Read Any Good Books Lately?

[hardharry]

Humor me guys, its my first thread. Looking to expand my library and am seeking some recomendations.

So what's the best book you've read lately and what's your favorite book of all time?

For me its hard to choose just one, so here are some of my favs in no particular order

Lord of light - Roger Zelazny
Dune - Frank Herbert
Foundation -Issac Asimov
It - Stephen King
A Dangerous Energy - John Withborn
Freedom from Fear - David Kennedy
The Longest Winter - David Halberstam
Embracing Defeat - John Dower
Augustus -Adrian Goldsworthy
The Road - Cormac Mcarthy
The Big Short - Michael Lewis
Too big to fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin
Lords of Finance - Liaquat Ahamed
Corlaine - Neil Gaiman
The Song of Ice and Fire Series - GRRMartin

 

[Anna Summer]

I'm reading World war Z at the moment and have some more unread books on my kindle but most of them in the fantasy genre.

My all time favorite is 18Q4 from Haruki Murakami and he is also one of my favorite writers. I've read almost all of his books.

 

[hardharry]

Yeah WWZ was a fun read. Have u read the prequel "The Zombie Survival Guide"? or the ancestor of them all "I am Legend"published in 1954

 

[User#16452]

.

 

[User#8628]

Everything of Natsuo Kirino that is translated (unless you can read complicated Japanese). That woman is a genius and my absolute favorite author.
My favorite book of all time is "grotesque" but "out" is a better one for starters, especially if you are male. It totally absorbs you.

In Tokyo i always wanna go out and play so i haven't had much time to read but it has always been a passion of me.

 

[RandomTokyoGuy]

If you like fantasy, I would recommend Steven Erikson "The Malazan book of the fallen". Far better than anything George R.R. Martin can ever think of (and I like him too), at least the later books in the series. He also finishes books at times

 

[veryniceguy]

I read everything John Grisham releases....

 

[Ches]

Everything Paulo Coelho

 

[Manami TMK]

I go to library frequently, read about 5 books in a week. Since my English is not good enough, I always read Japanese books or foreign books that are translated into Japanese.
Right now, I am reading what it is called " Part Time Lover" It is reportage about Japanese underground escort club and its Japanese owner who got arrested by LAPD back in 90's.
He had catered his Japanese girls to only Japanese clients in LA. Always Japanese girls for Japanese men only no matter where it is!

 

[numref1234]

Nothing similar to anything you mentioned, but Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is very good.

PS the author writes in English.

 

[roots reggae]

I am on page 101 of NP by Banana Yoshimoto. It's a bit strange, but I think I like it.

I picked up English translations of a bundle of novels by Japanese authors. I'll post thoughts as I read each one.

 

[Sudsy]

I'm a voracious reader.... usually I have several books on the go at any one time. The advent of e-readers has been a boon; I used to have several thousand volumes taking up an entire wall of my flat, but now I have only my first editions and rarities, with everything else stored electronically.

Currently....

The Poetic Edda (Bates translation)
Business Adventures - John Brooks
The Anthology from Hell - compendium of shorts

 

[roots reggae]

Finished NP by Banana Yoshimoto and am now on page 71 of her Amrita. I still haven't made up my mind whether I like her novels yet.

They are in a sort of stream of consciousness mixed with stream of consciousness dialogue.

Both novels explore the effect of the death of close friends/relatives on the lives of survivors.

 

[Anna Summer]

Yeah WWZ was a fun read. Have u read the prequel "The Zombie Survival Guide"? or the ancestor of them all "I am Legend"published in 1954

Not yet actually. But I might consider reading the other two as well. I have some more on my list including the Martian which I got recommended.

 

[Manami TMK]

Nothing similar to anything you mentioned, but Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is very good.

PS the author writes in English.

Some client mentioned me this book a while ago. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki but moved to England when he was 5 so he doesn't speak Japanese. Interesting.
Never let me go was dramatized by Japanese TV station TBS in January this year which I didn't watch.
This book is now on my list Thanks @numref1234

 

[User#8628]

Nothing similar to anything you mentioned, but Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is very good.

PS the author writes in English.

I loved it. Cried my eyes out. The movie is also great. Keira has such a stunning face and good acting skills. She reminds me of Gong Li, and her character in Never Let Me Go sometimes acts very much like Hatsumomo in Memoirs of a Geisha. Love how their facial expressions are similar when they get girly bitch fight aggressive.

 

[User#8628]

Anyone here reads Ryu Murakami? I only read one of his books, piercing, and it was a bit too sick and aggressive to me. (And i'm used to some, like Kirino who writes about a few women cutting up a dead body to hide it.)
Still not sure if i should read the rest, especially if they might contain more actual action than piercing.

As for the other Murakami; i read some of his older books but its too much unsolved mysteries for my taste.
Also he comes off sukebe, same with Ryu. But especially Norwegian Wood is full of sukebe stuff. Is it just a difference between male and female authors? Kirino also writes a lot about sex, but definitely from another perspective.
My favorite Haruki Murakami book is Sputnik Sweetheart. It was the first one i read and not too mysterious and i liked the lesbian relationship.

