What is Reddit's opinion of
Goodreads?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
➔ Goodreads website
By popularity on Reddit, this Service is:
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
No, it doesn't have to be read/to-read/currently-reading. Create your "abandoned" shelf, "edit" bookshelves (the edit button is up at the top of the list of shelves when you're looking at "My Books", in the left column of the page.) Check the box "exclusive" next to "abandoned". Now you have 4 radio-button shelves: read/to-read/currently-reading/abandoned.
Here are goodread's instructions for making an abandoned shelf
I saw a lecture by the writer of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791058-dollars-and-sex
She argues that in the sexual world, women's sexuality is worth a certain value while male sexuality is worthless.
For that reason, men are considered buyers and women are sellers for sexuality. She attributes that to the fact that women have a limited number of possible offspring while men have a virtually unlimited number.
So when a woman is taught to claim she doesn't want sex, it's likely an (outdated) method of increasing her sexual value.
Some people do that kind of thing and use Goodreads. It keeps track of what you have read, makes suggestions, and there are reviews and discussions about books. Kind of a tracking app + social network.
Short answer: No
Both are myths and are not supported by primary sources.
See this thread for "1 rifle for 3 men" - http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1skdcw/is_there_any_truth_to_the_popular_image_of/
With "human waves" it is more complicated. Disastrous infantry attacks to such effect did happen, especially in 1941-42. But it was a result of poor decision making, not a deliberate tactic. Almost always COs of decimated battalion/regiment/division was severely punished for excessive losses.
Often it was a result of army-level or division-level order (so even though regiment commander might disagree, he would have to execute order "advance and take this spot by this time, no matter what"). Mostly due to bad planning or lack of reconnaissance data.
Germans were very good at quick deployment of schwerpunkt and at keeping them secret. So often high losses were a result of troop movement into fire trap, not even an attack. Over time Red Army learned from mistakes, reconnaissance improved, assault groups were more properly organized - all the while Heer was loosing experienced troops and not getting enough well-trained replacement.
So Red Army battle losses were comparable with those of Wehrmacht in late 43-44. By 1945 on average Wehrmacht was loosing more than Red Army.
Sources
D. Glantz books about Eastern Front and Red Army tactics. "When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler" would give you a good overview, while other books dwell on particular operations (Stalingrad, Leningrad, Manchuria etc.)
David M. Glantz - Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle Specifically focused at operational level.
You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine.
Tim Minchin
I'm plugging his book for him because he probably wont do it himself. Battleground Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Combat Odyssey in K/3/5.
I bought it on a whim after he did an AMA, and was super surprised. It's an incredible read and I HIGHLY recommend it. Can't say enough good things.
Okay, I one or two books I can understand, but surely a guy couldn't have built a career on...wait, he has a book called The Haunted Vagina? And The Cannibals of Candyland? Oh. My. God. The Baby Jesus Butt Plug. Okay, you know what, objection withdrawn.
Make a best friend (or any friend at the moment actually.)
Start a business (Or.. At least try!)
Get a tattoo or piercing (just.. something rebellious.)
Learn a new language (Mandarin? French?)
Live in another country that had a totally different culture to my own (I'm a NZer)
Go skinny dipping (I'm in Uni! I should have done this by now!)
Overcome my fear of being alone, and go travelling somewhere new by myself, making new friends and trying new things for a few weeks.
Buy a house, raise a family, and be an awesome mummy that goes on adventures and is a great cook.... One day. (Hahahaha, oh wait thats impossible there are no houses left for the 90s kids.)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/952.1001_Books_You_Must_Read_Before_You_Die (I'm ~3% so far)
Stay off reddit long enough to finish my assignments, and graduate university.
It's urban fantasy but The Dresden files usually makes me smile. I've even laughed out loud from time to time. It's not Discworld-funny but there are a few humorous remarks and references here and there.
There's also 14 full novels and a few short-stories out so you've got plenty to read if you like them.
They're by Jim Butcher and the first book is called Storm Front
Edit: The audio books read by James Marster are very good (my main way of getting through the series).
The actual fun fact is that CEOs show a higher precedence of psychopathic traits than prison inmates. And given Cheney's pronounced lack of guilt and remorse, coupled with the ability to lie so boldy - you have to consider the strong possibility.
Etc, Etc.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/27285.Our_Only_Enemies_Understanding_The_Psychopath_
I'm going to go full /r/atheism and quote Einstein here-
>You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.
tl;dr - The "shock" of turning atheist is so big for some they turn into assholes.
