The Great Book Alphabet Game

[death tribble]

History of Britain Volumes 1 and 2 by Simon Schama

 

and of course A History of My Life by Casanova. What else did you need to say ?

 

Gaming wise

 

the module Ghost Tower of Inverness

 

The Scarred Lands book Hornsaw Forest of Doom

 

For Call of Cthulhu Horror on the Orient Express

[mattingly]

Another good G one is

 

Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture by N. K. Jemisin, Genevieve Valentine, Eric San Juan, Zaki Hasan, Stephen H. Segal

It includes hundreds of quotes from movies, books, comics, authors, comedians, games, and geek spokespeople, with a few paragraphs about the profound meaning of each.

 

"This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."

"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

"No matter where you go, there you are."

"I'm all out of bubblegum."

"Do or do not. There is no try."

[Pariah]

Okay, I have one more recommendation under H: The Hundred Greatest Stars by James. B. Kaler. 

 

 

I had an Astronomy course as an undergraduate, years ago. I learned more from this book than I did from that class.

[bigdamnhero]

"This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."

"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

"No matter where you go, there you are."

"I'm all out of bubblegum."

"Do or do not. There is no try."

I recognized 4 out 5 immediately; one took a little longer. But I was never a fan of Batcamp.

 

[Tho it did just occur to me that Lego Batman is basically Adam West for a new generation. I'm probably not the first to make that observation.]

[Pariah]

How to be Legendary by Johnny B Truant (free from the author), an entertaining look at life management skills.

 

 

That was a GREAT little read! I have some things to think about...and some things to do.

 

Thanks for the recommendation!

[bigdamnhero]

Oh, back under D I missed one of my all-time favorite book recommendations: The Defense of Duffer's Drift by then-Captain, later Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton. This short book is told as a series of dreams in which the narrator is a novice Lieutenant on his first independent command during the Boer War. At first he makes some really glaring mistakes and they get their asses kicked, but then the dream repeats but he gets to learn from his previous mistakes until he eventually succeeds. It's honestly one of the best primers on military leadership and small unit tactics you'll ever find, not to mention entertaining as hell.

Apologies for self-quoting, but I just found out Duffer's Drift is available for free online through Project Gutenberg (multiple formats including Kindle & ePub) or Marines.mil (pdf). As short as the book is, you now have no excuse for not reading it.

[bigdamnhero]

For I...

 

Obligatory classic: The Iliad by Homer. Needs no introduction. If you can find a good audiobook version, I think it works much better listening to it than reading it.

 

Obvious sci-fi entry: The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. A great collection of short stories from the master of the SF short story, with a great premise bridging the stories together.

 

Book that's been on my reading list forever but I still haven't gotten around to: Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer. A chilling look inside true evil; everyone I know who's read it raves about it.

 

Totally obscure pick that no one else has heard of: Infantry In Battle by the Infantry Journal Incorporated, 1939 edition. Commissioned by George Marshall as a way to capture the lessons learned by both sides in "the Great War" and how much warfare had changed in a few short years. Much of it sounds so obvious to our ears today - like "walking down the road in close order formation is a good way to get blowed up by artillery fire"* - but at the time were completely contrary to how wars had been fought for millennia. Available for free online here. There's also a 2005 book by the same name put out by the US Army Infantry School that attempts to do the same thing for 21st Century warfare, which is available here; I haven't read it yet, but I've heard good things. For those of you who are into that sort of thing.

 

* Not an actual quote, but that is an actual example

[Pariah]

Moving on to the letter J:

 

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" was one of my favorite short stories growing up.

[bigdamnhero]

Jay J. Armes, Investigator by Jay J. Armes and Frederick Nolan. An autobiography from "The World's #1 Private Eye!" (Just ask him!) Armes lost both hands when he was 12 and spent the rest of his life with prosthetic hooks, but learned how to turn them into an asset instead of a handicap. Technically non-fiction, tho some of Armes' claims strain credibility a bit. (Sure man, Elizabeth Taylor totally hit on you but you turned her down, true story...) But I loved this book as a kid! I mean, the dude had a .22 pistol built into one of his hooks - what's not to love?

