# Recommend me some awesome literature



## bpprox22 (Apr 4, 2017)

Since moving away from home, I have a lot more "me" time and have decided I want to read more.

I am open to all genres of books/works. What are some that you consider to be fantastic reads? Thanks!


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## sezna (Apr 4, 2017)

The Portrait of Dorian Gray is a fiction classic and not very long!


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## vilk (Apr 4, 2017)

I started reading a book called _Caves of Steel_ the other day, and I'm not done yet but I'm enjoying it. I guess this Isaac Asimov guy is one of the earlier sci-fi writers to popularize stories about robots. In the foreword I learned that robot is actually coined by a Czech writer and comes from a Czech term for forced labor. Oh, I should mention that it's a murder mystery focused around a NYPD detective who is made to partner with a robot.


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## jerm (Apr 4, 2017)

Iliad by Homer
Odyssey by Homer 
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Epic of Gilgamesh
The Divine Comedy - Dante


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## vilk (Apr 4, 2017)

^that's a f///ing lot of iambic pentameter


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## bostjan (Apr 4, 2017)

Hmm...

Well, I like weird stuff, myself, so be warned that I might recommend some garbage. Also, I'm not much of a big novel reader. 

Stephen King. _Thinner_ was an interesting read that stands out to me, but I haven't yet found a dud from him.

Nikolai Gogol. _The Nose_ was my favourite. Grotesque surrealism at its most coherent.

Edgar Allen Poe. _The Cask of Amontillado_ grabbed me.

W.W. Jacobs. _The Monkey's Paw_.

HP Lovecraft. Not the best writing, but interesting picture-painting. I especially liked _At the Mountains of Madness_.

Robert Bloch, _The Thing_.

JRR Tolkein. Try _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, but obviously the LotR books are pretty much his go-to works.

I like a lot of traditional stories as well. Check out _The Quest of the Sons of Tuirreann_.


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## bpprox22 (Apr 4, 2017)

There are some interesting picks here!

I should note: I'm not really a fan of Sci-Fi novels :/

Here are the books I ordered:
Thinner by Stephen King
The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligieri
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Dover Thrift Editions) by Oscar Wilde
Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss


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## MFB (Apr 4, 2017)

Have you tried the Bible? I don't know if it's considered awesome, but it IS pretty righteous.


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## bostjan (Apr 4, 2017)

bpprox22 said:


> There are some interesting picks here!
> 
> I should note: I'm not really a fan of Sci-Fi novels :/
> 
> ...



Aw, older sci-fi (z.B. ETA Hoffmann, Jules Verne, HG Wells) was about the only fiction I would read as a kid, unless it was for homework. I guess I haven't come too far since then...


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 4, 2017)

Some personal favorites, a mix of military history and fiction mostly.
The Things they Carried- Tim O'Brien
Native Son by Richard Wright- a dark violent book about inner city life in the early 20th century
Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer - One of the best books talking about the Eastern Front in WWII
Bloodlands:Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder- details the crimes against humanity committed by both the Russians and Germans
The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Beevor- Details the massive scale of raping/pillaging committed by the Russians
The Poetic Edda-Lee M. Hollander -Norse Mythology
Eaters of the Dead-Michael Crichton - modern retelling of Beowulf
Count of Monte Cristo- Alexander Dumas
Vengeance by George Jonas- true story of an Israeli hit team
White Fang- Jack London
From Hell- Alan Moore


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## bpprox22 (Apr 4, 2017)

MFB said:


> Have you tried the Bible? I don't know if it's considered awesome, but it IS pretty righteous.



Is this sarcasm?


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## vilk (Apr 4, 2017)

I took it to be vocabulary joke. You know, _awesome_'s traditional use


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## russmuller (Apr 4, 2017)

I'd have to recommend:

*Waking Up* - by Sam Harris (about spirituality without religion, lots of of neuroscience, philosophy, and meditation)
*Thinking Fast And Slow* - by Daniel Kahneman (about how the mind processes and reacts to situations, makes decisions, and the biases hidden that result)
*Havana Nocturne* - by T. J. English (an incredible history of the Cuban revolution and its relation to organized crime in America)
*The Greatest Show on Earth* - by Richard Dawkins (an inspiring review of modern evolutionary biology)

If you haven't guessed, I'm not much of a reader of fiction. lol


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## MFB (Apr 4, 2017)

vilk said:


> I took it to be vocabulary joke. You know, _awesome_'s traditional use





bpprox22 said:


> Is this sarcasm?



Vilk has the right idea, I was making a play on the original use of awesome (something which awes people) and the double play on righteous.


