(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best contemporary literature & fiction books

I highly recommend:

1. The Orphans of Chaos trilogy by John C. Wright. He really pushes the boundaries of the imagination by writing about a universe in which there are 4 different paradigms of magic/power, each of which cancels one of the others out and is canceled out by one of the others. It's an epic Titans vs Olympic Gods fantasy, and I've read it several times--which is rare for me to do.
   
   
2. Obviously read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin if you haven't already done so! I delayed reading it a long time but then read all of them in a week and a half when I finally succumbed.
   
   
3. ALWAYS recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
   
   
4. ALSO always recommend Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels by Scott Lynch.
   
   
5. The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. It's YA, but pretty mature YA, and IMO could easily transition to the regular fantasy section.
   
   
6. Books by Diana Wynne Jones. She writes YA, but fantasy that I wouldn't call immature. The best word I could use to describe it would be "whimsical." If I could compare her style of fantasy to anyone's it would EASILY be the filmmaker Miyazaki. (His films include Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, etc.--he even adapted one of her books!) I think her best work is her Chrestomanci series which has 3 volumes (each volume is made up of several novellas), but she is best known for Howl's Moving Castle, which I also highly recommend (along with its sequels Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways).
   
   
7. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. It's fun, original, often dark, often humorous, fast-paced, and FILLED with action. As noted by someone else, there are vampires in the universe, but they're not the central motif. There are also other scary things, like fairies, goblins, witches/wizards, demons...the list goes on and on.
   
   
8. Terry Pratchett's Discworld canon. There are many, MANY books, and they're not written in series so you can jump in almost anywhere. I recommend Small Gods to start.
   
   
9. The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier, starting with Daughter of the Forest. There are also spin-off novels, though I haven't read them all. Her writing is beautiful and mystical. She almost makes me believe magic/fae could exist.
   
   
10. The Passion and The Promise (a duet) and, separately, The Alchemist by Donna Boyd. These are really, really excellently written. "Lush" would be the word I'd use. They're not hugely well known, and I find that utterly boggling considering how good they are.

Well, in that case!

• Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg
  
  This is my favorite book of all time. It draws you in and makes you feel like the characters are family. I also really enjoy the underlying themes of ethics in TV and new technology contrasted against small-town America. Sad and funny and heartwarming.
  
  
• Blankets, by Craig Thompson
  
  The autobiographical comic of a teenage boy and his overbearing parents, his relationship with his little brother and his first love. It perfectly captures the confusion of growing up and dealing with the lot life gives you.
  
  
• The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
  
  Wickedly funny, but also a melancholy look at racial tension and prejudice. The audiobook is fantastic!
  
  
• Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
  
  Dark, very wtf, confusing at times, but overall a really cool take on the Wizard of Oz universe. Dark City meets Heat meets Wizard of Oz.
  
  
• The Secret of Platform 13, by Eva Ibbotson
  
  A fun, whimsical story about spoiled children being terrible. Ibbotson's books are all really great in that bad people aren't just misunderstood or lonely. They are also assholes. And everyone calls them on it. It is really refreshing in children's/YA books.
  
  
• The Solitaire Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder
  
  This book changed my teenage existence. It's very simple, yet beautifully crafted. It's everything Alice in Wonderland fans have built that mythos into, without any of the pretentiousness/needing to be zany for zaniness' sake.
  
  
• Deerskin, by Robin McKinley
  
  This is my favorite dark fairy tale. The beginning gets into some heavy stuff, but it has everything that I love: a strong lady protagonist, excellent character growth, and dogs. SO MANY DOGS. Dogs are the real love story.
  
  
• The Raging Quiet, by Sherryl Jordan
  
  I stole this from my high school library because I didn't know where to get my own copy. It's a really excellent look at disability in the middle ages, couched in a very sweet romance.
  
  
• The Blue Castle, by LM Montgomery
  
  This is the ultimate vicarious experience book. The protagonist goes from mousy and trod-upon to "I don't care what you think, I'm gonna run away with misfits and unemployables and have a grand time, thankyouverymuch". It's everything you want to happen in a non-contrived, excellently paced way.
  
  
• Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  
  The first of a classic series! They're short, which is nice, and very dated but still so much fun. Tarzan is the ultimate early 20th century Mary-Sue but it works for him.
  
  
• The Mount, by Carol Emshwiller
  
  I really enjoyed the world built in this book. It's silly at times without trying to be, but it's a cool horse-flavored dystopian coming-of-age story.
  
