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votes
Book recommendations, specifically
(A follow-up to Game recommendations, specifically)
This is a topic for book recommendations, but not just any standard book recommendations.
This is a topic for book recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.
Maybe you're looking for a certain type of story that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a book that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.
Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend books that fit it.
I am looking for books that feature an anomalous forbidden zone where people aren’t supposed to go because of weirdness and/or danger.
Examples of what I’m looking for include: Roadside Picnic and Annihilation.
Since it technically fits, I'll jump at the chance to recommend Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. A group of people on the last pilgrimage to a mysterious place called the Time Tombs on the distant planet Hyperion, a set of ancient structures that move backwards through time, before the government shuts down all access to them. Each has their own history with the Tombs, revealed as short stories while they make their journey.
The City & The City by China Mieville
Works for Railsea, The Scar and Iron Council too, all by the same author.
Not to mention Un Lun Dun, Embassytown and arguably The Last Days of New Paris as well. It's a trope Mieville uses a lot.
Unrelated to the original request but did you hear China Mieville has written a book with Keanu Reeves which is out later this year?
No, I can't say I have. That's not a pairing I would have expected.
My first idea as well.
A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
Sad to read this today.
I think Alastair Reynolds' Terminal World might fit the bill for you. It's quite a fun adventure story with a really unique setting and some interesting ideas throughout.
From the Wiki page:
This is the only book I’m aware of to take a serious look at the mechanics of how a steampunk universe could exist. Great read, I love everything he writes.
Not a book, but you may be interested in or amused by Nightvale, a podcast that features a few similar zones.
One of the sections of Cloud Atlas has this
The Raven’s Mark series by Ed McDonald. The Misery is a messed up zone left behind by a magical nuke, basically. Things get really weird and really dangerous there.
Wool might be a good one for that description.
Books with realistic space battles, where physics actually matter and distances aren't so short you can see the colour of the enemy pilot's eyes. Preferably low-to-mid tech, no Culture-level books where technology is so advanced it's basically magic - combat is realistic though. Engagements last milliseconds when AI-powered ships hurtle themselves at each others at relativistic speeds and hiding in the corona of a sun is a perfectly viable tactic.
The Expanse has no shields, realistic G-forces and all that.
Vatta's War has hyperjumps, but communication is still realtime, as is scanning the environment. Debris from destroyed ships and munitions is an actual issue. Multi-ship engagements aren't trivial things.
In Spiral Wars they have magic jump tech, but G-forces are a major factor as is breaking/accelerating. You can't just rush at an enemy at 0.9C and hit the brakes, you'll fly out and it'll take you half a day to brake and come back in. Movement vectors of ordinance and ships are an issue, a big part of combat is predicting where your enemy might be 30 minutes from now and putting a bunch of explodey stuff there.
Honor Harrington books also have pretty realistic space battles, it's been a while since I read any so can't remember the specifics.
What you are describing is everything in Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series. Vast time scales, no FTL, plausible mechanics for space battles, depending on which exact book you may encounter Culture-level technology but definitely not all of them.
"We Are Legion (We Are Bob)," which is the first book in a series, has some good space combat that your post reminded me of, and is an overall enjoyable book (although space combat is probably only 10% of it or so).
Minor spoiler: The first three books have a decent amount in this same vein. It's pretty pulpy and the dialogue is... imperfect (shrugs, raises eyebrows), but it's a quick, fun sci-fi romp. Recommended.
Yea, the Bobiverse doesn't really have space combat as such. Good books though.
(There's a new one out too!)
I've only read the first one but it absolutely has space combat.
I enjoyed (a while ago so I'm not sure if they still hold up as well as I recall) the Caine series by author Charles E Gannon. Very hard Sci fi which had the focus on the physics of space travels and battles that I think you're looking for. I gave it extra points for detailed technical schematics for the space craft in the books.
Mars. I want books that feature the planet Mars. It could be aliens from Mars like The War of the Worlds or it could be humans on Mars like The Martian or A Princess of Mars. I'm interested in how the portrayal of Mars in fiction has changed over time, so a book where they go to Mars and then to Venus would still be relevant, but something like 2001: A Space Odyssey where they skip from the moon to Jupiter/Saturn would not fit.