You know, it sucks that it's assumed every scientific mind is a staunch atheist, because Einstein has some really beautiful quotes about the nature of God. You know what? Fuck it, I'ma share one. Linked though, since it's long
It's a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. Click the link for the full passage.
The Blind Owl: Written by a Persian author who committed suicide afterwards, is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, Sadegh Hedayat's masterpice details a young man's despair after losing a mysterious lover. And as the author gradually drifts into frenzy and madness, the reader becomes caught in the sandstorm of Hedayat's bleak vision of the human condition. The Blind Owl, which has been translated into many foreign languages, has often been compared to the writing of Edgar Allen Poe.
The Third Policeman: one of the Creators' of Lost main influences, is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of the scientist/philosopher de Selby, he is introduced to "Atomic Theory" and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and de Selby's view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped." With the help of his newly found soul named "Joe," he grapples with the riddles and contradictions that three eccentric policeman present to him.
You are getting a lot of different answers, as you should because this age of adulthood thing isn't fixed at all across ages and cultures. I found one interesting answer in The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, which talked about how reduced life expectancy changes this idea a lot. According to the author, some towns allowed 12 year olds to sit on jury duty and have other adult responsibilities.
I hesitate to generalise, but British culture is thought of as somewhat emotionally repressed compared to others, including American. You might find Watch the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour illuminating.
Buying a Kindle increased my reading by 10-15x.
In the decade or so after graduating from college, I probably averaged four or five books a year. I've always enjoyed reading, but I never seemed to be able to find the time.
I got my Kindle in March of 2011. That year, I read 26 books. In 2012, I read 35 books. In 2013, I read 39 books.
In 2014 so far, I've read 38 books and I'm on a pace to read about 60 by the end of the year (thanks for keeping track, Goodreads Challenge).
I don't feel like I consciously put a ton of extra time into reading that I didn't before, and I haven't given up any other hobbies or activities in order to read more. I still do all the stuff I used to, I just don't go anywhere or do anything without my Kindle.
So, whenever I'm waiting in line, or grabbing a cup of coffee, or waiting for friends to show up at a bar, or sitting on a bus, I'm reading a book instead of just dicking around on my phone or staring off into the middle-distance bored out of my skull.
The Kindle did for me with books what my first mp3 player did with music. Sure, I listened to plenty of music before mp3s, but now I listen to anything I want, whenever I want, anywhere I go. I don't carry a few CDs, I carry all music ever. Likewise, I don't lug a book around, I carry all books ever and I read every every chance I get.
If you enjoyed this book, check out the two I posted below. I had to read all of these during a college class on bioterrorism and biowarfare. They're all really good reads, very eye opening.
Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World--Told from the Inside by the Man Who Ran It by Ken Alibek. Tells the story of the secret Soviet biowarfare programs, as well as the US's involvement in the program (and its domestic counterparts).
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston. About anthrax, and the US biowarfare program. Tells the story mostly of USAMRIID (the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases).
Sorry, I don't have cable/haven't read those books, but a quick glance around the interwebs: he looks like an interpretation of standard harem eunuch tropes in the Orientalist vein. Classic literary evil eunuch, you see them in other places, any sort of harem literature, I remember some in early Mary Renault books, couple in this book, they show up here and there. As the Icy-Hot Throne Songs books are in fantasy land, I'd be more generous in saying he's working from this literary tradition more than just "poorly researched."
Katrina Lumsden has a hysterical review of the series on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215
She uses a ton of gifs in the article, which I'm usually against, but her use of one when she gets to talking about Grey's "Playroom"... I about died of laughter.
“In the beginning was the Word. Then came the fucking word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion
Frank Herbert, purveyor of timeless truths disguised in the clothes of fiction.
"Education is no substitute for intelligence."
"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty."
"Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class -- whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy."
"The gift of words is the gift of deception and illusion."
"Do actions agree with words? There's your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words."
"Nature does not make mistakes. Right and wrong are human categories."
"The mind can go either direction under stress—toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training."
"Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your life. The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise, you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play. Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck."
"A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing you to grow. Without them, it sleeps- seldom to awaken. The sleeper must awaken."
"The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth."
"Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous."