I read a book, cant remember the author but it was a Japanese woman. The book was called "autofiction". I still think about it even though it was a while ago i read it. I think it gives some real perspective about young women's lifes.

 

[Colonel Angus]

I would imagine that most people on this forum would find Jake Adelstein’s Tokyo Vice interesting. He was a gaijin report for the Yomuri shimbun. They are also making this into a movie. Daniel Radcliffe, from Harry Potter, was cast as Jake, which is an interesting choice. Typically books are better than the movies, and I am curious how they will turn this story into something more mainstream.

If you like The Road, Foundation, World War Z, The Martian, you may find Philip K. Dick books worthwhile. I would recommend starting with a book on his short stories. Many were turned into films over the past 35+ years to include Total Recall, Minority Report, Screamers, and Paycheck. He also wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which was the basis of the movie Blade Runner. In many of his stories, he challenges your perception of what is real or perceived.

 

[Anna Summer]

Anyone here reads Ryu Murakami? I only read one of his books, piercing, and it was a bit too sick and aggressive to me. (And i'm used to some, like Kirino who writes about a few women cutting up a dead body to hide it.)
Still not sure if i should read the rest, especially if they might contain more actual action than piercing.

As for the other Murakami; i read some of his older books but its too much unsolved mysteries for my taste.
Also he comes off sukebe, same with Ryu. But especially Norwegian Wood is full of sukebe stuff. Is it just a difference between male and female authors? Kirino also writes a lot about sex, but definitely from another perspective.
My favorite Haruki Murakami book is Sputnik Sweetheart. It was the first one i read and not too mysterious and i liked the lesbian relationship.

I read a book, cant remember the author but it was a Japanese woman. The book was called "autofiction". I still think about it even though it was a while ago i read it. I think it gives some real perspective about young women's lifes.

Sputnik sweetheart is the only book I really didn't like from Murakami. The other books are not so 'sukebe ' in my opinion. Yes there is a lot of unsolved mystery but I kinda like that. Especially in hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world.

 

[User#8628]

Sputnik sweetheart is the only book I really didn't like from Murakami. The other books are not so 'sukebe ' in my opinion. Yes there is a lot of unsolved mystery but I kinda like that. Especially in hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world.

Oh it's beautiful, i hope you get to reading it.

I mostly had that sukebe feeling with Norwegian Wood. The character Midori seemed like a sex fantasy of a man, going to sex cinemas and offering the main character blowjobs. But she seemed also liberated and free. It's maybe just the 60s vibe of the book.
It differs a lot from his other books i think. Less mystery and fantasy.
I kinda loved it because it had this calm feeling.

 

[Anna Summer]

Oh it's beautiful, i hope you get to reading it.

I mostly had that sukebe feeling with Norwegian Wood. The character Midori seemed like a sex fantasy of a man, going to sex cinemas and offering the main character blowjobs. But she seemed also liberated and free. It's maybe just the 60s vibe of the book.
It differs a lot from his other books i think. Less mystery and fantasy.
I kinda loved it because it had this calm feeling.

I read the book but didn't like it in the end.
And it's been a while since I read Norwegian wood. I also saw the movie but that was very confusing to me...

 

[User#8628]

I read the book but didn't like it in the end.
And it's been a while since I read Norwegian wood. I also saw the movie but that was very confusing to me...

I kinda liked the movie but it had a different feeling and the book and the story was also off.
Movies of Japanese books often disappoint me because they are so low budget. I saw the movie of "out" (one of my favorite writer's books) but it was just a low budget drama and didn't do any justice to the book.

 

[numref1234]

Some client mentioned me this book a while ago. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki but moved to England when he was 5 so he doesn't speak Japanese. Interesting.
Never let me go was dramatized by Japanese TV station TBS in January this year which I didn't watch.
This book is now on my list Thanks @numref1234

No worries. Ishiguro has a meandering style that drives some people insane, but I think he uses it to perfection to achieve the mood he wants. If you end up liking it, Remains of the Day was excellent as well. If you're interested in something from a more Japanese perspective, I've heard good things about An Artist of the Floating World. I haven't read it, but it's on my list... hopefully when I'm less busy.

 

[numref1234]

I mostly had that sukebe feeling with Norwegian Wood. The character Midori seemed like a sex fantasy of a man, going to sex cinemas and offering the main character blowjobs. But she seemed also liberated and free. It's maybe just the 60s vibe of the book.

One (pretty reasonable imo) criticism of Murakami is that his female characters are pretty flat. I think it's generally true, but 1Q84 is a nice example of a good female character is his works.

If you're interested in reading good writing from a female perspective by a male author, check out The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (a few chapters are from a female perspective). If you've never read anything by him, here's an incredible short story he's written: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/23/the-cheaters-guide-to-love

 

[Yuma]

One (pretty reasonable imo) criticism of Murakami is that his female characters are pretty flat. I think it's generally true, but 1Q84 is a nice example of a good female character is his works.

If you're interested in reading good writing from a female perspective by a male author, check out The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (a few chapters are from a female perspective). If you've never read anything by him, here's an incredible short story he's written: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/23/the-cheaters-guide-to-love

Note taken!!

Regards,
Yuma