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Give a Book Recommendation, Get a Book Recommendation

Last posted May 04, 2013 at 06:46PM EDT. Added Mar 30, 2013 at 09:54AM EDT
84 posts from 49 users

Try a book called METRO 2033, written by Dmitri Gluhovsky. Great post-apocalyptic tale of survival and stuff. Don't mistake it for the videogame (which is awesome shooter too), the book is more about philosophical arguments, thoughts about racism, war and all kinds of things. Also monsters, so you could say its bit on a horror side too.

And if you like it, read the sequel METRO 2034 which isn't that good as the first, but still awesome. Might not be my best recommendation but i suggest looking into those books.

Last edited Apr 06, 2013 at 04:23AM EDT

This recommendation is a little different. This book is Ice Station by Matthew Reilly.

This is not a traditionally good book. This is a book that is so bad, it manages to wrap around to being fucking awesome. Pretty much this author is like if in an alternate reality, Michael Bay wrote novels.

More recommendations!

Necronomicon. An over 900 page book where are all the best H.P. Lovecraft stories, recommended to anyone who can speak english or likes reading. Great scifi / fantasy / horror tales.

A Song of Ice and Fire series. Written by George R.R. Martin, one of the best fantasy books i have ever read. If you like Game of Thrones tv series, i recommend to read the books.

If your interested in hearing about the futility of civilization, you might wanna read Henry David Thoreau's:Walden. It was written in the 19th century and if you can get past the old language; it's a satirical, funny and profound read, I particularly enjoyed his analogy of Western fashion. It's also interesting to see how different (or not so) 19th century new England is to today's western world.

On the other hand if you're more interested in brilliant story and character (the imagery and style is pretty damn good too) I'd suggest Scott Lynch's: The Lies of Locke Lamora, a book which can turn from devastatingly dark to hilariously light hearted. Despite it's fantasy setting, it feels real and the Gentlemen Bastards (yes that's the name of the heroes' group) feel like real people, references to things like magic and other impossibilities are kept minimal and it feels more like a crime thriller that got lost.
There's a conman priest and someone also drowns in horse urine. If that's not good enough, I don't know what is.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, a novel set in future Los Angeles where the government no longer has any power and everything is owned by private corporations. In a science fiction, cyberpunk setting, it examines the global diversion of languages along with the linguistic programming of the human brain.

This my sound kind of cheesy, but

Setting the games themselves aside, the books tell an amazing story of a soldier who is desperately trying to save everything he's ever known.

Nonea Beezwax wrote:

There's this really good book, but it's pretty old. It's called the Bible.

The characters aren't believable, the pacing is terrible, and there's way too much foreshadowing. Also, everyone's into incest, what the fuck is that all about?

I highly suggest both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons.


They're the first two books in Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series. I've only read these two books out of the four in the series so far. However, these two books are quite interesting takes on science fiction with loads of political intrigue and philosophical musings. Also, there's loads of references to classical literature, especially John Keats.

Tommyknockers is a pretty good book. It's really wordy, but that's to be expected from Stephen King. He has a back-story for just about every secondary character. That, or Gone by Michael Grant. Two very good science fiction novels, guys.

Reticent wrote:

Looking for Alaska is a really compelling book, though the characters can be somewhat frustrating at times. John Green is a good one-and-done kind of author. Don’t cheapen your experience with him by reading more than one of his books.



Yeah, I don't get it. His books are pretty great, and he's a genuinely thoughtful guy. What's wrong with reading more than one of his books?

Back on topic, I've gotta recommend my favourite book of all time:

The Things They Carried

It's a "war stories" novel without any real fighting. Set in Vietnam, it's the kind of book with philosophical undercurrents running beneath flawless prose. It deals with themes like courage vs cowardice, the concept of fiction being as relevant and 'true' as fact, and the nature of perception. Ever read one of those "gut-punch" passages where after finishing it you thought "Holy fuck was that well-written." ? That's essentially what this book is made of. Here's a couple of excerpts:

“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil."

“It wasn't a question of deceit. Just the opposite; he wanted to heat up the truth, to make it burn so hot that you would feel exactly what he felt.”

“Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love…it had all the shadings and complexities of mature adult love and maybe more, because there were not yet words for it, and because it was not yet fixed to comparisons or chronologies or the ways by which adults measure such things…I just loved her. Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones -- that kind of love.”

