Help me find weird, real books.
July 14, 2010 7:26 PM Subscribe
Just read John Burdett's Godfather of Kathmandu and want more, more, more. So much detail inside.
I've been reading older literature for quite a while, and this one blew my mind, and I want more, although I don't want to read the preceding novels in the series (just yet). It doesn't necessarily have to be detective fiction (in fact, I'd rather it not be.) Here's a list of what I liked and want to see more of:
Set well into the 21st century: '08, '09, '10 in an area with at least some level of technological ubiquity. Something about the references to Wikipedia and Skype really gave me the warm fuzzies the same way the references to the Internet in general gave them to me when I read Cryptonomicon in the late 90s.
Straightfaced psychedelia/real-world-rooted weirdness. The protagonist of Godfather often goes into mystical/psychedelic states but never loses himself in them and stays plenty grounded into the modern day while exploring his spiritual side. I want weirdness, bonuses if it is based in Real World weirdness, but I don't want proselytization.
Morally ambiguous but generally good protagonist without a perfectly imperfect life. I just read one of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novel and couldn't stand the main character. Too witty for the sake of being witty, too hard-up for the sake of being hard-up. There was something much more authentic about Godfather's Sonchai.
Believable antagonists. No Pure Evil, no antagonists with no lives outside of crushing the protagonist or attaining their Rule The World fantasies.
What I really don't want:
Graphic depiction of or plots revolving around rape.
Any sort of erotica.
Overly experimental narrative style. I hated Saramago's in Blindness and could barely stand Shelby Jr.'s in Requiem for a Dream.
I've been reading older literature for quite a while, and this one blew my mind, and I want more, although I don't want to read the preceding novels in the series (just yet). It doesn't necessarily have to be detective fiction (in fact, I'd rather it not be.) Here's a list of what I liked and want to see more of:
Set well into the 21st century: '08, '09, '10 in an area with at least some level of technological ubiquity. Something about the references to Wikipedia and Skype really gave me the warm fuzzies the same way the references to the Internet in general gave them to me when I read Cryptonomicon in the late 90s.
Straightfaced psychedelia/real-world-rooted weirdness. The protagonist of Godfather often goes into mystical/psychedelic states but never loses himself in them and stays plenty grounded into the modern day while exploring his spiritual side. I want weirdness, bonuses if it is based in Real World weirdness, but I don't want proselytization.
Morally ambiguous but generally good protagonist without a perfectly imperfect life. I just read one of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novel and couldn't stand the main character. Too witty for the sake of being witty, too hard-up for the sake of being hard-up. There was something much more authentic about Godfather's Sonchai.
Believable antagonists. No Pure Evil, no antagonists with no lives outside of crushing the protagonist or attaining their Rule The World fantasies.
What I really don't want:
Graphic depiction of or plots revolving around rape.
Any sort of erotica.
Overly experimental narrative style. I hated Saramago's in Blindness and could barely stand Shelby Jr.'s in Requiem for a Dream.
Another recommendation that only resembles your request in a cursory way:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon.
I'm only throwing it out there because it has a vague resemblance to the Amazon synopsis of Godfather of Kathmandu - mystery/thriller about a grizzled [ethnic] detective in [exotic city] trying to solve a macabre crime involving esoteric clues, with a lot of spiritual musings.
Except it takes place in an alternate history where, instead of Israel, the survivors of the Holocaust were resettled in Alaska. And the ethnicity and spiritual tradition it plays upon is Judaism. Otherwise? Totes the same. But it doesn't match any of your criteria here. It is, however, a good book that I would recommend to just about anybody. So I am returning to this thread to do so. Do with that what you will.
posted by Sara C. at 11:41 PM on July 14, 2010
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon.
I'm only throwing it out there because it has a vague resemblance to the Amazon synopsis of Godfather of Kathmandu - mystery/thriller about a grizzled [ethnic] detective in [exotic city] trying to solve a macabre crime involving esoteric clues, with a lot of spiritual musings.
Except it takes place in an alternate history where, instead of Israel, the survivors of the Holocaust were resettled in Alaska. And the ethnicity and spiritual tradition it plays upon is Judaism. Otherwise? Totes the same. But it doesn't match any of your criteria here. It is, however, a good book that I would recommend to just about anybody. So I am returning to this thread to do so. Do with that what you will.
posted by Sara C. at 11:41 PM on July 14, 2010
Response by poster: Actually, Yiddish Policemen's Union is actually next on my list, after I finish this Dresden novel.
posted by griphus at 5:22 AM on July 15, 2010
posted by griphus at 5:22 AM on July 15, 2010
You'd like everything about Charlie Stross' Accelerando, except for the last scene of the first chapter, which you could safely skip to the next chapter when you read the lines "That evening, Pamela turns up at Manfred's hotel wearing a strapless black dress, concealing spike-heeled boots and most of the items he bought for her that afternoon"
posted by jrishel at 8:03 AM on July 15, 2010
posted by jrishel at 8:03 AM on July 15, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Sara C. at 7:34 PM on July 14, 2010