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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Suggestions for any good books...?

undergroundbeauty

04:23 / 09.05.04

mmk, so basically i just need a really good book to read. my life has been pretty chaotic lately and it would be nice to let the chaos whirl about outside while i read a good book, ya know? well if anyone has any suggestions, lemme know. Thanks!~

11:12 / 09.05.04

Some guidelines, maybe?

Say: What are the last five good books you read?

Whisky Priestess

13:46 / 09.05.04

Classics: Thackeray's Vanity Fair is totally absorbing and very good: I stayed up all night to read it one holiday.

Sci Fi: Anything by Asimov is usually pretty gripping. Michael Marshall Smith, Only Forward or Spares.

Thriller: Vienna Blood by ... um, someone or other. Adrian Someone?

Romance: I have no idea. None at all. I can't even think of any names except for Barbara Cartland and Jean Plaidy.

Literary: Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks. Anything by Simon Raven.

Humour: Anything by PG Wodehouse, Saki, or Stephen Fry (esp. The Hippopotamus).

Historical: Arts & Wonders, Gregory Norminton

Short stories: Can't go wrong with Will Self, unless you read any of his novels.

unheimlich manoeuvre

23:50 / 09.05.04

Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

23:58 / 09.05.04

Haruki Murakami is always fun.

02:25 / 10.05.04

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

I'm not being paid so I'm not going to do a review, but it's really very good.

But, WP, do you honestly rate Vanity Fair ? I'm prepared to be convinced ( ish ) but it always struck me as a text book example of what not to write about, never having been a big fan of the intrusive narrative voice. Also " Dobbin " well what's he going to be like ? Answers on a postcard. Becky Sharpe is more than likely going to be a bit... Er, sharp.

Although there is this possibility that I don't really know what on earth I'm going on about.

02:38 / 10.05.04

I was enthralled by the anti-romanticism in Sahara unveiled: a journey across the desert by William Langewiesche

09:34 / 10.05.04

Hummm...
Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa
Shibumi, by Trevanian
Davo's Little Something, by Robert G. Barrett
Mates of Mars, by David Foster
Damn, these are all basically martial arts stories, aren't they? Sigh. I really am a one trick horse. Right, I'm off before I start drivelling on about Peter O'Donnell and Erik Van Lustbader...

Whisky Priestess

18:23 / 10.05.04

Alex, yeah, I have to admit that I do think VF rocks, and I don't find the predictive character names get in the way, because the characters themselves are sufficiently complex and interesting to transcend them - mind you, I also quite enjoy Restoration comedy and don't object to quite a bit of Dickens.

I just think it's very well written - unputdownable, in fact ... which reminds me:

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

07:39 / 11.05.04

David Attenborough's memoir Life On Air is a really calming read. Funny in places, fascinating throughout. High recommended.

16:45 / 12.05.04

If you like fast-paced novels with biting social commentary try "Invisible Monsters" by Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fightclub) – About a fashion model who is disfigured in a free way accident, secretly feeds her ex-boyfriend female hormones as a form of revenge and invents various scams together with her transsexual brother. Hilarious. Wicked. You will read it in one sitting.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:27 / 13.05.04

Because it is so insubstantial.

05:32 / 14.05.04

if you haven't read delillo's 'white noise', you should. this is always my recommendation when someone wants a book to read...

No star here laces

05:49 / 14.05.04

I enjoy books that are totally absorbing and satisfyingly rich. Stuff I've really rated recently that you could try would be:

Arundhati Roy - "The God of small things"

Deserves all the praise it's had heaped on it. Utterly amazing in every way and philosophically complete, which is very rare.

Roberto Calasso - "The marriage of Cadmus and Harmony"

Part novel, part academic treatise on the ancient greeks and utterly enthralling. A very very profound thinker and a book that will keep you going for months - it's one of those where it's a pleasure to have to read every page several times over before you fully understand the ramifications, and there are a hell of a lot of pages.

Neal Stephenson - "Cryptonomicon"

Another book that was deservedly a phenomenon. Fun, and thoughtful at the same time.

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials trilogy

Reading this should be compulsory.

08:25 / 14.05.04

Amen to the Dark Trilogies recommendation. It knocks Harry Potter right off his Nimbus.

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:48 / 14.05.04

The Iliad fucking rocks, and at the point where the bland squad are gleefully tranquilising the Troy story, the original, even in translation, is a whole world of sock-knocking beat.