 

Just and Unjust Wars by Michael Walzer. A classic work on ethics in and of warfare, required reading when I was at West Point. I don't think Walzer was the first to distinguish between Jus Ad Bellum (when is war morally justified?) vs Jus In Bello (what actions are morally acceptable in the conduct of wars?), but he does a great job of laying them out and analyzing each in turn.

 

 

One that I missed under I - Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences by John Allen Paulos. A great book about how our society's failure to understand things like basic probabilities or very large numbers hampers us and repeatedly leads us to stupid decisions at both the personal and the political level.

[mattingly]

Illegal Aliens by Nick Pollotta. Sci-fi humor on par with Hitchiker's Guide

...Which reminds me of a sci-fi G that I forgot -- Glory Lane by Alan Dean Foster

 

The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells

The Invisible Man, also by Wells

 

And I think we said we're doing series by each book's title, otherwise The Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony really needs to be listed under I.

 

 

 

 

Jesus for the Win, from GameChurch

 

Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones

 

Just So Stories, speaking of Kipling

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

 

 

 

Now that I'm thinking of Verne, Wells, and Kipling...

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (sci-fi filled with biting sarcasm)

[death tribble]

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. This introduces the vampire Lestat and gives the origin of the vampire Louis. The film version wasn't bad.

 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This launched a new genre non fiction fiction. And there have been several films made about it.

 

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. A knight of King Richard and his battles in the court of King John and around the court of Nottingham

 

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Need I say more ?

 

Jaws by Peter Benchley. Again what else can you say ? There are differences between the film and the book versions such as Richard Dreyfuss's character gets it in the book.

 

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. This is the book that makes rhinos very evil

 

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. How various animals got their appearances. Very entertaining.

 

Then there is The Joy of Sex but what would any of us know about that ?

[Pariah]

Let me also put in a word here for Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage.  One of the definitive works of Latter-day Saint theology, it examines in detail the premortal, mortal, and post-Resurrection ministry of Jesus. Most Latter-day Saints believe that Talmage was divinely inspired when he wrote this book. It's an amazing, thought-provoking work. Also, bring a dictionary.

[death tribble]

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett. This is another of the Rincewind Discworld books. The J book Jingo is one I don't really like.

 

Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe. This is a funny book that eviscerates the South African police.

 

The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. This is heavyweight stuff

 

Is That It ? by Bob Geldof. This is his autobiography and a fascinating read particularly as he is one of the people who was influential to my generation.

 

IT by Stephen King. The killer of children over decades in the same town usually personified as an evil clown.

 

Ice Station Zebra by Alistair Maclean. This was made into a film and is a good read.

 

In Enemy Hands by David Weber. This involves Honor Harrngton being captured by the Havenite forces and then making a break to a prison planet

 

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Magic is real and comes back in force during the Napoleonic wars

 

Gaming wise

 

X1 Isle of Dread this is a fun module

as are Black Ice Well (it has a Type V demon) and Jade Magi Sewer Crawl

 

Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks This is the first of Mick Foley's autobiographies and is absolutely wonderful.

[bigdamnhero]

Since it came up in the What Have You Watched Recently thread: K is for The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. One of the best works of "Narrative History," giving you a real feel not only for what the battlefield was like, but the decisions facing the various leaders and why it all played out the way it did. The American Civil War is not one of my favorite periods, but Killer Angels will always make my top 10 military history books.

 

Also: The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. Dunsany's most famous work and a classic of pre-Tolkein fantasy.

[Pariah]

Okay, I'll throw out the really obvious one for the letter L:

 

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

[Cancer]

Lord of Light is my second-favorite book from Roger Zelazny, after Doorways in the Sand.

 

Lord Valentine's Castle is the introductory novel from one of Robert Silverberg's fictional universes. Collectively they're a decent chunk of fantasy/sci-fi stories. Not (imo) in the same league as his stuff from a decade or more earlier, of which Downward to the Earth is my favorite, but it's an interesting world albeit with a title character who got into all the trouble starts in precisely because he's such a preposterous Mary Sue.

