The Official HH Book Club List

Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

Guests of the Ayatollah
The Right Stuff
Pretty much anything by Michael Lewis like Moneyball or The Big Short
Click to expand...

Just downloaded The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis. Looks interesting so far.
 
Damn - doesn't anyone other than @Doog_de_Jour read trashy books?

How about Lee Child and the Jack Reacher series that doesn't star Tom Cruise? good quick reads.
Steve Berry books featuring super spy Cotton Mather
James Rollins books with super spy fighting agency SIGMA

most of my porn collection is by anonymous so can't really recommend them
Click to expand...

Devil In a Kilt is not trashy! I’ll have you know it is a largely historically accurate look into medieval Scottish society and a nuanced study of traditional feminine beauty.

The protagonist, Linnet MacDonnell, the youngest of seven sisters, with her flame-bright red hair, sharp tongue, and strange gift of second-sight, no man wanted her. But the devil would take her. Bartered as a bride to her father's long-sworn enemy, the nobly born Highlander Duncan MacKenzie of Kintail, she had no choice but to enter a marriage with a man rumored to have murdered his first wife and said to possess neither heart nor soul.

Forbidding and proud, Duncan MacKenzie wanted only one thing from his new bride -- to use her special gift to determine if young Robbie was truly his son. He never expected the MacDonnell lass to stubbornly follow her heart, chase away the darkness in his castle with light and laughter, and ignite a raging fire in his blood. How dare she defy him, and tempt a devil like him to feel what he feared most of all --- love!

View attachment 27501

Thanks again for the recommendation @PurpleThrobber!
Click to expand...

Once you reach under the kilt, you never go back.....

 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

i like the spy/law/mystery genres myself and find that i can still enjoy a John Grisham novel (probably why there were 483 years of Law & Order on tv). That dude who wrote Da Vinci Code, though... be careful. He maxed out by Angels & Demons so every novel since then is a waste of time. David Baldacci is serviceable for the violent criminal things.
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

i like the spy/law/mystery genres myself and find that i can still enjoy a John Grisham novel (probably why there were 483 years of Law & Order on tv). That dude who wrote Da Vinci Code, though... be careful. He maxed out by Angels & Demons so every novel since then is a waste of time. David Baldacci is serviceable for the violent criminal things.
Click to expand...

I picked up a book in a series by Phillip Kerr that fits into the law/mystery genre. The main character is a detective in Berlin in the 1930s and 40s named Bernie Gunther. I’ve now read 4-5 books in the series.
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

I'm taking from this that you're looking for fiction, but more true to life fiction? A genre that I've always been into is good satirical fiction. Truth be told, I've read very few books lately, but I used to devour two or three a week. In that time, I was recommended an Australian author named Max Barry (Maxx Barry for comedic effect once), and the two of his books that I read were both fucking amazing:
Jennifer Government: Satirically dystopian future in which capitalism is taken to its logical extreme. People sell their last names to their employers for marketing purposes, for instance. Crimes are only solved if the victims can pay private police. Jennifer is, essentially, an FBI agent, hence the last name "Government." Hilarious hijinks ensue. George Clooney optioned the movie rights at one point, but it's one that was lost to studio politics, bouncing around and therefore never being made.

Syrup (as Maxx Barry): Satirical take on marketing run amok. Young ad executive for a soft drink company thinks of the greatest campaign ever: Cola. Black can. Called "Fuck." Hilarious hijinks ensue.

There's also a sub-genre of this kind of satire that focuses entirely on Florida, and it's all great. Dave Barry is mostly known for his collections of humor columns, but he also wrote two fiction books, Big Trouble and Tricky Business, and they're both awesome.

Carl Hiaasen peddles exclusively in the "satirical Florida Man" genre, and he's awesome. Ditto Tim Dorsey. I'd probably read those three Florida authors in that order.

For probably the best contemporary satirical fiction--and perhaps my favorite author--there's always Chuck Palahniuk. Choke and Survivor are two of my favorite books I've ever read. Palahniuk's work is a bit longer, denser, etc. than anything else mentioned above, so I'd look above if you're more into a quick and fun read.
 
Two more satirical humor novels I just thought of, both perhaps in my top 10, but it's been a loooong time since I read them:

Lamb: The Gospel of Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. I'm not usually the biggest Christopher Moore fan, but this book is nails. It's written from the perspective that the Bible is historically accurate, but covers the missing years in Jesus' life, when he's kicking around with best buddy and regular bro Biff, chasing tail and whatnot.

I, Lucifer, by Glen Duncan. Apocalypse coming, God offers Lucifer a deal: Live out a successful life as a regular human, and he'll be spared and spend eternity in heaven. Taking the body of a suicidal loser, the devil goes out into the world and... does things the devil would do. Hilarious and awesome. Main character's name is an anagram of the author's name, so it has that going for it, which is nice.
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

Guests of the Ayatollah
The Right Stuff
Pretty much anything by Michael Lewis like Moneyball or The Big Short
Click to expand...

Watched the Big Short last week. Good movie
 
Jennifer Government was good.
Click to expand...

Check out Syrup, then. Just as quick and fun of a read.
Click to expand...

As it turns out, Libby has it as an audiobook, added to the lineup. I've read maybe 20 fiction books in the last ten years. I used to really dig William Gibson, but I've got one of his books on the shelf I've picked up 10 times in the last few years and just can't finish it.
 
Jennifer Government was good.
Click to expand...