The Photographer in Blowup

16:18 / 15.05.04

The Seven Madmen, by Roberto Arlt.

It'll teach you how to financially support a secret organisation hellbent on opression through a national chain of brothels.

19:44 / 16.05.04

For quick and fun:
Grimwood's Pashazade is great
Pratchett's new kids books. They kick the botty of his adult stuff these days. Much tighter and less indulgent.

stephen_seagull

21:28 / 22.05.04

My favourite books of the moment are 'The Greatest Gift' by Danny Leigh. And 'Joseph Andrews' by Henry Fielding. But I'm sure that's not any help. Still, if it is, I'd go for the former rather than the latter.

17:07 / 24.05.04

I just read The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, which has one of the scariest fucking scenes in it I've ever read. It's a good book.

23:45 / 24.05.04

My latest find is Kelly Link, recommended by Bruce Sterling a few weeks ago at one of his book signings. This lady's got the real stuff, I tell you.

Check out Strange Things Happen available from Small Beer Press.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:03 / 25.05.04

I know I say this every fucking time someone asks me what they should read, but it's ALWAYS my honest answer- Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar. My favourite book in the world. Only trouble is, you'll cane it in a couple of hours, so if you're wanting something bigger to occupy your reading time...

...hmm. David Zindell's "Neverness" series are wonderful if you like SF. Or, indeed, fantasy. Or pure maths (though don't let that last one put you off if you don't...)

Or, if you've not read them before, William Burroughs' trilogy "Cities of the Red Night", "The Place of Dead Roads" and "The Western Lands". Read 'em back to back. And then wonder why they're among his least famous books, when they are blatantly the best things he ever wrote. (Without wishing spoilage, there's a point in "Western Lands" where he quotes TS Eliot- no surprise there- but that part of the book always makes me cry. Then laugh. Sometimes both at once.)

13:54 / 25.05.04

weeel it depends what yr after but here are are a few of my favourites...

The Illiminatus! Trilogy- robert anton wilson and robert shea
(i read this when i was younger and definitely need to read it again... as i think i only understood about 20% of what was going on, yet STILL i thoroughly enjoyed it. features dicordianism, the illuminati, a giant golden submarine, adventure, conspiracy, and lots of sex)

The Book of Revelation- rupert thomson
(very dark, concisely, brilliantly written and structured tale of a man's abduction and sexual abuse at the hands of three mysterious women, and how he copes with the world afterwards. set in contemporary amsterdam)

Crime and Punishment- fyodor dostoevsky
(i bought it for £2 and never looked back. get transported to 18th/19th century st.petersburg and into the tortured mind of a man struggling to come to terms with his actions in a world that makes no sense. powerful, heavyweight, but very readable)

American Gods- neal gaiman
(an incredibly enjoyable read and especially recommended if you want something a bit more magickal. dark adult fantasy, frequently hilarious.)

06:17 / 26.05.04

Second the Illuminatus! Trilogy - fantastic.

The Man Who Was Thursday - brilliant book (sorry, I'm terrible with names so can never remember authors DG Chesterton I think?).

Black Dahlia - James Ellroy, started reading his stuff recently because of another thread on Barbelith, so far it reads very easily, really good characters very impressed.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

10:42 / 26.05.04

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, A half-century spanning story of Greek immigrants to America, their children and grandchildren and the quirk of inbreeding that makes their grand-daughter different. Coming of age, first loves, families, biology.

The Straw Men by Michael Marshall. Thriller, a man goes home for the funeral of his parents only to find messages from them that they aren't dead and that they had secrets that put his life in jeopardy in the present. Meanwhile an ex-cop and a friend from the FBI are trying to find a serial killer known as 'The Delivery Boy' who abducts young girls then kills them weeks later. It's hampered slightly as the ex-cop tracked down and killed 'The Delivery Boy' several years previously. It's standard serial-thriller stuff but very well written.

White Apples by Jonathan Carroll. Fantasy realism, Vincent dies and then, to his surprise, comes back to life. He has lessons to teach his unborn son in order that he can grow up and stop the destruction of the universe. Unfortunately Vincent can't remember anything that happened while he was dead and the universe is already starting to break down.

These books should be available anywhere that they've developed the technology to make books and the opposable thumbs to turn the pages.