Christ I need to read this book again.

On the topic (and for fans) of books that are so well written they send chills down your spine, I recommend Markus Zusak's The Book Thief.

It's a story about a girl growing up during the rise of the Nazi party who systematically loses her innocence as the Nazis gain power, and without giving too much away, begins stealing books from Nazi book-burnings to read…..
But by far the most interesting part about The Book Thief is the narration and the way the story is told. It's not told from the point of the main (human) character, but rather, in first-person perspective from the view of Death, who itself is a character, talks directly to the reader and comments on the story and shares his/her feelings on the story and talks about his/her emotions the way the narrators of first-person stories do, but it also takes us around the world and into the minds of characters in third-person, presumably because Death is everywhere and literally, "in everyone's mind."

Almost every chapter contains at least one, as you said, "Holy f*** that was well-written" passage. Markus Zusak uses some astonishingly powerful words and images to tell his story, the writing almost sears through the pages with its intensity.

I recommend it for fans of Holocaust novels, books about the Grim Reaper, or just fans of absolutely gorgeous writing. Just not for fans of books with happy endings.

P.S. As I was writing this post and reading this book, I found myself unconsciously thinking of Death as "him," even though nowhere in the book it refers to Death as a "he", which is very interesting to think about.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

The plot is based off of Conrad's own experience in the Congo while it was a Belgian colony. The atrocities described within are actually an understatement to how the Belgians treated the natives. This book also inspired the movie Apocalypse Now so if you like that movie, than I highly recommend this book.

Cyphon wrote:

On the topic (and for fans) of books that are so well written they send chills down your spine, I recommend Markus Zusak's The Book Thief.

It's a story about a girl growing up during the rise of the Nazi party who systematically loses her innocence as the Nazis gain power, and without giving too much away, begins stealing books from Nazi book-burnings to read…..
But by far the most interesting part about The Book Thief is the narration and the way the story is told. It's not told from the point of the main (human) character, but rather, in first-person perspective from the view of Death, who itself is a character, talks directly to the reader and comments on the story and shares his/her feelings on the story and talks about his/her emotions the way the narrators of first-person stories do, but it also takes us around the world and into the minds of characters in third-person, presumably because Death is everywhere and literally, "in everyone's mind."

Almost every chapter contains at least one, as you said, "Holy f*** that was well-written" passage. Markus Zusak uses some astonishingly powerful words and images to tell his story, the writing almost sears through the pages with its intensity.

I recommend it for fans of Holocaust novels, books about the Grim Reaper, or just fans of absolutely gorgeous writing. Just not for fans of books with happy endings.

P.S. As I was writing this post and reading this book, I found myself unconsciously thinking of Death as "him," even though nowhere in the book it refers to Death as a "he", which is very interesting to think about.

If your interested in reading more about a world of book burning and also a fan of weird dystopias which feel like they could happen in this world, I strongly recommend Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' about a man whose job is to burn books and, without giving a lot away, starts getting curious about them and the idea of freedom of thought and speech in a world dominated by TV and corporation. It makes you appreciate literature a bit more and also changes the way you think a little bit, too.

Yet another one :
The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Brilliant fantasy books, look them up! I also recommend to play the Witcher videogames if you like RPG.

The Song of Roland

Its an epic poem from the early Medieval period that is very loosely based on an actual event where the rear guard of Charlemagne's Army got massacred during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. I say loosely because there were some major changes to the event that were made. Perhaps the biggest example of this is changing the enemies of Charlemagne from fellow Christians to Muslims. Muslims who worship Muhammad and Apollo.

Its absolutely amazing in its ridiculousness and awesomeness.

Last edited Apr 28, 2013 at 01:46PM EDT

Jokes aside, I have to say that, normally, I'm not the type of person to always insist that the book is better than the movie. But… wait, I don't remember what I was talking about, because there wasn't a Jurassic Park movie, last time I checked.

Two other books I recently finished are The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, and A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. I couldn't even remember which book was about Judaism and which one wasn't before I read them, but I can attest to each being a quality piece of literature, if you aren't into dinosaurs ripping people apart and humans in return 'splodin' giant lizards with rocket launchers.

Last edited Apr 30, 2013 at 01:52AM EDT

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is a very good book.

The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris is pretty good as well. The Naked Ape is pretty old, so I am not sure if everything is up to date.

Skeletor-sm

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