[bigdamnhero]

I'll second Lord of Light.

 

Also, Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, first book of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Not an easy book to read, and may hold the record among fantasy books for the most people who got 1/3 through it but just couldn't keep going. I get it. But a compelling world and story, and one of the most vivid antiheroes in literary history.

 

The Last Apocalypse by James Reston. A fun pop history book that paints an overview of what Europe was like at the end of the First Millennium. I wrote a longer review in this thread.

 

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. A story of 9th Century Vikings that ranges from Denmark to Cordova to England to Constantinople and back again. Another book I stumbled on while researching my historical FH game, but a fun read.

 

And now for something completely different: Learning From The Octopus: How Secrets From Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, And Disease by Rafe Sagarin who sadly passed away recently. Sagarin was a marine ecologist who got drafted into the War On Terror (long story) and realized that we can learn a lot about reacting to change and adapting to new threats by watching how nature has been doing exactly that for a couple billion years. A terrific, thought-provoking book, or you can just watch the tldr video version.

[Pariah]

Also, Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, first book of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Not an easy book to read, and may hold the record among fantasy books for the most people who got 1/3 through it but just couldn't keep going. I get it. But a compelling world and story, and one of the most vivid antiheroes in literary history.

Guilty as charged. I finally got through it on the third attempt. I've never attempted any of the other books in the series.

[death tribble]

Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien. Do I really need to day why ?

 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Mr Golding did not like the The Coral Island and wrote his book as an antidote. A group of schoolboys end up on a desert island and slowly turn savage.

 

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. A classic of French literature. Made into films with Hugo Jackman and Liam Neeson it is also a musical in the West End and Broadway.

 

L.A. Confidential by James Elroy. Made into a film this depicts LA in the 50s.

 

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper. Set during the war between Britain and France before America declared independence. Made into films and TV series.

 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy gentleman by Laurence Sterne. This goes here and there and really takes its time getting there. Very entertaining.

[mattingly]

And now for something completely different: Learning From The Octopus: How Secrets From Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, And Disease by Rafe Sagarin who sadly passed away recently. Sagarin was a marine ecologist who got drafted into the War On Terror (long story) and realized that we can learn a lot about reacting to change and adapting to new threats by watching how nature has been doing exactly that for a couple billion years. A terrific, thought-provoking book, or you can just watch the tldr video version.

 

Cool! I sometimes go to IdeaFestival, but I didn't see him present this. Sad to hear he's gone.

[death tribble]

Gaming wise we have

 

Labyrinth of Madness and Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth from TSR

 

The London Guidebook and Lurking Fears for Cthulhu

 

The Lost City of Barakus from Necromancer Games

[Pariah]

Okay, moving on the the letter M:

 

Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home - But Probably Shouldn't by Theo Gray

 

The book is exactly what it says it is: experiments you can do at home, but probably shouldn't. And there's a second volume with even more of them.

 

One of the experiments that I found particularly interesting was a way to cut steel with bacon. You'll just have to read it.

[death tribble]

Gaming wise lets put up Masks of Nyarlathotep. This is a great Call of Cthulhu book whereby you travel the globe trying to stop the plans of the evil god and discover the final fate of the Carlyle expedition.

 

Literature wise

 

The Magician by Raymond E Fiest

 

Middlemarch by George Eliot 

 

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

 

The following Terry Pratchett books, Monstrous Regiment, Maskerade, Men at Arms, Making Money, Mort and Moving Pictures

[mattingly]

Martians Go Home by Fredric Brown (1954)

Annoying little green men show all all over the world, and continually insult people, using their x-ray vision to heckle and belittle humanity. One of the first comedy sci-fi books.

[mattingly]

Mindswap by Rovert Sheckley

Sort of a Total Recall with a little Hitchhiker's Guide in it and a dash of Kafka.

In the future, people can trade mind with other species, but while Flynn was mentally vacationing, his body is mentally kidnapped. Flynn hops from body to body trying to catch the body thief, taking odd jobs as as he can.