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson! Very interesting sci-fi series taking you from humans landing on Mars though the first years of settlement fully terra forming the planet. Highly recommend.
Second for the Mars trilogy. It is fantastically detailed in the science and explores some deep cultural themes as well.
Slightly off-topic, but I read the first book and didn't continue because the series dragged a little for me. Would you recommend picking the series back up, or does it basically continue in the same vein?
I think it depends on what you enjoy / want to get out of them. It's been a long time since I read them, but what I recall that the first book was about half earth politics manifesting in the teams from various countries and half delving into technological aspects of colonization. The realism of that (that you can imagine it happening at way) is one of the things I love about his writing. The later books are heavier on Martian politics which is more abstract because they are all made up groups. I also seem to remember that the beginning of the sequels is a big jump forward in time, and you're dropped into a bunch of new situations, so it takes some time to connect things back to things from the first book.
I just finished reading KSR's Red Moon, and I really enjoyed it. It's kind of a love letter to Chinese culture but still with that nice delve into (lunar) colonization technology. Reading it has made me want to go back and reread the Mars books, so maybe that would be a good place to start?
A couple on my TBR:
DNF'd this series because I hated one of the MCs in book 1, but they end up on Mars:
The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke should fit well here.
Podkayne of Mars by Heinlein,
Stranger in a Strange Land
A Martian Odyssey might fit the bill. It's a pretty quick read from the 30's and is pretty unique in being an early depiction of aliens as something other than a plot device. I can agree with a critique that the plot is pretty thin, but it is a short story and it will fit with an earlier depiction of Mars.
We Can Remember it for You Wholesale by Philip K Dick. Which you might recognise as the book which got turned in the movie Total Recall, but while that is an excellent film, there's some more depth and nuance to the book.
I'd like to know what are the best wh40k novels to start with?
I'm pretty familiar with the setting from general exposure, video games, and a little bit of table top but I'd like to try some of the novels out.
I don't like anything especially pulpy, so it needs to be a good book, not just a good Warhammer book. Nor do I want to read 1,000 pages of orders of battle and battle descriptions but obviously some is fine. Basically I'm just looking for a quality book set in-universe that does a good job of depicting the flavour and feel of 40k.
wh40k gets asked about pretty frequently on /r/fantasy so I searched and found this post - I've never gotten into it so no personal endorsement here other than that /r/fantasy recs are usually good
I typically enjoy sci-fi and historical fiction and love human/character-centric world building. Recently I have been branching out and enjoying fiction in other genres. I’m wondering if there are books similar to some of the tense contemporary political shows I’ve been enjoying like The Diplomat and The West Wing?
It's not contemporary and it is tragic for unjust reasons. Advise and Consent by Drury is like the West Wing. It is also a story about a gay man in an unjust time.
I’m currently reading Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, and I just finished a section that went into detail about Advise and Consent which was the first I had ever heard of the book. To see it recommended here mere hours later is quite the coincidence! Do you think it still reads well today?
It's been at least 15 years since I read it, but if you are ok with a brick of a novel like Shogun, then yes.
It's all about life in Congress. The gay aspects are hidden until they are not.
I just looked it up and it seems fantastic. Thank you for the recommendation. I've placed a hold on it and plan to read it after I've finished The Expanse series.
It is the best written political novel I know.
Try Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy [minor spoilers]. Character-driven, deeply political, and rich in historical detail.
Wow looks awesome! I've queued it up. From the synopsis it reminds me of some of my favorite books, The Baroque Cycle series by Neal Stephenson, which actually feature Cromwell in passing too! Can't wait to dig in—thank you!
I would like recommendations for books that explore the idea of timeloops. Either people stuck in a daily timeloop (think Groundhog Day, Palm Springs) or a longer timeloop, such as constantly being reborn into the the same loop on death.
So far, I have really enjoyed these books:
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.
And when he woke and he was 18 again, with all his memories of the next 25 years intact. He could live his life again, avoiding the mistakes, making money from his knowledge of the future, seeking happiness.