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## bpprox22 (Apr 4, 2017)

russmuller said:


> I'd have to recommend:
> 
> *Waking Up* - by Sam Harris (about spirituality without religion, lots of of neuroscience, philosophy, and meditation)
> *Thinking Fast And Slow* - by Daniel Kahneman (about how the mind processes and reacts to situations, makes decisions, and the biases hidden that result)
> ...



These are some that I can get into


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## bpprox22 (Apr 4, 2017)

MFB said:


> Vilk has the right idea, I was making a play on the original use of awesome (something which awes people) and the double play on righteous.



Yep, this makes more sense.


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## fps (Apr 6, 2017)

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
The Trial - Franz Kafka
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

are the first three that currently come to mind!


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## auntyethel (Apr 6, 2017)

Flow My Tears The Policeman Said, or The World Jones Made by Philip K Dick are fantastic. Both set in the future but not really trad sci-fi.

On the other end of the scale, The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov is amazing and surreal, but not the 'lightest' of reads.

If you're looking for something easy and funny, but still brilliant and entertaining, I'd recommend any PG Wodehouse, in particular his Jeeves & Wooster books.


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## cult (Apr 6, 2017)

Chuck Palahniuk - Choke, about a guy who trained himself in almost choking on food to have people forge an emotional bond towards him as they save his life. Great but a little weird.

Hunter S Thompson - The Rum Diary, an easy read, fast storytelling. Took me far away while I read it. Great storytelling.

Troy Blacklaws - Malindi, a rather sad story about a kid in South Africa loosing his twin brother, amingly written though, really grabbed me. Kind of a coming of age story with a dark twist.

David Duchovni - Holy Cow, really the easiest of the bunch, but I had some great laughs.

Toni Morrison - Sula, a book which I consider to be among the top 5 I have ever read. Also read The Bluest Eye, which equally had me looking at more by her works.


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## bpprox22 (Apr 6, 2017)

Superb recommendations! I have a list that will last me the year in Cleveland 

I'm going to keep this thread as a reference list when I am looking for new books/works to check out. Please feel free to keep posting if you think of more 

Also, I will come back and post my thoughts on books as I finish them (This will give me incentive to finish them )


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## Mike (Apr 6, 2017)

I just started Science Set Free by Rupert Sheldrake and so far I'm enjoying it. It's has some really interesting perspectives on how dogmatic belief in science is detrimental to discovery.


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## bpprox22 (Apr 6, 2017)

Mike said:


> I just started Science Set Free by Rupert Sheldrake and so far I'm enjoying it. It's has some really interesting perspectives on how dogmatic belief in science is detrimental to discovery.



Very interesting. I enjoy books that tell a story, but I also want books that make me think about real issues from different angles.


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## Given To Fly (Apr 6, 2017)

_A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court _- Mark Twain 
_Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _- Douglas Adams


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## Bearitone (Apr 6, 2017)

I HIGHLY suggest some OG Sherlock Holmes. You won't be dissapointed


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## thraxil (Apr 7, 2017)

Just narrowing it down to fiction I've read recently that I can recommend:

* Ringworld by Larry Niven (scifi)
* Hyperion by Dan Simmons (scifi)
* absolutely everything by Thomas Ligotti (existential horror; the modern HP Lovecraft)

And I'm currently most of the way through the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I grew up in Maine and he was sort of a friend of the family, so I inevitably read almost all of his stuff. Most of his "horror" doesn't really do much for me, but when he veers outside that genre I think he's actually at his best. I held off starting the Dark Tower series for a long time (people were worried that he'd die before finishing it), then forgot about it. Now they're doing a film adaptation though so I figured I ought to read it first. I'd say it's easily some of his best (up there with The Stand).


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## sawtoothscream (Apr 7, 2017)

Lone survivor , blew through that book fast. 

American sniper was good as well. 

Tried reading the shinning but it's extremely slow and couldn't get I to it.


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## bpprox22 (May 5, 2017)

UPDATE:

As I mentioned before, I am going to keep this thread as my motivation to actually complete books and give my opinion on them.
*
Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss = DONE*
- This book was mainly about changing your perspective on events, particularly bad ones. The idea is that you need to believe every thing that happens to you is the best thing that could've happened and will ever happen to you. I'll admit, at face value that statement seems like a load of ...., but after reading the book, I can appreciate the value in it. I typically approach all of life's situations with a calm, positive attitude anyways but this just gave me more insight as to why it is important to do so. I am going to be looking more into Zen and Meditation for fun 

*The Picture of Dorian Gray = Started*
- I have only started reading this book (3rd chapter) but am really getting into it. So far, the style of writing is not what I am use to but it still provokes the stories imagery in my mind -- which to me indicates good writing. I think I dig the suspenseful/dark feeling it's giving me.


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