Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:02 am     Post subject: Books that made me say, "WOW"

In no particular order, and some changed my life:

Ethics (Spinoza)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig)

The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)

The Fountainhead (Rand)

The Stars My Destination (Bester)

Space Trilogy (Lewis)

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Tolkien)

The Denial of Death (Becker)

Catch 22 (Heller)

A Clockwork Orange (Burgess)

Lord of the Flies (Golding)

1984 (Orwell)

Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)

Brave New World (Huxley)

A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)

Republic (Plato)

Critque of Pure Reason (Kant)

Rights of Man (Paine)

The Wealth of Nations (Smith)

The Prince (Machiavelli)

Frankenstein (Shelley)

Foundation (Asimov)

Hannibal series (Harris)

Murders in the Rue Morge (Poe)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Bach)
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 5:41 pm     Post subject:

Salinger's Catcher in the Rye was too disjointed for me -- I understand the intention, but as a narrator Holden is too unreliable to present the book as the great work everyone claims it to be. Personally, I don't see the current day allure.

A Clockwork Orange and Brave New World were definitely amazing -- their content is rich. I'm surprised that they aren't referenced as much as 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. They are both better written and far more interesting to read.

As for the Lecter series...Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were the only two out of the series of four holding that undefinable quality that made Lecter both loved and despised.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:21 pm     Post subject: oh I like this thread...

... because my answers to the beer one ran to almost any, and my answers to popular music run to almost none.

Anyway, I think I agree with the second poster about the Thomas Harris novels after Silence of the Lambs - pretty awful 'airport' trash. At his best Hannibal is a wonderful character - at his worst he is Freddy Kruger with a British accent.

I teach this stuff for a living (well Literature at least perhaps not so much the philosophy). I'm going to pick you a few random things off the shelvs in my office right now that I think all civilised people should read. These arent necessarily all famous things - just stuff I dig at this moment as I'm browsing. Much of it has a personnal connection for me as I am blessed to know many authors as friends - some famous some not (that goes for contemporary stuff only obviously)

The Complete Plays - Christopher Marlowe
Discipline and Punish - Michel Foucault
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
A Maggott - John Fowles
From Here to Eternity - James Jones
Nightmare Abbey - Thomas Love Peacock
Washington Square - Henry James
How the Dead Live - Will SElf
TRistram Shandy - Laurence Stern
A Scots Quair - Lewis Grassic Gibbons
Highland River - Neil M. Gunn
Imagined Communities - Benedict Anderson
Poetry by (John) Robinson Jeffers
Political Shakespeare - Dollimore & Sinfield
Anything by Angela Carter
The Plumed Serpent - D.H. Lawrence
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Michael McClure - The Antechamber and Other Poems
The Wasp Queen - Andrew Sneddon ;P

I could go on but you're bored now lol

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:40 pm     Post subject:



I agree. Harris committed the cardinal sin of an author in his 'last' book. He fell in love with his villain and decided to reform him. Terrible, ruinous ending. And I think part of the distaste in reading the book was that the reader could almost tell from the beginning that this was where he was going; we were going to cheer for Lector. Impossible for a scorpion to become a protector.

Hannibal Rising appeared to be just a way to economically capitalize on a great series. He seems to have run out of steam; the whole book never quite realized its promise as the others did.

In summary though, a much better series than most.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:27 am     Post subject: shows you what difference an hour can make...

I'm now thinking why didn't I list some of these before:

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
This is just brilliant and moving and a witty read

On the Road - Jack Kerouac
if only because of its iconic status - you must read it once in your life

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
a descendent of Huxley, Orwell, and all those fine dystopian fictions mentioned above in other posts

Naked Lunch - William Burroughs (see the Kerouac reason above)

The Lifted Veil - George Elliot - an eerie supernatural novella

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

I should add I would have picked most of the fiction on WJs list too but no sense in repeating it.

If I thought people could stand the tedium I'd list lots of poetry books for people to read but that is less to most people's taste so I avoided it.

Right. I'll stop now.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:40 pm     Post subject:

I'm a Creative Writing major at my university, so I have a good idea of a few of the writers on your list, Claude (not that anyone else wouldn't, hah!).

Slaughterhouse V was interesting, to say the least. I haven't gotten to Vonnegut's other works yet, but I've been told this wasn't his best. I enjoyed the snippet's about the second world war and the main character's experiences, and even found the narrative jumping to keep my attention.

I recently read The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It's your typical coming-of-age novel aimed for a mid-teen to college student audience with the feel of Catcher in the Rye but the only psychological issue is repression. It does touch upon issues of passivity versus taking action, much like Orwell's and Harper Lee's comment on society, though Chbosky seems to cheapen the feeling with his boy-wonder narrator.

When I've finished unpacking, I'm hoping to uncover Shelley's Frankenstein or Voltaire's Candide; it's either study for summer classes all the time or open a book.

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:46 pm     Post subject:

I agree with much of what has been said here. I was a comparative literature major in undergrad, then lost the ability to read for enjoyment while in law school. Still, I've dipped my cup into the various literary watersheds and sampled extensively therefrom.

In the spirit of debate, I'm going to disagree with a few things. Disagreement does not mean that either person is right or wrong. It is simply an expression of an opposing viewpoint.

First, Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Fountainhead, though often praised as great works, are, in my opinion, lacking. Poe's foray into detective fiction underwhelmed me. I can't stand Rand. Both Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead are too preachy for my taste.

To fully appreciate Eco, you need a PhD in linguistics, and should be conversational in at least 4 languages. I enjoyed the Name of the Rose, but understood very little Santiago said. Avoid Foucalt's Pendulum, also by Eco, at all costs. If you claim to understand the book, you are either a genius or a liar.

Clockwork Orange and Brave New World should, indeed, be referenced among the greatest dystopian novels of all time. However, many are profoundly disturbed by Burgess's graphic descriptions in the novel, and so it is not taught as often (and thus read less often) than either Orwell or Bradbury. Speaking of Orwell, don't discount Animal Farm! That is a work of genius.

I've not read Never Let Me Go, but will be picking it up soon based solely on this post.

I am an opponent of reading things simply because they are iconic. All books must be judged on their merits, and, frankly, the scale shifts as more writers emerge. What was brilliant when it was written (and I do respect the creativity) is often mundane now. Take, for example, Shirley Duncan's "The Haunting of Hill House" which is widely regarded as the quintessential ghost story. I read it recently and found myself very unimpressed. If you seek a well-written "thrill" read, you can't go wrong with many of Stephen King's works. Salem's Lot is the single best vampire story I've ever encountered (yes, it beats the pants off of Dracula and I am Legend) for both storyline and writing.

Remember to read openly -- don't be afraid of "lowbrow" publications and only stick to the classics. The classics are often good reads, but mass market publications are also fun times!

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