Good Books....

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In this thread, I want people to give somewhat substantial reviews of one or two of their favourite books. And when I say books, I usually mean substantial novels/non-fiction/biographies. I would also prefer that the first few books someone posts (one book per post. That will encourage long reviews) is not part of a series (ie Harry Potter, The Dark Tower, Discworld) unless it may be a good stand-alone book. I would appreciate it also that, if you do review a novel series, that you do so in order (release or chronological order). For example, do Dune before posting about Children of Dune or Dune Messiah, etc.

Also, novels based directly on a film or TV show are frowned upon (that is, film-to-novel or TV-to-novel). However, spin-off novelisations may be allowed, providing they make good stand-alones.


Hokay. I'll start off with...

HOUSE OF LEAVES

By Mark Danielewski

At its very basic level, House of Leaves is a psychological horror novel. However, such a simplistic description does fail to do this unusual debut novel justice. The narrative works on three levels.

The body of the narrative is about a film called The Navidson Record, about a photojournalist called Will Navidson who moves into a house with his family. However, the house begins to grow new internal dimensions that violate the exterior dimensions, including vast cavernous spaces. An investigation by Navidson and some of his contacts ends up causing three deaths, and nearly costs Navidson his own, when the house begins to swallow people up in darkness.

The second level of narrative involves a blind man and poet, Zampano, who has written an academic criticism of The Navidson Report, despite the fact that being blind, he could never have seen it.

The third level comes in when Zampano dies, possibly at the hands of a supernatural force. A tatoo parlour worker named Johnny Truant, who has a scarred past, comes across Zampano's writings, and as he is drawn deeper and deeper into this world, he becomes ever more paranoid and withdrawn.

Despite the pretence of calling it 'psychological horror', House of Leaves is a lot more than that. Footnotes galore adorn the pages, and can go on for several pages, especially as Johnny Truant goes off on an anecdote. There are also (deliberate, it seems) continuity errors, such as where the entrance to one of the strange corridors in the house is located. An unusual system also exists within the typography. Words and paragraphs occasionally become orientated differently, rotated, or shrunk. During many pages, there is only one word per page. Another interesting note is that the word house is always done in blue, even when said in another language. (There are a lot of quotes, some real, some fictional) And strangely enough, in some editions, the word minotaur and passages struck through in red.

Mythology plays a large role, including (at least alluded to) the Minotaur and the Labyrinth of Greek Mythology, and the concept of apparently Yggdrassil, the World Tree of Norse Mythology.

In short, House of Leaves is an excellent novel with enough layers to keep the inquiring mind interested in figuring out the many meanings within the pages. In fact, if you're of that mindset, this book almost seems made for literary Aspies. But be careful reading in the dark. It'll scare the crap out of you if you're not careful. And you may end up putting measuring tapes on walls, floors and doors....

Edited to change thread title....

Well? Anyone else???

Before I write a lot has anyone else read Mythago Wood?

Quatermass, you have set a very high standard to start with.

And why not? (We need a toffy-nosed icon....)

No.

(Quick Wikipedia search)

It looks like the beginning of a series, but I honestly haven't heard of it......

If you write a fairly serious review, I'll allow it.

I went into a bookshop the other day- I approached the counter and said to the sales assistant: "I'm looking for a book called 'How To Handle Disappointment Without Killing', do you have it?"

lol +1

Is there any such thing as a good book?

i like a lot of books for different reasons - most of them are banal, though.

but ill give you some short write-ups on some of them:

ernst jünger - in storms of steel
this book is one of the two big world war one books. the other is erich maria remarques "all quiet on the western front". i prefer jünger, though, although it is largely frowned upon because of accusation of being militaristic.
at least i can not see anything militaristic in it - i have the faint guess that a lot of this is made up of stomach-thinking. what jüngers book definitely is is amoral - in a good way (even better for us aspies). he is describing experiences, relating us to what happened, without tainting it by a flabby moral added to it.
the language is quite interesting - because it is aesthetic and often features wonderful imagery (its quite something for those among us who can be overwhelmed visually by almost everything, regardless of how inappropriate it may be) while at the same time feels very down to earth and factual. someone called it hunter-and-gatherer-prosa, and i tend to agree.
its an interesting tale, and a much better viewport into an everyday life of a wwi soldier than remarques morally overladen book.

