Books!

[viola]

Is it a publicly accessible story? Because that does sound interesting.

It is... It's a supernatural fanfic though 
I may or may not have spent the entire last month reading a rather embarassing amount of destiel...

If you're still interested I can link you

[LooNEY_DAC]

I recently read a really interesting story online from the perspective of a deaf protagonist and it made me think about things differently and I loved it. Does anyone have any recommendations of good stories (fics) or books that are written from the perspective of deaf or blind characters? I love the way this last one made me think and I want more of that.

So, one of the panels I went to at the Helsinki WorldCon was about "the bland Protagonist"; right at the beginning, one of the panelists, Robert Silverberg, admitted that he'd misread the subject as "the BLIND protagonist" - he was interested because he'd written a book with a blind protagonist. Unfortunately, I can't remember the title.

[scottishnottish]

Oh wow idk how I missed this thread for so long but hello!

I second the recommendations for Ursula Le Guin (particularly The Left Hand of Darkness) and Becky Chambers (A Closed and Common Orbit made me feeeel so many things.)

If anybody has recommendations similar to Chambers' style of Science Fiction (not too hard, and with a rather optimistic outlook on the universe) I'd love to hear them!

I don't know if these have been recommended but here are some of my favorite books from the last few years:

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It's a sci-fi lesbian romance told mostly through letters between rival agents in a war across time and space. The writing style is very poetic, it's more about the feeling of the scene than concrete details, so that may be offputting for some. But it was a quick read and I found it very enjoyable. I'm not usually one for romance because I find a lot of it to be very cliche but this was anything but.

Edit: I should clarify, I don't mind romance subplots. I found Left Hand of Darkness to be romantic in a unique way and I'm a big Emilalli shipper--I'm just not typically drawn to stories that are more about the romance than anything else. I do not care for love-triangles, though.

A Boy And His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher. A story of people living in a quiet post-apocalypse, and a kid's quest to retrieve a stolen dog. It's written in first-person, but it pulls it off very well. The setting is darkly beautiful, the characters are great, and there are some really good surprises along the way. Also, lots of good dogs.

(Sidenote: I picked up the audiobook for it and really enjoyed the narrator. His inflection was great and fit the writing style well, and he didn't use distracting character voices.)

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. This is less of a novel and more of a journey through many possible worlds that bend the rules of time, but I found it an enjoyable leisurely read with many unique reflections on how people experience and interact with time.

[Keep Looking]

I've been really enjoying Dracula, which I borrowed off my auntie a month or two ago - I've been trying to read more classics, and I heard that Dracula was really good.

And it is! The characters and pacing are excellent (although Lucy Wenestra is a very damsel-in-distress innocent beauty kind of character, which can be annoying, but y'know, it's from the 1890s), it really keeps you reading, and there's something inherently human about the letters and diary entries and newspaper clippings that make up the story. I haven't actually finished reading yet (although I do have a vague idea of the overarching plot) but I do definitely recommend it if you want to dive more into that kind of genre - there's something very thrilling about watching the build-up of strange and terrible events in the lives of ordinary people.

[Quetanto]

Finished reading through S. A. Chakraborty's City of Brass series recently, about a city of djinn in the middle of Iran. Mythology from all over the Middle East, from the Atlas Mountains to Afghanistan, and it coalesces quite nicely.
Back on the Silmarillion track, and reading Hogfather to my dad.
(Anyone got any good fantasy books they might recommend in French, Turkish, or Finnish?)

[Jitter]

Finnish definitely, can you give specifics? Level of language ability?

[Quetanto]

Finnish definitely, can you give specifics? Level of language ability?

I'm just going to go with "I just learned what the partitive case is two days ago" as my answer, but I have a tendency to be quick on my feet when I need to be. This is more for when I get to the point that I can understand more than the basics, so there's something to lock my head around and associate (in a positive manner) with the language.
Kanadalainen osaa parhua suomea, mutta vain vähän…

[Jitter]

A good series would be Tuliterä and it’s sequels by Timo Parvela. It’s sort of the Kalevala myths turn out to be real and adventure ensues. It’s set in the present day. It’s written for young readers, not YA but kids who can read proper books so maybe 10+ years, but it’s interesting enough for the adult reader as well (I have read it aloud to my kids, now teenagers a few years ago an I liked it). It’s proper language but not particularly complicated as some fantasy tends to be. Each volume is a good-sized book but not huge, which again is something some fantasy tends to be

We get a decent amount of comics translated too, maybe you could get some of your favorites in both Finnish and in a language you know. Comics are often good as the pictures help. Aobvious suggestion is A Redtail’s Dream which is available both in Finnish and in English. And actually the Tuliterä series is more interesting if you have some idea of Kalevala’s heroes etc so reading a little about the Finnish traditions first could help. Including ARtD.