Having read D&G, the data in this analysis are problematic because of an error called "selecting on the dependent variable". This basically starts with looking at entrepreneurs who were successful and seeing that many were disagreeable, which ignores those who were unsuccessful and also disagreeable. Indeed, research shows that the only personality traits really predictive of entrepreneurial success are extraversion and conscientiousness. That is, the most successful entrepreneurial pitches to VC firms are those where the pitcher(s) are both passionate and have a detailed action plan for success.
The same error was made in the book "Good to Great".
Source: I'm a business school professor at an R-1 university.
EDIT: wrote a review for David & Goliath on Goodreads, feel free to check it out to see more errors and omissions of the piece, as well as general comments. Link
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
Cat's Cradle is my personal favourite because it combines everything I love in a book: biting social commentary, general hilarity, and sci-fi. Honestly, I preferred it to the much-lauded Slaughterhouse-Five.
Seconded. Adding to this, anyone who enjoys The Hunger Games should at least take a look at The Maze Runner in my opinion. They aren't the same, but the audiences tend to overlap. Not to mention, The Maze Runner is a pretty good read. I don't know if I would classify the ending as 'happy' though, since the OP's girlfriend enjoys happy endings, but I suppose it could be interpreted as such.
During the Sino-Soviet split Vietnam was on soviet's side, therefore a enemy to China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split
It also might have something to do with Vietnam was conquer by China and made a province for 1000 years, then a vessel state to China from time to time...
>Once Vietnam did succumb to foreign rule, however, it proved unable to escape from it, and for 1,100 years, Vietnam had been successively governed by a series of Chinese dynasties... At certain periods during these 1,100 years, Vietnam was independently governed under the Triệus, Trưng Sisters, Anterior Lýs, Khúcs and Dương Đình Nghệ—although their triumphs and reigns were brief.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Vietnam
Speaking of Ho Chi Minh, this quote from him show his view toward the Chinese during the Sino-Vietnam war.
“You fools! Don't you realize what it means if the Chinese remain? Don't you remember your history? The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.”
Edit: a source for the quote: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/268998.H_Ch_Minh
Tess of the d'Urbevilles. In fact, the whole class hated it so much, we never actually finished the book and switched to something else.
> I'm also curious if anyone knows the inspiration behind Vikings+Dragons, with the diversity in species which they present, and their prolific numbers (this is a legitimate question, since I want to know the answer).
The inspiration for the films is a set of 12 kid's books. From what I understand the plots are fairly different, but the basic concept of Vikings+Dragons and the different types of dragons are true to the source material.
For more adulty dystopian fiction try:
This Perfect Day- Ira Levin
Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury
I am Legend-Richard Matheson
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
Ready Player One- Ernest Cline
Robocalypse- Daniel H. Wilson
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (could try the sequels but they're a lot less story and a lot more philosophocal, i liked them but they were different types of book than Ender's game)
1984- George Orwell
Day of the Triffids- John Wyndham
I suggest reading the book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
This book is about the decline in violence throughout history and how the moral landscape has changed and developed over time and through cultures. Pinker touches on every topic from cultural attitudes on gun culture, to woman rights, to genocide.
He argues that while violence overall has declined, there is in fact a noticeable increases in gun related incidents in areas where gun ownership culture is present over areas where guns are not part of the culture. He backs his arguments with a mountain of historical documents, and scientific based arguments from several different disciplines including sociology to neurology.
I take your point, but to answer your question, I inferred it from (1) the "VS" in the post title, (2) the juxtaposition of the two books, and (3) that the artwork for Orwell are borrowed more directly from the film version of 1984 whereas the artwork for Brave New World seems to (overtly) characterize the modern American lifestyle....meaning that the viewer can more easily identify with the latter.
That, and as u/KrangsQuandary points out elsewhere in this thread, this comic can be seen to parallel the perspective outlined in Amusing Ourselves to Death.
This is definitely my favourite: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.
It's basically what would happen if first contact with an alien planet was initiated by the Jesuits (as first contact with a lot of indiginous human societies was) and the fallout from it. It's really fucking good and existential and meditative.
How about Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori? Has no dragons, but martial arts in the form of samurai and something like ninjas/assassins. The original trilogy was very good, but I'd advice against getting the prequel.
Goosebumps; which then led to Fear Street, both by R. L. Stine.