  
• Tamora Pierce's Tortall series (17 books total in 3 quartets, a duo and a trilogy. They can be read separately but I feel chronologically gives the best experience.) This is the first one. They're the ultimate female-lead sword and sorcery books.
  
  The first quartet focuses on a young girl who pretends to be a boy so she can become a knight. The second is about an orphaned country girl who discovers she can communicate with animals just in time to help with a war between humans and immortal monsters. The third is about the first girl allowed to train as a knight and a non-magical war.
  
  The duo is about a spymaster's daughter stuck in a civil war based on the British occupation of India.
  
  The trilogy is set in the past and is a series of intense mysteries/police dramas. Pidgeons are carriers of the dead in this mythos and the main character can hear their voices.

Yeah, all of those are really awesome. Also going to plug the best BDSM erotica series I've ever read. The Marketplace by Laura Antoniou. Its not explicitly for lesbians, its much more about the D/s aspects then anything but there are doms/dommes that are men and women and the slaves in training include two men and two women. Its not for everyone and honestly it doesn't include much actual sex, its really about the dominance and submission. However, if anyone here is really into that this book is one of the hottest and best written pieces of erotica out there.

The story basically discusses this underground "marketplace" where the best of the best in terms of slaves (in the BDSM since) are trained to be put on the Marketplace to be selected by a dom/domme. For those that identify as slaves the Marketplace is considered the most prestigious honor to be part of and they have to go through a rigorous training to be selected. It follows three slaves as they go through their slave training to potentially join the Marketplace.

Again, its great so if anyone else on this sub gets off to discipline and power play you won't find it written any better then this. Laura Antoniou herself is part of the BDSM community so these books are actually true to real experience, not that 50 Shades of Grey shit. Its also less heteronormative since there isn't any limits in terms of what genders act as subs or as doms/dommes.

Hello, my names Molly and I'm excited to join reddit's bookclub! I've never been in an online or a real life book club, this is all brand new to me. Who doesn't love trying something new?

My favorite books are tied between The Art of Racing in the Rain and Breakfast of Champions. My favorite author is, hands down, Vonnegut. I've come to love Stephan King because he is my mother's favorite author. Genres? I'm not picky!

I am currently reading the YA book called Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl. It's actually pretty good and I've neared the end today and I only started it yesterday!

I'm not sure I have any books that I'd want someone to ask me about. Probably either of my two favorite books listed above. I haven't read anything recently that really needs discussing, you know?

The Parrot's Theorem is a light, quick read. Follows the history of mathematics in a murder mystery sort of way. Not Earth shattering, but fun.
Also The Mathematician's Lament by Lockhart. Really does a great job of exploring what mathematics is at heart, and what the focus of math education should be (i.e. learning to appreciate the beauty in number and pattern, etc.)

Gregory Benford might be to your liking, Eater hits a lot of those old hard SF buttons in particular. The Hyperion Cantos may also do the trick. C.S. Friedman's In Conquest Born and This Alien Shore are favorites that have that classic sci-fi feeling.

I would also give Stephenson another shot.. it's really good stuff, but yeah Snow Crash is a little over-the-top (very much so for the first chapter or two, but it does settle down a good bit). I mean, the main character is named Hiro Protagonist... there's obviously going to be a certain level of tongue-in-cheek, self-aware ridiculousness going on, but it's quite amazing how well he foresaw much of the modern computing world. Cryptonomicon is awesome and is one of those rare books that somehow feels like science fiction even though there's nothing out of the ordinary in it. Anathem and Zodiac are also quite good and more traditional in tone and style.

Visual Greek. Learn using cartoons!!!! A similar method is Greek To Me. Again, learn using cartoons! I've read most of the book and it was a HUGE help. Also, both are Koine, and the visual greek method uses Mounce's book, which is THE standard intro. Mounce also wrote an easier intro for people who just want to know enough to do basic bible studies and use some of the better Greek tools out there, it's called Greek for the rest of us. Other books that take it easy on you are Learn Biblical Greek by John Dobson and English Grammar to Ace New Testament Greek. If you're wondering "Why grammar?" it is because you need to know how grammar works. If you know how it works in your language, you'll have a better grasp of grammar in other languages (at least you'll know what the books you read mean when they talk about active and passive verbs etc...).

I'm not sure they even make something in the YA genre specifically that I do want to see more of. The YA books I have enjoyed, I'd probably be hesitant to read a book that looks similar for fear they're just capitalizing off of what's worked before. I've only read Paper Towns out of John Green's work but his stuff seems fairly gender neutral and I thought the book was pretty good. It helps that the marketing isn't ridiculous. It seems like every YA book has a badly photo-shopped cover picture of a live model or a model's hands or something, and a big ugly font for the title, which is basically just warning me book trying to get popular by following trends, don't waste your time.

