Recommend a read

[tangerine]

There's a favorite books/authors thread, so there may as well be a recommendation thread to spread around some good literature. Try to include a summary or a few comments on the book(s) you're recommending in order to captivate potential readers.

My first recommendation is a book entitled Stuff White People Like (subtitled the definitive guide to the unique taste of millions) by Christian Lander. I suppose it can be considered racist, but it's surprisingly dead-on. (There's even a list at the end that you can go through to see just how "White" you are.) I can assure you that many fit right in to the mixture, so I can assume that most of you will either check it out due to curiosity or keep away from it out of fear of finding out how unoriginal you are. (Curiosity is usually stronger.)

Dacon, you should read it just to laugh at everyone. (Although even you might actually be whiter than you think.)

 

[Countess Ariadne]

Re: Reccommend a read

The list is actually available online:

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

I admit that it is pretty accurate. XD

I recommend the book that I'm reading right now, but only if you like US history, even just a little bit. Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson. Unlike a lot of non-fiction, the writing style isn't very pretentious.

 

[tangerine]

Re: Reccommend a read

That's not the full list, but it does have some points on it. I'm particularly interested in seeing how many people from this forum can relate to "Japan" and "Asian Girls".

 

[Shademp]

Re: Reccommend a read

"The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice.
I don't want to spoil anything. It is way superior from the book before it, "Interview with the Vampire". Believe me, you won't be bored when reading about Lestat.

 

[An Unknown Man]

Re: Reccommend a read

Books are for pussies and women.

 

[Max Payne]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=pornography link=topic=435.msg12432#msg12432 date=1233287816]


Dacon, you should read it just to laugh at everyone. [/quote]

Sorry, but apparently I don't read anything that doesn't involve rape or violence.

(Although even you might actually be whiter than you think.)

What a silly thing to say, considering my mother is white.

 

[An Unknown Man]

Re: Reccommend a read

Wait, I think I remember you being half black now. I didn't know your mother was white though.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Re: Reccommend a read

2666 by Roberto Bolaño.

I've only read one of its five "books" so far, but I can already tell that whoever called it the best novel of the year (while published in Spanish in 2004, the translation wasn't released until 2008) was understating the case for this novel by quite a bit. Best novel of the decade is more like it; this is the first work I've ever read that legitimately deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the works of Pynchon, with the added benefit of containing a character who could be Pynchon himself. (Which also reminds me I need to finish Gravity's Rainbow after I finish this). Bolaño's work also recalls Borges' use of metafiction, although the magical realism present in some of Borges' work is decidedly absent in the hyper-realist Bolaño. The translation is also of excellent quality, although maybe one of these days I'll finally unlazy myself to learn enough Spanish to be able to comprehend the original.

Bolaño died in 2003, apparently shortly before he could put the final touches on this novel, so it has a raw and unfinished feel at parts of it, but in some ways, that only adds to its effectiveness. R.I.P.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Re: Reccommend a read

With its film adaptation currently in production slated for a 2009 release, I'll recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's probably one of my favorite novels. It's a narrative about a journey taken by a father and his son through a post apocalyptic America. It's written in an unorthodox style, but it's not difficult to read at all. With my thoughts of the novel aside, The Road was named the best work of the past 25 years. Also, Harold Bloom named Cormac McCarthy one of the four major American novelists of our time, along with DeLillo, Pynchon, and Philip Roth.

Some other notable works by McCarthy would be Blood Meridian, which has been hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, but I haven't read it yet. I have read McCarthy's Child of God, and No Country for Old Men(the novel which the film was based). Both are excellent, so I'd suggest them as well.

 

[H]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=Alex The Southerner link=topic=435.msg12482#msg12482 date=1233303267]
Wait, I think I remember you being half black now. I didn't know your mother was white though.
[/quote]

I heard once that the other half was raised by wolves.

I'm particularly interested in seeing how many people from this forum can relate to "Japan" and "Asian Girls".

What if you already are Japanese, and by default Asian?

 

[Max Payne]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=H link=topic=435.msg12578#msg12578 date=1233344987]
[quote author=Alex The Southerner link=topic=435.msg12482#msg12482 date=1233303267]
Wait, I think I remember you being half black now. I didn't know your mother was white though.
[/quote]

I heard once that the other half was raised by wolves.

I'm particularly interested in seeing how many people from this forum can relate to "Japan" and "Asian Girls".

What if you already are Japanese, and by default Asian?
[/quote]

I love you too.

 

[Super Mario]

Re: Reccommend a read

I don't relate to Japan. I relate to Asian girls. *slurp slurp*

I've not known a good book to read in a while, other than the Murakami works H has recommended a long time ago....

I wish someone would write comedy for once though. Doom: Repercussions of Evil was one funny novel. If anyone can call it that...

 

[Countess Ariadne]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=Cookie Monster link=topic=435.msg12557#msg12557 date=1233325164]
With its film adaptation currently in production slated for a 2009 release, I'll recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's probably one of my favorite novels. It's a narrative about a journey taken by a father and his son through a post apocalyptic America. It's written in an unorthodox style, but it's not difficult to read at all. With my thoughts of the novel aside, The Road was named the best work of the past 25 years. Also, Harold Bloom named Cormac McCarthy one of the four major American novelists of our time, along with DeLillo, Pynchon, and Philip Roth.

Some other notable works by McCarthy would be Blood Meridian, which has been hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, but I haven't read it yet. I have read McCarthy's Child of God, and No Country for Old Men(the novel which the film was based). Both are excellent, so I'd suggest them as well.
[/quote]

I tried reading No Country for Old Men, since I had been pretty impressed by the movie, but the writing style really turned me off. The lack of quotation marks/etc. bothered me.