Until he dies at 43 and wakes up back in college again...
Recursion, by Blake Crouch has an interesting take on something similar to time loops.
You might like The 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling what I think is an inventive and fun story. It's got a timeloop in it and it's like a murder mystery thing. I enjoyed it a lot and recommend it to people all the time.
I would've recommended this one if TreeBone hadn't already. It's a great read, I ripped through it in two days.
Thank you. I've not come across that one. I really appreciate you not giving away any spoilers. I think your short description is plenty for me to know that I'll probably enjoy it.
I'd love some good non-fiction books with elements of horror/crime/disaster in some way. Similar to The Devil in the White City (or any of Erik Larson's books), Unbroken, or American Kingpin.
Have you read Killers of the Flower Moon?
Yes! Loved that one.
I recently read The Malazan Book of the Fallen and I was absolutely blown away at the characters, dialogue, worldbuilding, and the overall satisfaction of the 10-book-long story arc. This is the first fantasy series that feels closer to literature than just "fantasy". Has anyone experienced something similar in the sci-fi or fantasy space? Or even just read any book series at all with a sprawling, deeply human cast and coherent, satisfying plot?
I don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for, as Malazan is (in my experience of the first three books) much more of a sweeping epic lots of supernatural/magical elements and general world-building.
But my recommendation, based on your request for a deeply human cast and coherent, satisfying plot, is Joe Abercrombie. Starting with The Blade Itself as book one of the first trilogy, then moving through three one-off books set a few years after the first trilogy ends, and then a second trilogy (starting with A Little Hatred) to wrap it all up about 30 years after the first ends. His world building is not the draw, but the characters are fantastic, his writing style is fast and fun, and he does an amazing job of turning the standard fantasy tropes on their heads in provocative and amusing ways. I have highly recommended these books to all of my fantasy nerds, and so far nobody has disliked them!
Have you read The Black Company by Glen Cook yet? The Bridgeburners in Malazan were heavily inspired by those books. IMO it's not nearly as good as Malazan (which is by far my favorite fantasy series) but it's still pretty decent, and it's interesting to see the parallels between them.
As for other truly similar fantasy series, there really aren't any that I'm aware of, since Erikson was pretty groundbreaking in terms of how insanely deep his world building was, the sheer scope of the story he tells, and the War & Peace amount of characters in the series. However, the Powder Mage trilogies also have good world building, sweeping scale, a unique magic system, and feature loads of memorable characters. Ditto for Mistborn. Ditto for The Wheel of Time.
As for Scifi, the Dune series probably comes the closest out of everything else to being the most like Malazan. It has similarly great world building, a unique system surrounding space travel and the effects of Spice, the story has similar scope and scale (especially once you get into the later books), and numerous interesting characters, Noble Houses, organizations, peoples, and technologies.
p.s. I second @aer_enigma's recommendation of Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy. It's only similarity to Malazan is the darkness of the setting, and moral greyness of the interesting characters, but it's still very good nonetheless.
Excellent comment! I will definitely check out Brian McClellan (can't believe I haven't heard of him!) and The Black Company. Funny enough, that series is my book-recommending best friend's favorite, and he's been gently suggesting it for years, but I've just always picked up other things. Maybe it's time; cheers!
So, my coworker found out about my reading habit, and long story short, I want to find him a historical fiction book (preferably a series) to read.
He likes historical warfare. WWII, the Roman Empire, ancient China & Japan.
...
Unfortunately that's about all we had time to discuss. He hasn't really picked up a book since high school. I don't read historical fiction, I'm a science fiction / fantasy kind of guy, so I'm kinda hopeless on what's out there. I don't even know if he'll read it, but he asked if I knew of anything and I said "No, but I know some people that might."
Given your coworker hasn't picked up a book since high-school, I would personally recommend them something relatively short and snappy to start with, just to help ease them back into reading again, before I pointed them towards a long series. And to that end, since you mentioned WW2, something like Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut would probably be a good place to start. It's not pure historical fiction since it blends fictionalized autobiographical elements (like the main character, Vonnegut was also a POW in WW2 who survived the firebombing of Dresden) with plenty of scifi and satire elements too. But it's incredibly highly regarded, and considered a genuine American classic for very good reason. Vonnegut is easily my favorite author, and this novel is a prime example of why. So it goes...