I had learning disabilities, dyslexia mostly. it really affected my ability to read. Basically didn't know to until I was 10 years old. I had maybe a grade 1 reading level and that was being generous. I hated reading. I hated being made to do it and I really much rather be watching TV. (Sailor Moon had just come out on Canadian TV at the time, and I loved it.) In grade 4 all of my peers were reading these 'horror' books for kids. they were all really into it. One day one of the popular boys, Jonathan or Jordan, (I had crushes on both of them), asked me if I had read the Goosebump book "Deep Trouble." Goodreads link https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125539.Deep_Trouble .
Naturally wanting to impress this boy(s) I said yes. He had not yet. Said that he was going to read it over the weekend. maybe we could hangout at recess the next school day to talk about it.
I promptly went to the school library and borrowed it. When I got home I sat on my living room couch and started reading. i stayed glued to that couch the entire weekend. it took me that long to finish it. it was slow going, had to ask my dad what some words were. but i finished it. it was one of the proudest moments of my life.
One thing led to another, and by the end of the following school year I was reading at an 8th grade reading level and finished the first Wheel of Time book in one day.
So my thanks must go out to R. L. Stine for for writing books that got me interested in reading.
tl;dr: Couldn't read good, Goosebumps got me going.
Consider Phlebas is still one of my favourite Culture books, but I can see why some readers don't like it. It's bleak, sarcastic, eschews a bunch of established scifi conventions and has the story pretty much cancel itself out at the end. Banks' other Culture novels are generally much more upbeat and optimistic and fun, even the rather dark Use of Weapons. It's also not a particularly typical novel, given that it shows the Culture from an outsider's point of view. I usually point first-timers to The Player of Games.
As an aside, there are some people who actually really hate Phlebas. Here is a favourite review that I use as an example of how spectacularly different a reader's experience can be, based on a variety of factors such as one's preconceptions about what literature should be, and one's ability to pick up tone and subtext. This reviewer is probably one of the most snobbish person on Goodreads (especially about scifi), leading to one discussion about his review of Cormack McCarthy's masterpiece The Road (where he displays a remarkable inability to understand fundamentals about the plot), where one commenter hilariously asks why they were "debating 21st century literature with a time traveler from the Elizabethan era".
I think it's strange the author never pointed out that the arguments she was using to explain feminism for WoC are incredibly similar to the arguments needed to explain to men why they don't get to say they understand the struggles and experiences of women in general. Right on down to the first point about asking WoC to change their conversation to benefit the feelings of white feminists and the part about showing you're different, rather than just saying it.
I'm not making this comment to mock white feminists, but I think it's important to recognize the fallibility of the human mind. You can study the theory and spend all day correcting the fallacies of anti-feminists or misguided feminists, but that doesn't prevent you from turning around at the end of the day and unknowingly exerting your privilege over a minority. We should always remember that we have been imperfectly socialized and thinking we're above fallacies is the easiest route to committing them.
As an aside, can someone explain to me what was wrong with Tiny Fey's quote? I'm not a fan of her, but it seems like the points about JLo and Beyoncé were a misdirection that mocks people who complain about how they changed the public opinion of beauty.
Pat just read Road Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with his son, Oot. You should read his review of the book on goodreads.
How about Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series?
This seems to meet your criteria about adventuring, outside the law, etc. But it's far from cyberpunk; while the latter is always dark, the SSR books are quite upbeat and fun.
Even Mara isn't evil, per se. Just extremely misguided.
OM MANI PADME HUNG and generating as much compassion for those beings as possible is probably the best thing to do. They're suffering far more than you are. A great story about this concerning Milarepa and his experience with some demons:
>One evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food, reading his books, sleeping in his bed. They had taken over the joint. He knew about nonduality of self and other, but he still didn’t quite know how to get these guys out of his cave. Even though he had the sense that they were just a projection of his own mind—all the unwanted parts of himself—he didn’t know how to get rid of them. So first he taught them the dharma. He sat on this seat that was higher than they were and said things to them about how we are all one. He talked about compassion and shunyata and how poison is medicine. Nothing happened. The demons were still there. Then he lost his patience and got angry and ran at them. They just laughed at him. Finally, he gave up and just sat down on the floor, saying, “I’m not going away and it looks like you’re not either, so let’s just live here together.” At that point, all of them left except one. Milarepa said, “Oh, this one is particularly vicious.” (We all know that one. Sometimes we have lots of them like that. Sometimes we feel that’s all we’ve got.) He didn’t know what to do, so he surrendered himself even further. He walked over and put himself right into the mouth of the demon and said, “Just eat me up if you want to.” Then that demon left too.
