The grumpy and sunshine duo makes my day every time!
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Fiction Books
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Have you read the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan? The main duo is a solid 10/10
I haven't, thanks for the recommendation!
I can't get enough of these in the literal sense that I barely find them:
-Children and YA books in which parents and adults stop being just an annoyance and start helping the protagonists (without replacing them even though they are more experienced). E.g. Elatsoe
-Convincing others to help not through violence (in the more general sense) but through compassion. E.g. the way everyone helps Grogu in the Mandalorian or Piccard in Star Trek: Piccard.
-The feeling of hope in the world, that you don't need to do everything yourself because there are other good actors in the world. E.g. Animorphs and The Lord of the Rings.
In the same sense: books for adults with kids that are actually kids, not mini-adults, not incredibly smart, not wallpaper, but real kids of any age. I don’t think I can remember the last time I read something like this. E.g. ‘Do not let me go‘ by Kazuo Ishiguro
Now that you mention it, I do also like these tropes.
Doctor Who is good for the second one too, that's basically the Doctor's whole deal that they never carry a weapon and just try to talk their way through everything. Although they will fuck someone up if they get pushed too far lol.
I didn't get yet to see Doctor Who! This could be a good excuse to give it a try. Where do you recommend to start?
For the show, the beginning of the 2005 revival is probably a good place to start! The first couple of seasons are probably a bit dated now but still good, and they treat it as kind of a soft reboot because it had had been off the air for ~15 years at that point so it's designed for new viewers to drop in without having to know all the backstory and stuff.
As for the books I have no idea lol. There are quite a lot of those IIRC.
Duly noted ;)
Replying to a 19-day-old comment is totally the thing to do, right? /s
Anyway, I always tell people, when they express an interest in Doctor Who, to watch the episode 'Blink'. It's a litmus test: if you don't like the episode, you won't like Doctor Who; if you do like it, you will enjoy Doctor Who at least a little.
Another commenter mentioned the soft reboot of the show, 'Blink' is an episode that comes after the soft reboot, so it is more accessible than older Doctor Who episodes (although I personally love Pertwee episodes, but that's a whole comment thread in itself). Blink introduces a new character and a new bad guy, so the viewer is introduced to both the Doctor and the bad guy just as the new character is. The Doctor himself isn't on screen much either; most of the story focuses on this new character. She has to solve something of a mystery while staying ahead of a bad guy that she doesn't even realize exists (so there is some suspense, too).
Like I said, if you bounce off this episode, you won't much like any other episodes. It's a really handy way of seeing if Doctor Who is right for you.
I am convinced that there's not a book written that can't be improved by the addition of a Sassy Robot Sidekick.
Or a robot with depression
Not Sidekick but definitely Sassy, have you read Murderbot Diaries?
Remote island (or any isolated places) murder mysteries.
Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is my #1 most reread book, haha.
Have you read the moai island puzzle by Alice arisugawa? Fits your trope perfectly and even tho the English translation was wonky sometimes, I thought it was a good book
I haven't! It looks interesting, will definitely check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Try "The Decagon House Murders" by Yukito Ayatsuji - lots of similarities to "And then there were none"
Oh, he's the original writer one of my favorite anime of all time (Another)! I'll def check it out, thank you for the recommendation!
I like time travel, if that's a trope. I'm always looking for a new take on it as many different stories using it have already been told.
@nkiruanaya
You might enjoy The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier. Not time travel exactly, but some of the same issues crop up.
@gabe
Have you read Recursion by Blake Crouch? That was the most interesting to take on time travel I've read in a while.
No I haven't, but it looks good. I have read The Wayward Pines Trilogy and Dark Matter, both by Crouch. I liked the Pines. Dark Matter was okay.
Thanks for the tip.
The Bobiverse has time dilation time travel if that counts.
That was a really good series
It's in my queue. Really looking forward to it. Heard lots of good things.
Check out Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, it’s such a good book!
I recently finished Station Eleven and honestly thought it was a bit boring. After that read I was put off of that author. Is Sea of Tranquility on par with Station Eleven? Should I reconsider?
Ooh yeah, if you didn’t enjoy Station Eleven, then you probably wouldn’t enjoy Sea of Tranquility. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close in terms of style and structure.
Creepy, gothic haunted house? Count me in.
Anything where the protagonist gets to build a new world in a virtual environment, or significantly modify themselves by using virtual environments. Examples: "Fall, or Dodge in Hell - By Neal Stephenson" and "Accelerando - by Charles Stross"
spoiler
Dodge in Hell - where he is uploaded into a host system that has only a very basic physics model and nothing else. He gets to create the world by experiencing it, and remembering what things 'feel' like. Such as inventing gravity by watching a leaf fall to the ground and it feeling right.
[off topic?]
There are a few series that I can read over and over. Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout. Travis McGee by John D. MacDonald, and Easy Rawlins by Walter Mosley spring to mind.
Mosley's books are outliers, because Easy changes with time. McGee and Wolfe remain perfect examples of the sort of life most of us dream about.