General Lickerature

[jumpluff]

basically imagine a Michael Bay movie as a book but good

??? does not compute

I read so many books I wouldn't know where to start recommending, but the lists at goodreads are A+ and anyone, whether into YA or the classics or chick lit or anything else, can find something to read there, I guarantee. If you're getting into reading again you should totally sign up and post your name so I can add you and look at your books :D

 

[guanlong]

China Mieville: cool steampunk novels; the stories are gritty, with intricate plots. I would recommend Perdido Street Station most of all!

 

[NatGeo]

Any of the numerous Redwall series books by Brian jacques. Plenty to read for a really long time, and a fairly nice plotline in each. Aside from that, the silent world by Jacques yves-coutsteau is a pretty good quick read, but its an interesting look at the way we look at nature, as he goes through grand adventures with his newly christened Aqualung.

I would also say the hunger games, but I think a lot of people here are a bit over the target limit.

 

[ungulateman]

Try finding a collection of Aruthur C. Clarke's short stories

His novels are pretty good but his short stories are like wow

 

[Luminouzz]

I recommend Terry Pratchett. He's a British fantasy writer with a great sense of humor and talent for satire.

 

[Luduan]

China Mieville: cool steampunk novels; the stories are gritty, with intricate plots. I would recommend Perdido Street Station most of all!

A little surprised someone mentioned this! I haven't read much of his work, but Miéville is an awesome guy in general and seems to be one of the few people attempting to move fantasy literature in an actually interesting direction (John Crowley being another). Though, I do think he takes his self-marketing crusade against Tolkien a bit too seriously at times; surely Tolkien can't be completely blamed for the ubiquitous tenth-rate derivative hacks who came after him?

Also ++ for Saramago; I've been reading some of his novels, and he's quickly become one of my favorite recent authors. Check out The Gospel According to Jesus Christ as well as the ones previously mentioned.

 

[Glen]

going to bed so im just gonna recommend one thing

LIGHT by m john harrison

in my brief yet meandering 22 years of existence, this is the best book i have ever read. harrison is one of two sci-fi authors i'm fond of, as i find the medium to be too full of nerds with great ideas who are rather wanting in terms of prose. LIGHT has 3 converging plots: one about a man in our present time who is haunted by something called the shrander ("in that moment he was lost. out of the sand, the sky, the pebbles-out of what he would later think of as the willed fractality of things-emerged the shrander. he had no name for it then. it had no shape for him. but it was in his dreams thereafter, as a hollow, an absence, a shadow on a door."), one about a spaceship pilot who is more a consciousness than a person ("i don't want those feelings a body has."), and one about a virtual reality junkie ("tank withdrawal was in the bone. it was cellular, organic. but it was also a kind of separation anxiety. it was the sustained scream of wanting to be back in a lost world you had loved).

if you like english as a language, you should probably read it. i honestly cannot express just how fucking immaculate this man's writing is.

"As she spoke, the White Cat slipped into a cloud of non-baryonic junk, which, reacting weakly to her passage through it, stroked the hull like a ghost. A few dials woke up in the manual back-up systems in the empty human quarters of the ship, flickered, dropped back to zero. As matter, it was barely there, but the shadow operators were drawn to it. They gathered by the portholes, arranging the light that fell around them so that they could make the most tragic picture, looking at themselves in mirrors, whispering and running thin fingers across their mouths or through their hair, rustling their dry wings.
'If only you had grown like this, Cinderella,' they mourned, in the old language.
'Such a blessing,' they said"

and then stuff like

"Back at the motel, Anna was sitting on the bed naked with her feet tucked up, crying. Ten o'clock in the morning and she had already pinned notes to the doors and walls. Why are you anxious? they said, and: Never do more than you can. They were like beacons for a bad sailor, someone lost even in familiar straits."

words like this taste so good it's a crime not to read them aloud

 

[Doomsday]

Also ++ for Saramago; I've been reading some of his novels, and he's quickly become one of my favorite recent authors. Check out The Gospel According to Jesus Christ as well as the ones previously mentioned.

honest question, how have they translated his books over there? i've read some of his stuff on portuguese and he has this style of writing where there's no punctuation and it's full of long phrases and commas. I like it, but it takes a while to really "get it", but I am curious

also glen those passages picked my interest

 

[Luduan]

honest question, how have they translated his books over there? i've read some of his stuff on portuguese and he has this style of writing where there's no punctuation and it's full of long phrases and commas. I like it, but it takes a while to really "get it", but I am curious

also glen those passages picked my interest

Well obviously, not knowing Portuguese, I can't speak to the quality of the translation. But I think it's generally translated in accordance with how you describe his writing, though it might be more muted than the original for all I know.

 

[zyrefredric]

The Vanishing Point, a sci-fi novel where more than half of the world's population just disappears mysteriously.

