Books or Lit-r-cha Recommendations

Probably worth noting that even though I think the prose did leave a lot to be desired(his early books are very similar to Van Dine's novels) his mystery plotting was downright beautiful. The very first EQ book, Roman Hat Mystery, has a very simple plot but it's a very solid one, like not many mystery novels are.

My favorite EQ novel is "The Chinese Orange Mystery" which is a pseudo locked-room mystery. The prose is decent, but the plotting is the wonderful part.

Makes notes. I'll see what my library has, I really don't have space for more books, sad to say.

Does anyone know good book on anthropology or sociology for laymen?

Any aspects in particular you are looking for? Race, class, gender, culture? These are two pretty big fields.

Right, I forgot about it.

Well, I want to learn about where human race began and how they spreaded out through the world. That and I need something that can serve as an introduction to those fields.

edited 22nd May '12 12:26:08 AM by dRoy

Going to be spending more than a few hours on planes/at airports over the next week, any ideas for good Airport Novels/easy reads? Sci Fi is a plus, but any genre is fine.

Stuff I've read and liked.

• The Princess Bride
• The Belgariad
• Magician
• Starship Troopers (book and movie, for different reasons)
• Scott Pilgrim
• Enders Game
• Generation Kill
• Harry Potter

Dishonorable mention to Lord Of The Rings, one can only read so many pages of hobbits walking.

Not a fan of tie-in novels, most of em seem like published fanfic.

Something From The Nightside.

does anybody know of a good gay romance? the most awesome thing would be if it could be one with a YA thing to it, the only book like that that i've read is "boy meets boy" and it is simply.too.much.sugar. but really anything that qualifies as gay story done right.

"the price of salt" by patricia highsmith is an example of a gay romance done right, me thinks. sure, its kinda outdated, but it had a good narration, good characters, believable setting. anybody knows of something around that level of quality?

i dont mind it at all if it is about female homosexuality, but i could identify more with one about male homosexuality because well, you know. but really, any book you guys could recommend i would thank.

Well, it's a bit different; but Bob the Book by David Pratt is about a gay book who falls in love with another gay book and their tribulations and separations. It's small and amusing, a quick read.

edited 22nd Jun '12 8:45:04 PM by Lightningnettle

Evellex,

If you enjoyed "Starship Troopers," it couldn't hurt to check out some other Heinlein, like The Moonisa Harsh Mistress, or other Golden-era sci-fi like The Gods Themselves or Rendevouz With Rama.

Right, you said easy reads... you could give Ship Breaker or "The Alchemist" by Paolo Bacigalupi (not The Alchemist), whom I've been pimping pretty obnoxiously lately. If you haven't read it, Neuromancer is a genre standard cyberpunk. And finally, Night Train to Rigel by Timmonthy Zahn is high quality pulp scifi.

If you want Young Adult friendly gay literature, seek out Aidan Chambers and his book "Dance on my Grave" with extreme prejudice.It is part of a series, I think, and since I haven't read any further books in that series, you had better look at the wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_Chambers

edited 28th Jun '12 1:47:30 AM by TamH70

Recommendations for Oulipo works? I've read Calvino and Perec (not everything by them, so you can suggest works by those authors too).

edited 24th Jul '12 3:49:06 PM by Yuanchosaan

Do they have to be books I've read? I've heard of more than I've read...

Otherwise, I'll just be listening in. :P

That was more specifically to Yuan, sorry. XD

edited 25th Jul '12 10:11:39 AM by Noaqiyeum

No, recommend whatever you want!

Since only good things came from me poking my head in here the last time, I figure why not give it another shot.

Recently I got my hands on all the translated books in the Spice and Wolf series and devoured them all in a weekend and was left wanting more. Since it's going to be a while before translating the next few books gets anywhere, I'm looking for similar books.

Namely what I want are books where they get over the whole will-they-won't-they quickly and then get to portraying the couple actually acting together, aware and acknowledging their feelings. The romance doesn't need to be the focus of the book, it can be just about a couple who fits together dealing with the world and the conflicts in an active relationship. Witty banter between them optional.

Oh and preferably not something where the conflict comes from one of them cheating. Monogamy's the way to go.

My previous preferences that are in the old post still apply, but I don't mind going outside my comfort zone.

@Aenima: Definitely check out Cry To Heaven by Anne Rice. One of her best novels and probably the best gay romance I've ever encountered in my life.

Does anyone know of any similar to a Song of Ice and Fire and Discworld? I heard there was a book that deconstructed medieval fantasy tropes and it was written by a Russian author.

Discworld and Song of Ice and Fire are very different types of fantasy, could you give us a bit more idea of what you want? To me, Pratchett and Martin have nearly opposite approaches to humanity.

If what you want is a long-running set of books that you can count on for a good while, then some suggestions I have are:

Barb and J. C. Hendee's novels of the Noble Dead. A small group of people is collected around the idea of hunting vampires and they have long and complicated adventures which gradually reveal more and more about their world.

Kim Harrison's the Hollows books starting with Dead Witch Walking. A witch and a vampire set up a business together catching bad guys. Getting to be a bit cliche nowadays, but this one is better than most.

Butcher's The Dresden Files about the only Wizard for Hire in the phone book. Want to take on impossibly powerful bad guys and win? This is the series for you.

If you can find the out-of-print Alfar Books by Elizabeth Boyer they are a cheerful romping read.

None of these are as dark as Song of Ice and Fire, and all have more overt magic in them.

Boyer is the closest to comedy, though not as good as Pratchett, few are. If you don't mind having only a few books to read, then one of the few writers as funny as Pratchett is Barry Hughart. Bridge of Birds would be the one to read first. I cannot say enough good things about his books.

Harrison's books are the next lightest, but not exactly cheerful; just not as dark as the Dresden and Noble Dead books.

I was looking from soemthing similar to a song of ice and fire, I guess shouldn't been more clear. There was also another story written by some Russian author, I forgot his name.

Could you, perhaps, describe what the book was about? Maybe some of the other Tropers will recognise it. Unfortunately, the only fantasy book I'm familiar with that is written by a Russian author is Night Watch.

Also The Secret History Of Moscow.

There's The Master and Margarita, but I doubt that's what you're looking for.

I've been led to understand that Malazan Book Of The Fallen is kind of similar to A Song Of Ice And Fire.

If what you like about Ice and Fire is the large and complicated world you might like either Rothfuss's Name of the Wind or Jaqueline Carey's books starting with Kushiel's Dart. I haven't read the Malazan books, but I have heard good things about them.

Seconding Carey. Grown up fantasy for grown up people.