But if you are dead set on starting them off with a series, then James Clavell's Asian Saga is near the top of my all-time favorites, and actually overlaps with multiple areas of your coworkers interests (dynastic China, feudal Japan, and WW2). The first book, Shogun (which the new FX miniseries is based on), takes place in Japan during the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The second, Tai-Pan, takes place in crime-ridden Hong Kong shortly after the First Opium War between the British and Qing dynasty, so has a nice blend of ancient & new. The third, Gai-Jin, takes place in Japan starting with the events of the Namamugi Incident, so once again blends ancient & new. The fourth, King Rat, takes place during WW2 and is about allied POWs being held in Japanese occupied Singapore. The fifth, Noble House, is set in the 1960s, International Corporation driven Hong Kong. And the final book, Whirlwind, takes place in late 1970s Tehran, Iran during the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and rise of the Iranian revolution.
For ancient Rome, the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris is pretty much the gold standard for historical fiction. But the Claudius series by Robert Graves is also very good too though.
And for military historical fiction in general, you really can't go wrong with the Sharpe, Hornblower, or Aubrey–Maturin series, which all take place during the Napoleonic Wars.
p.s. For yourself and possible your coworker too, I would also highly recommend the Powder Mage trilogies, which are an excellent blend of magical fantasy and military fiction. They're a great way to start getting into reading more historical military fiction as a fantasy reader. :)
p.p.s. Thanks for the ping, @boxer_dogs_dance
For a really long historical fiction series with fighting, maybe Neil Stephenson's Mongoliad? The latter series is actually a group effort and has pretty realistic battles; he got together with some sword fighting geeks.
There's also the Baroque Cycle, which is more about scientific history, though there is action, too.
@cfabbro, did you see this question?
I can highly recommend the nonfiction Facing the Mountain by Daniel Brown and Lady Death by Pavlichenko re WWII.
So, I haven't read all of his books, mostly just the one, but Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield is about the Battle of Thermopylae and the story of Leonidas and his decisions. I enjoyed that as a historical/military fiction novel and I know he's written quite a few more novels of other battles in a similar vein. It obviously will take some liberties with the history but I'm not a historian and it's better than 300
Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series is very readable and compelling. Criticisms of the historical accuracy are mostly minor, though there's some legitimacy in complaints about the modernity of the characters' motivations.
Seconding /u/cfabbro 's recommendation of the Clavell Asian Saga series - the characters are fascinating and it's relatively easy reading for such dense material.
I'll note that some of the best-written and most highly regarded modern war fiction drives home how horrible war actually is, e.g. Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell To Arms, Vonnegut 's Slaughterhouse Five, Joseph Heller's Catch 22, Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels (U.S. Civil War - all the military fiction details you could possibly want, but ghastly), etc.
I have a request that is both very specific and very vague: I am looking for a book that gives me the same vibes as the Caretaker's 'Everywhere at the End of Time'. This work of music fills me with images of sepia photographs and faded print wallpaper, black and white movies, abandoned parlors and ballrooms. Lots of nostalgia but also loneliness, sadness, and a disturbing undercurrent of mental decline. It all adds up to a really specific feeling for me.
I get snatches of this nostalgic feeling from authors like Vladimir Nabokov, in his more daydream-like moments, or maybe Milan Kundera. But neither of these really evoke the 'psychological horror' element that makes these albums really interesting. On the other hand, there's not much explicit psychological horror genre fiction that is written delicately enough to do the job.
I just gave some of the songs a quick listen, and they are great, glad to learn about them!
I don't know that I have books that really hit all the points. The first thing the music evoked was actually games: BioShock, call of cthulhu, and a few others on the tip of my brain.
After that I thought of writing like Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, and maybe some Victorian era writers like Algernon Blackwood and M.R. James. Specifically, "the glamour of the snow" and "lost hearts."
I swear I know some book that gets closer but can't recall. I'll look over my books tonight and if I find it I'll reply.