 

[moot]

ps: les miserables in english is terrible!!

agreed

also my standby suggestion to anyone is murakami if they're into surrealism or weird page turners at all

kafka on the shore / wind-up bird (a little lengthy, better if you read it second) / wild sheep chase

 

[Hipmonlee]

My expectation is that les miserables is pretty bad in french too. Unless you dont mind overlooking a positive deus ex machina to paragraph ratio.

Have a nice day.

 

[Leechy]

i'm glad i stumbled across this because i'm a pretty big literary nerd!

kafka on the shore is my favorite book, without a doubt in my mind. it's neoclassical references to ancient greek mythology in a contemporary setting as well as it's all over adorableness (an old man who talks to cats!!!) and post-modernness (the colonel from kfc is a pimp that runs ghost prostitutes!) just make it a ridiculous, fun, and interesting read. i also highly recommend murakami's collection of short stories after the quake if you're into that kind of ish

on the opposite spectrum, as of late i've been trying to read a lot of hemingway to experiment further with realism. i read the old man and the sea today and i've also read the sun also rises, both of which are great and would highly recommend to anyone. except some of my friends found tsar a bit annoying because the narrator seems to be both an alcoholic and a social-interaction addict because he goes to a different bar practically every other paragraph. but if you can look past that it's a really enjoyable, humorous, and even touching story

i'm high atm and if i remember more when i'm sober i shall edit :3

 

[Acklow]

Nobody dared to even mention The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien?!

 

[Myzozoa]

Wonderful thread.

So anyway, everyone knows that Americans only do one thing better than the rest of the world, and thats literature, seriously we kick all the european countries in the ass.

I would start by saying read Vonnegut, he has lots of ideas and he percieves the world very differently than most people. Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions are imo his strongest works (and I assume you've already read Slaughterhouse-Five, though if you haven't its short and excellent).

If you are looking for very purist constructive writing Thomas Pynchon's work is pretty much as calculated as it gets. The Crying of Lot 49 is probably his most accessable work, but Gravity's Rainbow and Inherent Vice are excellent, though slightly denser.

Russian Literature is also good stuff, but finding the right translation becomes the key to enjoying it tbh. Tolstoy is your main man. The way I like to think of Tolstoy is that he is really a fantasy writer. He paints these detailed epic plot lines, and its really like he creates a world, and it just happens its ours. you have to have some ambition to get through his best stuff Anna Karenina (War and Peace too if youre really up to it). If you aren't looking to read 1000 page epics, his short fiction is also well-crafted. The collection that you'll find in any bookstore is The Death of Ivan Illych and other Short Fiction, and the best translation of that is the one done by Volokhonsky and Pevear (i think theyre married, but idk).

Personally I have never found a readable translation of The Brother's Karamazov, but Crime and Punishment has some interesting stuff in it (very philosophical dialogues, very weak plots). Also by Dostoevsky The Idiot is imo his best work.

If you find Dickens unreadable (like me) his most accessable work is the Christmas Carol, and even though it gets parodied all the time, it really is genius so many ways, a must read. If you don't read any single book that I recommend other than the Christmas Carol, I will be satisfied.

On the lighter side:
if you haven't read it V for Vendetta the graphic novel is like legitimately good enough to be considered literature.

If you like punk rock, or reading about New York City, Patti Smith's Just Kids is excellent and it won the national book award 2010.

Also if youre looking for humor someone mentioned Terry Pratchett, I think. He is great, as long as you stay away from his most recent 4 or 5 books (he has like 15 others that came beofre those that are good).

Also, Isaac Asimov's I, Robot (not like the movie in any way) is great, its a collection of short stories. His Foundation series is good too, as someone previously said.

You really 'should' read Things Fall Apart its a standard, and its pretty short. And on a completely unrelated note 1984 is really not as good as everyone acts like it is, and its not groundbreaking either, ain't nothing in that book that hadn't been thought of and written better before 1940's.

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

Happy that this thread didn't turn into a trollfest!

Okay, so atm I currently have a copy of The Great Gatsby which I intend to read soon. I have indeed read Slaughterhouse 5, it was really interesting to say the least. I will try and get more Vonnegut. Kafka On The Shore, my friend has a copy and he says it is good! I will also try and read it some time.

glen's recommendation looks really interesting, so I will see if I can get a copy of it somewhere. Steampunk as a literary genre also sounds super interesting so I will have a snoop around later.

Terry Pratchet is admittedly interesting in a silly, obscene kind of way, but I find that the quality of his writing is actually quite low and I can't enjoy it as much as I should.

I have tried to read A Brief History Of Time, back when I was 14-15, but it proved to be too heavy, and despite my dad's recommendation, I could not finish it. I will try again.

Mortal Engines, I have read the series, it is a good series that I enjoyed in my youth, but not something I would read again.

