Fun Books

Ah, Vance! The man who single handedly created all the magic systems of D&D, Pathfinder, GURPS and more!

I’m a sucker for fantasy, and he is definitely on my short list! What would you reccomend to start with?

I know how you feel, I was originally gonna do Marine Biology, but I am trash at chemistry, so I had to shelf that dream. History is still great though, and I like to focus on the Medieval period, which is probably a result of LotR and The Hobbit :)

I focused on Church history by accident though. Just a topic that I haphazardly chose for a thesis, and fell in live with it. I dunno if I’ll ever get the chance to make something of it, even with a MA, but it’s something I will pursue, as long as I have good enough grades!

I actually do have a Chaucer class that I really enjoy right now! We’re reading the Canterbury Tales and Chaucer is very good at showing what he thinks of the Church, but not Christianity, with a sly smile. Even learning Middle English for it!

If you're into medieval lit, Le Mort Darthur is pretty entertaining. It's very fast paced and full of adventure, aside from the endless descriptions of jousting. I think the Oxford Classica version omits the more repetitive parts so that might be the one to go for.

My first Vance was The Dying Earth. It just hooked me. It’s a bit rough, and is more a fix up than a novel, but if you like lush but readable language, civilized irony, dense world building, and a sense of wonder you should like it. It’s so influential it’ll all feel familiar, but it’s so good it transcends that fact. Also, if you get the Dying Earth omnibus you’ll get the two Cugel books which are awesome. It’s amazing how much Vance packs into a few pages. The four dying Earth books add up to about 700 pages but there’s enough in there for three times that length. And yet it’s so readable.

Great! Thanks for the recommendation! I picked up The Decameron and The Divine Comedy just a bit ago, I look forward to those as well!

Great! I’ll pick those up as soon as I get a chance, I know Vance is well loved, so it’ll be soon time to find out why!

>fun books
Finally! Anything by Michael Crichton in my opinion. I’ve read the Jurassic Park duo more times than I care to mention.
Since there’s talk of history, I’ll say the most fun I’ve had with a character history book is Hannibal by Patrick Hunt. It’s not a narrative or anything but the descriptions of Hannibal Barca’s life are the fun part; the battles, the elephants, etc.
Murders in the Rue Morgue is more fun than I anticipated, as is Island of Doctor Moreau, Starship Troopers, and continuing on the theme of history (pre history) check out Danny Vendramini’s “Neanderthal Predation Theory”
Like dogs? Check out “how the dog became the dog” that’s a good one, with a lot of casually presented facts that make for a good time. Hope I’m not throwing too much at you OP, thanks for an actual good thread

I picked up Jurassic Park at a drugstore because I was bored (the owner sells the books she’s read on a spinner rack for a buck, and I think some of her friends donate books too. It’s cool) and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun and cool it was. I read it in a day. The summary of chaos theory was good too. Any other Crichton recommendations?

Great! I have an ever growing list of books to read so this is a gold mine! The Hannibal one and Dog book seem right up my alley! Thanks!

Ah, well you may or may not be interested to know that medieval legal history is fascinating, too. Lots of big developments in relation to criminal law but my favourite (legal history) periods are Tudor (birth of trusts law - which is the most fascinating story ever), and then 17th century highway robbery (yes, really; based as hell).

I’m trying to think of a recommendation for you if you’re interested in legal history at all, and “English Law in the Age of the Black Death” by Robert Palmer is fantastic. He’s written it for a wider audience than legal historians (who are usually dry as fuck) so it’s very engaging just as an account of day to day life at the time and how the law had to progress rapidly to deal with the consequences. For instance, they started heavily enforcing contracts because skilled tradesmen were desperately needed, etc. It’s a great book anyway. Very niche and there’s a fair bit in it too regarding the ecclesiastical courts you may be interested in.

Also, I did a year of religious studies before deciding on law so I feel you in terms of the history of the church. The whole development leading up to and just after the Council of Nicea is especially intriguing. Oh, and also how Romans perceived of Christianity and, of course, how that then led to its growing popularity (Roman women were a very big factor!).

> Hannibal by Patrick Hunt. It’s not a narrative or anything but the descriptions of Hannibal Barca’s life are the fun part; the battles, the elephants, etc.
Done

> Check out “how the dog became the dog” that’s a good one, with a lot of casually presented facts that make for a good time.
Done.

Thank you, Anonymous!

Sophie’s world was fun :)

> Sophie’s World
Actually a terrific book and a very good starter for anyone interested in philosophy. Hugely underrated nowadays.