My favorite YA book in recent memory is probably The Only Ones by Aaron Starmer. It was still "post-apocalyptic" but it did it a lot differently than most ones do, there aren't any zombies or big bad government with no explanation or anything, it's more focused on the characters relationship as they try to build the machine they need. I also enjoyed Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, mostly because of the way that characters behaved. They weren't always making the most agreeable choice or doing anything likable, but they were realistic.

Most of the stuff I read isn't YA though. My favorite series is Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy. 1984 would be my favorite book in general, I suppose.

EDIT: I'd add that a lot of times I choose to read books in spite of the fact they're YA rather than because they're YA.

Stoner by John Williams (not the composer) is one of the best novels I've ever read. Fantastically well written, just a wonderful story of an ordinary man's life. I've read two of Williams' four novels (the other being Butcher's Crossing, about 19th century buffalo hunting, also phenomenal) and one of the others is Augustus, a national book award winner. I should get on that one...

Also, The Dog of the South by Charles Portis(author of True Grit, also an excellent book) is a hilarious, wonderful book that I would recommend to anyone. Actually all five of his books are great too.

Oh, can't forget Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, incredible portrait of a post-apocalyptic world written in its own dialect. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do it's well worth it.

I'll try to list one or two things from each of the main genres and hopefully there will be something in there that you'll enjoy. You're lucky that you're going to get a chance to read some of these great books you've been recommended for the first time.

Sci-fi

Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Foundation Series by Issac Asimov

Dystopian

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

1984 by George Orwell

Romance

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Berniers

Satire

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Fantasy

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Magical Realism

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Horror

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Classics

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Madame Bovary by Flaubert

Cult

Choke by Chuck Palahnuik

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

General Fiction

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell

Weathercock by Glen Duncan

I had the original British covers when the books first released individually but once the entire series was complete I decided to get the adult boxset and its beautiful! (cant find my original books although I'm pretty sure I let people borrow them) I'm considering a hardcover set.

There are a few helpful book you could browse.

This book, though seemingly silly because of all of the cartoons and childish concepts, is EXTREMELY helpful and made learning Koine fairly easy for me.

https://smile.amazon.com/Greek-Me-J-Lyle-Story/dp/159160222X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466640272&sr=8-1&keywords=greek+to+me

If you have access to a university Library, go ahead and check out the BDAG. It is an exhaustive biblical dictionary and will become helpful when looking for definitions later.

Lastly, when you begin translating, this last book becomes helpful as well. It has a section in the book with every verb used in the NT. When I translate, I write the first three principal parts of the verb I'm defining in the parentheses next to it.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RZJ352/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hopefully this helps.

The book I'd like to read this month is "Shades of Grey" by Jasper Fforde. This is not the "50 Shades of Grey" that everybody makes fun of. This is the first book in a new series by the author of the "Thursday Next" series.

Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means. ... ... -Amazon.com

So in a world where color reigns supreme, a good-guy cop starts to realize that the world he knows may not be the world as it really is. Sounds a bit like the Phillip K. Dick stories that have become... ahem... enjoyable theatrical thrillers. The "color=prestige" idea is intriguing, and I imagine Fforde manages to work it into the plot in some very cool ways.

What do you think?

If your so inclined you could read Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde. Its a fiction novel about the life of a young man in a strange future earth where the people have developed selectively sensitive eyes where, for the most part, everyone can only see one color. The social structure is based around the spectrum of light with the Reds being the most common (actually the greys are but they are kind of treated in an "untouchable", from the old Indian caste system, kind of way) and the Ultra-Violets being the most powerful. Awesome book, I completely recommend it (and most anything else by Fforde too)

I just went and stared at my bookshelves and realized that there was a distinct paucity of minority characters.

However, some general recommendations:

feed for the teenager uninterested in the world at large or the dystopian fiction fan.

My Date with Satan Short stories, usually from a female perspective. High schoolers would probably delight in the bad language and messed up characters.

Trickster's Choice; A young adult girl-power fantasy/spy novel with a lot to say about colonialism. My strongest recommendation on this list. Lots of major minority characters also.

Infidel; A heavy-handed memoir about triumph by a woman who "escaped" Somalia and is now a European politician. Controversial for a multitude of reasons and has nothing nice to say about Islam, but you know your students better than I do.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for the scientifically inclined.