But I can see why a lot of people do like it.

"The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice.
I don't want to spoil anything. It is way superior from the book before it, "Interview with the Vampire". Believe me, you won't be bored when reading about Lestat.

The Vampire Lestat and Interview with the Vampire are pretty good... I can't stand anything else she's written, though. Way too pretentious.

That's not the full list, but it does have some points on it. I'm particularly interested in seeing how many people from this forum can relate to "Japan" and "Asian Girls".

I'd like to visit Japan, but I wouldn't want to live there for any extended length of time.

...I don't like sushi. *Shot.*

 

[Tennyo]

Re: Reccommend a read

@Road: is that how you got you name?

Anyway, as for books. I just read a really interesting one called The Thorn of Arimathea by Frank Slaughter. It takes place two thousands years ago at the height of the Roman Empire. The main character is a man named Quintis who is the royal physician to the emperor, who is old and ill. Word of Jesus' healing abilities had just reached the emperor, and so he sends Quintis out to find him and bring him back to heal him. Only when Quintis goes to find him he discovers that Jesus was already crucified two years before hand. Oops.

And so then there's a lot of political drama involving a con man and Pontius Pilate. A lot goes on in the book in a very short time but the vast majority of it is commentary and descriptions of what Europe was like at this period of time, and believe me Quintis travels all over. Very interesting. It makes me want to go read history books more often. It never gets boring, either.

And for the romantics there is a love story. Another prominent character is Veronica of the Miraculous Veil, whom you Catholics may be familiar with. Her and Quintis fall in love. ooo :-*

 

[tangerine]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=H link=topic=435.msg12578#msg12578 date=1233344987]
What if you already are Japanese, and by default Asian?
[/quote]
Then you have every right to be obsessed with yourself.

[quote author=Countess Ariadne link=topic=435.msg12826#msg12826 date=1233419597]
...I don't like sushi. *Shot.*
[/quote]
There's another item on the list called "Asian Fusion Foods".

 

[Max Payne]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=pornography link=topic=435.msg12873#msg12873 date=1233431629]
Then you have every right to be obsessed with yourself.

[/quote]

She's already there.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=Tennyo link=topic=435.msg12838#msg12838 date=1233426707]
@Road: is that how you got you name?
[/quote]

Yarly, I had just finished reading the book the day I joined ACF, and I also read some french quote talking about some road, so I used it as a username.

I hate it now, for it lacks sense. I prefer to be called Rodin, pronounced Row-Dan, it's French. But it's too late for that now.

 

[looneymoon]

Re: Reccommend a read

...I don't like sushi. *Shot.*

I thought I was the only one o_O

Well, the only books I've been reading as of late are my required readings, but I just finished John Gardner's Grendel for my Lit class. It's a really depressing book, but I think it's definitely worth anyone's time. It's pretty short, I got through the whole thing in about 3 hours or so. Basically it's the story told from the point of view of the monster Grendel originally from the classic Angle-Saxon poem, Beowulf.

Of course, since it's based off the Beowulf so it'd be reccomended to have some familiarity with those characters to get the most out of John Gardner's book.


The last book I read for pleasure was the second book of Phillip Pullman's Sally Lockheart series. They're quite entertaining, actually. The series is a set of mystery novels set in Victorian-era London. They fun, exciting books so I'd reccomend it if you're in the mood for a good page-turner.

 

[Countess Ariadne]

Re: Reccommend a read

How is the Sally Lockheart series compared to His Dark Materials?

 

[Tennyo]

Re: Reccommend a read

I've never heard of this Sally Lockheart. His Dark Materials is pretty good, though. Golden Compass is the best of the three. The Subtle Knife was too short and ended kind of abruptly in my opinion. The Amber Spyglass kinda got really weird but they were all good reads.

Just two things, though.

Spoiler

I was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of killing God. I was kind of glad when God turned out to not really be the bad guy but it was still iffy.

And then I felt really really awkward reading about two twelve-year-olds making out and declaring their love for each other. :/

 

[Cthulhu]

Re: Reccommend a read

HDM is a tad overhyped, I think. The concept and storytelling is good to very good, but they completely fuck it up with fucking up the climax that's been building up over the second and third book. I mean, it's the moast epic war anyone could ever imagine, and he sums it up in just a few pages while the main characters run around through it.

That, and the ending is bawww. Both are imo btw, fyi.

 

[looneymoon]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=Countess Ariadne link=topic=435.msg13333#msg13333 date=1233517508]
How is the Sally Lockheart series compared to His Dark Materials?
[/quote]

It doesn't really compare, imo. I love HDM, and Sally Lockhart doesn't even really come close. But then, they're both very different things. HDM is a fantasy-adventure, and Sally Lockhart is a series mystery novels that deal with murder, drugs, illegal trade and all that other happy stuff.

Of course, I've only read the first two books out of the series of four, so I don't know exactly what the series may escalate to. The first book is called Ruby in the Smoke, and the second is called Shadow in the North.

 

[haichinamie]

Re: Reccommend a read

TRY TWILIGHT! IT'S SO GREAT AND I CAN RELATE SO MUCH WOW

 

[Super Mario]

Re: Reccommend a read

You've become from awesome to totally lulzy.

 

[A]

Re: Reccommend a read

[quote author=Emperor Joker link=topic=435.msg13643#msg13643 date=1233600800]
You've become from awesome to totally lulzy.
[/quote]
Agreed.
And I'm guessing that most preteens here (if there are any) have already read that book and watched the movie and squeal over that... pale guy.