I just finished some book recommendations from you folks

captaink

They were good!

Last Chance to See was really great. Douglas Adams is such a funny writer. I hadn't read anything of his that wasn't Hitchhiker's Guide before this. I liked that it was a combination nature book and travel book. The man certainly had a gift for telling stories, true or fictional.

Lost City of Z was also good. I didn't know that the age of the "great explorers" didn't really end until well into the twentieth century. It is crazy how dense and scary and inhospitable the Amazon still is. It was weird that most times he wrote about an expedition kicking off, their first destination was another town where they stopped and got supplies for several days. I don't think the expedition really starts until your only destination is "wilderness".

Dessart

I picked up and read Stormfront over break and thought it was pretty good. Are the sequels any better?

Just started Lolita. Other than being a messed up subject the writing is incredibe

Food

oh yeah, last chance to see is pretty great. I love the part at the end with the mudskippers.

bowtiedseal

oh yay I think I am one of the people who recommended last chance to see, I'm glad you liked it!

I just read the magicians by lev grossman, and a whole bunch of other books in the past couple weeks that I can't remember right now. it was pretty good. I read it in one sitting, which means it was somewhat gripping I guess! I also started wolf hall by hilary mantel, I like it so far.

Belruel

I love douglas adams so much, his articles are so enjoyable to read. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of the salmon of doubt, it's a collection of his articles/letters/short stories, and it is fantastic. I read it over and over again and laugh every time.

risumon

I picked up Raw Shark Texts because there were a lot of people on here raving about it. It definitely delivered. I couldn't put it down and some of the uses of type was amazing. Not really a spoiler but

I really liked how the majority of his actions could have just been because he was crazy and it was up to you to interpret what happened.

On the Termaire series now, book 2 to be exact, and it is proving entertaining as well. I just got Lost City of Z from the library finally, and going to read that next.

Balefuego

captaink you should read some Dan Simmons


I'm currently reading Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World

Fandyien

Balefuego wrote: »

captaink you should read some Dan Simmons


I'm currently reading Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World

I think thats his best

I just bought The Elephant Vanishes but first I have to finish this awesome book named Medicus about a roman doctor in britain who is sort of forced into being a private eye/doctor/crazy roman/brittania context

ps it is set during the period in which trajan died and hadrian took the throne

Chompskers.

Balefuego wrote: »

I'm currently reading Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World

so many thumbs up

Chompskers.

I loved Kafka on the Shore

but Wind Up Bird

Wind Up Bird was just beautiful

Lost Salient

Wind-Up Bird is definitely still my favourite, although I can spend hours discussing Kafka on the Shore.

The Elephant Vanishes is really great! You should read it post-haste.

Chompskers.

I'm actually reading the Elephant Vanishes now!

my girlfriend lent it to me

it is pretty great!

the barn-burning story and the bakery robbery were so great

ultimakay

Dessart wrote: »

I picked up and read Stormfront over break and thought it was pretty good. Are the sequels any better?

I've read up to number 13 and I really like the series. The first and second book where alright, but I really enjoyed it from the third book onward. Though it completely ruined my enjoyment of the sci-fi channel representation, because the books are just SO much better.

Edit: Sorry I forgot, Syfy channel (that still looks so weird to me)

Chompskers.

also they are making a movie out of Norwegian Wood

this is a thing I am excited about

Lost Salient

Are you totally jazzed for 1Q84? I bought a Korean language copy because I'm an effin weirdo like that, and because my aunt who is an editor/publisher wanted one. I think I'll pick up a Japanese copy when I'm in Tokyo this month, too. I'm just biding my time for the English translation to finally come out...

Chompskers.

Man, I didn't even know what that was until I googled it just now.

Okay that is super exciting.

Having to wait till 2011 is kind of lame, but I've got such an absurd back catalogue of books that it'll probably work out. A bunch of those are there because I put them off to read more Murakami things.

I really just started reading him in the last six months or so, then just started going through way more of his stuff than I ever intended in the beginning.

captaink

Balefuego wrote: »

captaink you should read some Dan Simmons

I've read Hyperion and all the subsequent books. I liked Hyperion the most by far. What else has he got that's good?

captaink

I picked up Charlie Wilson's War and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom on today's library trip.

Balefuego

captaink wrote: »

Balefuego wrote: »

captaink you should read some Dan Simmons

I've read Hyperion and all the subsequent books. I liked Hyperion the most by far. What else has he got that's good?

In terms of sci-fi he's also got Ilium and Olympos, but I've really never read anything by him that I didn't like so I'd also reccomend Drood, Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, and The Terror.

captaink

I'll have a look next time I'm in the library.

Chompskers.

captain you should read Kafka on the Shore

the KFC guy is a key character as a demon pimp

someone has sex with a ghost

someone else is a cat detective and can talk to cats

there is lots of classical music and literary references

Chompskers.

also it is really good but this is the most fun way to get people to read it

colonel sanders pimp has encouraged three different people to pick it up

captaink

Color me intrigued

Chompskers.

people travel to alternate dimensions

alternate dimensions full of ghost communes

do it it is great

The Geek

Belruel wrote: »

I love douglas adams so much, his articles are so enjoyable to read. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of the salmon of doubt, it's a collection of his articles/letters/short stories, and it is fantastic. I read it over and over again and laugh every time.

