet. (Like Palahniuk, but not quite as gross out twisted, but more environmentally friendly)
Anne Rice - Vampire Chronicles (Exp. Memnoch, if you bother reading them all and can forget about the terrible queen of the damned movie)
Arabian Nights - is a total headfuck, stories within stories within stories, one ends and you're like, ohh right I'm still in that other story. Yeah, confusing.
Stephen Fry - Moab is my washpot (I dont usually like autobiographies, but Fry is fascinating)

shrimp · « **Reply #33 on:** 03 Oct 2005, 17:21 »

I LIKED Memnoch, I loved the idea of the descent to hell, and the idea of an incompetent God and a "caring" devil, and the way the story makes you doubt what is actually happening and what is happening to L's sanity, in a world where you DON'T question that vampys exist! But Anne Rice's books are hardly what one could call "real writing", I do like them, its just she has no literary merit, she is a pop-author.

Wow, that was the book snob that lives on my left shoulder talking. Sorry!

dessa · « **Reply #34 on:** 04 Oct 2005, 02:48 »

great book is "A Fine Balance" by rohinton mistry, if being nominated twice for the booker prize means anything to you it might be a good addition.

El Opium · « **Reply #35 on:** 06 Oct 2005, 19:27 »

Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy

dessa · « **Reply #36 on:** 08 Oct 2005, 03:58 »

New Rushdee book!!!.

Rizzo · « **Reply #37 on:** 08 Oct 2005, 05:07 »

Quote from: dessa

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Heart of Darkness" by Joseph conrad (an absolute must read, a one nighter read too)

Ive read OHYOS... it was difficult and quite circular and confusing. If you want to read something very similar but a little more accesible then read "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende

Heart of Darkness is brilliant. It's the inspiration for Apocalypse Now, the Vietnam movie. Brilliant.

I recommend "The Ultimate HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. However, if you are to buy it then you MUST buy it from outside the USA. I made the mistake of ordering a copy from Amazon.com only to find that you oversensitive Americans had censored the damn thing. It's not the Rory for most gratuitous use of the word Belgium in a screenplay, it's FUCK, F-U-C-K.
I pity you people that have to live in such a PC country.

Martin · « **Reply #38 on:** 08 Oct 2005, 08:45 »

Doppler by Erlend Loe. I'm not shure if it has been translated into other languages yet, but it was some of the best I've read so far this year.

And The Alchymist by Paulo Coelho is really great as well.

Skibas_clavicle · « **Reply #39 on:** 08 Oct 2005, 17:43 »

Quote from: La Creme

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan

One of my favourite introductions of all times:

"Lets rock and roll. (I invented rock and roll. You wouldn't believe what I've intevented. Anal sex, obviously. Smoking. Astrology. Money." That and him calling Kant something on the lines of a pugged-face obsessive masturbator! BAH! I laughed.

Kelamin · « **Reply #40 on:** 09 Oct 2005, 17:00 »

House Of Leaves

Mark Z. Danielewski

A very strange but very awesome book

Garcin · « **Reply #41 on:** 09 Oct 2005, 20:08 »

Quote from: Rizzo

Ive read OHYOS... it was difficult and quite circular and confusing. If you want to read something very similar but a little more accesible then read "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende

Really? I read it, thought it was too straightforward for all the high-falutin' "magic realism" talk I'd been hearing. Then I found out that Marquez had intended it, in part, to make Columbian and Central American history interesting to the common man. What I found confusing was Autumn of the Patriarch, half because of the enlarged testicle in the wheelbarrow, and half because either Marquez or the translator opted to extend sentences upwards of one and a half pages.

And of course, there's Marquez's mentor, Jorge Luis Borges, whose short stories cover such conventional ground as the planet of impossible physics that exists entirely in apocrypha ( Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius), the point at which everything is visible (The Aleph), and the library that contains every book that could every be written (The Library of Babel). So short stories by Borges, particularly Ficciones, are my strong recommend -- just as long as you don't feel uncomfortable occasionally not knowing what the fuck is going on.

On a completely unrelated tack, I recently finished Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, and strongly recommend it -- particularly to anyone who went to a private school. You may need someone huggable somewhere around the last 100 pages though.

Sus3an · « **Reply #42 on:** 10 Oct 2005, 18:11 »

Quote from: Moiche

You may need someone huggable somewhere around the last 100 pages though.

I know how that goes. I recommend Robert Asprin's Another Fine Myth. It's the first novel in a series about a young magician's apprentice, Skeeve, who is aspiring to be a thief, but his efforts are thwarted by the assassination of a close friend of his, and Skeeve's need for revenge. The need for something huggable part comes in at about book ten, The Sweet Myth-tery of Life. I cry every time I read it.

~pouts~ I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it...

The series is written in first person, sprinkled with satire and puns.

The Cosmic Fool · « **Reply #43 on:** 10 Oct 2005, 18:18 »

Sorry to the rest of the Chuck Palaniuk fans in here. I think that Fight Club was his best work. Also, I'd advise everybody to read the novel before you go see the horrid movie. If you've already seen the movie, read the book for sure.

I'm currently reading the Communist Manifesto. Fascinating piece of philosophical literature. Rings true on many levels.

kidgotham · « **Reply #44 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 11:51 »

Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Hocus Pocus - Kurt Vonnegut Jr (or for that matter, anythign by Vonnegut is great)

Impulse · « **Reply #45 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 22:07 »

My Cousin, My Gastroentologist - Mark Leyner

Just read the entire thing.

Bunnyman · « **Reply #46 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 22:47 »

Ah, good old Borges. "Labyrinths" was an insane short-story compilation. "Library of Babel", man...

Just finished The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson. Borrows a lot from (or, alternately, develops the setting of) Snow Crash, and that isn't a good thing. Stephenson swaps the hyperkinetic sardonic feel of Snow Crash for a neovictorian sensibility that would be annoying and pretentious in any other application. It's also one of the few applications of nanotechnology that is actually fully thought through, rather than being the magic explanation for why everything is all pretty and high-tech. It also projects society, rather than just being today's society with prettier normal maps.

And, because I had a sudden urge to be oldschool, I pulled out Burning Chrome, by William Gibson. Ah, good old 80's Cyberpunk...when people wore leather jackets, flaunted obvious cosmetic modification, computers displayed outputs suspiciously close to that of an Atari 800, and everything was covered in smog, litter, and drug paraphenalia. *Swoon*

SeanBateman · « **Reply #47 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 03:43 »

http://forums.questionablecontent.net/viewtopic.php?t=8037
Keep it simple and all that.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Recommend a book (Read 15692 times)

Vlishgnath

shrimp

dessa

shrimp

Blarney Mollusk

ChibiSatan

dessa

Luke

darkhorizons

noise_wave

dessa

noise_wave

dessa

Luke

Stifled Dreams

JP

La Creme

ChibiSatan

StupidityKills

shrimp

dessa

El Opium

dessa

Martin

Garcin

Sus3an

The Cosmic Fool

kidgotham

Impulse

Bunnyman

SeanBateman