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Journal ellem's Journal: Suggest me a book 48

Journal by ellem

I am going on a cruise in March. There will be reading on the plane and boat.

No tech, or tech history. I just have to STOP reading that stuff.

I like a lot of things along the Foucault's Pendulum, Davinci Code lines. You got something with Templars - I'm in.

I liked Ender's Games and the rest of those.

Phantom Tollbooth.

HP Lovecraft, Poe, RL Stevenson to Twain, Rand, Blatty, Puzo.

If there's a Mafia, Templar, Exorcism, Pirate, Sex book out there...

I'll entertain Sci Fi books if you can make a good case, I generally (HGttG, Ender's) stay away from Sci Fi. I really dig history, pseudo history, and I LOVE a good Conspiracy theory...

So whad'day got?

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Suggest me a book More

Suggest me a book

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  • The Skystone [amazon.com] - sets the stage for the Arthurian mythos.
    I will fight no more, forever. [amazon.com]
    The Illuminati trilogy. [amazon.com]
    Deception point [amazon.com] & Digital fortress.
    • Seriously you and me need to beer.

      I could read almost any of these... except the Brown... that was crap! :)
      • I totally skipped over the cruise part.

        Having now noticed that, I must recommend each and every Travis McGee [amazon.com] book by John D. MacDonald. They have always seemed to be set in the 60's or 70's to me, though I don't believe that he ever actually mentioned any real-world events. They are a spin-off of the detective theme. The main character is a beach bum "salvage expert" who is always riding off in his "tarnished armor and rusty sword" (I think that's a quote from one of the books) to help someone in need - for
      • I will second the Illuminatus! Trilogy. I stopped reading sci-fi until I found a copy of this book when I was staying at a house when I was 14. Then it took me almost 3 years to locate a copy.
        I have given more copies of this book away than any other.

        "Trust not a man who's rich in flax
        His morals may be sadly lax."

        And it starts with the greatest line ever, "It was April 1st of the year they tried to imminentize the eschaton."

        Otherwise, I would recommend my current history book, "Alexander Hamilton" by Chern
    • Dan Brown: Blech. I liked The Da Vinci Code a fair bit. I found Angels and Demons to be largely a variant of the same story. I couldn't get past the fact that Digital Fortress presumes that the NSA runs windows, and a supercomputer could get a windows style virus, and didn't even finish the book. I find that as you go backward in time, his writing becomes more juvenile. I have high hopes that his next novel will demonstrate the same ability that Da Vinci did.
  • What about the inspiration for the book? The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. 'Tis a load of codswallop, but an interesting read nonetheless.

    Or if you want something a little meatier (and more believable) how about the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson? Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. Pretty interesting stories and well researched - I highly recommend them.

    Alternalternatively you can't go past Terry Pratchett for a good, fun read. Comedic fantasy, with a surprising number of historical references. Pick
  • The End of Faith [samharris.org], by Sam Harris.

    Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola, by Kinky Friedman, the next governor of the great state of Texas.

    Respectively, respectfully.
  • The only fiction book I've been able to get my husband to finish in the last ten years is A Fistful of Rain by Greg Rucka. It's a good beach read - doesn't make you think too hard, and Rucka has a way of writing female characters that makes you wish you were buddies with them. Plus you can have fun picking holes in the musical stuff in the book, since the main character is a musician.

    Rucka's Atticus Kodiak series is fun in the same way, but unless you're planning on doing a LOT of reading, I don't think i
    • Music stuff, that's a good tie in for ellem. I didn't think to suggest it in my previous list, but stuff by Bill Fitzhugh has a lot of humor in it, some small bit of mystery, and Radio Activity ties into one's music geek side. I think Fender Benders probably does too, but I haven't read it yet; my wife got all his books ages ago, but I haven't really stopped reading from my own pile long enough to read anything but Radio Activity. I'd compare Bill's stuff favorably to Chris Moore's, though Chris is a bit
  • Have you read Seventh Son and the Tales of Alvin Maker books by Card? Those are pretty interesting combining early American history with magic.
    • In High school, I read Xenocide by Orson Scott Card and loved it (never got the chance to read the first 2). After that I saw our school library also had 7th Son by Card, so I read it. I thought it was written for 5th graders and not adults. It never set well with me. Maybe I was just too young (and was thinking I was too old)...

      -Ab

      As for novels: I'd suggest Piers Anthony's non-humor stuff (stay away from the Xanth Series). Things like the Cluster Series or the Incarnation Series are very well written.
  • Anything by Dan Simmons [amazon.com]. He writes SF, horror, detective, and other stuff. Anything by Iain Banks [amazon.com]. Banks writes general fiction, and SF as Iain M. Banks. Some of Simmons' horror is not for the squeamish. Banks' general fiction (The Wasp Factory, Complicity) is definitely not for the squeamish.

    In my opinion, both are among the best writers currently active.

    For a good conspiracy read, I'm currently working on The Assignment [amazon.com], by Mark Andrew Olsen. I do not agree with the Publishers Weekly revie
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Not your typical Sci-Fi, but I'm having trouble putting them down.

    Out of the Silent Planet
    Perelandra
    That Hideous Strength

    C.S. Lewis. And not for the kids.

