Conquer Club

I'm looking for some new stuff to read in my spare time. Can anyone recommend any good books they've read recently. My taste is pretty broad, but I like novels that play around with genre, well written short stories, and a bit of popular science.

I'm going to recommend Timothy Mo's "Renegade or Halo" (the actual title has a superscript 2 after halo) as one of the best books I've read recently. Story-wise it's a story about a mixed race Filipino guy who gets involved in gang violence and has to get out of the country. He basically moves around the world, but I'm not really doing it justice. Here's the Amazon.co.uk summary:

"Renegade or Halo2 is narrated by Rey Archimedes Blondel Castro, a black Filipino who size and skin colour owe more to his anonymous American GI father than his Filipina bar-girl mother. Lifted from the barrios of Mactan by an unlikely pair of Jesuits, Rey begins the most extraordinary of picaresque journeys across the globe, which takes him from the Philippines to Hong Kong, Thailand, the wonderfully evoked fictional Gulf state of Bohaiden, London and Cuba. Along the way Rey moves in and out of the high and low of Mo's vividly imagined world, from the frighteningly macho fraternities of Manila high society, to the stateless and the dispossessed who haunt the backstreets of the Gulf states and the fringes of London's metropolis. A true renegade, Rey never fully embraces any of the communities through which he moves, shrugging off the fear and racism he encounters with his own unique response, summed up by the first words in the book: "Love your enemies. Far better than your friends, the dolts define you."

Anybody read anything good recently? Doesn't have to be perfect, just worth a look.

I'm reading Dante's Divine Commedy. I find I have to look up a good portion of the things mentioned in it because I don't understand the references, but I am committed to reading 4-5 books like this per year to broaden my knowledge of literature.

rockfist wrote:I'm reading Dante's Divine Commedy. I find I have to look up a good portion of the things mentioned in it because I don't understand the references, but I am committed to reading 4-5 books like this per year to broaden my knowledge of literature.

Excellent call- I've got to say that I didn't really want peeps to recommend older stuff, but I also have to say that I've been meaning to get through the rest of that series. I've only read the Inferno. It drags in the middle, and there's a huge amount of renaissance politics in it, but I do think it's one of those books that broadens your mind.

If you like it, I recommend Paradise Lost if you've not read it.

I just finished Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy. If you like reading fantasy and/or you really like Assassin's Creed...you will probably like the Night Angel Trilogy. It's like Assassin's Creed with magic.

I am currently reading The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade: Volume 1. It is a WARHAMMER series of books. It is written by two people: Dan Abnett and Mike Lee. It is about a WARHAMMER -style Dark Elf (not D&D style, both are evil, but both are different) who runs around on his pet nauglir (a dragon related raptor type of mount) and kills and kills and kills and robs and kills...so, if you are into a very evil character as the main focus of the story and you enjoy reading fantasy...then these books might be for you.

CreepersWiener wrote:I just finished Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy. If you like reading fantasy and/or you really like Assassin's Creed...you will probably like the Night Angel Trilogy. It's like Assassin's Creed with magic.

I am currently reading The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade: Volume 1. It is a WARHAMMER series of books. It is written by two people: Dan Abnett and Mike Lee. It is about a WARHAMMER -style Dark Elf (not D&D style, both are evil, but both are different) who runs around on his pet nauglir (a dragon related raptor type of mount) and kills and kills and kills and robs and kills...so, if you are into a very evil character as the main focus of the story and you enjoy reading fantasy...then these books might be for you.

I'm a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi, so cheers for that. I tend to get a bit annoyed when the plot is another Lord of the Rings or Dune knockoff, so this sounds like its doing something a bit different.

Have you read any of Robin Hobb's stuff? Worth a look if you like fantasy that breaks from the norm.

Symmetry wrote:

CreepersWiener wrote:I just finished Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy. If you like reading fantasy and/or you really like Assassin's Creed...you will probably like the Night Angel Trilogy. It's like Assassin's Creed with magic.

