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goshdarnspam2009-12-13 05:28 pm
smash-circuits.livejournal.com) wrote in goshdarnspam2009-12-13 05:28 pm
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So yous guys.
I graduated today. (Well, I walked. I still have three more finals. idk either.)
BUT THE POINT OF THIS POST ISSS. Um. My momma got me a Sony Reader for my graduation. It lets you read books on it. BA in English lol what is that. ANYWAY, she gave me a gift card, too, and I'm eager to try the thing out, so... Because I'm terrible and have forgotten how to read for entertainment or whatnot:
I will compile a list.
PLUS THIS IS A GRAND OPPORTUNITY FOR US ALL TO LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER VIA LITERATURE PREFERENCES. OR WHATEVER.
... I'm excited. >>
She brought me Tiramisu too goddamn I love my mother.
P.S. This is my first post to GDS. Hi.
I graduated today. (Well, I walked. I still have three more finals. idk either.)
BUT THE POINT OF THIS POST ISSS. Um. My momma got me a Sony Reader for my graduation. It lets you read books on it. BA in English lol what is that. ANYWAY, she gave me a gift card, too, and I'm eager to try the thing out, so... Because I'm terrible and have forgotten how to read for entertainment or whatnot:
I will compile a list.
PLUS THIS IS A GRAND OPPORTUNITY FOR US ALL TO LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER VIA LITERATURE PREFERENCES. OR WHATEVER.
... I'm excited. >>
She brought me Tiramisu too goddamn I love my mother.
P.S. This is my first post to GDS. Hi.
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>>>The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes (I'VE READ IT LIKE THREE TIMES WHICH I RARELY DO SO I MEAN I LIKE IT A LOT)
>>>The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes (Sequel, not as good, but really, what sequels are? But it's awesome in it s own right!)
>>>John Dies at the End by David Wong (I never laughed harder out loud at a book ~and~ been genuinely creeped out)
>>>Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (very long, very intriguing history rewrite where a man is trying to bring magic back into the world in I believe 19th century Britain)
>>>World War Z by Max Brooks (I've read it two times, it still creeps me the fuck out, it's so great and believable for a zombie novel)
>>>The Psych novels-----wait no.
IN A SIMILAR VEIN, IF ANYONE KNOWS THESE BOOKS TOO AND HAVE OTHERS LIKE THEM TO SUGGEST ~TO ME~ I COULD REALLY USE NEW BOOKS TO READ. I read too much.
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Anything by Agatha Christie if you like mystery novels
The Pellinor quartet by Alison Croggon (The Naming, The Riddle, The Crow, The Singing)
The Host by Stephenie Meyer IT'S WAY BETTER THAN TWILIGHT AND IT HAS ALIENS
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Couple of things, I'm sure I'll think of more later:
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (YA fiction; still reading it)
Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (literary, contemporary fiction; hilarious and heartbreaking)
Deep Secret, Diana Wynne-Jones (everything she ever writes is awesome, but this is a funny urban fantasy send-up of a wizard at a sci-fi/fantasy convention)
The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Libba Bray (YA Victorian fantasy)
Ash, Melinda Lo (lesbianic retelling of the Cinderella myth)
The Fever series, Karen Marie Moning (hilariously cheesy urban fantasy romance/action/I don't even fucking know)
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Okay, so-- JAPANESE BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
ANYTHING BY JUNICHIRO TANIZAKI especially Naomi which is my fav.
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
I HAVE A TON MORE. START WITH THESE. A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING.
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The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, starting with Quicksilver. (um. THE HISTORY OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD AS IT PERTAINS TO A NATURAL SCIENTIST, THE KING OF THE VAGABONDS, A SPY/STOCKBROKER/EX-HAREM GIRL?)
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (I DON'T CARE IF IT'S FOR TEENS IT'S AWESOME)
The Pillowman by Martin McDonaugh
The Lonesome West by Martin McDonaugh
I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
Ant Farm by Simon Rich
Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson
ummmmmmmmmmmmmm yeah. IDK.
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>Dune - the first three (Dune, Messiah of Dune, and Children of Dune) for absolute certain. The next three (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapter House) if you get really invested in the characters. DO NOT touch the prequels/sequels unless you can stand the writing and REALLY want to see how things end/began. Which I did, but I still want to set Kevin J Anderson on fire.
>Discworld - any of them. They're just hilarious and yet thoughtful.
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"Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel" (http://www.jonathanstrange.com/) by Susanna Clarke (Revisionist history of England where magic is real but has been forgotten. If Childermass was a real person, I'd probably marry him)
"The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency" (http://www.mccallsmith.com/botswana.htm) by Alexander McCall Smith (A delightfully charming series of books about two women in Botswana who decide to start a detective agency)
The Dresden Files (first book is Storm Front) by Jim Butcher (Fantasy fun about a harried wizard who can never get electronics to work for him)
UMMM Goodreads is a great site if you want to find good books: www.goodreads.com
Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (Which is the story of a young boy and his father, a story teller, who has lost his Gift of Gab. Short and sweet and absolutely hilarious)
An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet (How Her Royal Highness the Queen started to read books)
Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock, but that's a seriously interactive book and you NEED to have the physical in your hand because half the fun is pulling open the letters inside
OH I FORGOT ANYTHING BY WALLY LAMB
OH OH AND Inkheart by Cornelia Funkheart (about a little girl who's dad can read books to life IGNORE THE MOVIE)
IDK I HAVE A TON I'll rec more if you'd like
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I still get confused when I read it.