Wicked for modern classic fans who'd appreciate deeper meanings.

The Market Place series by Laura Antoniou are excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Marketplace-Mystic-Rose/dp/0964596040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375298838&sr=8-1&keywords=the+marketplace

This one is by a friend of mine, and I enjoyed it very much as well. It's novella length.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuckold-Awakening-ebook/dp/B00BXLA6J0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375299017&sr=1-1

ok. I haven't read either of those two books, but you seem to be interested in the "thought process" of people.

I like the depth and attention to detail that you mention. I'm tired, but the first two books that come to mind are Sophie's World and The Life of Pi. If you get to read "The Life of Pi", I think it is far better to have not read any reviews as it is a book open to wildly different interpretations, and you want to read it without other people's views giving you any kind of preconceptions.

Damn, just one?!? I don't think I can cut it down to less than three, and even that list would change year by year.

The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester

Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

Orphans of Chaos, John C. Wright

(And sorry for the Amazon links, I really freakin' hate Amazon but don't know of a better/more convenient link to offer people.)(Um, if anyone has a better kind of link to provide, I'd love to hear it, thanks.)

From what I recall, Spin State was a pretty nicely done and subtle handling of this concept and I believe the sequels continue it nicely as well.

I am currently reading the Millenium Edition which breaks the "trilogy" into 6 separate volumes. Each book in the trilogy as most people know it is actually comprised of two books. I think its really interesting to read it this way because you gain a different perspective on the story. And since each book is half as long you feel like you're accomplishing a lot more ;)

I don't really know if it is nsfw but the title might make it so? :') The Baby Jesus Butt Plug? :'D

I must have had some Felix Felicis, because I think I'm about to get lucky. (Only works if you're familiar with Harry Potter...!)

You're purdy :3

/r/morbidreality if that counts as a nsfw :)

That seems like a pretty good price to me, actually, considering the cost of hardback books. The paperback collection comes in a much prettier box and is half the price.

Also, shame on you Amazon. Deathly Hollows. -_-

Yo RJ! Been a huge fan of yours, I even got the autographed "Since We Last Spoke" poster that came with an order on HipHopSite (man I miss those days...)

Random question - was the video for "Let There Be Horns" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GP3o-tN9G4) based on the book "A Minotaur Takes a Smoke Break?" - http://www.amazon.com/The-Minotaur-Takes-Cigarette-Break/dp/0312308922. I literally bought that book because it looked relevant to the awesome video for "Let There Be Horns."

Been buying your music since 2002, keep it up homie!

Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban is a wonderful post-apocalyptic book written in an unmatchable idiom. It takes a while getting used to the language--but it is really a wonderful story.

I really enjoyed the book A Fine Balance. It's fiction, of course, and I'm not sure how much is historically accurate, but it was an excellent read about that times period.

I have been reading a lot of Philip K. Dick lately, and I really like his writing style. Even though it's not sci-fi, I'd like to suggest reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Besides having a great storyline, it's a fascinating look at another culture and another time.

I'll got a list I think is reasonably obscure.

Coils by Fred Saberhagen.

Tactics of Mistake by George R Dickson. Interstellar politics and the warrior of the future. A little bit stiff at times.

Wasp by Eric Frank Russel. The original one man against the planet story. This is probably the most well know on the list.

Fires of Paratime by LE Modesitt Jr. Time travel society done well with a bit of Norse mythology thrown in.

All of an Instant by Richard Garfinkle. Time travel done oddly. And well.

Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel. Stross before Stross. Unfortunately the last book of the trilogy was never published.

Wyrm by Mark Fabi. One of the better books on computer virus and early internet shenanigans.

John Varley is one my favorite authors I keep coming back to him time and again.

The following are my favorites. He also has a nice website [Varley.net](http://Varley.net "Varley.net") . You can actually get a decent feel for who he is on the site. He puts up what he wants and the hell with what anyone thinks. I think thats why I like him. lol

Mammoth is on my too be read list. I have it just not gotten to it.

--------

• Blue Champagne by John Varley (Blue Champagne)
  
  
• Eight Worlds by John Varley (Steel Beach,The Ophiuchi Hotline,The Golden Globe)
  
  
• Gaea by John Varley (Titan,Wizard,Demon)
  
  
• Mammoth by John Varley (Mammoth)
  
  
• Millennium by John Varley (Millennium)
  
  
• Picnic on Nearside by John Varley (Picnic on Nearside)
  
  
• Superheroes by John Varley (Superheroes)
  
  
• The John Varley Reader by John Varley (The John Varley Reader)
  
  
• Thunder and Lightning by John Varley (Red Thunder,Red Lightning,Rolling Thunder)

Other books to explode your brain with awesome.