I am currently reading The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade: Volume 1. It is a WARHAMMER series of books. It is written by two people: Dan Abnett and Mike Lee. It is about a WARHAMMER -style Dark Elf (not D&D style, both are evil, but both are different) who runs around on his pet nauglir (a dragon related raptor type of mount) and kills and kills and kills and robs and kills...so, if you are into a very evil character as the main focus of the story and you enjoy reading fantasy...then these books might be for you.

I'm a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi, so cheers for that. I tend to get a bit annoyed when the plot is another Lord of the Rings or Dune knockoff, so this sounds like its doing something a bit different.

Have you read any of Robin Hobb's stuff? Worth a look if you like fantasy that breaks from the norm.

Nope, I will keep him in mind.

As a side note on The Night Angel Trilogy (Way of the Shadows being the first book) is that Brent Weeks is a Wheel of Time fan...so you are going to get a little bit of that flavor in his writing. A lot of Wheel Of Time fans have read Night Angel.

I've read a large number of books over the past couple of months...but hm, only a few I would recommend.

No-No Boy -- by John Okada (Fiction, 1957),

Impounded, Dorothea Lange and the Censored Japanese-American Internment -- Edited by Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro (Photography, Historical, 2006),

Inventing the Flat Earth, Columbus and Modern Historians -- Jeffrey Burton Russell (Historical, 1991),

Scary, No Scary -- Zachary Schomburg (Poetry, 2009),

As In Every Deafness -- Graham Foust (Poetry, 2003)...

and then of course I've re-read a number of classic play texts like Tamburlaine the Great -- Marlowe (New Mermaid 1997 edition), and Arden of Faversham -- Anonymous (New Mermaid 2007 edition).


--Andy

Genghis Khant wrote:Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

Heh- have you read it? I was kind of interested if it was any good. Also see Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters. Android Karenina was mentioned somewhere, but I'm not sure if that one's real.

Here's the awesome book trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters though:
Youtube

Oh, a really cool book (probably cooler in its native language of German) is The Dwarves written by Marcus Heitz. I can't wait to get his new book this spring called The War Of The Dwarves...his story was simple, but appealing. He definitely has played D&D, as his style of Dwarf pretty much mimics the type you would imagine in a D&D game.

Just finished "Into the Wild" by john krakkuer.It was pretty good, much better than I thought it was.

If your into some good historical fiction then the Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell is a great story about the Viking Invasion of England in the early 800s.Really good story.The first book in the series is "The last Kingdom"

AndyDufresne wrote:I've read a large number of books over the past couple of months...but hm, only a few I would recommend.

No-No Boy -- by John Okada (Fiction, 1957),

Impounded, Dorothea Lange and the Censored Japanese-American Internment -- Edited by Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro (Photography, Historical, 2006),

Inventing the Flat Earth, Columbus and Modern Historians -- Jeffrey Burton Russell (Historical, 1991),

Scary, No Scary -- Zachary Schomburg (Poetry, 2009),

As In Every Deafness -- Graham Foust (Poetry, 2003)...

and then of course I've re-read a number of classic play texts like Tamburlaine the Great -- Marlowe (New Mermaid 1997 edition), and Arden of Faversham -- Anonymous (New Mermaid 2007 edition).


--Andy

Actually, I'm pretty bad when it comes to modern poetry, so those last two sound really interesting. Poetry-wise I really likes "Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes" by Billy Collins. Genuinely funny stuff, and kind of an antidote to some of the po-faced images of modern poets.

naxus wrote:Just finished "Into the Wild" by john krakkuer.It was pretty good, much better than I thought it was.

If your into some good historical fiction then the Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell is a great story about the Viking Invasion of England in the early 800s.Really good story.The first book in the series is "The last Kingdom"

Bernard Cornwell is always a good read- worth checking out the TV adaptations of the Sharpe series if you haven't seen them, just great stuff.

