Recommend To Me...

[RandallFlagg]

...something rather obscure but good. You know, nothing made into a movie, nothing that is considered "classic" literature. Just something awesomely entertaining that I might actually have to dig for, not your typical King, Clancy, Grisham book. Hope someone can help. ;)

[cheeseisgood1918]

I don't know how obscure he is, but Christopher Moore is great. Try reading Lamb or Fool. Those are my favorites, but all his books are pretty good if you're looking for a sci-fi/horror book with some great humor.

[RandallFlagg]

I don't know how obscure he is, but Christopher Moore is great. Try reading Lamb or Fool. Those are my favorites, but all his books are pretty good if you're looking for a sci-fi/horror book with some great humor.
I love Lamb to death! I have the awesome edition that looks like an actual bible with the gold edged pages. I haven't read Fool. I will have to pick that up. Thanks!


Keep 'em coming!

[pi0trov]

I recommend Tim Powers to just about anyone who will listen...

He's sorta modern/historical fantasy - most of his novels are based around actual historical characters or events, but with supernatural elements as the background. It's not quite "literature", but he is (IMO) a great writer, and he does an excellent job showing magic in a "realistic" fashion. I'd suggest:

Declare - cold war espionage/suspense thriller mixed with biblical/middle eastern mythology

The Stress of Her Regard - the romantic poets (Keats, Shelley, Byron, etc.) and their dealings with creatures who are half muses/half vampires

On Stranger Tides - Black Beard, pirates, voodoo and the fountain of youth

Last Call - gambling, the Tarot, the Fisher King and the search for immortality. Also the first book in an excellent trilogy.

[RandallFlagg]

I recommend Tim Powers to just about anyone who will listen...

He's sorta modern/historical fantasy - most of his novels are based around actual historical characters or events, but with supernatural elements as the background. It's not quite "literature", but he is (IMO) a great writer, and he does an excellent job showing magic in a "realistic" fashion. I'd suggest:

Declare - cold war espionage/suspense thriller mixed with biblical/middle eastern mythology

The Stress of Her Regard - the romantic poets (Keats, Shelley, Byron, etc.) and their dealings with creatures who are half muses/half vampires

On Stranger Tides - Black Beard, pirates, voodoo and the fountain of youth

Last Call - gambling, the Tarot, the Fisher King and the search for immortality. Also the first book in an excellent trilogy.
I will definitely look these up! See, I work in a bookstore, and each week I can strip a paperback book, as long as there are 2 copies (or I can order another one) and it's been out for 2 weeks. Meaning I get any regular paperback for free, sans cover. So I'm trying to get more stuff, as I have officially run out of things to strip. I've been stripping 1 or 2 a month for 3 years, and I just don't know what to do now. So thanks for the suggestions sir!

[Jon Dahl]

Try this one: http://www.digitalwebbing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138485

[cheeseisgood1918]

I love Lamb to death! I have the awesome edition that looks like an actual bible with the gold edged pages. I haven't read Fool. I will have to pick that up. Thanks!


Keep 'em coming!


Yeah, Lamb is amazing. Fool is basically King Lear told from the Fool's perspective with Moore's sense of humor injected and written in a more accessible parlance of course.

I don't know if you've read The Road yet, but that book is amazing if you like post-apocalyptic survival stories. Haven't read anything else by the author (Cormac McCarthy, I believe), but I hear all his books are pretty good.

Also, if you like authors like Douglas Adams and Christopher Moore, check out some of Tom Robbins' books. Still Life With Woodpecker was my favorite, but he has a lot of good ones.

[j giar]

There's a very obscure book written by Louise Cooper called The Book of Paradox. To this day it has managed to stay with me..for the most part.
Printed in 73 and very hard to find a copy below $40.00.
Huge thumbs up on McCarthy's The Road and I've read excerpts from No Country for Old Men and have it on my to read list. J.

[Ron Phillips]

If you like Christopher Moore, check out A Lee Martinez. I've enjoyed just about every one of them. Favorite is his first, GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER, and his newest one, MONSTER, is running a close second along with IN THE COMPANY OF OGRES.

Recently I read PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry. One of the best reads of the year for me. Plus it has "zombies."

[DarkKni9hT]

The Otherland tetralogy by Tad Wiiliams. Epic and completely absorbing.

[RandallFlagg]

I've read some A. Lee Martinez (I think I recommended Gil to you Ron :laugh: ), and I'm going to start stripping any of the Tim Powers we have at the store starting on Sunday.

On Saturday, I'm going to my friend's used book store to look for The Book of Paradox.

As for Tad Williams, I'm going to try to pick up some of his stuff when I go to work to pick up my check tomorrow.

I also picked up Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts the other day for cheap. Also some Teddy Roosevelt biographies. I'm excited about the T.R. books.

