Book recommendations

[VerbalPuke]

I’m looking for new stuff to read. Philip K. Dick hasn’t gone so well. Ubik has been ok, maybe I should try something else? 

Do you guys like Burroughs, Ginsberg, or Kerouac? Intrigued by Burroughs mostly, especially Junky. 

I like Jon Steinbeck, Irvine Welsh, and Charles Bukowski a lot. Stuff similar to those guys is a good start. I like good biographies. 

I like gritty stuff. Stuff taking place in inner cities, crime related, drug related. 

[VerbalPuke]

Eh, maybe this can be merged with Liams book topic? Sorry, didn’t even occur that I should just put this question in his thread. 

[Benjamin]

Have you read A Scanner Darkly? It's by Philip K Dick as well, I personally love it. It's got undercover cops and drug houses and high tech surveillance and all kinds of crazy shit. I don't want to spoil it for you in case you haven't read it. The movie adaptation is pretty kick ass, too.

[C-MIL]

American Desperado.

[MDK]

52 minutes ago, Christmas said:

I’m looking for new stuff to read. Philip K. Dick hasn’t gone so well. Ubik has been ok, maybe I should try something else? 

Do you guys like Burroughs, Ginsberg, or Kerouac? Intrigued by Burroughs mostly, especially Junky. 

I like Jon Steinbeck, Irvine Welsh, and Charles Bukowski a lot. Stuff similar to those guys is a good start. I like good biographies. 

I like gritty stuff. Stuff taking place in inner cities, crime related, drug related. 

Headhunters by Jo Nesbo. I read it Donkeys ago but I recently listened to the audiobook of it, it is still great years after the fact.

Oh, and maybe Stark by Ben Elton, I think you'd like that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_(novel)

[Liam]

5 hours ago, Christmas said:

I’m looking for new stuff to read. Philip K. Dick hasn’t gone so well. Ubik has been ok, maybe I should try something else? 

Do you guys like Burroughs, Ginsberg, or Kerouac? Intrigued by Burroughs mostly, especially Junky. 

I like Jon Steinbeck, Irvine Welsh, and Charles Bukowski a lot. Stuff similar to those guys is a good start. I like good biographies. 

I like gritty stuff. Stuff taking place in inner cities, crime related, drug related. 

@MDK has a good shout with Jo Nesbo in general. His Harry Hole series is dark Scandinavian thriller stuff which is good.

Whilst it isn't exactly like a Bukowski, Michel Houellebecq is a great author if you like unflinching, controversial nihilistic world views and some good stories. Platform and Atomised are both very good.

John Scalzi is some pretty light sci-fi stuff but he writes really engagingly if you still wanted to persevere with the genre. Also, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is the start of an epic sci-fi story that also ended up getting turned into a Netflix show.

Kurt Vonnegut could work for you as well. Sirens of Titan, Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five are worth a look.

Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels are gritty, but basic, police procedurals that are a two hour read at most, but there are tonnes of them and they are good.

Depending on what you like sport wise, A Man's World by Donald Mcrae is an amazing book about the boxer Emile Griffith and his struggles with homosexuality in the macho world of boxing. Any McRae boxing book is good to be fair.

Mixing your crime and biography stuff together, the Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins by John George Pearson is a great book about the East End crime syndicate ran by twin brothers in the 60s.

Similarly, if you like non-fiction and crime, Val McDermid (a crime writer) released The Anatomy of a Crime, which is an interesting look into the process of solving crimes.

 

[HarshMillennium]

Val McDermid is a good shout.

Do you like fantasy books? If so, I highly recommend the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series. It's quite complicated but a very good read when you get into it.

[Liam]

10 minutes ago, HoHoHarshMillennium said:

Val McDermid is a good shout.

Do you like fantasy books? If so, I highly recommend the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series. It's quite complicated but a very good read when you get into it.

My New Year plan is to 'get into it.' I've tried before and struggled, but own the first five so seems churlish not to try again. 

[VerbalPuke]

These are all great suggestions thus far, definitely a lot for me to stay busy with. 

[MDK]

10 hours ago, Christmas said:

I’m looking for new stuff to read. Philip K. Dick hasn’t gone so well. Ubik has been ok, maybe I should try something else? 

Have you tried The Man in the High Castle? His short stories are a lot better than his novels. 

[Liam]

8 minutes ago, MDK said:

Have you tried The Man in the High Castle? His short stories are a lot better than his novels. 

Didn't like that one personally. 

[MDK]

3 minutes ago, Liam said:

Didn't like that one personally. 

It wasn't an easy read and it isn't his best work.

Have you read Catch-22? I cant tell if I loved or hated that book and it is one of the rare times that I think the film is better than the source material. Same thing with Pip Dick. His speed addled brain is better suited to films than books.

[Liam]

3 minutes ago, MDK said:

It wasn't an easy read and it isn't his best work.

Have you read Catch-22? I cant tell if I loved or hated that book and it is one of the rare times that I think the film is better than the source material. Same thing with Pip Dick. His speed addled brain is better suited to films than books.

I really enjoyed Catch 22 when I was in secondary school but have never gone back to it. I'm not sure I actually understood what was going on half the time due to my age, so I should check it out again - I bought it a couple of years back to have in my collection. 

[MDK]

Just now, Liam said:

I really enjoyed Catch 22 when I was in secondary school but have never gone back to it. I'm not sure I actually understood what was going on half the time due to my age, so I should check it out again - I bought it a couple of years back to have in my collection. 

Like I said, it is one of those rare times when the film is better than the book. But then again I couldn't put the book down. Yosarian is up there as one of my favourite characters. 

[VerbalPuke]

On 12/25/2017 at 23:24, Benjamin said:

Have you read A Scanner Darkly? It's by Philip K Dick as well, I personally love it. It's got undercover cops and drug houses and high tech surveillance and all kinds of crazy shit. I don't want to spoil it for you in case you haven't read it. The movie adaptation is pretty kick ass, too.

No, I’m currently getting through Ubik. I like the dialogue and writing, but this story is confusing the hell out of me. I really don’t quite follow whats going on so well. 

 

On 12/26/2017 at 09:26, MDK said:

It wasn't an easy read and it isn't his best work.

Have you read Catch-22? I cant tell if I loved or hated that book and it is one of the rare times that I think the film is better than the source material. Same thing with Pip Dick. His speed addled brain is better suited to films than books.

I read it in college. I can’t remember much of it other than hating a guy named Arfie. I have it around the house somewhere. 

[tristy]

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis