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ORIGINAL: Aylee

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Snort

Something well written that will raise my spirits as I read by the fire...

The Wind in the Willows

K.

Many years ago I was considering going into teaching. So I took some college classes toward that goal. One of them was a Children's Literature class and another was an Adolescent Literature class. In those classes I learned that scenes about meals, food, and eating were put in because they could not have sex in children's books. I have never been able to read about Rat and Mole on the river bank again. In fact I have a difficult time with any children's book now. Because of all the euphemistic sex they have. It is just not right.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland has been ruined as well.

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ORIGINAL: kalikshama

Meaty cyberpunk - Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan
Fluffy spicy supernatural - Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series, from which True Blood was spawned.
Darker spicy supernatural - Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books
Fun lusty faeries - - Laurell K Hamilton's Merry Gentry books
Napoleonic era British Navy plus dragons - His Majesty's Dragon

The best Harry Potter ever:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality

or download the ebook here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong

It's the first Harry Potter book retold as if Harry had been raised by a physics professor to be a hyper-rational, quasi-Vulcan scientist. Super, SUPER fun...

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

"Zone One" Colson Whitehead

Whitehead is a very clever and sardonic writer. His assignment at the World Series of Poker has all the wit of HST's assignment at the Mint 400 in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", without the drugs (2011 isnt 1971, after all).

Of course if you havent read Fear and Loathing...

"And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back"

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Aylee

In those classes I learned that scenes about meals, food, and eating were put in because they could not have sex in children's books.

Some people need to stop teaching literature classes and get laid more often.

K.

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ORIGINAL: Ninebelowzero

keef Richards bio is a blast & very well written as is Stanley Booths True life adventures of the Rolling Stones.

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ORIGINAL: Snort

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ORIGINAL: Ninebelowzero

keef Richards bio is a blast & very well written as is Stanley Booths True life adventures of the Rolling Stones.

It's fine by me Snort, the books are a ripping read as well.

The Stones rock!!!





Ok, sorry, I just felt compelled to say that...

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ORIGINAL: coookie

The Hours by Micheal Cunningham is a nice re-visioning of Mrs Dalloway. I am also a big fan of Margaret Atwood so~ Oryx and Crake was an interesting read. For a little warm fuzzy, you could read Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Happy reading.

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ORIGINAL: Snort

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

"Zone One" Colson Whitehead

Whitehead is a very clever and sardonic writer. His assignment at the World Series of Poker has all the wit of HST's assignment at the Mint 400 in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", without the drugs (2011 isnt 1971, after all).

Of course if you havent read Fear and Loathing...

"And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back"

Hunter S. Thompson was a favorite back in my youth. And Thomas Pynchon. And sometimes Vonegut. I will definitely check out Whitehead if Zone One is worthy of mention alongside HST... Thx!

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ORIGINAL: Snort
I'll check it out. I also powered through some fun books by Jim Butcher called The Dresden Files. Fun romps about a wizard plying his craft in Chicago.

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

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ORIGINAL: Snort

Hunter S. Thompson was a favorite back in my youth. And Thomas Pynchon. And sometimes Vonegut. I will definitely check out Whitehead if Zone One is worthy of mention alongside HST... Thx!

Read his reports on the WSOP at grantland.com before you invest in Zone One. He isnt as "gonzo" as HST by any means, just a similar jaded humor.

Here is part 1 with links to the others:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6754551/part-1

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ORIGINAL: calamitysandra

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ORIGINAL: Snort
I'll check it out. I also powered through some fun books by Jim Butcher called The Dresden Files. Fun romps about a wizard plying his craft in Chicago.

If you like Butchers writing, you might want to take a look at his second, already finished series, "Codex Alera".

I am partial to Vernor Vinges "Peace War", however, I am never really sure if the book is really that good, or if it is some kind of nostalgia that keeps me going back.

David Eddings series  "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean" are like old friends, I pick them up about once a year. His later series "The Elenium" and "The Tamuli" are not as stellar, but still very, very good.

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ORIGINAL: Aylee

"Carnage and Culture" by Victor Davis Hanson. "Plagues and Peoples" by William H. McNeill. "Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700" (1965) by Carlo Cipolla, These are in the same vein with Jared Diamond.

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ORIGINAL: samboct

I'll throw in a few more:

On the serious side-

Caleb Carr- the Alienist and its sequel Angel of Death (think that's it)- wonderful fiction set in the turn of the 20th century NYC and very well written.
Frederick Busch-his stuff is uneven from what I've read- Memories of War kind of sucked, but the Night Watchman where he uses Melville as a character is just superb- he's a writer's writer.
Erik Larsen's Devil in the White City- about a mass murderer in turn of the 20th century Chicago area, coincident with the World's Fair. Great historical semi fiction-some of the dialogue is imagined, but the situations are based on reality.

I'm currently plowing through V by Thomas Pynchon- he can write, but I'm at the half way point and its hard to keep his characters straight, he often changes their names- plus, it's a novel that really bounces around. Individual vignettes are really good- but it's not very cohesive.


On the lighter side- skewering South Florida with wild and zany characters- but based in fact because he's a reporter- (and other reporters down there consider him the bible)- Carl Hiassen.

HTH

Sam (who's not really into fantasy)

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ORIGINAL: calamitysandra

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ORIGINAL: Snort
I'll check it out. I also powered through some fun books by Jim Butcher called The Dresden Files. Fun romps about a wizard plying his craft in Chicago.

If you like Butchers writing, you might want to take a look at his second, already finished series, "Codex Alera".