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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2835 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 21, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Hey, can we get a specific book recommendation thread?

I've been reading too much politics and philosophy and history; I need some Arts and Sciences in there.

I've been going over my copy of The Art of Fermentation; which is a fairly comprehensive pass over world fermentation traditions and a recommended read of your are interested in food history; or want to try some weird ferments of your own.

I'm interested in fiction written after 1980, preferably not sci-fi/fantasy, if anyone has any weird or obscure recommendations.

Not that Iain Banks is obscure but his non-SF novels are iirc less well known but also quite good.

I'm guessing you've read them. Anyway:

My favorite's probably The Crow Road, Complicity and Wasp Factory. The others are good too. Song of Stone is relentlessly depressing and kinda pretentious, if you're squeamish or easily disturbed, give it a pass.

Alt history, but without any SF elements: I much enjoyed S.M.Stirling's 'Under the Yoke'. It's competently written, has a good post-apocalyptic in which an unholy mix of Roman Republic, Taylorism and Sparta is putting the dead European civilization out of its misery in the aftermath of a rather bleaker alternate WW2. Apart from a good dose of S&M which left me cold, It's notable for the author passing the ideological Turing test so convincingly half of the readers think he is some sort of far-right nutcase when Stirling is a garden variety classical liberal.

I’ve enjoyed my brief brush with Lindsay Davis’ “Marcus Didius Falco” series. Vespasian-era Rome as viewed by a cynical, wisecracking private eye. Genuinely hilarious.

This one is sci-fi-fantasy-ish but I highly recommend The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It is the most unique book I've ever read.

Colleen McCullough’s Rome series might be what you’re after.

Seconded, absolutely love those novels.

Is Mason & Dixon obscure enough? It's pretty absurd, or at least I found it funny. Is Murakami too fantasy? Wild Sheep Chase is my favorite but it's 3rd in a series so maybe not the best entry, perhaps Wind Up Bird Chronicle?

Wind Up Bird Chronicle was my favorite book for years. Really resonated, and I don't know why. Really took off at Lieutenant Mamiya's story. It definitely has fantastical elements though.

After the Quake is a very good book of his short stories, if you've never read it.

Oh I'll keep my eye out for that one. I get all my Murakami at a big used book store, it's always a treat when a new title is there.

There’s usually one every week or two. Do you mean a top level thread?

I’m still working through Mere Christianity, not everything resonates with me but what does is quite powerful. Lewis is surprisingly relevant still today.

If Ayn Rand could have gotten past the “he’s a superstitious old mystic”, she’d have seen he identified the same societal problems as she did. Instead, her margin notes were just insults about his faith. Lost opportunity for a big tent anti-collectivist movement.

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