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The General Books/Reading Thread

Jutsei

Jutsei

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So, something I realized is that I haven't really read books/novels in paper form for a few years now.
Because of my insane obsession with Call of Cthulhu lately though, getting back into it.
And boredly, I decided to see if this forum had any books related thread.
Aside from Manga, no.

So why not use this thread to talk about any books you're reading?
Be it a novel, comic trade paperback, RPG supplement, or something else!

Plus you can recommend books you've read in the past or something.
Like World War Z (which is leagues better than the movie, here it's presented as a bunch of interviews from survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse, great stuff)
 
YES! As someone who is really into books, I've been dying to start a thread like this for a while, but I barely posted on other threads lately. Now I have no excuse.

I'l try to keep it short for now, but I can recommend other books as the thread goes on.

The most human human, by Brian Christian – Non-fiction about the author's preparations for his participation on the Loebner Prize (an annual Turing Test) as a human representative. For that, he analyses past performances and reflect on the roles of computers and artificial intelligence in modern life. It's an insightful and critical (but not apocalyptic) view on AI and what it means to be human on a logarithm-heavy society (there is even some accidental self-help, in which it shows how much of our conversations are robotic and meaningless and what kind of tactics we can adopt to keep a conversation going and keeping it interesting). It's an amazing book, I highly recommend it.

Brief interviews with Hideous Men, by David Foster Wallace – A collection of short stories. DFW is known for his formal experimentation and his complex portrayal of modern anxieties (which I would describe as something like "brutally honest, but emphatically intimate"), so it's not the sweetest pill to swallow, but it's oh so good. It's funny, dark, passionate, sad, weird and personal. I'm looking forward to read his other books.

Mogworld and Jam, by Yahtzee Croshaw – Now for a more familiar territory, I was positively surprised by Yahtzee's attempts to write fiction. Both books are funny and have a plot just interesting enough to keep you engaged until the next joke or funny exchange. The whole thing has a somewhat Terry Pratchett feeling, and you can't really go wrong with that. Mogworld is more fantasy and video game tropes oriented and Jam is more contemporary and survival horror tropes oriented. I personally think Jam is the more unique of the two, but both are worth the read.
 
Oh man, books. I've been reading a bit more lately, after checking out a couple from my local public library. Here's a list of what I've been reading recently:

Witch and Wizard: The Gift
Night School
The Clockwork Scarab
Steampunk! (it's a collection of steampunk stories)
The Night Circus
The Symptoms of My Insanity

From what I've read, they're all really good! And as a quick reccommandation, I'd reccommend A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. If you like fantasy/horror, then I think you'd really enjoy it. It's a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, except a lot more gore-ish. It's fucked up but really good at the same time.
 
I have so many books I've started and need to finish

Spice & Wolf
Vampire Hunter D
Battle Royale
the Lost Fleet: Dauntless

I just dont know where to start first.
 
Wow, that's a bummer.
Today I was gonna go to a Barnes & Noble at my Mall to get some Cthulhu Mythos/Lovecraftian books for some good reading and ideas for Call of Cthulhu stuff.
Turns out it's been out of business for quite a while.
Welp.
Time to hit up Amazon
 
it really sucks how so many bookstores are closing.

shopping on the internet is great and all for books, but there's this FEEL you get when browsing around a bookstore with other people around you, that the internet can't replicate.
 
My top 5 favorite books:

Les Miserables
The Count of Monte Cristo
Fahrenheit 451
David Copperfield
Lord of The Rings

My favorite short story is "Frost and Fire" by Ray Bradbury. Absolutely magical and beautiful.
 
Verstande said:
Down and out in London and Paris
1984
Brave New World
Animal Farm
The Picture of Dorian Gray

I've read all of those except Down and Out. They're great, and I especially love Brave New World.

Dystopian Literature is really cool. I ended up reading "The Iron Heel" last year which is a pretty old but cool one from the 1920's. I liked the story and story telling, but the only thing that kinda annoyed me is that the whole thing is very blatantly hardline socialism/communist propaganda, and one of the MC's is one of the most blatant Mary Sue's I've ever seen in a work of well respected literature (seriously, he's described as incredibly handsome, he effortlessly defeats everyone else in argument and everyone who doesn't agree is depicted either as an idiot or pure evil, and the whole plot basically revolves around him). Still, I can recommend it because it's an enjoyable story with some genuinely chilling dystopian speculation.
 
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I bought these. The two on operating systems currently go for $100+ each as they are university textbooks. I got them for $30 bucks each brand new, though they are paperback.

ACRZ5qx.jpg


Why? Eastern Economy Editions, of course! Only legally meant for sale in Asiatic regions but shadily sold in the States for a fraction of the price! All hail.
 
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Just want to recommend The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss.
 
Well, if we're talking recommendations, I also recommend the Zombie Survival Guide.
It's a half-serious, half-parody book telling you what weapons help most in a zombie apocalypse, what level you might face, as well as a few other things.
It's made by the same guy who made World War Z, and I've reread both those books so many times.

Right now I'm looking into Cthulhu Mythos books, though.
 
I really need to expand my horizons when it comes to reading as I tend to stick with what I know most of the time. My favourite book series is the Dresden Files.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for books?
 
Cybermanworf said:
I really need to expand my horizons when it comes to reading as I tend to stick with what I know most of the time. My favourite book series is the Dresden Files.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for books?
spice and wolf. Really great book series. If you like the anime you will love the books.
 
Sanoblaze said:
spice and wolf. Really great book series. If you like the anime you will love the books.

