Other Recommendations - for the unenlightened

[jneni]

I'd like to recommend Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Not very good at writing reviews, so I'll just be brief.

Offred isn't her real name, it is merely a patronym that is given to her (read it as "Of Fred"). The background is in Boston, and during that period, the Congress was overturned and some military junta (at least that's how I name them) ruled the country. They believe that women is a lowly creature, so they confiscated all of the women's properties and money and they do not allow women to go to school or work.

Offred lost her husband and her daughter during the revolution. She was deemed 'fertile', as such, she was somewhat 'lucky' that she did not need to go to the Colonies - a place where 'infertile' or old women were collated to clean up radioactive wastes. However, she went into a school, something like a rehabilitation center. There, she was 'reformed' and 'remade' into a Handmaid, whose womb is more important than anything else.

The Handmaid's Tale is a story about the lifetime of Offred as a Handmaid. It's a science fiction and it's classified as a dystopian novel. Although it's short, I think it's very well written. Highly recommended to anyone who wants an interesting and provoking short read

 

[UltraCulture]

Great Apes by Will Self, bonkers stuff.

From the Back Cover
Like Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, Great Apes is a strange and twisted tale, a surreal satire on the human condition, and an omen for those who wander too far. After a long night of partying, Simon Dykes, a successful British painter, wakes up to find that his girlfriend has turned into a chimpanzee. In fact, the world Simon once knew has become a planet of apes. Convinced he is still human, Simon is confined to the emergency ward of a hospital and put under the care of Dr. Zack Busner, clinical psychologist, radical psychoanalyst, maverick drug researcher and media personality. Written with the glittering satiric edge that is Self's hallmark, Great Apes is a hilarious, disturbing, and truly unforgettable novel.

 

[iansales]

During 2008, I'm going to read each month a book by a classic author I've not read before. So I've been mooching books for it. Already I have Joseph Conrad, DH Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Patricia Highsmith, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway... and I hope to get hold of Rudyard Kipling, Wyndham Lewis, Ford Madox Ford, Vladimir Nabokov and Cervantes...

 

[AE35Unit]

I used to have a big Ed McBain omnibus of his 87th Precinct books,like Cop Hater etc. Good stuff! He also wrote one early SF book under his real name of somebody Marsten.

 

[j d worthington]

I used to have a big Ed McBain omnibus of his 87th Precinct books,like Cop Hater etc. Good stuff! He also wrote one early SF book under his real name of somebody Marsten.

My only complaint against McBain's 87th precinct stories is his handling of sex in some of them, which just seemed ... awkward, almost amateurish; especially when it came to less-than-savory characters. However, on the whole, very enjoyable books, and some very good characters indeed....

 

[AE35Unit]

Oh I always skip those bits in books/films anyway, just boring to me with nothing to do with the story.

 

[j d worthington]

Oh I always skip those bits in books/films anyway, just boring to me with nothing to do with the story.

Well, they generally have to do with the story -- certainly, in Lightning, they're an integral part of it (though handled there with much more skill) -- if nothing else, they can be a very strong indicator of character development... but that's where he usually falls down (especially with the Deaf Man, who he otherwise handles with great skill).....

 

[AE35Unit]

I've read a lot of James Herbert books and he always has a 'naughty bit' as we would call it. My brother would read the books then hand them to me with a note where the 'naughty bit' was!

 

[j d worthington]

Well, to take the thread a little further down the primrose path....

Yes, sex can (and has been) used extraneously in books, even by relatively good writers. However, most of the time, if it's a genuinely good writer, it really is an integral part of the tale, giving a lot of insight into characters, building an emotional connection to them (or a barrier to such, with some characters), as well as often having much to do with later motivation for their actions. In other words, as in life, so in literature: sex often plays a very important role, and is considerably more than a "naughty bit"... in fact, I'd say that with most, it's anything but "naughty", instead being one of the best insights into the emotions of a character that you can have....

 

[Pyan]

Ever read any of the John Norman "Gor" series, j.d.?
Gave me a shock as an impressionable teenager, I can tell you....

 

[j d worthington]

Ever read any of the John Norman "Gor" series, j.d.?
Gave me a shock as an impressionable teenager, I can tell you....

Ummm, no... though at one point I was determined to grit my teeth and at least attempt to (I was told by various people that the first 2-3 were actually not bad Burroughsian pastiche) as part of my reading to be informed about all the modern fantasy/sf writers I could... but I simply got turned off by the entire D/S attitude I was sensing there.... Also, I did say good writers, Pyan....