Crooked Little Vein http://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Little-Vein-Novel-P-S/dp/B003F76I1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314238590&sr=8-1
Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful, and Hells Half Acre http://www.amazon.com/Phineas-Poe-Judas-Penny-Dreadful/dp/159692151X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314238655&sr=1-2
Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse http://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girls-Apocalypse-Victor-Gischler/dp/1416552251/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314238751&sr=1-1

These are just some of my favorites.

Thanks for posting this. Someday I will find a battered copy of his masterpiece Wasp and read it someday.

I like The Millenium Edition, which comes as a boxed set of seven hardback volumes.

It might be hard to find new, for under your budget, but it is a lovely collection.

I'd love to see someone's take on Russell Hoban, like Ridley Walker

Awesome lists. I'll add to those the book Riddley Walker. Among other things, it's like seeing English fast-forwarded a few thousand years.

Riddley Walker is one of my top five. Written in an argot that is a melange of religious imagery, science, slang and cockney working out the language becomes half the fun. Once you;ve got the hang of it, the story comes to life with an amazingly vivid power. Set in a tribal culture in the midst of England after a nuclear war, it tells the story of Riddley's coming of age. It's a searingly powerful wildly evocative work that stays with you years after you've read it. Popular in the eighties, no one ever speaks of it now. I think, perhaps because the language is a little difficult to begin with. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Here's the amazon link
http://www.amazon.com/Riddley-Walker-Expanded-Russell-Hoban/dp/0253212340/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323858223&sr=8-1

Dude, the very top result when you search "bullshit" contains the word in the title. Plus, there's this fine gem which means Amazon doesn't care much about vulgarity in titles.

Edit: gotta give a shoutout to another of my favorite absurd titles: click if ye dare

I read The Parrot's Theorem for my Maths History class and I really enjoyed it. It takes some fundamental math history and puts it in novel form.

Here is most of the book on Google Books

Best book I read this year: A Fine Balance

> “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the X-rated fan-fiction novel based around the “Twilight” films, will soon be arriving in bookstores.

Nooooo. It's detracting from the fantastic book Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.

A very nice novel that goes into maths on a very basic level:

A Parrot's Theorem

TIL they made a play out of Wicked. Good book!

This is hilarious. And I thought the Baby Jesus Butt Plug book was the weirdest thing I was going to see on Amazon. The world keeps getting more interesting.

Edit to include link so you know I'm not making this up.

Wasp, by Eric Frank Russel is a clasic spy-fi novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Wasp-Eric-Frank-Russell/dp/0575070951

Quite enjoyable and "pulpy".. it has an early Heinelein/Doc EE Smith wibe about it.

C.S. Friedman's In Conquest Born-
She's normally a Fantasy writer, so I'm guessing the style will appeal to you, and the book is awesome.
http://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Born-Daw-Book-Collectors/dp/0756400430

Try Spin State by Chris Moriarty.

For me, the book represents a lot of what is compelling about sci-fi as a genre. It talks about ideas, the human condition, and important questions all while telling an engaging story based on a reasonable extrapolation of technology.

I burned through this book really quickly.

This is the book, if anyone's interested: Wasp by Eric Frank Russell. It's a brilliant and darkly humorous novel. Let's just hope terrorists never read it, because it's basically a handbook in how to fight an asymmetric war. If you ignore minor technical details like the punch card thing, it has aged very well indeed.

If you are interested in this idea The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley is a novel whose main story is about clones built in this same way.

The Ophiuchi Hotline - John Varley

> The invaders came in 2050…They did not kill anyone outright. They said they came on behalf of the intelligent species of Earth — dolphins and whales. The Invaders destroyed every evidence of technology on earth then departed, leaving behind plowed ground and sprouting seeds. In the next two years, ten billion humans starved to death.

> Humanity survived on bases on the moon and Mars and spread to other planets and solar system habitats except for Jupiter itself where, it is believed, the Invaders are currently located and perhaps are even actually Jovians. Humans in space are prevented from returning to earth and using technology, so the dream of earth is replaced by underground "disneylands" that recreate natural earth environments. Most importantly for the continuing survival and technological advancement of humans, is that someone in deep space from the direction of the Ophiuchi constellation is sending out an advanced scientific data stream referred to as the Ophiuchi Hotline - a data stream picked up by distant monitoring outposts and decoded. By the twenty-fifth century, the technological gifts from the Hotline data—especially its biological and medical solutions—have created a world unlike any ever known or imagined…

LOL, it's time to read Wicked!