I got to go to a reading with him back when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. It was super awesome. He had a great voice.

Lost Salient

The Terror

Seriously!

I mean, I ended up really really enjoying Ilium too (thank you Bale, you were right) but I totally loved The Terror.

Lost Salient

Chompskers. wrote: »

captain you should read Kafka on the Shore

the KFC guy is a key character as a demon pimp

someone has sex with a ghost

someone else is a cat detective and can talk to cats

there is lots of classical music and literary references

Nakata is my favourite.

Well, Nakata and Johnnie Walker.

scarlet st.

so i don't think i've complained about this here, but i picked up this book of cicero's letters and i was super excited to get into it, but then i discovered that Oxford U Press prints their footnotes as page notes in the back of the book.

who fucking does that. every time i want to look up a reference to a person or WHATEVER the footnote might have been about I have to page all the way back to the book to read something about "these two married but it was poor and they divorced and then she died" or whatever

i want my tombstone to read "footnotes were god's greatest gift and fuck the haters"

Balefuego

well I think The Terror was basically written with you specifically in mind

captaink

I'm in luck! the library has it.

And The Terror and Drood.

Added to my growing library list.


This is great, I usually spend way too much money on books. My list is up to 17, material for a couple months at least.

Chompskers.

Lost Salient wrote: »

Chompskers. wrote: »

captain you should read Kafka on the Shore

the KFC guy is a key character as a demon pimp

someone has sex with a ghost

someone else is a cat detective and can talk to cats

there is lots of classical music and literary references

Nakata is my favourite.

Well, Nakata and Johnnie Walker.

yes

Lost gets it captain

Lost totally gets it

captaink

scarlet st. wrote: »

so i don't think i've complained about this here, but i picked up this book of cicero's letters and i was super excited to get into it, but then i discovered that Oxford U Press prints their footnotes as page notes in the back of the book.

who fucking does that. every time i want to look up a reference to a person or WHATEVER the footnote might have been about I have to page all the way back to the book to read something about "these two married but it was poor and they divorced and then she died" or whatever

i want my tombstone to read "footnotes were god's greatest gift and fuck the haters"

I've read books like that. It seems to be reserved for books that have lots of notes. Depending on what kind of book it is, and how the notes are used, I just skip them.

scarlet st.

Chompskers. wrote: »

Lost Salient wrote: »

Chompskers. wrote: »

captain you should read Kafka on the Shore

the KFC guy is a key character as a demon pimp

someone has sex with a ghost

someone else is a cat detective and can talk to cats

there is lots of classical music and literary references

Nakata is my favourite.

Well, Nakata and Johnnie Walker.

yes

Lost gets it captain

Lost totally gets it

man the novels are fucking fantastic but the guy doesn't know how to write a female character to save his life. all they want to do is fuck the main character. it's ridiculous.

scarlet st.

captaink wrote: »

scarlet st. wrote: »

so i don't think i've complained about this here, but i picked up this book of cicero's letters and i was super excited to get into it, but then i discovered that Oxford U Press prints their footnotes as page notes in the back of the book.

who fucking does that. every time i want to look up a reference to a person or WHATEVER the footnote might have been about I have to page all the way back to the book to read something about "these two married but it was poor and they divorced and then she died" or whatever

i want my tombstone to read "footnotes were god's greatest gift and fuck the haters"

I've read books like that. It seems to be reserved for books that have lots of notes. Depending on what kind of book it is, and how the notes are used, I just skip them.

man don't even talk about the length of a footnote till you read some of David Foster Wallace's essays. Dude was on a footnote rampage every day of his short-lived life. I miss his footnotes.

Chompskers.

ok that is a fair point

Lost Salient

street, have you read Sputnik Sweetheart?

I'm not saying I completely disagree but I feel that Murakami utilizes his female characters as befits the archetype/genre he's working in. So in Kafka you get a lot of Oedipal stuff, and in Wind-Up Bird and Wild Sheep Chase, you get a lot of noir influenced ladies...

Anyway I really like the female characters in Sputnik Sweetheart.

Antimatter

scarlet st. wrote: »

i want my tombstone to read "footnotes were god's greatest gift and fuck the haters"

Discworld is awesome with this

scarlet st.

I mean goddamn. South of the Border West of the Sun, Norwegian Wood, Hard Boiled Wonderland, After Dark, and Kafka. Everybody wanted to fuck the main character.

scarlet st.

I haven't read Sputnik and Wind-up Bird is on my shelf for to reading, but man, dude needs to write a deep and emotional female character that doesn't want to fuck the main character for me to recant.

Chompskers.

well I mean, dude basically just writes about things he likes

food
music
cats
loose women

Lost Salient

Sputnik Sweetheart is actually all about a female character who doesn't want to fuck the main character!

So maybe that's almost the same thing in the end.