Dec 16, 2007 5:53 PM GMT
I'd appreciate (fiction & non-fiction), thanks!
Any advice on books recently published?
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Dec 16, 2007 5:53 PM GMT -
Dec 16, 2007 6:33 PM GMTWell, I suppose it would heavily depend on what your likes/dislikes are. Most of what I read is non-fiction, anyway.
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker provides insight into the use of language as a window into human nature and social interactions. Witty intellectual humor, if that's your preference.
If you're a fan of politics, though not too recent, around 2003, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky. I think the subtitle speaks for itself. He has plenty of other works.
I don't know. Some topics of interest on your part would help the selection quite a bit =P
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Dec 16, 2007 7:12 PM GMTThanks man,
I'm so not into politics -
but i'm very much intrigued by the first title
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Dec 16, 2007 7:16 PM GMTTad Williams - Otherland series.
Sort of a story following a cast of characters going into the future version of the internet, a complete virtual reality. Complete with evil figures attempting to create their own eternal virtual paradise at the expense of people's lives. It's a dark series, brings out much of the more brutal and violent side of people attempting to get what they want at any cost. 4 book series.
He has 2 other series, one of them only recently put out called Shadowplay, and the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (which is really 4 books as the last book is split) Both of these are more typical high fantasy of the LOTR type.
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Dec 16, 2007 7:22 PM GMTI love reading books... my great escape. Currently reading "The Brooklyn Follies" by Paul Auster. I really like it so far.
A few other novels, published in the past few years, that I've really enjoyed or have been told are great by others.
1. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
2. The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
3. Anything by Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policeman's Union, the Adventures of Cavalier and Clay, etc.
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Dec 16, 2007 7:33 PM GMTThere's a great, recently published book by Gary Taubes called Good Calories, Bad Calories. -
Dec 17, 2007 12:02 AM GMTThe NYTimes publishes a top ten list and a list of 100 notable books each year, with links to their reviews. -
Dec 17, 2007 12:15 AM GMTMaybe this isn't recent enough, but George Saunders's collection of short stories, Pastoralia, is both the funniest and the bleakest book I have read in a while.
Also, absolutely yes to anything by Michael Chabon. I really liked The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. It's a great book about the uncertainty of finishing college and not knowing what to do next--being terrifyingly free. -
Dec 17, 2007 1:00 AM GMTI'm reading 'City of Fallen Angels' which is about present-day Venice and it's interesting characters. It's by the same guy who wrote 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'.
I also liked 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City' which is a chronical of the occupation of Iraq under L. Paul Bremer's CPA. It's a really fascinating study in ideological arrogance and mismanagment, but the individual stories of some of the people trying their best to make something good happen givin absurd circumstances is amazing in sort of a 'Gulliver's Travels' kind of way.
Hope that helps! ;D -
Dec 17, 2007 3:13 AM GMTBorn on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
Fascinating look inside the mind of an autistic savant written by the savant himself. It is remarkable in that savants can have incredible minds with gifts unique to humanity, but most often are unable to express what is happening in their minds when these gifts are functioning. This is because severe retardation most often accompanies the savant condition. This is why savants are also referred to as idiot savants. The book is not long, but you will have a difficult time putting it down until you finish it. Great human interest story. BTW, Daniel is gay. -
Dec 19, 2007 3:38 PM GMTI can't recommend Tawni O'Dell enough. She writes about people in small towns in Pennsylvania with warmth and wit. Right now I am reading her latest, Sister Mine, about a woman who thought her sister was dead and is surprised by her return, and pregnant to boot. Before that I read Coal Run, which is about a high school hero who returns to his home town to put his life back together. Her first book, Back Roads, is about a young man who takes care of his younger sisters while his mother is in jail for killing his father, and he is having an affair with an older woman. All mix tough stories with O'Dell's trademark humor. She's a great writer. -
Dec 28, 2007 9:08 PM GMT"Death by Black Hole." very good book. dumbs down physics for the average joe. similar to Stephen Hawking's "A Breif History of Time"