Spin State by Chris Moriarty

Amazing SciFi book.

On the misspell. Yes I picked but I could find no way to edit in here. Was really in a state of shock on finding picture instead of portrait.
I was doing a post on a completely different thing...... Fav old movies when I came across it.
SunsetGrr posted a link to the Amazon book
http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712
You will see in the title on the side it has both picture and portrait.
The picture of the book has only portrait. And in the description of it has portrait.
I know UK, Ireland well. Not even today would you call a painting a picture. Try googling it. A painting is always a panting. It might be a panting of a landscape, an interior etc.
A painting of someone is always referred as a portrait. Whether that be a panting or a professional photograph portrait. Thought the latter in more modern times often will be referred to others as a picture.
Just as an example in the Victorian era when Dorian Gray was written a photograph was referred to as a Portriat. Here is one example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography
Which mentions portraiture of a photograph and a painted portrait.
I also went to art school and do paint portraits. When I tell people I paint they will often ask what I do, portraits, still life's or landscape.

Some are extremely famous and I am sure have been translated into spanish (Vonnegut, Green, Brin, Martel). But others may not have a spanish translation at all (Cline, Palma, Dekker).

The Hunger Games is a good choice.

I will see if I can get some links to spanish copies of the above listed.

Edit: I found some, but they are only available on Amazon Kindle. Which can be downloaded to your computer and read on there.

The Postman

Life of Pi

Slaughterhouse Five

This doesn't include the Hobbit (sorry), but this has 6 books + 1 for the Appendices, which means it has larger words, and each book isn't very big. As well, this is the way Tolkien originally split it up - the six books are

• The Ring Sets Out
  
• The Ring Goes South
  
• The Treason of Isengard
  
• The Ring Goes East (sometimes The Journey to Mordor)
  
• The War of the Ring
  
• The End of the Third Age (sometimes The Return of the King)
  
  These are Tolkien's original desired titles for the split. When they are published in 3 volumes, the way they usually are, the titles in the parentheses are used.
  
  If you want a higher quality version (but also more expensive) of pretty much the same thing, I'd advise the Millennium Edition

Well, it looks like it is indeed a self-published book, though not necessarily by the author of this post.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1501858851&sr=8-7&keywords=portrait+of+dorian+gray

Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform; Reprint edition (3 Feb. 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1450541712
ISBN-13: 978-1450541718
Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 1.3 x 25.4 cm

From a cursory search I found: The Baby Jesus Butt Plug.

Never read the book, but interesting title.

http://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Little-Vein-Novel-P-S/dp/B003F76I1K/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348029842&sr=1-3&keywords=warren+ellis

My comic book match sent it to me. I haven't read it yet, but my husband said it was the most twisted novel he's ever read.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Link to Amazon description below.A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

That looks like the one I linked in another thread: https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712

​

It seems to have both titles in the amazon listing.

Eh, the book was better.



https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823

Well for me it's the classic, [the baby jesus butt plug] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0972959823/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=98VBSDYSCK8F19QJRYNW&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZJSP2RTTL) thats on top of the list.

Shades of grey is just shitty literotica, if you want to confuse people I highly recommend Shades of Grey, just finished it yesterday and it was an awesome book.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/portrait-of-dorian-gray-oscar-wilde/1008429782/2661810303040?st=PLA&sid=BNB_ADL+Marketplace+Good+Used+Books+-+Desktop+Low&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiILsBRCGARIsAHKQWLM3b-RH2JCuGXv0Qpm3meLfRa4EQi6mFmtKQEnvDyXlrmZzFNfiJjwaAkxJEALw_wcB


https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=portrait+of+dorian&qid=1569323531&sr=8-6


I actually have the book and think it changed the name - like interview with a vampire - I even asked one of the moderators of a local horror club about the vampire thing (for this one I am sure too it changed, because I bought some anthologies that had this book title as recommended other books by the same publishers on some of the back pages).

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis featured scrotal saline injection parties.

C.S.Friedman's [In Conquest Born] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0756400430). The societies (one male lead, one female lead) are interesting.

I'm sure having read Old Yeller I wouldn't think the dog's name was Yellow even though that's obviously what the dog's name was, without the dialect.

