Trip Queries

[summercomfort]

Hi all!

Trip starts on Friday! Queries:

1) Suggested reading material? I'm going to be on a train for a week! And on planes for 8-12 hours at a time! And maybe also some downtime in Japan while Jono's working. Any suggested reading? I like stories with strong plot and character development and minimal infodump. I just acquired a Kindle (the recent price drop finally made it within my "impulse purchase" range), and have on it: A Game of Thrones, The Name of the Wind, and Guns, Germs, and Steel.

2) Postcards? Feel free to comment or email with your address.

3) Tokyo suggestions? So we're spending 1 weekend in Nagasaki and 1 weekend in Tohoku, but during the week, Jono will be working, so it's going to be me exploring Tokyo by myself during that time. Any suggestions of places to go, things to do?

Comments

[satyreyes.livejournal.com]

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" fits pretty nicely into the fantasy genre you're describing. It's set in England circa 1800, so the setting is already understood -- no infodump -- but magic, while socially disagreeable to conservative Londoners, is prolific, captivating, dangerous, and illuminating of the main characters. (And what characters!) It's darker than The Name of the Wind, but not darker than A Game of Thrones, based on what I've heard of the latter. Like Name, it is its author's first novel.

If you get bored of fantasy, you might try "Classic Feynman," a set of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman's autobiographical sketches. The man was hilarious, brilliant, and playful. Sometimes I wonder if he isn't making half of his stories up -- come on, you picked the lock on the safe with all the secrets of the atomic bomb inside? -- so maybe it's fantasy after all. You'll have to decide for yourself!

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I recommend The Orphan's Tales (http://www.orphanstales.com/) to everyone. It takes the story-within-a-story logic of 1001 Nights and also flips up fairytales and myths in really fascinating ways. There's only 2 books period, and it's ama-zing.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was a great read as far as fantasy goes. You have an empire built on having enslaved a couple of gods... (http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Thousand-Kingdoms-Inheritance-Trilogy/dp/0316043915).

I've also really enjoyed Joel Shepherds's Sasha & it's sequel Petrodor and recommend them both- they're actiony, but comparatively fluffy in terms of plot.

[armen.livejournal.com]

omg, where in Tohoku? I can totally suggest stuff for Tohoku.

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi lately. Also, "Metropolitan" and "City on Fire" by Walter John Williams.