Nardd needs a book to read

[nardd]

Well, my list of books to read has run dry and I'd like some help as to what to read next. Here are some books I've read recently and enjoyed:

-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
-God's Debris/The Religion War (Scott Adams)
-Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (fantasy)
-The Tao of Pooh
-Sun Tzu's The Art of War

That's all I can remember right now. I usually go for the sci-fi/fantasy stuff or the fiction/philosophy, but I am definitely open to other books.

Don't hold back here, and offer me some books to add to my list please. A short description would save me some time, or at least what kind of genre it comes from if not evident. Thanks!

 

[tennisace]

If you like Sci-fi, read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's like 1984 in that its a futuristic vision of a world under one government, with the past totally erased from memory. However it takes takes the opposite route in that society is based on the caste system and sexuality is encouraged, instead of supressed like in 1984.

Another good book I've read recently is Catch-22, by Joseph Heller. It's basically about an army pilot in World War II, who doesn't want to fly more missions. Every time he reaches the allotted number, his colonel raises the number. It's actually hilarious, and dripping with dry sarcasm.

 

[Umbreon Dan]

I just finished Brave New World myself and I can testify that it's a great work, though I slightly preferred 1984. Oh, and I recommend Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One to anyone that hasn't read it. It's about a young boy in Africa who learns to box and overcome challenges.

 

[Sand Man]

do not read genre fiction or pop philosophy ever.
short story collections are an easy way to get into actual literature, try something obvious like Dubliners or Borges' work

 

[nardd]

Aready read Brave New World and 1984a while ago, so that's a no go. Sand Man, what do you mean by genre fiction and pop philosophy?

Dubliners looks interesting, I do like short stories (Ray Bradbury I've read)

 

[GlassCobra]

I would strongly recommend the Ilium/Olympos duology by Dan Simmons; they're a fantastic mix of Greco-Roman mythology with advanced scientific concepts and highly sophisticated technology. The plot was engaging and the characters are extremely well developed. Feel free to take a look at the link for more info.

 

[Deschain]

for a substantial, mindblowing book, check out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. it will fucking wreck you. to be vague and obtuse, it's a documentary about a documentary about a house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. but it's not really about that at all.

for one of, if not the best "fantasy" series' ever written, check out The Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. they're more likened to medieval literature than the "dragons and wizards and goblins OH MY!" sort of fantasy. they're fucking intense. it's one of the only set of books where i actually care about the characters, and am deeply invested emotionally in their well-being. be warned though, the series is not yet finished, so you'll be left hanging and praying Martin doesn't meet an untimely end in the next few years. D:

 

[Sand Man]

for a substantial, mindblowing book, check out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. it will fucking wreck you. to be vague and obtuse, it's a documentary about a documentary about a house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. but it's not really about that at all.

for one of, if not the best "fantasy" series' ever written, check out The Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. they're more likened to medieval literature than the "dragons and wizards and goblins OH MY!" sort of fantasy. they're fucking intense. it's one of the only set of books where i actually care about the characters, and am deeply invested emotionally in their well-being. be warned though, the series is not yet finished, so you'll be left hanging and praying Martin doesn't meet an untimely end in the next few years. D:

this is it. the perfect fake post


(ignore everything this person said and also ignore the recs for neal stephenson you're going to get)

 

[Deschain]

this is it. the perfect fake post


(ignore everything this person said and also ignore the recs for neal stephenson you're going to get)

you're out of you're mind.

 

[Luduan]

do not read genre fiction or pop philosophy ever.
short story collections are an easy way to get into actual literature, try something obvious like Dubliners or Borges' work

While I certainly agree with you about pop philosophy, what is the problem with genre fiction? 'Genre fiction' (a rather encompassing term) is not synonymous with airport novel drivel of the Dan Brown variety.

I second the Joyce and Borges recommendation, by the way.

Sand Man, what do you mean by genre fiction and pop philosophy?

Pop philosophy is what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Tao of Pooh are -- a drastic oversimplification of (in this case, Eastern) philosophical ideas designed to appeal to those with no prior knowledge of the subject. While introductions to topics are certainly admirable and necessary, with philosophy they often skirt over crucial underlying ideas and subtleties, while summarizing to the point that critical implications and fatal flaws may no longer be readily apparent. A good blog post I found on this: http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/06/01/perils-of-pop-philosophy/

 

[monkfish]

If you're into fictionalised philosophy try Life of Pi, pretty enjoyable read without being too heavy.

 

[Glen]

almost anything by haruki murakami.

dance dance dance is my favourite, but the wind up bird chronicle stands out at well.

 

[Blln]

Murakami also writes really good short stories, which are in the collection The Elephant Vanishes, so if the prospect of starting a 600+ page book (wind up bird) is not appealing to you, you can at least painlessly get a taste of Murakami, and then if you like his style, you can delve into his longer works. The only thing I really don't like about reading Murakami books is that they are all translated pretty badly apparently, or so my japanese friends have told me, and apparently even some sections of the original text have been straight up omitted, but eh, I still found all of his books that I've read very enjoyable, so I guess it doesn't make that big a difference.