Check out Syrup, then. Just as quick and fun of a read.
Click to expand...

As it turns out, Libby has it as an audiobook, added to the lineup. I've read maybe 20 fiction books in the last ten years. I used to really dig William Gibson, but I've got one of his books on the shelf I've picked up 10 times in the last few years and just can't finish it.
Click to expand...

Let me know what you think. I've actually never listened to an audiobook, and I'm curious how well it would work for humor, particularly if it's read in a monotone way. Another problem with Syrup via audiobook: One of the ways that Syrup makes fun of excessive marketing is that one of the main characters is named 7. Like the number character, not the word. To one-up this, another changes his name to @. Works when reading, but how's that going to go out loud? Let me know...
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

It's from the 80s but Robert Ludlum could write a cold war novel. He did the Bourne series. Much better than the movies

I like that kind of fiction. The guy who wrote Absolute Power is another one. Beach books
Click to expand...

Good call. The Bourne books are awesome

The movies just took the first one and made up the rest
 
Those were books I’d read recently that I liked.

Official recommendation list would include:

Blood Meridian
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1984
The Thrawn trilogy
1776
The Hunt for Red October
Moneyball
The Right Stuff

Just to name a few...
Click to expand...

I like the new thrawn stuff too
Click to expand...

I’ve only read the first of the new ones. I liked it, but after a few other disappointing entries in the newer books I haven’t dipped back into anything Star Wars related. You recommend Alliances and Treason?
Click to expand...

I think I read the second. Maybe just the first. I liked it. Of the newer books the one with Vader and tarkin is pretty solid I thought.
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

It's from the 80s but Robert Ludlum could write a cold war novel. He did the Bourne series. Much better than the movies

I like that kind of fiction. The guy who wrote Absolute Power is another one. Beach books
Click to expand...

Good call. The Bourne books are awesome

The movies just took the first one and made up the rest
Click to expand...

au contraire

ww6fo4hvfjrs.png

 
Damn - doesn't anyone other than @Doog_de_Jour read trashy books?

How about Lee Child and the Jack Reacher series that doesn't star Tom Cruise? good quick reads.
Steve Berry books featuring super spy Cotton Mather
James Rollins books with super spy fighting agency SIGMA

most of my porn collection is by anonymous so can't really recommend them
Click to expand...

Devil In a Kilt is not trashy! I’ll have you know it is a largely historically accurate look into medieval Scottish society and a nuanced study of traditional feminine beauty.

The protagonist, Linnet MacDonnell, the youngest of seven sisters, with her flame-bright red hair, sharp tongue, and strange gift of second-sight, no man wanted her. But the devil would take her. Bartered as a bride to her father's long-sworn enemy, the nobly born Highlander Duncan MacKenzie of Kintail, she had no choice but to enter a marriage with a man rumored to have murdered his first wife and said to possess neither heart nor soul.

Forbidding and proud, Duncan MacKenzie wanted only one thing from his new bride -- to use her special gift to determine if young Robbie was truly his son. He never expected the MacDonnell lass to stubbornly follow her heart, chase away the darkness in his castle with light and laughter, and ignite a raging fire in his blood. How dare she defy him, and tempt a devil like him to feel what he feared most of all --- love!

View attachment 27501

Thanks again for the recommendation @PurpleThrobber!
Click to expand...

if you could work "turgid" into that synopses it could be porn

still not on my reading list - mainly I would have to explain it to Mrs. Lebam
 
Would love some recommendations that don’t have to do with war or sci-if, fantasy type shit.
Click to expand...

I'm taking from this that you're looking for fiction, but more true to life fiction? A genre that I've always been into is good satirical fiction. Truth be told, I've read very few books lately, but I used to devour two or three a week. In that time, I was recommended an Australian author named Max Barry (Maxx Barry for comedic effect once), and the two of his books that I read were both fucking amazing:
Jennifer Government: Satirically dystopian future in which capitalism is taken to its logical extreme. People sell their last names to their employers for marketing purposes, for instance. Crimes are only solved if the victims can pay private police. Jennifer is, essentially, an FBI agent, hence the last name "Government." Hilarious hijinks ensue. George Clooney optioned the movie rights at one point, but it's one that was lost to studio politics, bouncing around and therefore never being made.

Syrup (as Maxx Barry): Satirical take on marketing run amok. Young ad executive for a soft drink company thinks of the greatest campaign ever: Cola. Black can. Called "Fuck." Hilarious hijinks ensue.

There's also a sub-genre of this kind of satire that focuses entirely on Florida, and it's all great. Dave Barry is mostly known for his collections of humor columns, but he also wrote two fiction books, Big Trouble and Tricky Business, and they're both awesome.

Carl Hiaasen peddles exclusively in the "satirical Florida Man" genre, and he's awesome. Ditto Tim Dorsey. I'd probably read those three Florida authors in that order.

For probably the best contemporary satirical fiction--and perhaps my favorite author--there's always Chuck Palahniuk. Choke and Survivor are two of my favorite books I've ever read. Palahniuk's work is a bit longer, denser, etc. than anything else mentioned above, so I'd look above if you're more into a quick and fun read.
Click to expand...

Really appreciate it and will check a few out. I’ve been getting into marketing a little bit (mostly online) but really want to check out Syrup. Gonna probably order it tonight. I’ve read a couple of Palahniuk books including Survivor. All of them sound like stuff I would be into.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top