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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:^read Disgrace a few years back and thought it was real good, although, of course, depressing. Minimalist style can be so great when done well. Makes me want to dive back into some Carver. If you haven't read Huck Finn before I would go for that first. It ranks alongside Moby Dick in terms of important American literature and it's short and funny.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:19
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:^read Disgrace a few years back and thought it was real good, although, of course, depressing. Minimalist style can be so great when done well. Makes me want to dive back into some Carver. Disgrace is good, but drat, I can't recommend that book to anyone. The main character is such a terrible person that I don't want people to associate me with him, ha ha.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:20
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:^read Disgrace a few years back and thought it was real good, although, of course, depressing. Minimalist style can be so great when done well. Makes me want to dive back into some Carver. Read Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy as well.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:45
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Can I recommend reading Jose Hernandez's Martin Fierro? It's a cornerstone of Argentinian literature and while I haven't read any of the many available translations, the original one is just a beautiful work of art, especially in the prose side. While we are talking about Latin America, also read anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Borges. Continuidad de los Parques is a favourite of mine.
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Aug 21, 2014 00:10
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Do I have to read any of those in spanish or are the english translations good enough?
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Aug 21, 2014 00:55
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amuayse posted:Do I have to read any of those in spanish or are the english translations good enough? Continuidad de los Parques does not depend on the language, so English should be enough. Dunno about other Borges books. It's a short story with a nice twist. While Martin Fierro has some language stuff that wouldn't surprise me to see lost in a translation, it's also a book about a really particular time in Argentina's history, so it's still interesting in that regard. The second one gets more political, and I don't like it as much, but it's still an incredible piece of literature. EDIT: Garcia Marquez' stuff has its emphasis on themes and subtext more than language too, and there's a lot of magical realism going on, so English should not be a problem either. Azran fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 01:03
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:^read Disgrace a few years back and thought it was real good, although, of course, depressing. Minimalist style can be so great when done well. Makes me want to dive back into some Carver. Child of God is good and is quick compared to McCarthy's other stuff. For whatever reason I feel like Denis Johnson pairs well with Ray Carver. Not as minimal, grimy and a bit more openly philosophical, so check out his short story collection Jesus' Son if you haven't.
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Aug 21, 2014 02:39
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:^read Disgrace a few years back and thought it was real good, although, of course, depressing. Minimalist style can be so great when done well. Makes me want to dive back into some Carver. Can vouch for Ivan Ilyich and Cathedral, both excellent. I personally didn't enjoy Moby Dick that much. Queequeg was basically the best part of the whole novel.
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Aug 21, 2014 04:34
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WAY TO GO WAMPA!! posted:For whatever reason I feel like Denis Johnson pairs well with Ray Carver. Not as minimal, grimy and a bit more openly philosophical, so check out his short story collection Jesus' Son if you haven't. Cloks posted:If you haven't read Huck Finn before I would go for that first. It ranks alongside Moby Dick in terms of important American literature and it's short and funny. Yeah I feel bad for never really having ever read any Twain. We were only ever assigned a few of his short stories in school and feel like I need to catch up on him. The Doctor posted:Can vouch for Ivan Ilyich and Cathedral, both excellent. I personally didn't enjoy Moby Dick that much. Queequeg was basically the best part of the whole novel.
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Aug 21, 2014 07:01
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UnoriginalMind posted:I'm onto Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee now, which is great. I can't tell if the structure of the book adds or takes away from its merit as a work. Is it a gimmick or is it brilliance? Not sure. Anyone else love Coetzee? Some people think he's overrated, but I think he's one of those authors that manages to be succint without leaving details out. It's the space between the words that does it, in his case. Filthy genre readers and grown up readers alike will enjoy Waiting for the Barbarians which is amazing book about Apartheid, that iirc, doesn't ever mention anyone's skin colour.
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Aug 21, 2014 13:46
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I just finished reading King Leopold's Ghost and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in 19th century colonialism.
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Aug 21, 2014 18:20
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Help! I really like David Mitchell these days. Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite novels of all time. I just finished Black Swan Green, and enjoyed it as a much less irritating & more modern Catcher in the Rye-style coming-of-age story. Ghostwritten and 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (genre-bending historical fiction) were both excellent novels that I would recommend to anyone. Also, I enjoy his use of recurring characters and themes that tie all his works together into an encompassing "Mitchell-verse". Basically, he's never let me down yet, and I would have a hard time boxing his work into any particular genre. I need to know if this is okay with TBB, or if this makes me a stupid loving child who needs to read some real literature. Thanks in advance.
