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Good Books to Read — Starting a List

At the last book discussion (which was wonderful and electrifying, filled with great people), the idea came up to start a list of future titles. 

You know, the kinds of good books Babbagers would enjoy. 

Here’s what we came up with:

S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst

Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (actually, that title was suggested back in May)

Could you recommend a book to add to this list? Maybe one you’ve read or heard about? There was a link to good steampunk titles posted here a few months ago, but do you have some to recommend?

Maybe authors you enjoy? 

 

 

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9 Comments

  1. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk July 1, 2015

    The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder (despite my often voiced objections to overuse of historical figures in steampunk fiction… the city descriptions are outstanding)

     

    • Pilipo Underwood Pilipo Underwood August 3, 2015

      I very much enjoyed that book up until the appearance of the giant head of The Historical Figure showed up, after that is was a bit hackneyed. Even then, during the running firefight there was some very kneeslappable humor. The Professor or I will show up for this discussion! As I am a dreadfully slow reader, and prefer very long and difficult books (why, one asks, do I do that to myself? Am I a masochist? Beats me.) I have a hard time reading the Burton books on the fly.

  2. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk July 3, 2015

    i’ve really enjoyed the Johannes Cabal novels by Jonathon L. Howard. Haven’t read all of them, but the ones I have hit have been quick and fun.

     

  3. Edward Pearse Edward Pearse July 3, 2015

    I finished the Parasole Protectorate series earlier this year. I love the banter between the main characters and the writing style is enjoyable. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but if you enjoy a fluffier series of books as a change of pace, I would highly recommend these.

  4. Nyanka Jinx Nyanka Jinx July 3, 2015

    If you don’t mind waiting for more updates every monday, there’s a webcomic called The Glass Scientists by Sabrina Cortungo. It’s a fanciful tale about a “Society of Archane Sciences” led by yours truly. Of course, this is an alternate universe from New Babbage, which means you’ll see interesting variations of familiar characters, along with strange and wonderful creatures like the Church Grim and the Mud Pheonix. The comic is just starting chapter two, so give it a read if you’re interested.

    – Dr. Henry Jekyll

  5. Bookworm Hienrichs Bookworm Hienrichs August 3, 2015

    Professor Elemental has cowritten a book, called ‘Letters Between Gentlemen.’ A pretty quick read, and as wacky as you’d expect from him!

  6. Arconus Arkright Arconus Arkright August 4, 2015

    Really long, non-sci-fi nineteenth century classics that I enjoyed more than I expected:
    Vanity Fair by Thackeray
    Our Mutual Friend by Dickens

    Super long kinda-sorta historical fantasy book that I’m sure I’ll get to any day now:
    Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon

    Short-ish sci-fi from 1888 that might actually be good for the book group:
    Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy 
    (Mostly a somewhat preachy paean to socialist utopianism, kind of an anti-Atlas Shrugged, but the language is lovely and it’s way shorter.)

    • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk August 4, 2015

      adding to my librivox que. i’ve found that era is easier to handle in audio while i’m doing outside work.

       

       

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