If you're looking for a good balance between scifi and philosophical fiction, you could try reading some Kurt Vonnegut. You should try out Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle. Both are quick and easy reads - you could probably get through either in about a week - and both are hilarious and thought-provoking.

If you are interested in philosophical fiction, you would definitely like The Stranger by Albert Camus, which is a short, brilliantly written book that is kind of a manifesto of existentialism. If you like that, Camus wrote a bunch of short novels in a similar vein. so that could keep you busy for a while.

 

[Sonuis]

I've ended up buying multiple copies of this book because whenever I lend them to a different person, they don't want to give them back...

9 is the total count.

 

[Glen]

Murakami also writes really good short stories, which are in the collection The Elephant Vanishes, so if the prospect of starting a 600+ page book (wind up bird) is not appealing to you, you can at least painlessly get a taste of Murakami, and then if you like his style, you can delve into his longer works. The only thing I really don't like about reading Murakami books is that they are all translated pretty badly apparently, or so my japanese friends have told me, and apparently even some sections of the original text have been straight up omitted, but eh, I still found all of his books that I've read very enjoyable, so I guess it doesn't make that big a difference.

If you're looking for a good balance between scifi and philosophical fiction, you could try reading some Kurt Vonnegut. You should try out Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle. Both are quick and easy reads - you could probably get through either in about a week - and both are hilarious and thought-provoking.

If you are interested in philosophical fiction, you would definitely like The Stranger by Albert Camus, which is a short, brilliantly written book that is kind of a manifesto of existentialism. If you like that, Camus wrote a bunch of short novels in a similar vein. so that could keep you busy for a while.

i've actually never read murakami's short stories, but i have heard that they are quite excellent!

and yes, vonnegut rules, of course. breakfast of champions is my favourite. and if you want short stories, welcome to the monkey house, a collection of vonnegut's short stories, is definitely worth reading. absolutely fantastic stuff, though you might think it crappy at the beginning because the very first short story is just him describing in detail his childhood home, from what i remember. i was very put off but then after it things got excellent!

ALSO i would recommend almost anything by brett easton ellis. american psycho is a fucking masterpiece (please dont bring up the movie -______-) and rules of attraction is also a great read (feel free to bring up the movie because it was really good i think!!). don't read american psycho if you can't handle a ridiculous amount of written gore, though.

ALSO bukowski

ALSO read snow crash it is so good!

 

[nardd]

hmm, maybe tomorrow at work if I get a chance I'll compile these into a list for the bookstore. Still open to suggestions though, since a list can be as long as it needs to be!

I think I'm going to go the short story route for now and get some material going, then if something pops out at me I'll give it some more looks. Thanks guys :]

 

[Hipmonlee]

If you want philosophy read Dostoevsky.

Have a nice day.

 

[Firestorm]

If you're into fictionalised philosophy try Life of Pi, pretty enjoyable read without being too heavy.

I loved Life of Pi =) I would definitely recommend it as well.

 

[Glalie]

Life of Pi is probably my favorite book

Into the Wild is great as well.

 

[Loki]

yeah murakami is great. i would recommend starting out with kafka on the shore before taking on the wind up bird

 

[Luduan]

I won't pass judgement on Murakami and Vonnegut, whom I've unfortunately never read, but I have heard many good things, here and elsewhere.

Some of my favourite authors are Poe, Joyce, Borges, Proust, Kafka, Mann, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Camus, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Hemingway, Ibsen, Faulkner, and García Márquez. I've heard excellent things about, but have never read, Samuel Becket, Don DeLillo (Underworld), and Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian -- compared favourably to Moby-Dick by aesthetic prig Harold Bloom). Bloom has also highly praised fantasy author John Crowley, though, again, I have no first-hand knowledge of his works. Ursula Le Guin is another fantasy and science fiction author you may be interested in reading; her definitive work and the only one I have read is The Dispossessed, a utopian anarchist novel. Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum) deserves mention, as does Nigerian author Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart). That should suffice for now; I'll post more recommendations if they come to mind. You might consider browsing WikiProject novels to discover new authors.

 

[Sand Man]

read mishima insteadof murakami

 

[Train Man]

+1 for Life of Pi.

However, i'd also like to reccommend Time Traveller's Wife, which is a pretty sweet read that tackles pretty much the two most cliched and stereotyped genres of Romance and Time Travel (SciFi) with great respect to both. The romance is done very subtley and, in my opinion can be appreciated by both guys and girls. Likewise the Time Travel in the novel is done with great 'realism,' and while largely unexplained, works fairly seamlessly.

For a bit of fun, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is excellent both as a parody of Pride and Prejudice, and a standalone in Zombie fiction. Amusing, dry, witty and with all the class issues and snarky banter. Oh, and, just for kicks. It has ninjas.

 

[nardd]

Sandman, which book of Mishima's would you recommend? I saw a couple on his wikipage that did pretty well.

Train Man, I'm liking those two books you offered. Both are being made into movies too haha. The time travel one comes out in august (with that girl from the notebook) and the zombie one isn't set in stone yet, unfortunately.

 

[Chronos]

If you want to read something crazy check out Lunar Park by BEE