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recommend some books

posted 4 years ago by [deleted]
45 replies | jump to latest

i should be finishing the book i'm currently reading tomorrow afternoon. i'm considering re-reading barbara demick's 'nothing to envy - ordinary lives in north korea,' but i'm not sure i feel like taking on something that dour, particularly since the book i'm finishing, while good & enjoyable, was a bit of a grind to get through.

so throw up some book recommendations. maybe we'll all find something to enjoy.

& if you feel ambitious, you can recommend something for each of the following categories:

1. scientific nonfiction (e.g. "the selfish gene")
2. biography/autobiography
3. modern fiction (e.g. "atonement")
4. sci-fi

[–] Who (5146) 4 years ago

1. Sci nonfiction: Midnight in Chernobyl By Adam Higgenbotham
2. biography: Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
3. Modern fic: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
4. Sci fi - anything by Michael Crichton (esp Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain)

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 4 years ago

1. The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling
2. A Fortunate Life: Autobiography of Robert Vaughn (great insights into 60s Hollywood)
3. Reamde by Neal Stephenson
4. A Deepness in Space by Vernor Vinge

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

i read snowcrash a few months back, and i have to admit i didn't quite get into it. there were elements that i really dug, but there were some long 'myth-making' passages that i found a bit tough to get through tbh. my failing, no doubt, because i know a lot of people really like that book a lot.

maybe i just have a block when it comes to that genre. i recently re-read neuromancer and i found it to be a bit of a slog to get through as well.

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 4 years ago

I love Snowcrash. Stephenson tends to get a little deep in the weeds when he enters exposition mode but I always enjoy it. Not all of Stephenson's stuff is like Snowcrash. He has some very good sci-fi that isn't anything like cyberpunk. I love his Anathem and Seven Eves. I even love his historic fiction The Baroque Cycle series. Stephenson's big weakness, IMO, is his beginnings. Many of his books start with a different tone than than the rest of the book or just weird. My recommendation of Reamde isn't even sci-fi (thus in the #3 category)

I agree that Neuromancer suffers a bit on a re-read. Gibbson often has style-over-substance in his books but I like the style enough to not care too much. Gibbson's books are perfect plane trip books. Not the best re-reads. His later contemporary Blue Ant era was too sleepy for me. Low payoff.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century

https://www.amazon.com/President-Assassin-McKinley-American-Century-ebook/dp/B004J4WN2Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ECDTTLX8P2YA&dchild=1&keywords=the+president+and+the+assassin&qid=1590020854&s=books&sprefix=the+president+and+%2Caps%2C192&sr=1-1

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 4 years ago

An Illustrated Guide to the Turtles of the Rhoyne River and it's Tributaries - George Har Har Martin

[–] captainbucky (15252) 4 years ago

I’d love some ideas for new biographies.

[–] GlenEllyn (21144) 4 years ago

If you want something to restore your faith in humanity:

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede, about how the residents of Gander, Newfoundland came to the aid of more than 6000 air travelers when US airspace was closed after the 9/11/01 attacks on New York City.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

ah, i've heard great things about this book, & have had it recommended a few times.

good recommendation!

[–] ShogunofYonkers (72596) 4 years ago

Watership Down
Wiseguy (if you like Mafia stories)
The Hobbit
A Song Of Ice And Fire series (it's not yet finished and may never be...the author is old and a slow writer)

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

watership down is something i've had on my someday pile for a long time. i remember really enjoying it in high school. the only reason i haven't is that i've been focusing on things that i can just dip into & knock off quickly. but maybe now's the time.

i have to make a decision today. all suggestions provided in this thread are under consideration.

[–] Padeen (6459) 4 years ago

For biography, Dersu the Trapper.