[Vulpes]

A good series would be Tuliterä and it’s sequels by Timo Parvela.
<snip>
And actually the Tuliterä series is more interesting if you have some idea of Kalevala’s heroes etc so reading a little about the Finnish traditions first could help. Including ARtD.

Oh, sounds interesting! I hope I can find those online. I'm currently reading The Kalevala, translated by Keith Bosely (Oxford University Press) and enjoying it very much. I keep recognizing elements that Minna referenced in ARtD, and that appeared in Prague Race - too bad that one kind of fizzled out, it was interesting. I chose the Bosley version because several sources said that it comes closest to the spirit of the original. Definitely shows its origin as folk-tale recitation/song.

[Quetanto]

A good series would be Tuliterä and it’s sequels by Timo Parvela. It’s sort of the Kalevala myths turn out to be real and adventure ensues. It’s set in the present day. It’s written for young readers, not YA but kids who can read proper books so maybe 10+ years, but it’s interesting enough for the adult reader as well (I have read it aloud to my kids, now teenagers a few years ago an I liked it). It’s proper language but not particularly complicated as some fantasy tends to be. Each volume is a good-sized book but not huge, which again is something some fantasy tends to be

We get a decent amount of comics translated too, maybe you could get some of your favorites in both Finnish and in a language you know. Comics are often good as the pictures help. Aobvious suggestion is A Redtail’s Dream which is available both in Finnish and in English. And actually the Tuliterä series is more interesting if you have some idea of Kalevala’s heroes etc so reading a little about the Finnish traditions first could help. Including ARtD.

Many many thanks, Jitter!

[Jitter]

I suppose I should try the Kalevala in English because the Finnish in it is so old fashioned and difficult I never managed to read much if it (except that we have a Children’s Kalevala which tells the key stories in plainer Finnish and which we all read several times and studied when I was in school).

[Vulpes]

I suppose I should try the Kalevala in English because the Finnish in it is so old fashioned and difficult I never managed to read much if it (except that we have a Children’s Kalevala which tells the key stories in plainer Finnish and which we all read several times and studied when I was in school).

I get the impression that it's like reading The Canterbury Tales for an Anglophone - I read a bit of that, and the footnotes were nearly as long as the stories! I would have had little idea what was going on if it weren't for the notes.

[Róisín]

But the Canterbury tales is fun!! I love the humour and satire. And Alisoun, the feisty Wife of Bath.

[Hrollo]

For French language fantasy, if you're open to graphic novels, definitely try to find a copy of Légendes de Contrées Oubliées, by Bruno Chevalier and Thierry Ségur, a short 3-book series from the late 80s — early 90s, gorgeously drawn in colored inks, which, without spoiling the intrigue, starts as what seems like a classic epic fantasy story but eventually turn into a very original (and cynical) take on the ideas of quest, divine rule and foundational myths (although do mind it's also a fairly dark and violent story). It has a cult status in France and has been reprinted several times, but to my knowledge it has never been translated into English.

See also my recommendation on page 52 of this same thread for The Quest for the Time Bird (la Quête de l'oiseau du temps), another French dark fantasy graphic novel with similar theme and from the same time period (late 80s), though this one has been translated into English, and currently the French edition appears to be out of print (though I expect it will get a new printing at some point, that series is also pretty well liked).

Outside of graphic novels, I haven't read Alain Damasio's la Horde du contrevent (it's been sitting on my shelves unread for years, ahem), but I have several times heard it recommended as one of the best French fantasy books, with lots of innovative ideas and novel takes on the genre.

[viola]

I'm in the middle of reading Boy's Life by Robert McCammon and it reminds me a lot of Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Also idk if you guys saw but Sandman was made into an audiobook and I'm really looking forward to listening to it.