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The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Waifs and Strays by Charles de Lint
Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev
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/buys
/comes back for the rest later.
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Cat's Cradle; Kurt Vonnegut
you know, just put anything by Kurt Vonnegut here
Catch-22; Joseph Heller
The entire works of Franz Kafka
Also pretty much anything by Hunter S. Thompson, though Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an absolute must - the movie IS fucking great, but that doesn't mean you should pass up the book in favor of it
Neuromancer; William Gibson
Oblivion; David Foster Wallace
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OR BOOKS ON COMIC HISTORY
OR JUST HISTORY IN GENERAL
LOLOLOLOLIMAHISTORYGEEK
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The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon - that's the name of the trilogy.
Villains By Necessity, by Eve Forward. Probably my most favorite book ever, out of print and impossible to find in paper without paying an arm and a leg for it.
Anything ever by Tamora Pierce because she's wonderful.
The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams.
Can you tell I like fantasy? Those are what's on my brain right now. I might have more for you later~
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Urhurr.
Trilogies are popular these days, huh?
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Novels:
A Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeiner
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, by Aimee Bender (actually, these are short stories - one of them is here (http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bender-skirt.html), if you're curious. very surreal, very fun!)
The End of Mr. Y, by Scarlett Thomas
Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach (nonfiction)
Plays:
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard
The Birthday Party, by Harold Pinter
Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh (this must go here)
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THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, by Christopher Buckley
Lamb, by Christopher Moore
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Goldfinder (or any other James Bond book), by Ian Fleming
The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Manhunt, by James L. Swanson
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HEY HEY TL;DR
I want more people to read Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory so I won't be so alone. 8'| It's based on the premise of archetypes possessing people temporarily as demons that force them to act out a story (The Captain fights hopeless war battles, The Fat Man eats until he pukes, The Truth wears a fedora and shoots liars). Except this one kid got possessed and the demon never went away. It's full of wierd views on pop culture and Jungian theory. It's lovely.
Basically anything by China Mieville but especially Perdido Street Station and Un Lun Dun. His prose is amazing and his characters are Not Nice People which always appeals to me. Un Lun Dun is a kid's book and not so heavy on the ~rich use of words~ but takes place in anti-London and has a character with the power to control broken umbrellas.
Another vote for Neuromancer which is one of those things you are required by law to read if you want to call yourself a cyberpunk fan.
The Night Watch Series by Sergei Lukyanenko. It's about crazy Russian magicians being really badass and fighting each other. The main characters are a derpy wizard who gets the shit kicked out of him, a derpy enchantress who wants to read and not get dragged into wars, and a fierce bitch who spent fifty years as a stuffed owl.
I recommend anything by Tom Holt, bu Nothing But Blue Skies is my all-time favourite. It explains the United Kingdom's terrible weather by way of irritable Chinese water dragons trying to piss off weathermen.
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The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones are amazing, about... okay to be honest, Chrestomanci is like the fantasy version of Doctor Who. Chrestomanci is a deus-ex-machina. But Christopher Chant is such a smug bastard and the descriptions are wonderful and make you feel like you're there, without being over-the-top-hi-Robert-Jordan. And I love the victorian-era fantasy vibe it's got.
The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik has such a cool and fun take on dragons. IT HAS DRAGONS DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS and they're pretty much airships. But the dragons are so adorable, and giving a curious baby dragon to a stiff British naval officer is always a good idea. They are my favorite BFFs ever.
The Gentleman Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch. Guys the writer named the main character after Locke from FFVI. Need any more reason? Alright. It's all about a band of con men and it's hilarious and gritty and high-octane fantasy. Don't ask what that means it's just what a review of it said. But seriously, the characters and dialogue is so much fun, and there are so many moment when you think they're well and truly fucked until it turns out that they weren't near as fucked as they are now and. It's wonderful
The Mistborne Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson is also amazing. The ending was hands-down the best ending of a series I've read. Ever. The main character is all kinds of badass and YOU GUYS I SHIP THE ROMANCE IN THIS SO HARD. But it's a great story, a cool magic system, fun dialogue and characters, and some things from the first book come up in the last book that I did not see in a million years.
A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin. HEY GUESS WHAT BOOKS MY CANON IS INSPIRED BY. These books are not happy. Ever. It's grim high-fantasy where the story is pretty much "rocks fall everyone dies." But the politics and intrigue and just everything keep me reading them. I have such a love/hate relationship with these books you guyssss.
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Your comment hadn't appeared when I started typing. Great minds? XD
And yes, I am seconding this.
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Here's what I can think of off the top of my head.
The Temeraire series (starting with His Majesty's Dragon) by Naomi Novik. Napoleonic Wars + dragons = epic win. I finally started reading this series after people had suggested it for years and am kicking myself for waiting as long as I did.
Also, if you're fond of Shakespeare, the play "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" by Anne-Marie Macdonald is hilarious. The main character tries to fix Othello and Romeo and Juliet from within the plays and basically turns them upside down. (Romeo winds up running around in drag, and that's really the least of the crazy.)
There's more but it may have already been covered, it's freezing in here and I need to get my stuff together for the week. :)