My second book, The Shadow Throne, comes out July 1 and can be had in either format! http://djangowexler.com/shadow-campaigns/shadow-throne/
The first book, The Thousand Names, will be in paperback at the same time, or you can enter this giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/96179-the-thousand-names
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling I didn't know anything about her before reading her book, but I am defiantly a fan now. It was a fun, relate-able read.
Yes.. So I've heard. For reference:
Could it be Kari Sperring's Living With Ghosts? Main character is an assassin-priest who at the start of the book is working as a courtesan, and he's haunted by a ghost who doesn't like him much.
I really like The Drunkard's Walk. If you like Freakonomics, I think it's a similar book that puts things that we add significance to into perspective.
I find Mark Gregory Pegg's <em>A Most Holy War</em> a pretty persuasive, if somewhat self-consciously iconoclastic piece of work on the subject. It ties in with a lot of R I Moore's work, of visible difference in cultural and religious practices being used as a pretext for the exertion of control by one group over another.
Although I think it's possible to divorce the religious aspect from the Albigensian Crusade a little too much and paint it as an exclusively political conflict the 'culture war' aspect is pretty important, especially when you take into account the accusations of influence by Arians, Bogomils, Paulicans and other Inquisitorial bogeymen. It always seemed to me that a major reason these were such credible accusations in the case of Southern France might have been that compared to Northern France, the Languedoc was a manifestly more outward looking culture and seemed to be more open to Eastern influences.
Your suspicions are well founded.
In the book On Nuclear Terrorism by Michael Levi, Levi shows that for a nuclear bomb to be manufactured covertly for the use of terrorist purposes by a rouge group, organization or government, they would have to successfully navigate a minimum of 20 hurdles. Each hurdle with their own succession of hundreds of weak points.
The chances of anyone actually being able to manufacture, hide, transport, sell, or detente bomb virtually impossible.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Certain people in the The Powder Mage series have the ability to manipulate gunpowder and the energy that comes from igniting it. The world also has "Knacked" people who have odd and usually unique abilities such as never having to sleep.
It does involve your regular fire slinging mages as well, but with cool gloves.
Your mother is toxic, read about it in https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3551-toxic-parents-overcoming-their-hurtful-legacy-and-reclaiming-your-life
She might be also narcissistic or bipolar besides having depression. It's hard for you to play her games when rules are constantly changing. It's good for you you are going away from her. Right now just try to stay away from her as much as possible - go to library, for walk etc.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'd recommended this book to someone here earlier. Very similar setting to Downton Abbey. War-time reminiscences of a butler.
There's a ton of wonderful kids books out there.
I should probably put more of my favorite up on goodreads. I'm pretty active on there....
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/108424.Patrick_Rothfuss
I will try. Prince Jorge Ancrath has struck out on his own, seeking revenge for the brutal murders of his mother and brother. Accompanied by a band of the traumatized on one end and the sociopathic on the other.... Wait. That's just how it starts.
Jorg wants to be emperor, but plenty stands in his way. The man who killed his mother. His own father, who never took proper vengeance. The perfect candidate for emperor in the Prince of Arrow. The woman he loves. A dream weaver. A dead king.
Perhaps you could read the summary on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9579634-prince-of-thorns
The Emperor's Soul is probably the best choice if you're looking for the one book to decide your opinion of Sanderson.
It's a novella (~150 pages), and one of the best books he's written - it won the 2013 Hugo award for best novella.
I agree absolutely that this is a garbage article because of that and its general bastardization of "Flow" concept however this is actually a legitimate idea based largely on the contemporary work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. If you're interested in looking into the concept of flow and what Mihaly calls "optimal experience" then I would encourage you to either read this or this. It's a fascinating topic that provides unique insight into what we do/should/could consider as the essence of human life. Arguably Mihaly has developed something that transcends conventionally defined "happiness" in a person's life. With regards to myself, his work has provoked me intellectually in a special way and I hope that he'll do likewise for you if you look into him.
Edit: /u/dfre covered this also
Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth saga, and the Night's Dawn trilogy. The first series has 2 books, the latter has 3. They're all huge, dense reads; each book is around 1000 pages.
Here are some popular books about grammar. You should try reading one, I'm sure your local library should have at least something from this list in its collection.
If you want to be a professional writer, having a good grip on the English language is kind of important.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, I remember it having a huge hype when it was released and I was super excited but it was just so slow paced, cheesy, annoying that I couldn't even finish it. I hate not finishing a book and usually soldier on and try to finish, even if I'm not enjoying it but this one I just couldn't do it.