[The Anti-crest]

Only Revolutions or House of Leaves.

[DemolitionSamurai]

I'll second House of Leaves. If you don't mind a little ergodic lit, it's fantastic. And even though it's a massive book, I think I polished it off in a little under a week. Between getting into the book so much and losing sleep reading it, I went into work every day sounding like a paranoid schizophrenic, ranting about evil, dimensionless houses. I really want to re-read that book.

I'll also suggest The Illuminatus! Trilogy (it's one book). I'm currently re-reading it for the third time. I can't get enough of it. It's just post-modern conspiracy theorist insanity. It jumps around a lot, but really, it doesn't matter. If you get lost, don't backtrack to try to understand, just push on and be as confused as all of the characters in the book.

[Mike225]

...something rather obscure but good. You know, nothing made into a movie, nothing that is considered "classic" literature. Just something awesomely entertaining that I might actually have to dig for, not your typical King, Clancy, Grisham book. Hope someone can help. ;)I don't think blow jobs are obscure, that may be why no one has mentioned them.

[Ron Phillips]

I've read some A. Lee Martinez (I think I recommended Gil to you Ron :laugh: )


I think you may of. Thanks. Have you read MONSTER? yet?

I also picked up Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts the other day for cheap. Also some Teddy Roosevelt biographies. I'm excited about the T.R. books.

20th Century Ghost is a great collection. Have you read HEART-SHAPED BOX? I'm looking forward to his second novel HORNS.

[RandallFlagg]

I think you may of. Thanks. Have you read MONSTER? yet?
No, I haven't. Is it good? I picked up the Automatic Detective over summer, so that's on the list.
20th Century Ghost is a great collection. Have you read HEART-SHAPED BOX? I'm looking forward to his second novel HORNS.
Yeah, I love Heart-Shaped Box. It's awesome. I didn't know he's got another one on the way. I'll have to grab that when it comes out.

[Ron Phillips]

No, I haven't. Is it good? I picked up the Automatic Detective over summer, so that's on the list.

You should like AUTOMATIC DETECTIVE. Definitely in the top half of his books. Still haven't read one as good as GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER.


Yeah, I love Heart-Shaped Box. It's awesome. I didn't know he's got another one on the way. I'll have to grab that when it comes out.

Comes out in February. Wish he was crazy prolific like his dad, but worth the wait.

http://www.amazon.com/Horns-Novel-Joe-Hill/dp/0061147958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253910534&sr=1-1

[Eva Perkins]

The Dwayne Hickenbottom books are good. ;)

[HaphazardJoy]

I'll second Tim Powers. I read his Three Days to Never and thought it was good, but not great, and was a little let down because I was told Powers was great, but since then I've heard that Three Days To Never is one of his weakest. I'm looking forward to reading some more from him.

M. John Harrison is friggin' great. One of my favorite living writers. He writes science fiction and fantasy of a more literary bent. I'd recommend his book Light to just about anyone. It's a science fiction book combining three stories, that of a disturbed modern day theoretical physicist, a man in the future who gets tired of living the life of a high risk/high profit space pilot and chooses to spend his days in virtual reality, and a woman who gives up her physical body to become the sentient controller of a living ship. All three are drawn into the mystery regarding a giant tract of stars and planets dragged in orbit around a space anomaly.

Haruki Murakami is another one of my living favorites, a Japanese writer whose work often blends modern day life, elements of WWII, and surrealism.

Neal Stephenson's amazing... Clive Barker got lumped in with King and Koontz and the line, but his bigger works especially are in a league of their own (see: Imajica, Great And Secret Show/Everville)... Gene Wolfe, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman, Tim O'Brien, etc etc.

[Jason Arthur]

Lost Echos by Joe Lansdale is great.

Actually anything he writes is a good read.

-- J

[DemolitionSamurai]

Haruki Murakami is fantastic. I've read 3 or 4 of his books now, and loved every one.

I personally enjoyed South of the Border, West of the Sun, but read Norwegian Wood if you ever want to kill yourself.

[J. Alexopoulos]

Charlie Huston's Caught Stealing

[AthenaRose]

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

The blurb says:
A haunting tale of ancient China, of beautiful handmaidens, venerable sages, mystery, magic, hilarity, heartbreak and the timeless power of love. Number Ten Ox is a droll and modest young peasant who has no wish to be a hero. But when the children of his village are stricken by a poison that will kill within months, he sets forth with Li Kao (a wily old sage with a slight flraw in his character) to seek the antidote. Their search leads them to a homicidal matriarch, the cruellest duke in history, monsters and men more deadly than monsters, pleading ghosts, Jade Pearl the loveliest girl in the world, and a mystery that occurred a thousand years before they were born.

I've just finished laughing and crying my way through another re-read. Definitely recommended!