 

[AE35Unit]

sex in books/films just either makes me yawn and head for the remote or fall about laughing.
Just cantr see the point unkless its a sex based film like eyes wide shut, in which I'd definitely head for the remote!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Also, I did say good writers, Pyan....

Twck-tissh! (Yes, that was a whip sound).

Sorry...I'll leave you kids to your conversation... *backs out of the thread*

 

[j d worthington]

sex in books/films just either makes me yawn and head for the remote or fall about laughing.
Just cantr see the point unkless its a sex based film like eyes wide shut, in which I'd definitely head for the remote!

Hmmm. With most modern literature, that must cut out an awful lot of reading, then.... Seriously, sex is no more out of place in either than any other aspect of human behavior or emotions; if anything, with the general run of of things (mainstream, rather than horror, fantasy, etc.) it probably has more of a reason for being there, as sex really does play an enormously important part in human interrelations in one way or another (often sublimated, but nonetheless there....) I'd argue that, especially if you have any aspirations to write, this is an aspect to work on, otherwise you're likely to be completely off-base with character motivation a huge amount of of the time....

 

[AE35Unit]

Twck-tissh! (Yes, that was a whip sound).

Sorry...I'll leave you kids to your conversation... *backs out of the thread*

no no no, its Whick diiiish!
Get it right!!

 

[Pyan]

I was told by various people that the first 2-3 were actually not bad Burroughsian pastiche

That's actually true, oddly enough....but after that he starts to get carried away on a tide of bondage, sadism and subjugation of women. The later ones are practically unreadable.

Also, I did say good writers, Pyan....

You did, you did. I stand corrected and abase myself, Grandpa.

 

[j d worthington]

That's actually true, oddly enough....but after that he starts to get carried away on a tide of bondage, sadism and subjugation of women. The later ones are practically unreadable.

Yes, so I'd gathered... and that is meretricious handling of sex in fiction... bordering on pornography (if not spilling over into it).

You did, you did. I stand corrected and abase myself, Grandpa.

Well, I'd tell you to go stand in the corner, but for someone who's been lying "dead, but dreaming" in a sunken city at the bottom of the sea since before the human world began, that really isn't much of a punishment, now, is it?

And, oh, dear, have we taken this thread 'waaaaaayyyy off-topic....

 

[Nesacat]

*drags thread kicking & screaming back .... bribes it with Som Pappadi*

Les Liaisons Culinaires by Andreas Staikos

A flirtatious fable of fabulous food, Les Liaisons Culinaires is every foodie's dream. The slight tale is little more than a framework on which Greek author Andreas Staikos hangs evocative and sensuous descriptions of food, the recipes for which are presented at the end of each short chapter.

Dimitris and Damocles, two men with a passionate appreciation for good cooking, live next door to each other in the same block of flats and gradually realise that they also share a passion for the same woman - the capricious and whimsical Nana. With a weakness for high-heeled, peep-toed mules, she takes great pleasure in tormenting her lovers, stimulating them to ever higher culinary pinnacles as they duel each other for her favours and the privilege of slipping their creations between her cherry-red lips.

AdvertisementContrary to popular belief, the stomach is actually the way to a woman's heart, especially if she is anything like the shamelessly demanding Nana who is more in love with the game of love than with the players. Simply and beautifully written, with mouthwatering descriptions of classical Greek dishes such as Sea-Urchin Salad, Kolliva and Moussaka, Les Liaisons Culinaires is a tasty treat.

 

[kaneda]

I would go fists to cuffs with people who don't like the below books:

- Shadow of the wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (like someone else said, theres a Cemetry of forgotten books!!)
- The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak (by far, one of the best books I've read in a long long time. The book is narrated by Death!!)
- The Secret History - Donna Tartt (100% a PERFECT book)
- Perfume - Patrick Suskind (the film cannot and did not do this book justice. Great descriptive pasages and a really engaging read)
- A prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving (reminds a bit of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Lots of extemely well written chapters which don't seem to meaning which all come together at the end - fantastic)
- Knowledge of Angels - Jill Patton Walsh (this is a bit like GOTM - you have to stick with it and it will become one of the most amazing books you will ever read in your life!)

 

[Nesacat]

I'd go teeth and claws with people too Kaneda.

Shadow of the Wind is an absolutely gorgeous book. I have three different editions.

And so is Book Thief (I cried and cried and cried) and along these lines there was also Thirteenth Tale.

Two of my favourite books last year.