Looking at it, that seems like a great read. Philosophy has always been a dead zone for me due to anxiety, but this seems like a great way to approach it!

Well I’m interested! Added it to my reading list! Im actually aiming to talk about the refugees of the Black Death in my class, so this could be a great source for me, thanks!

Well, I looked it up and it seems pricey but your library is bound to have a copy. I hope you do find it interesting!

Also, not that guy but ‘Sophie’s World’ is a great book as an introductory philosophy text. It’s very engagingly written and (iirc) he pretty much covers the whole western tradition so it’s very useful as a starting point to delve into whomever you want once you get an overview.

Great thread, OP. Really enjoying it.

Turner Diaries and Hunter are hilarious and awesome

Just read my first Witcher book. The translations seem poor, and the stories shamelessly rip off Elric, Conan, Grey Mouser, the author's old D&D games, etc., but it's fun to just read sword & sorcery pulp again after so long.

Legend by David Gemmell is a fun heroic fantasy.

Attached: 81LDcYiXAJL.jpg (1215x1919, 445K)

>Anything by Michael Crichton in my opinion. I’ve read the Jurassic Park duo more times than I care to mention
Are you me?
You feel like living dangerously?

Attached: Screenshot_20200228-235240.png (1920x1080, 712K)

Weird fiction is best fiction.

Attached: weirdbooks.jpg (1200x755, 239K)

Im not really a light novel person but i watched the anime of Overlord and liked things about it but I thought it was shoddy and cheaply put together for the kind of anime im into so Yea Forums told me to read the LNs and i had a blast reading all 13 volumes the past two weeks, though it ruined my sleep schedule give you should give it a shot if you like world building/conquering and overpowered MCs

Attached: index.jpg (188x268, 11K)

>They’re dated
Are you implying that modern books are better?

How the fck does someone create cover art for 'Legend' and not put a guy with an axe on the front? Like, why even bother in that case?

I enjoyed the comics when i was a kid. There was a period where they had some great art and writing.

Yeah nothing like being in your early teens with a good manga or comic while listening to an album that fits the story on repeat.

Lmao this is the kindest thread I've seen in a minute. We do have hearts after all. I'm reading Wheelocks Latin drilling my brain! on Chp 26 out of 40! Choo Choo!

In reading I heard you paint houses right now. I love true crime/mafia stuff, I'm not sure how much of what sheeran says is true but it's a great story

I hate SF but that is an objectively fantastic stack, user

Thats a fantastic collection! I agree too, Lovecraft and Howard are some of my favorites, they’re just really interesting and a ton of fun!

I've been reading my way through Rider Haggard's books. They're at best fairly imaginative, at worst delightfully terrible. Like Tintin without a soul.
Also since you don't specify the adventure genre, Wodehouse's books are a riot. I crunch through them like candy; good thing he wrote hundreds.

>in a minute [i.e. a long-ass time]
I never heard that term before I moved from the east to Colorado. Is it associated with Western dialect, do you think?

Have you read Bierce or Hope Hodgson? Add to your list if not.

Yes! Wodehouse is fantastic! Im genuinely impressed by the many various ways he has Bertie refer to the human head.

I’ve read Bierces story An Occurence at Owl Creek, I thought it was good. Never heard of Hodgson though, got any good places to start with the two?

Hey good for you! I was really hoping to learn Latin at college, but they discontinued it because no one went in to it. I had to go learn Spanish. Is that book helping you learn, or should I use Duolingo or something?

Scaramouche

> true crime
You should read this, friend. Absolutely excellent book.

Attached: 9DA830DD-03D1-4F22-92BC-B5C904732304.jpg (932x1500, 187K)

Attached: 9781590200421.jpg (266x400, 18K)

Used book store by my house had almost the entire collection of deathlands series for $1 each. very campy but entertaining enough

Attached: james-axler-deathlands-series-lot-52_1_4102b0d23d6f398d3c067310575ae24e.jpg (1325x1080, 446K)

Congo is so-so I started listening to an audiobook and just found the narrator was irritating. I’m gonna pick up a copy because the premise is right up my alley.
Prey is good, I have the hardcover.
Anybody like Crichton? He may not be Deleuze or Gúenon but he’s fun as hell and makes good stories with some interesting subject matter. As someone who keeps up with bio/zoology I can say he is very well informed, also he’s very tall so you know he has nothing to prove haha
What’s everyone’s fav fun sci fi book?
2001 space odyssey is not super ‘fun’ but I LOVED it. Childhood’s End by ACC is one of my favorite stories ever

I usually find that even campy stories have some really cool ideas and unique premises. I’ll take a look at them! Thanks!