And if "picture" were the correct word, "portrait" shouldn't show up anywhere.

https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712/ref=pd_sbs_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1450541712&pd_rd_r=K4HMBHYKGZ3Z2W7P9B2X&pd_rd_w=NkAjW&pd_rd_wg=KRfsj&psc=1&refRID=K4HMBHYKGZ3Z2W7P9B2X

And in this video, go to 2:45...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNzdj5tS4kg

This book exists. With this title. Not just in my memory.

This was a real tearjerker for me in grade school. I cried in the middle of class... and man I never heard the end of it until I moved.

Now, as an adult I read this and it was probably one of the more emotional experiences I've had reading a book.

Also, "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts, "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb, and the graphic novel, and "Maus" by Art Spiegelman all elicited more than enough tears to fill a bucket.

Octavia Butler's novel, "Kindred" is more like watching a speeding truck start to wobble left and right. There's this impending disaster that's looming ahead and you can only watch as it unfolds.

Umm... I read a lot of sad stuff, it seems.

There's [this book.] (http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712) I don't know if that helps much.

Crooked Little Vein is wickedly funny and contains really fantastic back and forth between utterly sociopathic, vile characters. The author is better known for his graphic novels, and the dialog reflects this.

The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break
http://www.amazon.com/The-Minotaur-Takes-Cigarette-Break/dp/0312308922/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411156478&sr=8-2&keywords=the+minotaur
Five thousand years out of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh, the Minotaur is a socially inept, lonely creature with very human needs. But over a two-week period, as his life dissolves into chaos, this broken and alienated immortal awakens to the possibility for happiness and to the capacity for love.

There is a science fiction book based on this scenario.

The "agency" says that a wasp inside salon of a car can cause a huge damage comparing the size of a wasp to a human. So they send one man to be a "Wasp" inside the enemy lines...


Erick Frank Russell - Wasp


BTW The book is great(!), funny I really enjoyed it.

Seconding Riddley Walker.

Hoban is mainly known as a children's author, but he wrote quite a different kind of book with Riddley Walker. I won't spoil it, but I will say you need to be prepared to learn how to read English all over again, much more so than any of the others listed so far.

Yeah, apparently it's the "reader's choice addition", whatever that means. It's like the publisher was annoyed by the ME so they decided to change the name back to what they remembered or something. Amazon

Spin State - Chris Moriarty

http://www.amazon.com/Spin-State-Chris-Moriarty/dp/0553586246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335821967&sr=8-1


Sequel is good too, but not the same location if I remember right.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry


http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Balance-Rohinton-Mistry/dp/140003065X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421846437&sr=1-1&keywords=a+fine+balance

A Fine Balance

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.

May not be the most bizarre but it's definitely weird in that Warren Ellis-y way.

It is Portrait of Dorian Gray, on amazon :
https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Tough call! I'd say Grunt by Mary Roach. My wife will probably say A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

Why would you want to abort the baby jesus?

Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey. A book about living in a colortocracy.

http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Novel-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0670019631

Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey - I can't wait to read the rest of the series: http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Novel-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0670019631

http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823

https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Chaos-Chronicles-John-Wright/dp/0765349957/ref=nodl_

link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y/279-7227800-4971029

I am greatly intrigued by this book.

Yes!

This. http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/1c/f/AAAAAs9FtNMAAAAAABzzCg.jpg?v=1166647436000
Or This. http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Some residue for "Portrait":

https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712 "The Portrait of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890 by Oscar Wilde."

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/portrait-of-dorian-gray-oscar-wilde/1008429782

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-portrait-of-dorian-gray/oscar-wilde/9788124200742

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trials-Oscar-Wilde-Portrait-Dorian/dp/1904605621

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/jaffe2.html
http://ia-zak-blog.blogspot.fi/2011/09/portrait-of-dorian-gray-chapter-8-james.html

https://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/tag/the-portrait-of-dorian-gray

http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/282425/the-portrait-of-dorian-gray-from-an-aesthetic-to-a-moral-value

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portrait-of-Dorian-Gray-The-Picture-of-Dorian-Gray-by-Oscar-Wilde-Readers-/351708945510

Ah, isn't he the guy who wrote "Baby Jesus Butt Plug"???

Yes..Yes he is: http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZX79FXS51VWB9A64DYJ

He probably read this and messed up his brain.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823

The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (which is rapidly becoming a nonfiction work about the current state of the U.S.)

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

I've read and own that book.

I've read that actually.

For my personal blaspheming (Is that even a word?) I do prefer the Jackhammer Jesus.