Here are many more quotes from that wonderful book, including OP's favorite. My own is this:
> There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point... The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.
<em>Lord of Light</em> by Roger Zelazny, a Hugo-winning fantasy/sci-fi hybrid which features the Hindu pantheon in a futuristic setting.
Ed: Thought I'd also throw this one in - <em>The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes</em> by Jamyang Norbu. It's an account of Holmes' missing years after his deadly battle with Moriarty, when he travelled to India and Tibet. Being a Holmes story it may not look like fantasy at first glance, but it is.
you know what's a good book that handles this well?
~~Drat I can't remember the title. It was at least 4 book series. It featured a girl~~
So You Want To Be A Wizard - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116563.So_You_Want_to_Be_a_Wizard
In the book there's Nita and her partner Kit. The book is basically they cast a spell that's way too powerful and hilarity ensues. I don't remember Nita's spell but Kit wanted an aura of strength so people wouldn't bully him anymore. At the end of the book after literally saving the universe he's walking home and Nita remarks something like "He looked so down which surprised her because he just carried himself with this aura of power who on earth could possibly be making him feel this way. That's when she laughed and realized his spell worked."
It sounds cheesy in my summary but I found it rather compelling.
Has anyone nominated Kate Chopin's The Awakening? I'm not sure if you've read it before, but it's perfect: super short, interesting, definitely available in your library, and all about a woman's struggle with how society believes she should act. I literally can't recommend it enough.
The Dark Tower series by Steven King:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_%28series%29
While I personally couldn't really get into it, it does fit the setting you are looking for.
Tolkien is the grandfather of modern fantasy, no doubt. But he builds upon a lot of great work that predates him.
For a great book that deals with some of this, look at Tales Before Tolkien or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimms%27_Fairy_Tales
For older fantasy, there's Beowulf, and other epic poems from that era. If you want "classic" fantasy there's plenty of greek and roman mythology to be found (The Illiad is a common read from that era).
In my opinion, the foundations of fantasy start in the western world with the epic of Gilgamesh, and to a lesser extent, the Mahabharata.
Modern
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
> Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature, Disgrace is set in post-apartheid South Africa, and tells the story of David Lurie, a twice divorced, 52-year-old professor of communications and Romantic Poetry at Cape Technical University. He considers himself happy until he sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter his complacency and leave him utterly disgraced.
Awesome bullets fired by spaceships are probably a more significant threat to noncombatant space travel than lasers.
In Elizabeth Moon's space opera/military SF series Vatta's War military spaceship computers keep track of "dirty" battlefields (also including kinetic mass weapons, a.k.a. BFRs, since in space any projectile continues traveling until it hits something.)
Since lasers are traveling at the speed of light, a spaceship can only receive information about laser beam positions in time to be useful if you have FTL communication, such as an Ansible.
But a laser beam weapon has a limited duration (firing time), and is probably no longer a menace once it's left the star's planetary system (around six hours, depending on the star.)
In John Hemry's Stark's War, which features infantry combat on the moon, the projectile weapons (rifles) have restricted muzzle velocity so that the bullets don't reach escape velocity or even orbital speed, so missed shots don't become a menace to nonparticipants or even friendlies. (viewed this way, bullets and other kinetic projectiles are actually a greater menace than laser beams, because the projectiles are more affected by gravity than light and so tend to stick around in the area of planets or the solar system.)
“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
"What?"
"I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
"I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
Ford shrugged again.
"Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."
"But that's terrible," said Arthur.
"Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.” — goodreads
Pretty much sums it up. I just don't have the motivation to vote against the wrong lizard. Whatever I do, a lizard ends up in office.
The Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud is one of my favourites. It's set in a London under the control of a magical oligarchy, and narrated mostly from the POV of a 7000-year-old djinni called Bartimaeus.
I'm currently reading Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, and it's been pretty good so far. It's been described as Harry Potter meets CSI, with a good helping of dry British humor. I picked it up after seeing Rothfuss's review (more like praise).
(ed: fixed link)
IDK if this will help but it helped me.
I'm an introvert, always have been, always will be. It doesn't mean that I have zero social skills or that I don't like being around people. It means that I need me time between being with people. I need that time to rest. Otherwise I'll end up drained pretty fast.
Problem is, nobody teaches you how to live like an introvert. Everywhere you look, and everything you are told leads to this : you should be out and about and spend time with people and enjoy it.