Symmetry wrote:

naxus wrote:Just finished "Into the Wild" by john krakkuer.It was pretty good, much better than I thought it was.

If your into some good historical fiction then the Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell is a great story about the Viking Invasion of England in the early 800s.Really good story.The first book in the series is "The last Kingdom"

Bernard Cornwell is always a good read- worth checking out the TV adaptations of the Sharpe series if you haven't seen them, just great stuff.

Actually read the whole damn sharpe series.Was a great read but while the TV series was fun, still a bit of a dissapointment.

naxus wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

naxus wrote:Just finished "Into the Wild" by john krakkuer.It was pretty good, much better than I thought it was.

If your into some good historical fiction then the Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell is a great story about the Viking Invasion of England in the early 800s.Really good story.The first book in the series is "The last Kingdom"

Bernard Cornwell is always a good read- worth checking out the TV adaptations of the Sharpe series if you haven't seen them, just great stuff.

Actually read the whole damn sharpe series.Was a great read but while the TV series was fun, still a bit of a dissapointment.

Shame, I grew up with it on TV, so I guess my view of it is kind of rose tinted. Historical fiction wise I've enjoyed The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (Sp?). Hilary Mantel's new one Wolf Hall is supposed to be excellent, but I've not read it.

I recently read a series of historical fiction books about Julius Caesar that were pretty good. I can't remember the titles though.

At the moment I'm reading David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature. Don't read it unless you like deciphering obsolete English and philosophy.

rockfist wrote:I recently read a series of historical fiction books about Julius Caesar that were pretty good. I can't remember the titles though.

One of these? From Wiki:

Masters of Rome, a series of seven novels by the Australian writer, Colleen McCullough

Tros of Samothrace, a historical novel by Talbot Mundy, has Julius Caesar as the novel's villain. Mundy depicts Caesar and Roman civilization as imperialist and tyrannical.

Emperor Series, a series of four novels by the writer, Conn Iggulden

Roma Sub Rosa, a series of historical mysteries by the American writer, Steven Saylor

Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Sword of Caesar (1987), in the Time Machine series, asks the reader to travel back to ancient Rome and find the fate of Caesar's battle sword.

Army of GOD wrote:At the moment I'm reading David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature. Don't read it unless you like deciphering obsolete English and philosophy.

Which I do- it's sort of my job though. Might leave that one because of it though. Also:

He could out-consume Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

I'd ask you to put it in the other thread but since we're already here, what IS your job?

Just curious.

Army of GOD wrote:I'd ask you to put it in the other thread but since we're already here, what IS your job?

Just curious.

17th century English history- mostly I work on databases of manuscripts. Kind of one of the big (and by that I mean comparatively small compared to anything elsem but it's new) fields of history and English Lit in academics at the mo. I do it to fund my PhD, looking at women writing about the English Civil War.

It's much more interesting than it sounds, promise.

Jefferson and Religion by Eugene R. Sheridan

I'm not done reading it, but no doubt in the mind of a genius.

....Jefferson was especially reluctant to reveal his religious beliefs. Indeed, so firmly was he convinced that religion was essentially a private affair between each person and his god that he studiously avoided religious discussions even members of his own family lest he have undue influences upon their views.

I recently read John Reed's The Ten Days that Shook the World, and it was really good. It is an eye witness account from a reporter in Russia during the November revolution in 1917. The beginning is a bit dull, but it speeds up fast.

Here ya go : Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution. It posits that human supremacy is a cultural myth, and asserts that modern civilization is "enacting" that myth.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)

BigBallinStalin wrote:Here ya go : Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution. It posits that human supremacy is a cultural myth, and asserts that modern civilization is "enacting" that myth.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)

Sounds pretty interesting- have you read any of Richard Dawkins' stuff? The evolution books, not so much his anti-religion bits. Selfish Gene, Blind Watchmaker, and Climbing Mount Improbable have some similar arguments from an evolotionary biology perspective.