Edit: also, not so much on the setting pieces, but Neil Gaiman is good at bittersweet books like Neverwhere.
Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View Of Hills might invoke a similar atmosphere.
For some reason, the music made me of The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. It might not seem obvious at first, but Indent want to say too much about why.
And maybe The Shining Girls by Lauren Buekes
I'm looking for sci fi / speculative fiction with the same vibe as Cordwainer Smith's work. Kinda bizarre, kinda lyrical, imaginative worldbuilding, plenty of detail but nothing superfluous.
I keep seeing Cordwainer Smith and thinking I should read him. Sci-fi novels are my thing but I don't do short stories as much. should I start with Norstrilia or do you think a short story collection is better?
Based on your description, maybe Philip K Dick would be similar? Do androids dream of electric sheep is a good one to start on. A novella that kind of fits your description and an easy quick read. Blade Runner is technically based on it but they're pretty different.
I think it's ok to start with any of Cordwainer Smith's work, he (unfortunately) only has a small body of work anyway so if you get into his writing you'll read through all his material pretty quickly. I don't even remember which short story I started with, but my favorites are A Planet Named Shayol and The Game Of Rat And Dragon. I believe his most famous one is Scanners Live In Vain.
Thanks for the recommendation I'll check out his work!
You might want to try Norman Spinrad or Theodore Sturgeon. I think they are both of similar era and definitely bizarre.
I'll check them out, thank you!
I'm super into the works of David foster wallace if anyone has any recommendations on any other author that you may think similar to him. Also I have a book by James clive called cultural amnesia. Basically a bunch of essays on artists he found important. I really like that format, and would like any recommendations on that sort of nonfiction.
The only David Foster Wallace I've read is the first 1/2 or so of infinite jest. Which I liked but still couldn't finish. But just based on that:
For something similar in terms of unconventional, convoluted, structure. Filled with a bunch of tangents and footnotes. I recommend House of Leaves . Its tone is a little more horror. Its fun but not funny. Dark, lonely, and scary even though it doesn't have horror tropes or monsters or anything, just the tone and setting are terrifying at times.
For something similar in tone to Infinite Jest in terms of being funny, cynical, satire, commentary, a little sci fi, and with good characters, I would suggest anything by Kurt Vonnegut?
Some of my favorites are Slaughterhouse five, Cats Cradle, The Sirens of Titan, Galápagos.
I've never read a Vonnegut book I didn't like.
Check out A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Plava. It's the closest contemporary novel I've found that gives me the same vibe as IJ.
I also am a big fan of anything by Roberto Bolaño. Not the same vibe, but his prose is just as impressive and enjoyable. I actually prefer Bolaño over DFW come to think of it...
Beyond that, I guess you could give Pynchon a look (although reading his work hurts my brain...). Don DeLilo is fun (DFW claimed to be trying to do what DD does when it comes to fiction). And I've always considered Jonathan Franzen to be a lighter version of DFW.
I'm looking for stories centred around heists and con artistry. I adore Ocean's Eleven and Hustle and retain a very romantic perception of the idea of doing large scale robberies and cons with only wit and guile, where the full plan is only revealed at the end. Bonus points if there is a "putting a crew together" segment. Bonus bonus points if there is a sci-fi and/or fantasy setting!
These may not all have the "twist" but they're all con/heist fantasies, most with a "crew" of some sort.
I've read and broadly enjoyed all of these.
Lies of Lock Lamora
Six of Crows
The Mask of Mirrors
Mistborn
Clockwork Boys
Not quite what you're looking for but feels similar:
Traitor's Blade - they're being framed for the crime and have to solve it - disgraced good guys, framed as criminals. So it's like a reverse heist!
Amazing, thanks!
You might enjoy Steven Brust's "Vlad Taltos" fantasy series. There's endless caper plots with a complicated anti-hero main character and an assortment of "putting a crew together" scenes with an interesting recurring cast of miscreants.
The first book of the Queen's thief series.
Con/heist SF
The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison
Less con/heist but close Phules Company by Robert Asprin
And I agree with the Taltos fantasy recommendation.