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Post by Northern lights on Jun 14, 2018 18:02:47 GMT -5
Can anyone suggest something interesting to read? I want to get back into reading more and would appreciate any suggestions. Nothing to cerebral. Any topic or genre. Maybe why you liked it?
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Post by Wolfgang on Jun 14, 2018 18:20:52 GMT -5
I never found other people's advice or recommendations all that satisfying or trustworthy re. on almost every topic. What someone else likes may not be what you like. This is especially true of literature. Also, whether you like some book depends on the experiences you bring to it as well as the stage your life is in. Your tastes will also be a big factor.
You could simply pick up a list of the award winners: Hugo (for sci-fi, fantasy), Man Booker (works from British empire writers), National Book Award, etc.
You've got some good ones from your neck of the woods (Canada): Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro (love her short stories!), Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2018 20:55:32 GMT -5
PG Wodehouse. Especially if you've never read anything he's written.
I'm also a fan of Anne Tyler.
Both of these would qualify as "not too cerebral."
You could also start Game of Thrones, if you haven't read any of those books.
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Post by Sorry Ass Sal on Jun 14, 2018 21:01:55 GMT -5
Wolfgang's biography.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jun 14, 2018 21:32:27 GMT -5
... You could also start Game of Thrones, if you haven't read any of those books. I tried reading the first one but it couldn't sustain my interest, probably because of the existence of the TV show. It's as if my mind was saying, why read the book when there's a TV show of it which you're enjoying immensely. I think I got to page 5 and I thought, "Gee whiz, I think there are other books I could be reading."
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Post by Wolfgang on Jun 14, 2018 21:34:34 GMT -5
PG Wodehouse. Especially if you've never read anything he's written. ... Which one?
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Post by VBCOACH on Jun 14, 2018 23:36:52 GMT -5
Catch-22 The Agony and the Estacy Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2018 8:24:59 GMT -5
PG Wodehouse. Especially if you've never read anything he's written. ... Which one? It doesn't really matter. The novels are very good, but you could start with some short stories. If I had to pick one short story it would be Goodbye to All Cats.
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Post by Phaedrus on Jun 15, 2018 12:21:17 GMT -5
I started reading mysteries and police procedurals to entertain myself. My faves are:
Inspector Banks Mysteries. by Peter Robinson. He is a Canadian. Set in Yorkshire. Lot's of music discussion on music from my youth.
Inspector Rebus Mysteries. By Ian Rankin. Scottish Noire, very dark, very violent. Set in Edinborough. Lot's of music discussions too.
Inspector Montalbano Mysteries. By Andrea Camillieri. Sardonic humor. Lots of description of Sicily where this is set. And lots of description of food.
Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore. By Robin Sloan. Nice little book, lots of mystery. Good little read.
Shadow of the Winds. By Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Great set of books, this is the first one. Good mystery.
The Club Dumas. The Flanders Panel. The Seville Communion. All by Arturo Perez-Reverte. None of them are related to one another. Good reads all by themselves.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jun 15, 2018 15:30:45 GMT -5
I started reading mysteries and police procedurals to entertain myself. My faves are: Inspector Banks Mysteries. by Peter Robinson. He is a Canadian. Set in Yorkshire. Lot's of music discussion on music from my youth. Inspector Rebus Mysteries. By Ian Rankin. Scottish Noire, very dark, very violent. Set in Edinborough. Lot's of music discussions too. Inspector Montalbano Mysteries. By Andrea Camillieri. Sardonic humor. Lots of description of Sicily where this is set. And lots of description of food. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore. By Robin Sloan. Nice little book, lots of mystery. Good little read. Shadow of the Winds. By Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Great set of books, this is the first one. Good mystery. The Club Dumas. The Flanders Panel. The Seville Communion. All by Arturo Perez-Reverte. None of them are related to one another. Good reads all by themselves. The only detective mystery works I read were the Sherlock Holmes stories and 3 novels by Anne Perry ( The Cater Street Hangman, Callander Square, The Face of a Stranger). I guess you could say The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (by Mark Haddon) is a detective mystery.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jun 15, 2018 15:42:33 GMT -5
I can read Charles Dickens any day, any time, and be extremely happy and satisfied. It doesn't matter what he writes about, reading his works is a joy. I can say the same about Margaret Atwood, ever since The Handmaid's Tale.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jun 15, 2018 16:36:10 GMT -5
If I had to pick one short story it would be Goodbye to All Cats. Makes me think of Connie Willis's "Oxford Time Travel" series. By 2060 people have invented a working time machine, but it can't bring things back through from the past and every attempt to change the past has failed, so they decide it's not actually good for anything. Therefore they give it to the Oxford History Department, and it is used to send historians back into the past to find out what things were really like. Anyway, while the world of 2060 is generally not really the focus of the stories, along the way you find out a few things about it. 1) There have been some massive pandemics. 2) A terrorist set off a "pocket nuke" on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, so St. Paul's is no more (and neither is a chunk of the London business district). 3) There are no cats. Cats went extinct due to a pandemic virus.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2018 16:41:14 GMT -5
I guess you could say The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (by Mark Haddon) is a detective mystery. I just read that and I already forget what it was about. I know the kid/narrator is autistic (or something), but I'll be damned if I can remember anything more than whodunnit and his parents split up. This is becoming more and more of a problem as I age. The words go in, but they don't take root. I might as well read the phone book (if I still had one of those). The other thing I do is that I start to fall asleep (or actually fall asleep) but I keep reading. Not the real story either. Stuff *I* am making up. That can be confusing. Probably a tumor.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jun 15, 2018 17:02:46 GMT -5
Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." Holmes: "That was the curious incident."
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Post by Thrill of the 'ville on Jun 15, 2018 19:03:53 GMT -5
American Gods by Neil Gaiman is really good. As the title suggests, it’s a mix of Americana, fantasy, and mythology. Trying to personally describe it without giving too much away is sort of difficult so here’s the publisher’s summary: “It is the story of Shadow—released from prison just days after his wife and best friend are killed in an accident—who gets recruited to be bodyguard, driver, and errand boy for the enigmatic trickster Mr. Wednesday. So begins Shadow’s dark and strange road trip, one that introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. For beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America—and Shadow is standing squarely in its path.”
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