m. john harrison - light
this is a science fiction novel i enjoy without really knowing why. but yet, i keep coming back to it, re-reading passages or the whole thing. there are several strands of narrative over different times, even (one contemporary, several future), a lot of maniacish connections and ultimately: a satisfying lot of "does not make sense". it is refreshing for me to read something that just keeps playing with the irrationality of it all. its an interesting read for sure.

collected poetry of friedrich nietzsche
okay, this may not work for english-speakers (i dont even know if his poetry is translated, and if, how unfittingly done). the german original is an interesting insight into the mans mind and the work of a genius with words. to be honest, nietzsches poetry by far outlevels goethes and rivals schillers.

allan moore - watchmen
a comic, but what a comic. for one, it completely throws the classic superhero story over and roots it in a grim reality that is too grim to be comfortable (sounds familiar?) and too realistic to let superheros happen - yet they run around and fight their unusual way through a story that is a masterful example of comic storytelling. several strands of narrative are packed over each other in runs of panels... its just a joy to look at.
on top of it, its pitting several ethic archetypes (nihilistics, utilitaristics, moral absolutistic, etc...) against each other - lending it the kind of second layer that is often associated with non-graphic novels.


and ill look into the house of leaves. that one sounds like a damn lot of fun to be had. thanks for the heads-up.

One the most complex sci-fi novels after Dune, is probably Timesccape
by Gregory Benford. It has the ecological complexities of a dying world, and the temporal
issues of time-reversed communication.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timescape

The only good book, is a read book.

Ahh, my favorite thing in the world is a book. I don't care what book it is, as long as it has words in it.

Quatermass, if I may, I am a bibiophile, and would have contributed to this thread mightily, but feel somewhat constrained by the requirements for a "serious" review. I just finished a grad school class where we had to do many annotated bibliographies, plus summarizing ain't my strong point. That's my disclaimer.

I read everything and anything. I love to read other people's recommendations.

Although I have read 500 books since reading the series I am about to recommend (i.e. force on you to read), this is the one that is the most compelling of all. I will do my best at explaining why I think the following series should be read by anybody who is interested in history:

The 'Outlander' series by Diana Gabaldon.

Five huge tomes total. Last one came out last fall. I randomly picked up the first one at Borders a little over a year ago, became obsessed, and found the last four. They are big books, and I liked them so much I did little else till I had finished all of them.

The author has a PhD in zoology, I think, and it makes her historical writings all the more interesting. They are a series of fiction, but well researched enough that you really learn alot about history. The books start out in Wales, wend through Scotland and England and the Caribbean before ending up in pre-revolutionary america. There is violence (the first one in particular has torture, which I had to gloss over, but some may like that part), sex, and adventure. The main characters are inspiring and compelling. There is an aspect of sci-fi in that there is time travel. There is evil galore, as well as real history. One of my favorite things is that the main character is a nurse who learns to use plants etc. for helping to cure people. I love the ethnobotany she describes.

Yeah cause they can always turn over a new leaf.. ..duh dum, cheee


There's a good book!! good boooooook! who's a good book?! yes you are, yes you are!



I think a Non-Fiction version of the Bible would be a good read. As good as a pop-up book on impotence anyway.

I really like the Jane Austen collection. I've read all the books. I also like reading Shakespeare plays, Emily Dickenson poetry collection books, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Let's just say I love books and reading them.

Well of course there is. I suggest you read "Green Eggs and Ham" it's a really good book and a few words and very big pictures . lol I'm joking.