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[Graknorke]

Just finished up The Martian. I do appreciate a bit of zircon-hard sci-fi.

[Parsely]

I do appreciate a bit of zircon-hard sci-fi.

^^

[mainiac]

Well except for the storm.

[Yoink]

So, I have a 25-hour train trip in a couple of days. Anyone wanna recommend me some books for the journey?
I have pretty eclectic reading tastes, but still it's anyone's guess what will actually appeal to me. Who knows if I'll manage to track down said books before I go, anyway, but I'd still like some recommendations just for the heck of it.

[Parsely]

So, I have a 25-hour train trip in a couple of days. Anyone wanna recommend me some books for the journey?
I have pretty eclectic reading tastes, but still it's anyone's guess what will actually appeal to me. Who knows if I'll manage to track down said books before I go, anyway, but I'd still like some recommendations just for the heck of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyk

[Twinwolf]

So, I have a 25-hour train trip in a couple of days. Anyone wanna recommend me some books for the journey?
I have pretty eclectic reading tastes, but still it's anyone's guess what will actually appeal to me. Who knows if I'll manage to track down said books before I go, anyway, but I'd still like some recommendations just for the heck of it.

The Martian is good, if you haven't read it. Although I don't know your reading interests.

[Helgoland]

So, I have a 25-hour train trip in a couple of days. Anyone wanna recommend me some books for the journey?
I have pretty eclectic reading tastes, but still it's anyone's guess what will actually appeal to me. Who knows if I'll manage to track down said books before I go, anyway, but I'd still like some recommendations just for the heck of it.

Bulgakov's short stories. They're weird, grotesque, disturbing. You'll love 'em.

[NJW2000]

Mieville might be your kinda guy. Alternatively, if weird fantasy isn't a problem, Walter Moers' Zamonia books are great.

[Helgoland]

Yeah, Walter Moers is awesome. Go for The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear if you can find it - it's the starting point of the series, and pretty much still the best of them all.

[Yoink]

Yeah, Walter Moers is awesome. Go for The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear if you can find it - it's the starting point of the series, and pretty much still the best of them all.

Oh hey, I remember that book! It's by the same guy that wrote Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures!
I know I quite wanted to check out Captain Bluebear back when I'd just read Rumo, years ago. Maybe I shall finally get around to that.

Thanks guys, some of these suggestions have been pretty good! I have a copy of The Master and Margarita lying around somewhere in another state, although for some reason I don't think I actually finished it. Perhaps it was during the tail-end of the good old days when I used to read all the time.

Mieville might be your kinda guy. Alternatively, if weird fantasy isn't a problem, Walter Moers' Zamonia books are great.

Mievelle goes in for that modern/urban fantasy kinda stuff, doesn't he? I'm afraid that sort of thing always tends to annoy the hell out of me.
Captain Bluebear is certainly a winning suggestion, however! Although I'm pretty sure the book was quite large and unwieldy...

[Helgoland]

Slice it up into 13½ little booklets, then.

[TheBiggerFish]

So, I have a 25-hour train trip in a couple of days. Anyone wanna recommend me some books for the journey?
I have pretty eclectic reading tastes, but still it's anyone's guess what will actually appeal to me. Who knows if I'll manage to track down said books before I go, anyway, but I'd still like some recommendations just for the heck of it.

Discworld, Discworld, Discworld, Discworld.
And then some Discworld.

[Helgoland]

To be fair, Walter Moers pretty much is the German Terry Pratchett.

[TheBiggerFish]

Hmm?
Hmm.
I'll have to look into him then...

[Arx]

I'm currently reading The Bang-Bang Club, by Greg Marenovitch and Joao Silva. Be warned, it is not for the faint of heart (two of the four members of the titular bang-bang club are dead, and Marenovitch survived a bullet to the chest), but if you can stand the fact that it is insanely grim it is very, very worth reading.

Spoiler: From this point, my commentary on it becomes pretty grim too. (click to show/hide)

It covers the much-unknown war fought between the ANC Xhosa and the Inkatha Zulus (and engineered by the NP) in the early nineties, from the perspective of four press photographers in the absolute thick of the action, with some diversions into the Sudan war and similar stuff. It does include graphic images of such lovely tableux as men being set on fire, dead toddlers, and so on, so... like I said, not for the faint of heart.

However, it is a pretty gripping and compelling look into some insane stuff. The Inkatha amaButho striking from fortified hostels against the ANC townships defending barricades, regiments fighting with improvised assegais and shields, and a cartoon-level evil government fanning the flames and covering it all up. The handful of photographers brave/stupid enough to go looking for 'the bang-bang' were pretty much the only way anyone not involved knew about it.

A lot of it feels like it's pulled straight from two or three hundred years ago, except with occasional assualt rifles and petrol.

As I said, I think it's a fair assessment of the darkness levels of the book that half the 'authors' are dead. One of them was shot dead in one of the many, many battles, and one committed suicide, mainly because of some of the stuff he'd seen.

I'm not sure exactly who I'd recommend it to.