fair trade (books)

[adrienmundi]

So, tell me what book you think I should read, and why, and I'll return the favor.

Comments

Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[fierce-rabbit.livejournal.com]

The deliciously sinister flip side of Terry Pratchett.

[celticmoni.livejournal.com]

Bridget Jones' Diary.

It's a hoot!

:)

(all "thought provoking" schtuff I could recommend would likely be too depressing. But, I'll go ahead and recommend Angela's Ashes anyway, because it's very, very well written. But, you've gotta promise to read something fluffy afterward. You know: Balance and all....)

[laughingwoman.livejournal.com]

perfume, by peter suskind.

i recommend this book all the time, and i talk to people who've read it and loved it but never anyone i've given it to. i think it's a great seventeenth c. ride, it's about this crazy antihero grenouille who has the most sensitive sense of smell in the history of scent. he parses out scents from miles and miles away, and what he wants to do with his secret talent is diabolical. the novel kept me in this dreamy, scent-aware strange place the entirety of the novel (and a good deal beyond), and while i don't always go for period pieces, this is one with a twist and is really well written.

highly recommended.

[skiadaimonos.livejournal.com]

I'll second Perfume. I read it when i was still in highschool and it was one of those things that you sit down and read cover to cover and then look up and simultaneously think "what in the hell was i just reading?" and "wow, that was amazing." Then again I'd recommend anything of Suskind for really quirky brilliance (The Pidgeon and The Bass were cool, but expecially Mr Sommer's Summer)

One book I've been wanting to tell you to read for pretty much as long as I've known you but haven't because it has a sexed premise and I'm just not sure, is Vita Brevis by Jostein Gaarder. It is basically a letter to St Augustine from his former lover. Again something i read very long ago, but it hsa stayed in my mind as one of the most beautiful books i have ever read

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[adrienmundi]

I did read it, and liked it, more than I expected to (I wasn't sure Gaiman could pull off something of that scope without visuals). It made me think of Tim Powers with a heart.

[adrienmundi]

Really? I've avoided it because it seemed to have acquired the taint of Oprah, and I really distrust her and anything she touches (I blame her for permanently lowering the bar on daytime talk TV, and long for another Phil Donahue).

But, as for a recommendation: try Dream of Red Mansions (aka The Story of the Stone); it's a long, famous chinese saga, but it's fabulously lush, and the characters are keen.

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[adrienmundi]

Recommendation, for you: it's kind of a cop out on my part, but check out the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies; they're amazingly consistent in quality, and have two of the best genre editors I've ever encountered (second only to Gardner Dozois in science fiction).

[adrienmundi]

While I generally recommend this book every chance I get, I think you'd really like "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshimoto; I want to view the world like her characters do. If you've already read it, give a shot to The Tale of Genji; it's lush and beautiful, but so long that I've never finished it.

[adrienmundi]

I'm going to cheat a little, and recommend that you read the books I've given you, specifically "A Lover's Discourse" (I'm curious to see if you find it as sweet and endearing as I do). But if you want a new recommendation or two... um, the Susan Cooper series; it's young adult, but played a huge role in my adolescent/early teen development, and, um... The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (50s LA noir story that I literally could not put down) and The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot (a neat sort of cross discipline science book that I also couldn't put down).

[subjective.livejournal.com]

!!! susan cooper! yah! speaking of YA books, have you read philip pullman's "his dark materials" trilogy? the first is titled "the golden compass."

i'm not sure what to recommend to you. have you read samuel delaney's "times square red, times square blue"?

[adrienmundi]

I read "The Golden Compass" upon recommendations from several folks, but... it left me a little cool. I didn't hate it, not by a long shot, but I guess it didn't quite grab me like I would have liked.

I'll check out the Delaney; I don't think I've read it.

Hmm... return recommendations: while you've probably already encountered it, take a look at "How Loathsome" by Tristan Crane and Ted Naifeh; it's really a pretty keen graphic novel. Otherwise... I'll recommend to you, as well, Barthes' "A Lover's Discourse"; it's responsible for making Barthes my A number one French academic crush.

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[fierce-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Glad to know you liked it.

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[fierce-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Not too long ago I picked up "999: twenty-nine tales of Horror and Suspense." Does that count?

Funny how Golden Compass grabbed me...

[fierce-rabbit.livejournal.com]

I'm about 1/4 way through the third book.

Something about gutsy kids in extreme danger hooks me every time...especially when most of the adults are evil...kind of suits my world view.

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[adrienmundi]

It might; who was/were the editor/s? (But of course it counts, if you enjoy it) The year's best are at the hands of Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

Re: Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?

[fierce-rabbit.livejournal.com]

The editor of this is Al Sarrantonio. According to the back it was "winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology."

Neil Gaiman and Tim Powers are among the contributors.

Plus I just had to pick up a book with "999" so interestingly displayed on the cover - freaked my honey out when he first saw it from upside-down.

[justanotherg33k.livejournal.com]

I recommend that you read Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn. It discusses several techniques for debunking harmful dominant memes that may be of some interest. Kalle Lasn is the founder of Adbusters.

[adrienmundi]

That sounds intriguing, thanks. In return, let me recommend anything by Ted Sturgeon to you. I tend to think of him as Phillip K. Dick with a heart, and more talent.

[justanotherg33k.livejournal.com]

This definitely sounds like an author that I need to check out. Thank you.