Ah already watching the anime for that I have finished the first season and need to move onto the second season. I will also check out the books as well.

A book I really want to read is House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski I sort of know that is quite bizarre especially in the layout of the book, which is my main reason for reading it.
 
By the way Ray Bradbury = god tier. Highly recommend picking up a few collections of his short stories because they are all really amazing. Not everything is even Science Fiction or Fantasy, he can make even the most mundane things incredibly imaginative, poignant, and beautiful.
 
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I havent gotten far into the first book, but has anyone here ever read the Lost Fleet book series?
 
  • "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons
Quite likely my all time favourite book. The best ideas and mental images put into a book I've experienced so far.​

  • "American Gods" and "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
I can honestly recommend just about anything wrote by Gaiman, but "American Gods" probably takes the cake. Enjoyable characters and story, interesting references to mythologies from all around the globe and just the right amount of his characteristic humor. I wanted it to go forever. As for "Coraline", a book that starts like a story for kids and transforms into nightmare fuel? What's not to like.​

  • "Roadside Picnic" by the Strygacky brothers
Admittedly I read this one after already having finished S.T.A.L.K.E.R. For me it was a really interesting science fiction novel with lots of references to the video game. I smile to myself whenever I remember that for any person with a good sense of chronology it's the other way around.
​
  • "The War of the Worlds" and "The Island of Dr Moreau" by H. G. Wells
Wells' century-old books might not be the most scary/thrilling ones to a modern man seasoned by movies and video games, but they are still interesting, nicely told stories that inspired lots of works of art create decades later.​

  • Good dystopian books: "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury; "Animal Farm" and "1984" by George Orwell
  • Good (post)apocalyptic books: "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" by Kate Wilhelm; "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson
  • Honorary mention: Terry Pratchett. I'm not even close to reading all of the works from his "Discworld" series, but those that I read I thoroughly enjoyed. Books characterised by likable characters and a splendid sense of humor, often used to subtly reference sillinesses of society and whatnot.
  • Currently reading: "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
  • I tried to keep this short, I swear on me mum.
 
If you liked The Stanley Parable, you should try reading If on a winter's night a traveler (Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore), by Italo Calvino. I know it's a really weird comparison, but just trust me on this.

And just because I want to recommend some of literature from my country (if you're not from UK/US, that's a pretty good idea, BTW), Lockdown or Carandiru Lockdown (Estação Carandiru) is a badass book. It's about the years the author spend as a volunteer doctor on a Brazilian prison, closing with the inmates rebellion that resulted in a massacre by the police. The writing has a good sense of style and the stories are interesting and compelling without taking easy ways around the rawness and brutality that surrounds the reality of that place. It's really a modern classic, in my opinion.

Muro said:
  • Honorary mention: Terry Pratchett. I'm not even close to reading all of the works from his "Discworld" series, but those that I read I thoroughly enjoyed. Books characterised by likable characters and a splendid sense of humor, often used to subtly reference sillinesses of society and whatnot.

GOD YES, I've grown up so much and read so many different authors since the first time I read Terry Pratchett, and yet he is still my favorite.
 
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I read an English dictionary on disagreeable English. I forgot the name of it...
 
Glad someone brought this back.
Bought two books recently, Shadows Over Innsmouth, and Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth
Both are anthology books with all stories based on The Deep ones and Innsmouth.
Haven't really dug into it yet, started the first story (The Shadow Over Innsmouth), but I'm enjoying it.
Already considering getting more Lovecraftian Books, oops.
 
Finished Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". A very interesting read. A dystopia that's on one hand disturbing but then on another, somehow tempting. Inspires questions about values and priorities, makes one ponder how many sacrifices does happiness justify. Definitely worth a recommendation.

Currently reading: "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke
 
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For Lovecraft stuff, I'd look for some of the collection stuff from August Derleth. Lots of interesting history stuff related to Lovecraft's stories. I'd look for the Lurker at the Threshold collection. Hell, it's got a straight up sci-fi story written by Lovecraft, as well as some of the stuff he ghost wrote.

If you're looking for good literature, I'd just use Thug Notes as a reading list: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6-ymYjG0SU0jUWnWh9ZzEQ

Heinlein's For Us, the Living is an interesting sci-fi take on society and customs.

If you're looking for some biographies, Edmund Morris has some great books. Theodore Rex and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt are two of the best non-fiction books I've read in a while.

I'll go down my bookshelf later for other recomendations

EDIT: I misremembered the Lovecraft collection. It's the Doom that Came to Sarnath collection that has all kinds of crazy old stuff.

Also, read Pooh and the Philosophers by J.T. Williams. Really good read. I'm currently slogging through Paradise Lost, but it's not very good. If you want decent biblical fan fiction, The Divine Comedy is much better and the obtuseness at least has the excuse of not being written in English. Any decent copy will have good notations so you understand the political side of Dante's work too.
 
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I'm not too sure about Derleth, his contributions and attempt to categorize the Mythos themselves are VERY Controversial.
Though, I gotta hand it to him.
He's the one who got Hastur and the Yellow Sign into the mythos.
And that's my second favorite thing
 
I recently picked up a copy of the princess bride. I am wondering something, Should I watch the movie and then read the book or read the book and then watch the film, or will it not matter either way?
 
Cybermanworf said:
I recently picked up a copy of the princess bride. I am wondering something, Should I watch the movie and then read the book or read the book and then watch the film, or will it not matter either way?
Either way you're gonna see a great as Hell movie.
 
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