This one is cooler: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823

"Frequently purchased together"

[Daniel Abraham] (Author)
[James S.A. Corey] (Author)
[Graydon Saunders] (Author)
[Dichronauts]
[Orphans of Chaos]
[Street Cultivation]

So apparently there are many other good reads.

Read "The Marketplace" instead.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Marketplace-Mystic-Rose/dp/0964596040

There are a few

Link to Book

How 'bout this

I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered.

Not perfectly on-topic, but read Spin Control by Chris Moriarty.

For that matter, read all three, starting with this one. But Spin Control focuses heavily on future middle-east relations.

I didn't know this was an ME, but Amazon has both listed, and a 3rd:

https://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486278077/
https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Picture-Readers/dp/1450541712/
https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Dorian-Gray-Oscar-Wilde/dp/1468012541/

So one just "picture" one is "The Portrait" and one is "a Picture".

But I am unclear on what this ME is claiming as both versions exist, did only one exist before?

So many people forget this. The 3 separate books are literally 3 volumes of one work, which is separated into 6 "books."

If you want to spend a bunch of money then sell a Collector's Edition divided into 7 Hardcovers (6 books + Appendices).

There's also a book. It's very strange.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0972959823

Gregory Macquire's "Wicked" also explores the events of the film from the POV of the witch.

A Fine Balance - this is a novel about the class system in India in the 70s. It was really well written, but really depressing, especially at the end.

Could it be Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright?

http://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Chaos-The-Chronicles/dp/0765349957#

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Do not be put off by the fact that it's an Oprah's Book Club book. It is one of the singularly most devastating things I've ever read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-Jesus-Butt-Plug/dp/0972959823

I believe this book might be the physical version of the weird shit I read moons ago. So I wasn't tripping lol

Reminds me of a book I read... Unfortunately it's title is now close to an awful book's title, so it's hard talking about it without everyone thinking about the awful thing. But here go buy it.

By the publishers who brought you Baby Jesus Butt Plug and The Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmospher

I don't exactly recommend it, but there's Out of the Dark, by Weber,. It's a bit derivative of other works, but it has a twist ending that I'll admit I did not see coming as it is so out of character for what I've come to expect from Weber. If you don't want to read the whole novel, apparently there is a short story version of this one.

I DO recommend The Human Edge, by Gordon R. Dickson, which is an anthology about conflicts between humans and aliens... not so much about aliens attacking the planet per se, but about how humans have powers that, while banal and seemingly weak from our perspective, are terrifying to the aliens... In one story, the human power that makes them devastating to the point of warranting extermination is Morality... in an other it's Denial. :-D

Wasp, by Eric Frank Russell, is a short but excellent read detailing a human surgically altered to pass as alien as he infiltrates an alien planet to sow chaos in advance of a human invasion. The Aliens are not very well... ALIEN... but this little novel is an excellent primer on infiltration, espionage, and asymmetric warfare techniques.

Finally, the short story Superiority, by Arthur C. Clarke,, while not about aliens, the two warring parties are both human, is a must-read for military science fiction fans.

If you enjoy more apocalyptic literature, I'd highly suggest you read Riddley Walker. Don't look up too much about it though since it'd be a crime to ruin the plot. It's written in broken dialect, since most of civilization was destroyed and only traces of it remain.

As an example, the opening sentence of the book...

>On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen.

Riddley Walker is set about two thousand years after a nuclear war has devastated world civilizations. The main action of the story begins when the young narrator, Riddley, stumbles upon efforts to recreate a weapon of the ancient world.

The novel's characters live a harsh life in a small area which is presently the English county of Kent, and know nothing of the world outside of "Inland" (England). Their level of civilization is similar to England's prehistoric Iron Age, although they do not produce their own iron but salvage it from ancient machinery. Church and state have combined into one secretive institution, whose mythology, based on misinterpreted stories of the war and an old Catholic saint (Eustace), is enacted in puppet shows.

http://www.amazon.com/Riddley-Walker-Expanded-Edition-Russell/dp/0253212340

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It's so good, but it destroyed me. Fiction, but based in a real place and a real crisis. I've never read a book with characters so fully realized, that I rooted for so much. As you read you're just thinking "Oh God, please, just let this character catch a break, please..." but then they don't, and you want to cry. I think about it regularly to this day, 12 years after I read it. The suffering and pain and dread that many people in the world live with on a daily basis is almost impossible for most 1st world residents to comprehend. I'm literally scared to read another book like this again - I don't know if I can handle it.