But it doesn't work like that for introverts. Yes, you can and should be out and about and enjoy life. But you need to rest. You need to withdraw. And that is perfectly normal . And once you are charged, you can go back out.
In my late teens and early twenties I used to feel so alone and depressed I just fled. Fled into PMO, video games, books (man I've read SO many books...). And through my reading I learned the single most important truth I needed to learn : before loving someone else, love yourself first.
First I accepted the person I used to be. Then I worked on improving / evolving into the man I wanted to become.
It takes time (4 years, still counting). You have to put your mind to it. You will sweat. You will suffer. You will bleed. You will know terror. You will doubt yourself. You will cry.
But looking back, I have gained so much. I am never truly alone. I have me. I have my mind. I have my skills. I am more complete than I was, and it enabled me to truly bond with those closest to me.
Still, it is not over. It will never be over, until the day you die.
NoFap will get me to the next level. Every single day of the challenge fills me with eagerness. It is so much fun !
Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman--a rope over an abyss.
Hope it helps. Stay strong brother.
Nope. It's for the liver.
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23807.The_Silence_of_the_Lambs
You're thinking of the scene in Hannibal where he sautéed Krendler's brain with white wine and shallots.
Different books, different meals, different sides, different wine.
I haven't read A Short History of Everything, but <em>Guns, Germs, and Steel</em> by Jared Diamond might fit the bill - it is a history of human...history (and why/how Western Europe "won").
And I've finished. -huff puff-
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/74283.r_fantasy_s_Official_Underrated_and_Underread_Fantasy is where you can find the Goodreads Listopia list.
Thanks to the generosity of my awesome husband, /u/blacksyke who lent my his account for the space of an hour or two, I've gotten the rest of the books onto the Goodreads Listopia list. Also, thanks to /u/MMan0114, who got another 22 on there and without whom I couldn't have finished, even with the help of my husband. Dumb 100 book limit! -shakes fist-
I came up with ~~216~~ ~~214~~ 218 books. Over the course of checking things, I found a bunch of duplicates (first book of series listed, series name listed, usually, nothing /u/p0x0rz could have caught without extensive research) and I've passed those on to him.
Please keep an eye out for books I might have missed in my general escapades and feel free to add them for me. :) Thanks!
General
Open Secrets by Alice Munro
She won the Noble Prize for Literature this year, and this book is considered one of her best, So I really want to read this one and I hope it will be great.
Indeed - you'll even see a giveaway for a signed hardcover copy of my next effort Prince of Fools on the front page of both the 'Popular Authors' and 'Most Requested' pages
Linda Nagata's Bohr Maker is one of my favorites and I don't believe it's been mentioned on PrintSF other than by me.
I like most of LE Modesitt's earlier space opera works particularly Hammer of Darkness and The Forever Hero. I enjoy that there are very few "bad guys" in his work, just opposing power structures.
Probably not what you're looking for exactly, but The King in Yellow contains a few stories by Chambers. It's one of the biggest influences of Lovecraft and a really creepy read.
If you haven't read 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd highly recommend that.
Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70535.2001?ac=1
Link to short review I wrote for it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/566794193?book_show_action=false
10 I guess means 4th grade. I'd recommend the classic Wrinkle in Time. If she likes it, there's 5 books: https://www.goodreads.com/series/49403-the-time-quintet
and books from other series relate as well. I guess its technically scifi, but close enough. :)
Because I had great fun with space operas last year:
Foundation #1 by Isaac Asimov (1951)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29579.Foundation#bookDetails
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun--or fight them and be destroyed.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3975774-evermore
The reviews are what got me. Bwa ha ha! The only way I can ever remember this is by the name of the heroine: 'Ever Bloom'. Really. Ever. Bloom.
Bwa ha ha! Sorry, there might be fans here (hope not). I'm sure it's a wonderful series.
In which case i would recommend you read this book.
Edit: Unless you were being sarcastic. Were you being sarcastic? Damn it it's so hard to tell sometimes, online...
Tell your sister to keep out an eye on Kameron Hurley's 'The Mirror Empire'. The author is known from her SF books for very, very cool female characters and a diverse cast. Her upcoming debut is set in anything but your standard faux medieval patriarchal society.
Also, I fully recommend you The Steerswoman series. I already wrote a glowing recommendation here. The society is fully equal between the sexes, the female protagonist is so cool and she is traveling around with her best buddy, who happens to be female. Highly recommended.