  • If you don't mind your conspiracy and espionage being actual history, I'd highly recommend The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB [amazon.com], which is an absolutely fascinating history of KGB espionage in the West from the Russian Revolution through the end of the Cold War, based on one of the largest troves of KGB history to become available in recent years.

    It has all the pace of an epic thriller, all the covert dealings of the best espionage or conspiracy story, and it

  • I highly recommend Daniel Quinn

    The book to start with is Ishmael [ishmael.org] to be followed by The Story of B [ishmael.org].
  • I don't know that this would be something you'd be interested in, but neither of us would know if I didn't say anything.

    I'm suggesting New World Coming [amazon.com] by Nathan Miller. It's a history of the 1920's and kind of gives perspective on how some things were then are very similar to things going on now. Plus, I hold this special place in my heart for the 20's for some unknown reason.
  • I like a lot of things along the Foucault's Pendulum, Davinci Code lines. You got something with Templars - I'm in.

    In addition to RW's recommend of The Illuminati Trilogy (which really does fit your profile of sex, drugs, pirates, and templars), I'd suggest the following:

    • Format C: by Edwin Black
    • The Genesis Code by John Case
    • The Acts of the Apostles by John F.X. Sundman (no, nothing to do with the bible despite its cover; I had people asking me if I was doing bible study the whole time I read it because
    • I'd forgotten abot Neal Stephenson... I really liked Cryptonomicon... computers, Perl, WWII...
      • His earlier stuff is more scifi than Cryptonomicon, and of course you could spend a couple weeks solid reading the Baroque Cycle trilogy (only a trilogy in the same sense as the Lord of the Rings; it's a long novel broken into three books). So there's no perl there. But I like it lots. And the Baroque cycle books are good for the 1600's references that resonate with the same perl/history/cryptography themes that you had in Cryptonomicon, though obviously no perl.
      • I've read all the Neal Stephenson that I am aware of with the exception of the Baroque Cycle books:

        Diamond Age - really enjoyed this one and considered naming one of my daughters after the main character, the end goes weird though

        Snow Crash - really really enjoyed this one. The end is weird though.

        The Big U - this was a very cool story until the end when it all gets weird and sort of falls apart

        In the Beginning Was the Command Line - an essay on the history of computers, not a novel at all

        Zodiac - probably
    • Our girls Tralala got mentioned in todays PFM [pitchforkmedia.com]. Article hits it pretty much on the head. More modern confusion of execution with actual jams. I dunno if anyone would also switch back to a single-by-single model of modern pop. That Rhino collection also looks pretty lack luster. It looks like all C-sides. No "You Don't Own Me" or "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore. WTF?
      • but THe article doesn't mention that 1) tralala can't afford the neptunes, and 2) they're from Brooklyn!

        P.S.- How does one eat Thai food? (perhaps I mean malaysian; the place purported to be both) I seriously think I did it wrong. There's this little bowl of rice, then this bowl of "prawns" (read: shrimp) with tomatoes in a spicy, watery broth, then your plate. Be careful of the broth, because it has large spices and some inedible spices; diagonal cuts of lemon grass are NOT green onions and WILL exco
        • Enjoying that BC weather I guess, eh? Any more ratings up/down on the disc I sent ya?

          Thai? I'm not a pro. I could ask girl SoCal as she is Thai and probably has the lowdown. I assume it's pick from one, pick from the other (probably doing rice first, scooping a nice layer on your tongue and then scooping some prawns on it and letting them blend in your mouth via mastication).
          • I like your method. Ask so-cal about lemon grass in the throat, though.

            Tonight was spicy drunken noodles; much easier to deal with, since its alread mixed up on the plate for you.

            I gotta realize that I should be eating non-stop seafood. I'm in the pac-no-west, for gord's sake!

            No more ratings yet- when I get a chance I'll move some to the mp3 playa.

            P.S.- you should read "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel"
  • Gates of Fire [amazon.com]
  • neuromancer.

    yeah, it's sci-fi, but you should read it. if you need more explaining, i'll just add that it was the first book to win the philip k dick award, the hugo award, and the nebula award.

  • Mary Gentle -- Grunts

    It's fantasy, and sci-fi, and funny. I'd call it light reading. The only problem, it'll go fast.

    I actually like the Ashe series, too - but it's really hard to find the last two books of the four. Anyway... it's the book I most frequently recommend for fun, fictional reading.

  • Primitive Technology - A Book of Earth Skills [amazon.com] might be useful if something goes wrong.

    Just be sure to keep it in a zip lock bag and on your person the entire trip. You might not have time to retrieve it from your room.
  • "E" I have listed 3 books that are my absolute favorites... first let me say that I considered that you would be traveling and didn't want to pick something too involed or lengthy... so these are what I came up with... I urge you to look into all of them if not for this trip, for your personal library:

    If you wish... you may qualify my taste in literature by browsing some selections my libra [nyu.edu]

    • I actually read... well almost read Frabrato... couldn't plow through it, though the other two are on this list
      • Ellem if you really want to test your mental acumen... I have a book for you. I don't suggest this book to many because it truly takes a certain degree of intelligence to follow. However... go for it, it's called The Commanding Self [amazon.com] by Idries Shah. It will blow your mind!
  • I recently read The Color of Magic, and I've now ordered the next 7 in the series. :) Enjoy!

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