Matthew Reilly's novels are much in the same vein, they are highly enjoyable, but I am looking for some slightly heavier reading. Basically, after I finish a Matthew Reilly novel I just don't feel very satisfied with the use of my time.

The non-fiction book Operation Yao Ming is a very interesting read, it looks into both the communist party's treatment of sports stars and, to a lesser extent, the NBA. I recommend it!

edit: @jumpluff, I would, but that site is blocked in China!! (I have no idea why)

 

[Destiny Warrior]

Brief History of Time needs an open mind. I got through the book when I was 12-13, but trust me, you don't want to read this while doing anything else. It takes a lot of concentration to get through the book.

 

[Leechy]

On the lighter side:
if you haven't read it V for Vendetta the graphic novel is like legitimately good enough to be considered literature.

and watchmen! beautiful artwork, story, and themes

 

[Umbreon Dan]

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

thanks, dan

I've read watchmen. It's very good, Rorschach is a badass

 

[sumginazu]

For sci-fi, you can't go wrong with the Dune series. I found it had a slow start, but soon it became my second-favorite book.
My favorite is The Little Prince. I like it simply because it's cute, its message is simple yet profound, and I like the author's writing style. It's not exactly a long of difficult read; it should take maybe an hour tops.

 

[Sæglópur]

You should read the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel...the first book is called Clan of the Cave Bear, and it's such a good story. It's about a tribe of neanderthals who come across a little girl who isn't a neanderthal, but what they call the "others", or cro-magnons. The story goes on from there, I highly recommend you read it. :)

 

[MrIndigo]

Rebooting this because I can't find the other reading thread.

I've started on, and am about 1/3 of the way through, "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace.

It's quite intense and I wouldn't recommend it to those who haven't tackled difficult or ergodic literature before - much of the narrative takes place in footnotes that go for multiple pages, for instance, and a lot of the non-footnote writing is very stream-of-consciousness and often doesn't identify who the "speaker" is from the many characters in the book, so you sort of have to piece the nonlinear achronological plotline together from context.

Light Spoilers

It's set in the not-particularly-distant future where each year is sponsored by a corporate body (e.g. "Year of the Trial Sized Dove Bar"), which makes it difficult to follow when certain events happen because they're not numbered. It covers a number of different themes, but the central premise seems to be that the USA bought Canada in a merger-acqusition arrangement and so now they're the "Organisation of North American Nations". Several Quebecois terrorist organisations who spent years fighting for independence from Canada have now rallied and are directing attacks towards the USA on behalf of Canada entire. Their masterstroke is that they've found a copiable version of an avant-garde film made by optics genius, former tennis pro, and founder of the Enfield Tennis Academy, the late James O Incandenza. JOI hated the final cut of the film, saying it broke his heart and he banned anyone from releasing it. This tape, which the Quebecois terrorists "The Wheelchair Assassins" call 'The Entertainment' is so captivating that those who watch it are compelled to do nothing else, thus entertaining themselves to death with it. The threat of the Wheelchair Assassins is not that they will force anyone to watch it, but just that they'll make it available and let the Americans choose to kill themselves watching it.

At least, that's what I worked out so far.

Aside from speculative ONANite politics, the book also looks in some detail at professional sporting culture in America, particularly the environment inside sporting academies; recreational drug use, and the fallout from addiction and recovery via Narcotics Anonymous and the like; avant-garde cinema and radio; and ultimately, the nature of entertainment generally.

 

[Aura Guardian]

My first recommendation is The Princess Bride. This classic romance tale starts a bit slowly, but after the first few sections (from the 25th aniversarry edition, that is) it quickly picks up the pace and pulls you in.

Secondly, I'm seconding Sumginazu's recommendation of the Dune series - but only the first one is awesome. The second is good, and I've heard the third is passable. However, the series really declined fast.

Third: The Curse of Challion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Divine Intervention, Free Will, and Destiny all meet in this astounding book. Cazarill, a person of reasonably high ranks, wants to retire now that he's returned from his imprisonment on a slave galley. However, his enemies and the plots of them prevent him from doing so.

Last, but not least: The Vorkosigan Saga. All of the books in it are so good it's hard to pick which one to recommend, but Shards of Honor is an epic tale of Enemy Mine, an evil prince, and a great plot to shape the destiny of an interplanetary empire. All the bad eggs in one basket... Barrayar is the epic tale of a palace coup and the counter-battle, culminating in Cordelia's famed "shopping trip". The Warrior's Apprentice is the tale of how their crippled son takes up smuggling and transforms it into mercenary-ing.

EDIT: MrIndigo, the other reading thread remained in Congregation, IIRC, meaning it's in the thread cryonics.

 

[Myzozoa]

I really hope you make it through Mr. Indigo. You would be the only person i know of who has finished Infinite Jest. Do you actually read the footnotes? or do you just skip those?