For the longest time I’ve let my disdain for humanities courses in college being a bunch of lazy programs that shouldn’t even exist in my opinion taint my view of things like books. I don’t think I’ve read a novel in years. I’m trying to fix that now by reading Dracula. Even though I have ideas for other things I want to read after I finish Dracula, I would still like more suggestions of things you like that you think I might like. So please post them here!
What a great request! Great novelists: Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Annie Proulx, John Grisham. Classic works: The Confessions of Augustine, Christianity and Culture by Grisham Machen, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, the Aeneid. Current nonfiction: Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman and Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, anything by Jordan B. Peterson.
I’ll suggest two short ones, though I could suggest dozens of things. Try the novella by Joseph Conrad “The End of the Tether” and the novella by Leo Tolstoy “Hadji Murad” — both are masterpieces.
Tragedy and Hope 101 by Joseph Plummer or Tragedy and Hope by Carrol Quigley if so inclined; Anglo American Establishment by Quigley as well however 101 by Plummer is a summarization of Quigley’s works.
Creature from Jekyl Island by G Edward Griffin
The Law by Fredric Bastiat
Foundations: Their Power and Influence by Carrol Reece
Panopticon by Jeremy Bentham
Technocracy Rising by Patrick Wood
America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones by Antony Sutton
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
War is a Racket by General Smedley Butler
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, Wall Street and FDR, and Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler all by Antony Sutton
The Republic by Plato
Rhetoric by Aristotle
The Search for the Manchurian Candidate by John Marks
Operation Mind Control by Walter Bowart
Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley (people forget about that one)
Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen
Weird Scenes inside the Canyon by David McGowan
The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
Novels
The Wanting Seed by Antony Burgess
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anything by Philip K Dick
I could drop more novels but you seem pretty well read.
Your reference to the humanities makes me think you’re not looking for pulp fiction but for real literature. This is good. Life is too short and your mind is meant for more than Stephen King and James Patterson. (Not that there’s anything wrong with reading just for entertainment now and then.) Most -- not all -- contemporary fiction you will see at Barnes & Noble is a waste of paper. You’re on more solid ground with the classics, which were recognized as worthwhile back when there were still artistic standards. If you haven’t read these, I recommend them at random:
Oh, pulp is fine because I specified novels, it’s just the people posting nonfiction books that aren’t particularly helpful because I didn’t stop reading those.
Speaking of Stephen King, why would I be better off reading something called The Sword of Honour than It, Pet Semetary, and Carrie? Not that that’s mutually exclusive, but for all Stephen King’s faults he’s at least culturally relevant and has some interesting ideas. The Sword of Honour sounds like the name of a pulp book, it just sounds like the name of a boring pulp book about how great it supposedly is to live in ye olde dark ages instead of a cool pulp book about fighting the Devil or having telekinesis or time traveling like Stephen King’s pulp books.
Sword of Honor is a contender for my favorite book of all time. It is a novel about one man’s experience in the second world war, and it is a grand and sweeping work, that is about many things, including the collapse of the Christian culture of the west, particularly in Britain. Also, because it is Waugh, there are absurdist and comical bits mixed in with the more profound elements. It is a large book, and it is in a sensei a summing up all of his earlier work, it is his masterpiece, though like all large, sprawling, and ambitious books, it has its imperfections.
Stephen King at his best is very good. At his worst, e.g. Christine, he is still engaging, and he holds the reader’s attention all the way to the end. He is an entertainer, and he is one of the best at what he does. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it does not aspire to being profound, and novels are capable of being profound. With king you get what you pay for, which is better than you can say about most writers.
What a great request! Great novelists: Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Annie Proulx, John Grisham. Classic works: The Confessions of Augustine, Christianity and Culture by Grisham Machen, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, the Aeneid. Current nonfiction: Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman and Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, anything by Jordan B. Peterson.
I’ll suggest two short ones, though I could suggest dozens of things. Try the novella by Joseph Conrad “The End of the Tether” and the novella by Leo Tolstoy “Hadji Murad” — both are masterpieces.
Neal Stephenson. Anything by him, really, but my strongest recommendations would be Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash.