Eaters of the Dead or the Andromeda Strain

>What’s everyone’s fav fun sci fi book?
I reread the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy every year. Altered Carbon is a fun romp, but the latter books (Broken Angels, Oken Furies) have so many iconic scenes and fun bits of world building and lore that you will blink and miss. Richard Morgan demands a lot from you to keep up, but it's worth it.

>Lankhmar
That series was a fun read. OP should read them.

Attached: 71q4HH-WrJL.jpg (880x1360, 209K)

This looks right up my alley! I’ll definitely give this series a look. Tales like these have a sof spot in my heart, even though they’re not “new” anymore, the Sword and Sorcery books are strangely relaxing and comforting.

I have that same C.A. Smith collection. Based.

I recently finished reading The Wheel of Time. The quality of the writing is questionable at times. I feel like the series could be three books shorter with another round of edits. That world building though! You don't read the wheel of time really. You live in that world. I don't know what fun is, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time in that world and will return to it with another reread in a year or two.

The first Lankhmar story, "Two Sought Adventure", was written in 1936, around the time Robert E. Howard killed himself; the last in 1988 when Holdstock brought out Lavondyss (and holy shit is the Mythago Wood series by Holdstock worth a read). Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories cover a half-century of fantasy writing: they're like Sapkowski's Witcher books, but much better, and the originals.

That’s an awesome stack. Pogo kicks ass, too!

Conan is good literature, read them all a while back. Right now, I'm on Night Shift. I got it because one of my favorite movies ever is Maximum Overdrive and this collection has the story that inspired it, which I had read once before. It still holds up and makes me wonder how such a good short story got translated into an enjoyably terrible flick.

bump for based thread

Night Shift is great! I voraciously devoured a ton of Kings works a couple of years ago. Misery is still my favorite!

Michael Crichton - A Case of Need
Michael Crichton - First Great Train Robbery

Daniel Kehlmann - Measuring the World
>Entertaining historical fiction about Alexander von Humboldt's expeditions in South America and the cranky mathematician and genius Carl Friedrich Gauß.

Leo Perutz - The Master of the Day of Judgement
>A who dunnit by the greatest german-speaking magical realist. A short novel of great vigor. Mostly a thriller, with a touch of magic. Whereas his later books (By Night under the Stone Bridge) are the opposite.

>They’re dated and pretty racist

Attached: 7986faf01438f11af0ffcc02d0da9228f487746929e8bfb76e4638d62039538c.png (499x634, 239K)

Take a better picture, I can't read some.of the titles.

This.

That last books is the one that strikes me the most, my girl is huge into magical realism, so this is a great reccomendation! Tbe others seem great too! Thanks!

There is a Latin Duolingo course that is fun, but quite limited. I finished in a couple weeks, from there Lingua Latina by Hans Orberg probably fits that learning style better. Though many anons here prefer wheelocks

Sorry, my camera is a potato. Here's some of them again.

Attached: IMGP0011edit.jpg (1365x1500, 413K)

Just finished reading The Beach by Alex Garland.

Anyone can recommend me something similar? I just want that maximum tropical comfiness.

Attached: 1581012741377.jpg (1024x1024, 136K)

You bought the wrong anthology of M.R. James. This one is the best, it has everything and I think it's cheaper than the penguin books. It's the one on the left, it's a Macmillan Collector’s Library edition.

Attached: P_20191220_213833_1.jpg (4608x2334, 2.01M)

So we are all bug men now?

I recommend to this stack, the ghost story “turn of the screw” by Henry James.

I hope it's in this book, I haven't read it.

Attached: P_20200224_181810.jpg (2592x4608, 3.93M)

I have another one around (hardcover Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James, Oxford Press 512 pages) that's more complete, but that looks good.
James is very good as well, but I really love Shirley Jackson. I have many other volumes that could add to the pile (and I forgot to put Polidori in this time too).

Attached: BlackBooks.jpg (2000x1108, 832K)

I've grabbed a few of those, too. they're a great deal.

I’d bet it is.

The pulp in gold collection. Which reminds me. Conan isn’t just old-timey racist, it is obsessed with race. I bet Mr. Howard moonlighted as a copywriter for a eugenics magazine.

No eugenics, but he was raised in a small town in Texas, was a friend of Lovecraft's, and only lived to be 30. Howard comes from the time and land of lynchings and Indian raids. He was getting less racist as he matured, but his views aren't surprising.
"The ancient empires fall, the dark-skinned peoples fade and even the demons of antiquity gasp their last, but over all stands the Aryan barbarian, white-skinned, cold-eyed, dominant, the supreme fighting man of the earth."