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Aug 22, 2014 22:45
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You're fine. Some people were getting way too worked up about what other people were reading for a while, but everyone's mellowed out for the most part. This thread serves as a reminder of darker days.
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Aug 23, 2014 01:29
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You should read whatever you want, whenever you want to.
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Aug 23, 2014 02:37
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Moacher posted:Also, I enjoy his use of recurring characters and themes that tie all his works together into an encompassing "Mitchell-verse". You're apparently going to like The Bone Clocks, his book out next month. Early reviews I've read say at least a few of his other characters show up.
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Aug 23, 2014 03:03
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Chamberk posted:You're apparently going to like The Bone Clocks, his book out next month. Early reviews I've read say at least a few of his other characters show up. I actually am really excited for that! I read that story of his that was compiled from all the twitter entries (that supposedly takes place in the same universe as Bone Clocks - even more closely than the other books?) and it read a lot like Mitchell trying to be spooky like Neil Gaiman, who I also dig, so it should be great! Edit: also, this thread got me to finally pick up a copy of Catch 22, and Harold Bloom's collection of "the best poetry of the English language", so thanks for that. I'm looking forward to both. 
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Aug 23, 2014 03:24
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The Doctor posted:You should read whatever you want, whenever you want to. Even Murakami?
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Aug 23, 2014 09:50
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The Dennis System posted:Even Murakami? Ain't nothing wrong with a little Murakami. Just a little bit.
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Aug 24, 2014 02:11
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the brotherly phl posted:Ain't nothing wrong with a little Murakami. Just a little bit. I was just kidding though. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle rocks out with it's cock out.
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Aug 24, 2014 02:23
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I only read Gravity's Rainbow when it comes to Pynchon. What other of his books should I start on?
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Aug 24, 2014 02:45
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amuayse posted:I only read Gravity's Rainbow when it comes to Pynchon. What other of his books should I start on? Crying of Lot 49 probably. It's short, brilliant, and far easier to digest. Then probably go with either V or Against the Day (my personal favorite of his).
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Aug 24, 2014 03:02
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The Doctor posted:You should read whatever you want, whenever you want to. Considering most people these days struggle to reach the end of a tweet, reading pretty much any old garbage puts you ahead of the pack. Except anything with the word Gor in it.
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Aug 25, 2014 17:10
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Can I ask for some Mark Twain advice: I read him as a kid, translated to Danish. It was collections of short stories or serial happenings going on around some Wild West newspaper, everybody shooting everything up because of the first person writer's articles. What is this/these books called in English? Also, what should I as an adult to read to know more about him? Huck Finn? And perhaps some more serious stuff? Finally, my kids are five and eight. What would be nice to read to them before they can read everything themselves? Tia.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:42
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rasser posted:Can I ask for some Mark Twain advice: IMO, his best books are Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and Puddinhead Wilson. You're Danish, just read your kids Hans Christian Anderson
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Aug 25, 2014 18:45
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rasser posted:Can I ask for some Mark Twain advice: That description could be like a third of everything Twain wrote, but my guess is that it was probably excerpts from Roughing It, which was Twain's first collection of autobiographical essays. If that's what it was, it's brilliant and among the best of his work. It also was later republished as part of / became the core of his Autobiography, which exists in a couple of different editions. I've read one of the 1920's editions and it's extraordinarily interesting. Right now they're publishing a complete, unexpurgated edition of the Autobiography in three volumes, with only two published so far -- Twain had apparently left instructions not to publish various sections until 100 years after his death. I've got the two first volumes and they're HUGE, though, so you might want to start with something lighter, and if so, Roughing It is probably the best place to start. His best short story is "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Huckleberry Finn is his most important work because it's where he directly tackled race and slavery issues, but in terms of narrative structure it's a hot mess, to the point that when it's taught classes will sometimes skip the last third. Technically, in terms of narrative structure, his best book is probably The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, or maybe Connecticut Yankee (though of the two Tom Sawyer is more positive, Yankee darker and more cynical). If you want books to read to kids you probably want the general recommendations thread rather than this one (see: thread title). Maybe D'Aularies' Book of Greek Myths and D'Aularies' Book of Norse Myths. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Aug 25, 2014 |
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Aug 25, 2014 19:39
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Smoking Crow posted:
Reductio ad Andersen (et nauseam) Hieronymous: thanks! My question was regarding Twain. I'm well covered in myths etc. - I even started to read them the Popol Vuh to teach them another take on creation, but it got too scary. Norse myths they often know by heart, and I try to teach them some Greek myths too. Plus tons of children's lit. Tonight we finished How to train your Dragon, in the worst translation of any book I've ever seen. The sad illiterate gently caress who translated that book should be reschooled from first grade. rasser fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Aug 25, 2014 |
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Aug 25, 2014 19:54
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I just finished reading Natsume Soseki's I am A Cat. It was entertaining but holy poo poo those characters sure love the sound of their own voices  . I guess it makes sense, since it was Soseki's intention to make fun of the academic circles his characters (and I guess himself?) were a part of. Also the translation was kinda uneven, one moment you get literally translated character names (like Waverhouse or Coldmoon), and the next you find a Tanaka or a Sanpei. All in all, it was an enjoyable read, but maybe it should be retitled They are Intellectuals.