I share some of my favorites from our library in this post:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/regenerative-resources-a-recommended
Tragedy and Hope 101 by Joseph Plummer or Tragedy and Hope by Carrol Quigley if so inclined; Anglo American Establishment by Quigley as well however 101 by Plummer is a summarization of Quigley’s works.
Creature from Jekyl Island by G Edward Griffin
The Law by Fredric Bastiat
Foundations: Their Power and Influence by Carrol Reece
Panopticon by Jeremy Bentham
Technocracy Rising by Patrick Wood
America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones by Antony Sutton
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
War is a Racket by General Smedley Butler
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, Wall Street and FDR, and Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler all by Antony Sutton
The Republic by Plato
Rhetoric by Aristotle
The Search for the Manchurian Candidate by John Marks
Operation Mind Control by Walter Bowart
Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley (people forget about that one)
Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen
Weird Scenes inside the Canyon by David McGowan
The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
Novels
The Wanting Seed by Antony Burgess
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anything by Philip K Dick
I could drop more novels but you seem pretty well read.
Bill Brysons A Short History On Nearly Everything.
Tough Crowd by Graham Linehan.
The Horus Heresy Series by multiple authors.
I have the Bryson book if you are interested, MM.
Machen wrote Christianity and Liberalism (religious not political). Christianity and Culture was written by TS Eliot.
Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein.
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius.
The Book Of Five Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi
The Note Books of Lazarus Long,
By Robert Heinlein
The Instructions of The King,
By King Cormac MacArt
The Camulod Chronicles
By Jack Whyte
The Probability Broach
By L Neil Smith
The works of Carl Jung
Dylan Thomas
WB Yeats
Edgar Allan Poe
A lot of these I already wanted to read, but thanks for some things I haven't even heard of!
“Oh the places you’ll go” - Dr. Seuss
"Oh the places Substack will go" — Dr. Nazi Porn Seuss
https://unwokeindianaag.substack.com/p/the-great-war-recommended-reading
Your reference to the humanities makes me think you’re not looking for pulp fiction but for real literature. This is good. Life is too short and your mind is meant for more than Stephen King and James Patterson. (Not that there’s anything wrong with reading just for entertainment now and then.) Most -- not all -- contemporary fiction you will see at Barnes & Noble is a waste of paper. You’re on more solid ground with the classics, which were recognized as worthwhile back when there were still artistic standards. If you haven’t read these, I recommend them at random:
St. Augustine’s Confessions (a must);
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley;
C&P or The Bros. K. by Dostoyevsky;
Dante’s Divine Comedy
The Wind in the Willows.
A few more recent works to consider:
Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de St Exupery
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh
The Hobbit & The LOTR trilogy by Tolkien.
The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono.
Dive in and enjoy!
Oh, pulp is fine because I specified novels, it’s just the people posting nonfiction books that aren’t particularly helpful because I didn’t stop reading those.
Speaking of Stephen King, why would I be better off reading something called The Sword of Honour than It, Pet Semetary, and Carrie? Not that that’s mutually exclusive, but for all Stephen King’s faults he’s at least culturally relevant and has some interesting ideas. The Sword of Honour sounds like the name of a pulp book, it just sounds like the name of a boring pulp book about how great it supposedly is to live in ye olde dark ages instead of a cool pulp book about fighting the Devil or having telekinesis or time traveling like Stephen King’s pulp books.
Sword of Honor is a contender for my favorite book of all time. It is a novel about one man’s experience in the second world war, and it is a grand and sweeping work, that is about many things, including the collapse of the Christian culture of the west, particularly in Britain. Also, because it is Waugh, there are absurdist and comical bits mixed in with the more profound elements. It is a large book, and it is in a sensei a summing up all of his earlier work, it is his masterpiece, though like all large, sprawling, and ambitious books, it has its imperfections.
Stephen King at his best is very good. At his worst, e.g. Christine, he is still engaging, and he holds the reader’s attention all the way to the end. He is an entertainer, and he is one of the best at what he does. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it does not aspire to being profound, and novels are capable of being profound. With king you get what you pay for, which is better than you can say about most writers.
Read Sword of Honor and Stephen King, these aren’t opposed is probably the answer then.
Try a short story by Donald Barthelme. I have so many favorites of his, but this one is among my top ten (and luckily available online):
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/archives/1972/09/230-3/132565741.pdf