I will read Conan now

The Horatio Hornblower books by CS Forester.

Attached: hornblower.jpg (805x1000, 620K)

>only lived to be 30
He died by his own hand lol.

>I bet Mr. Howard moonlighted as a copywriter for a eugenics magazine.
It is worth noting that in their letters Howard sometimes pushed back against Lovecraft's extreme xenophobia, Howard's view on race probably was not that uncommon for the time.

Now that is something I am looking forward too! I know these books were major inspirations for Star Trek, and even though I’ve never watched it, I’m still excited to see what they have in store.

This is Yea Forums(nel) so the /pol/ is fine. I mean his understanding of the evolution of man is embarrassing (white people degenerate into black people by living in the city too long or whatever.) But those stories go to extremes of purple prose in describing the majesty of a white man’s thews.

Any others you'd recommend? I'm told his work during his cocaine phase was peak King.

>legitimately enjoy literature and don't use it as some intellectual crutch

Hardly anyone knows I read, so why would I care what they think? When people ask me exactly what I read, I feel more embarrassed than proud because it's always a conversation killer when they don't know the authors.

I legitimately enjoy a lot of the writers posted on here and find it hard to put the book down.

Attached: 1581598491142.png (1484x994, 1.25M)

Cugel the clever? Yeah more like Cugel the capricious.

One of his collections is Skeleton Crew. It was hit and miss for me, but sone of the hits were pretty good.

I also really like Cujo, but that may be unpopular, and Dolores Claiborne.

Insomia is pretty pro-chioce, but the premise is interesting. It may be up your alley. I wouldnt bother with Christine though, it’s probably my least favorite.

>I wouldnt bother with Christine though, it’s probably my least favorite.
Shame. I've seen the movie and liked it well enough.

If that pic represents you, I think it’s great! Books can be intellectually stimulating, but also great ways to relax and explore the world. Thats why I have the Literary vs Genre Fiction debate, both books have merits to different people at different times.

Allan Quatermain. They're just fucking fun, Indiana Jones as books basically. If you haven't read them, you're missing out.

To be fair I haven’t seen the movie, perhaps it’s better, but the book was very dry and drawn out to me, I feel like it deserved a good amount of pruning.

I had my eyes on Skeleton Crew as well. Short stories seems to be a strong suit of his.

Hah! I know if him from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but great reccomendation, I’ll give them a shot!

Attached: 123123216.png (200x182, 42K)

Based thread. For me it's Don Quixote, Confederacy of Dunces, Tales of Nasreddin and Zhuangzi.

Based. I have this Conan collection, it's really nice.

Haggard is a great writer. I prefer his standalone stuff. "Montezuma's Daughter," is a classic adventure take.

>Zhuangzi
This is a comfy read that I keep going back to. I have dozens of translations and commentaries.

True, but hey, so did Burroughs. Tarzan's British noble blood, combined with a jungle upbringing away from civilization, produced a naturally superior physical and intellectual superman. It was a common trope.

There are a lot of Haggard books, but the best three for me are King Solomon's Mines (1885), Allan Quatermain (1887), and She: A History of Adventure (1887). I'll have to try Montezuma's Daughter.

It's true. King's early short stories and novellas (Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Different Seasons & The Bachman Books) are just bursting with great ideas. I'll take them over the drawn-out giant novels any day.

Unfathomably based.

Have you read his DT series? Thought that was pretty kino.

>Ridder Haggard
Worth noting that Henry Miller devoted an entire chapter to Rider Haggard in "The books of my life". Among the other authors that get a chapter are Whitman, Cendrars, Giono and Ramakrishna, so Haggard is definitely in good company.

We've always been user, we've always been.
Brb, gonna read some popular literature, I think I'll tryvthat novel called "Madame Bovary".

Y'all gonna laugh but my favorite book is genuinely 100% Where the Wild Things Are. I read it at last once a week before bed. I've had it since I was a kid and it comforts me. Can't wait until I have kids of my own to read that one, Goodnight Moon, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar to.

Dark Tower is frustrating (these are my copies). Some amazing stuff, some great writing, some horrible decisions and idiotic characters at times, the self-insert... it was really formed without a plan, and is very weird and uneven, but I'm glad I read the whole thing.

Attached: IMGP0074edit.jpg (3445x1978, 791K)

Not him, but the first two are pretty based, but from the third onwards, it's all just one, long, lurid downhill slope.