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Aug 26, 2014 14:01
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Can I test the book barn waters and gauge if people here like Nathaniel Hawthorne?
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Aug 31, 2014 06:04
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Smoking Crow posted:Nathaniel Hawthorne? gently caress OFF
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Aug 31, 2014 06:57
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He's alright.
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Aug 31, 2014 08:42
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I like his short stories. The Birthmark and Young Goodman Brown are cool.
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Aug 31, 2014 13:00
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The Birthmark is the only thing I've read by him, it was ok.
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Aug 31, 2014 13:50
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Smoking Crow posted:Can I test the book barn waters and gauge if people here like Nathaniel Hawthorne? I've read The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown. My little home library also has a decrepit used copy of The House of the Seven Gables but I have not read it. I like Hawthorne well enough, especially in reading about New England as a frontier area. The juxtaposition of highly-structured Puritan settlements and the wild, mysterious forests looming just beyond creates a tense mood that I enjoy. Surely those who don't consider him an author of the first rank would have to acknowledge that Hawthorne's writing is at least quality stuff, even if it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Aside: the preface to my copy of The Scarlet Letter includes a complaint by Hawthorne that his three or four hours a day of work in a customs house prevented him from having the time or energy to write. Cry me a river!
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Aug 31, 2014 16:18
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I've actually never read him since Scarlet Letter in whatever grade, in which I was far too young to appreciate anything at all about it, and have since developed a tourettes-like response to seeing his name.
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Aug 31, 2014 17:16
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LLCoolJD posted:
That preface was so badly written that it turned a lot of people in my class off of the book. The actual novel wasn't that bad though!
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Aug 31, 2014 17:24
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Scarlet Letter owns, it's one of the most fun things you read in highschool. A story about obscenely hypocritical religious people, oppressed lovers, and how much small town life sucks? Sign teenage me the hell up.
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Aug 31, 2014 17:29
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I think the modern critical consensus is that Hawthorne is a bad writer that only gets credit for being in the first class of american writers along with Melville (the good one) and Poe (also dogshit for babies). Note: this isn't my opinion, I like them all well enough.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:47
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Smoking Crow posted:I think the modern critical consensus is that Hawthorne is a bad writer that only gets credit for being in the first class of american writers along with Melville (the good one) and Poe (also dogshit for babies).
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Aug 31, 2014 18:52
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WAY TO GO WAMPA!! posted:I've heard that about Poe but never Hawthorne. Who said that? I read it somewhere, I'll try and look for it
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Aug 31, 2014 18:54
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| # ? May 15, 2024 22:18 |
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A Reader's List 100 Best Novels The top ten books in the Readers' List:[4] 1 1957 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 2 1943 The Fountainhead Ayn Rand 3 1982 Battlefield Earth L. Ron Hubbard 4 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien 5 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 6 1949 1984 George Orwell 7 1938 Anthem Ayn Rand 8 1936 We the Living Ayn Rand 9 1985 Mission Earth L. Ron Hubbard 10 1940 Fear L. Ron Hubbard lmao
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Aug 31, 2014 19:06
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