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suggestions on what to read?

miss fortune

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I don't really hang around many people who read a lot in real life so I can't ask them for literary suggestions really... but I'm totally looking for something new to sink my brain into! :)

I tend to enjoy books that can really transport me somewhere in a lot of cases... I couldn't put down something wicked this way comes and I LOVED the decameron and arabian nights... also the short stories of gabriel garcia marquez bring that same sort of sense... the odd sense that you are somewhere or some time far away and yet you can hear the rain fall or feel the cool of walking into a building after time out in the heat... the feel of a book is very important somehow...

of course I also have read just about anything pratchett or gaiman as well because a good chance to laugh or a new idea shouldn't be turned down either :)

I've enjoyed past suggestions from some site members who are no longer active, such as the alchemist or ghostwritten so I'm looking for suggestions from this site as to what to read again... please :puppy_dog_eyes:
 

SilkRoad

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I just read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and it blew my mind. As well as the sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. They are historical novels about the Tudors - Henry VIII, etc (from the perspective of his advisor Thomas Cromwell.)

I'm often not a big fan of historical novels as they can be either too heavy/boring, or too frothy/romance novelish. These books have a very unique writing style which pulls you right into the sixteenth century as though you're there. It's like having an extreme closeup. My heart was racing in some passages because it was so intense.
 

Lark

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I don't really hang around many people who read a lot in real life so I can't ask them for literary suggestions really... but I'm totally looking for something new to sink my brain into! :)

I tend to enjoy books that can really transport me somewhere in a lot of cases... I couldn't put down something wicked this way comes and I LOVED the decameron and arabian nights... also the short stories of gabriel garcia marquez bring that same sort of sense... the odd sense that you are somewhere or some time far away and yet you can hear the rain fall or feel the cool of walking into a building after time out in the heat... the feel of a book is very important somehow...

of course I also have read just about anything pratchett or gaiman as well because a good chance to laugh or a new idea shouldn't be turned down either :)

I've enjoyed past suggestions from some site members who are no longer active, such as the alchemist or ghostwritten so I'm looking for suggestions from this site as to what to read again... please :puppy_dog_eyes:

I would recommend Poul Anderson, Tim Powers, The Iron Dragons Daughter, The Drawing of The Dark, The Anubis Gates, A Midsummer Nights Tempest those are just for starters and have a fantasy feel, there are also, but less easy to get The Compleat Enchanter and, easy to get, Three Hearts, Three Lions.

Midsummer Nights Tempest is a book, which although fiction, would provide a lot of insight into my thinking and perspective on the world, its author was tripping on Shakespeare, folk myths and the society for creative anachronism's rennaisance fair scene at the time he wrote it apparently.

As I say they all err on the side of fantasy, they are totally transporting and transforming reads, Tim Powers books I found could really do that, I lived the adventure in them and liked his versions of magic, but The Iron Dragon's Daughter and its follow up The Dragons of Babel were two truly bizarre books which presented the logical consequences of old fairy stories in an adult and contemporary context, the first book was jarring in some ways and an experience, I could hardly review that book on Amazon.co.uk but I really wanted to because it was just something else.

That's fiction wise, none fiction I'd recommend Erich Fromm's Art of Loving, or CS Lewis' The Four Loves which I'm listening to at the moment on audiobook, they are both great and I think not enough time is given over to thinking about love.
 

Aquarelle

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Also Water for Elephants. (I've been into circus stuff recently :D )
 

Owlesque

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If you're interested in feudal Japan at all - Shōgun by James Clavell is an epic tale, though it is a hefty 1000+ pages. Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka is almost like a Shōgun 'lite' with very similar imagery, but an entertaining story in its own right.
 

cafe

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My literary tastes are pretty low-brow, but I love Pratchett, so maybe we might like some of the same things.

Some books that are really good with both world-building and character development, IMO:
Urban Fantasy: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (set in an alternative Chicago)
High Fantasy with an erotic (BDSM) twist: Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (set in an alternative Medieval Europe)
High Fantasy: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (traditional fantasy-type setting)

Not a huge amount of world-building, decent character development but very funny and entertaining:
Paranormal Romance: Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper (set in an alternative Kentucky)

All are the first books in their series.
 

Owlesque

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Oh, I second the Kushiel trilogy.
 

miss fortune

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checking into things... loading samples onto my phone kindle to give suggestions a spin... in some ways technology is awesome :cool:

of course my bad habit of reading plots before reading books also is cropping up :ninja: it somehow doesn't detract from my enjoyment of books in the least :laugh:

thank you for the suggestions! :)
 

SD45T-2

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Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes.
 
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