I gave up with King round about this. His earlier stuff is just the best. Probably number one for me is The Stand, and then Carrie, Cujo, Christine, IT, and The Tommyknockers. I agree with others who say his short stories are good, too. The earlier compendiums anyway. Haven't read anything of his for years. The end of The Dome absolutely clinched for me that he's now just a total hack.

Yep, I don't have the patience for him these days. Lots of great old pulp to read by others.

Attached: BladeCollection-edit.jpg (1211x864, 528K)

Yeah, it's a shame. I remember Cujo being so tense and freaking me out so much that I actually chucked the book across the room. THAT is what he's lost now. Hope he's enjoying all his fucking gajillions from being a total sellout.

He doesn't remember writing Cujo because of a cocaine binge.

Yeah, this is what I mean. Just an arrogant arsehole now.

>I legitimately enjoy a lot of the writers posted on here and find it hard to put the book down.
That's because you're a 60 iq retard and can enjoy low brow drivel written for teenagers

Oh dear. Having a bad day?

Elmore Leonard is fun as hell . Check out "Swag."

I'm really surprised. Finally a thread without excessive namecalling and buzzwords

Crichton gets super repetitive and definitely spends more time on tech research and technical jargon than dialogue and character development but his stories are all pretty quick moving and alot of them have pretty interesting ideas at the middel of them. I thought Airframe was super interesting and different from most of his other stuff

you’re either a boomer or a fag and i dislike you

And the old pulps get the job done so quickly. They’re so short it’s almost always satisfying. Even if a book is weak, it’s not like reading 800-1100 pages of King to reach a flop ending. If a Doc Savage or Ron Goulart novel sorta sucks it’s still charming fun and you can read it in an hour or two. I wish that philosophy would come back in vogue.

It’s like a little island of positivity and sanity.

Definitely. They're not trying to be literature at all, but they provided a special escapist mode for male readers. Harlequins are still around for women, but most of the manly pulps are gone. The complete Richard Blade series (1969-84) was adult violent/sexy fantasy junk extraordinaire (part Bond, part Conan, part Dr. Who). Completely shameless manly pulp on every level, like most of the series characters created to get young men to buy fiction: John Carter, Conan, Tarzan, Ka-Zar, The Shadow, Doc Savage, Mike Shayne, Shell Scott, Travis McGee, Remo Williams (The Destroyer), Mack Bolan (The Executioner, and its spin-off series, Phoenix Force), Richard Camelion (The Death Merchant), and Nick Carter (from Master Detective to Killmaster), etc.

Attached: 10568863_10154702149880440_8543477500829968911_n.jpg (851x315, 93K)

Shh. Secure people are having a nice chat. Go read something comfy and relax.

Attached: Swallows_Amazons.jpg (800x800, 137K)

Vance is great. I have the black book of his Lyonesse trilogy (Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, & Madouc), but I somehow have never read Dying Earth.

That reminds me: Brian Lumley's Necroscope series is another guilty pleasure. I have stacks of his work.

bump

I haven’t read much Bierce so I can’t recommend anything, but if you want to try Hodgson check out HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND. It inspired Lovecraft. Hodgson’s THE NIGHT LAND is also a pretty serious read, but it’s written in a really creaky style that might grate on you. But if you like HOUSE definitely check out NIGHT LANDS.

Also, if you like the trippy parts of HOUSE you might want to look at Olaf Stapledon’s STAR MAKER. It’s not as dark, but it’s mind-bending.

Get off my Mongolian fishing board you fucking nigger faggot

I haven’t read those, but I read a couple Titus Crow books and liked them. The Burrowers Beneath and The Clock Dreams.

>white people degenerate into black people by living in the city too long or whatever
but that's true.

>Kids Books
Based as fuck my dude

great taste, god bless

Didn't know there was a book, loved the comics.

Nero Wolfe novels are extremely comfy. Big fat orchid-loving gluttonous armchair detective solves crimes from his luxurious brownstone on west 35th street in Manhattan.

I totally recommend this if you're feeling down

Attached: 51YH6SwMeHL._SX314_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg (316x499, 41K)

no one has mentioned it so im gonna go with vampire hunter d series
very pulpy, poor translations but the universe and ideas are very intriguing good fantasy gothic futuristic style

forgot to mention another anime related series
arsene lupin the gentleman thief
very very comfy if you like lupin the 3rd youre absolutely going to love arsene lupin

Carlton Mellick II is great especially Satan Burger.