The best place to start, in my opinion, is Timothy Zahns Thrawn trilogy. First book is Heir to the Empire ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216443.Heir_to_the_Empire?from_search=true ). From there you can expand out, but Zahn is certainly one of the better authors writing in the expanded universe. The Han Solo trilogy by Crispin is solid too. First book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/617086.The_Paradise_Snare?from_search=true
Machine Man by Max Barry
Something Missing by Matthew Dicks
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell so far is the best military scifi I read. Not because Campbell is the best author EVAR1!!!111! but because he is the best compared to what I read so far.
His characters are very "business" (don't expect some smoldering lava pits of emotion) and his prose is very workman-like. On the other hand, you get an admiral that truly leads (he doesn't even leave the command ship or leads from the front - "delegating" is a word that exists in these books), equal treatment of woman (it's sad that I have to mention that as a selling point for a book in 2013) and no jingoistic propaganda blaring into your ears.
I take it that it's OK to make multiple suggestions?
<em>Where'd You Go, Bernadette</em> by Maria Semple, just for something lighter. The author also wrote for Arrested Development, if that tells anyone anything.
Goodreads is a good choice. You can add any book to your 'to-read' list, and that list is easy to review at any time. There are a lot of other cool features that make the website a great resource for readers.
I have never read:
Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234225.Dune
Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the "spice" melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe. The story explores the complex and multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis and its "spice".
First published in 1965, It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is frequently cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.
I would recommend you reading Singularity series by William Hertling
The books cover three different scenarions.
- AI against humanity
- AI against humanity friendly AI
- AI against augmented humanity
I'd say either Player of Games or Use of Weapons. A lot of the writing style will be the same, but I thought that these two had slightly more interesting stories.
However, if neither still fail to impress you, then the Culture series probably isn't for you - they've all got a similar format.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Deadwood by Pete Dexter
Shōgun by James Clavell.
I read it for the first time just a year ago after trying G.R R Martin,Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin Hobb and all the rest top modern authors of fantasy and historical fiction and it instantly came up to the top and it's still a top 3 novel for me.
Flawless prose, magnetizing setting, Machiavellian manipulations that would make even GRR Martin jealous , exceptional character development and a unforgettable story.
I still can't believe that it has been first published 40 year ago since it could still have passed as a modern novel if you didn't have any idea...
I've never seen it mentioned here and no one should miss this novel.
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9972
That said I won't bother to argue with anyone if the outcome does not affect me.
<strong>Tales of the Ketty Jay</strong> by Chris Wooding - I loved them. I've seen this series being called "Steampunk Firefly", and while that description is not quite correct (Nothing runs on steam, they have electricity and combustion engines) I think that it does a good job representing the feel of the books.
The crew of the Ketty Jay are an assortment of lovable bastards, they all fall pretty squarely within classic tropes (Specially Captain Frey who's pretty much the embodiment of the Lovable Rogue), but they do a great job at it. No one on the Ketty Jay is a saint, they're all running from something or from someone (dun dun duuuun!), and their backstories are usually quite dark or downright depressing. But still, the books are (most of the time) quite positive and upbeat, with plenty of laugh out loud moments.
The Ketty Jay series doesn't do anything groundbreaking, it's just a well executed adventure. the plots are entertaining enough, the action scenes are engaging, and the locations are distinct and interesting, but the characters are the ones that make these books so much fun.
If I had to describe the books in a single word, it would be "swashbuckling".
tldr: If you want something like retro-Firefly, or if you like chapters from the point of view of a cat, or just want a fun straight up adventure with swordfights, primitive weapons and iron golems, give this a chance.
One of my favorite fantasy covers is this one.
I got it when it was free on amazon and i haven't read it yet but the cover art is just badass.
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, the second book in the Kingkiller trilogy. I just read the first book, The Name of the Wind, last week and it was so good that two days before I finished it, I ordered the sequel. I highly recommend it if you enjoy fantasy.
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. It's one of those debut novels (à la Rothfuss with NoTW) that seem to come out of nowhere and totally blow you away.
Have you read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley? It's the first book in a high fantasy series recounting the events of Arthurian legend from the perspectives of the major female players. Really interesting re-interpretation and very well written. It's a classic (and pretty dark) so if you're looking for something with a little less cheese it's a good bet.
Getting the big question out of the way first...
When will your next novel be released?
It appears that people on Goodreads are already rating <em>Doors of Stone</em>.