What are your six favourite fiction books (or authors) ?

Started by vandermolen, April 05, 2008, 10:09:27 AM

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Jo498

This is difficult because I don't really trust myself here. I read most of the "great books" that I read between ca. 16 and 30, so this was 20-30 years ago or more and I honestly don't know if I'd finish "War and Peace" if I re-read it or if I'd find great favorites (that I read at least twice) like Hugo's Les Miserables or several of Dostoevsky's too sentimental and melodramatic.

Also my memory starts to fail as many books were borrowed. E.g. I am pretty sure I read Roth's "Kapuzinergruft" but not sure if I read the more famous "Radetzykmarsch" was well. Neither would be on the shortlist, though, Austrohungarian melancholy is not really my thing, my favorite author from that time & region is probably the middlebrow Leo Perutz.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 02:57:11 AMAn easy one. Plechelmus & me would say something like, respectively: "'n bonke geluud op de rammlkaste", "noga 'n buutn'laans zooichie'" and "ærg völle lawaai & ok noch 'n bonke romml". Understood?  :-X

Google Translate understood, identifying the first and last as Dutch and the second as Limburgisch.  :laugh:

They're pretty good. Plechelmus got the second especially right.  :laugh:

"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Florestan

Quote from: Jo498 on February 05, 2025, 03:07:10 AMread most of the "great books" that I read between ca. 16 and 30, so this was 20-30 years ago or more and I honestly don't know if I'd finish "War and Peace" if I re-read it

I'm currently re-reading it after 30 years and I enjoy it more now than then. One aspect that back then escaped my attention is Tolstoy's humor. And of course, I am 30-years older, ie more experienced and (presumably) wiser.
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 03:08:49 AMGoogle Translate understood, identifying the first and last as Dutch and the second as Limburgisch.  :laugh:

They're pretty good. Plechelmus got the second especially right.  :laugh:
DEEPL (much better than Google Translate) can't make anything of it, in any language. But you're right: Google Translate doesn't read Saxon/Hanseatic ('Saxon' is a typical 19th-century invention of tradition, the lingua franca of the Hanseatic world of towns & cities around the North & Baltic Seas (used by all merchants plus the English, Swedish and even Russian courts - Peter the Great spoke it - until the 1800s, when French took over. ALL English/American 'Dutch' loanwords (boss, dollar, bulwark, even 'boulevard', etc.) are in fact derived from this language, which today is spoken by some 12 million northern Germans & 2 million eastern Dutch -- an officially recognised language BTW, not a dialect, in Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks the pater familiae speaks in it all the time, mixed with a little French, French derivations survive in my own mother tongue too, e.g. g. we don't say the letter h -- bu said Google Translate reads something ridiculous, St. Plechelmus would never have said such nonsense:

"A loud noise on the rattle cabinet, quite a bit of noise and a lot of noise and also a loud noise." Al UTTER nonsense, especially the word "noise"." How dares GT! ;D
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 03:34:11 AMDEEPL (much better than Google Translate) can't make anything of it, in any language. But you're right: Google Translate doesn't read Saxon/Hanseatic ('Saxon' is a typical 19th-century invention of tradition, the lingua franca of the Hanseatic world of towns & cities around the North & Baltic Seas (used by all merchants plus the English, Swedish and even Russian courts - Peter the Great spoke it - until the 1800s, when French took over. ALL English/American 'Dutch' loanwords (boss, dollar, bulwark, even 'boulevard', etc.) are in fact derived from this language, which today is spoken by some 12 million northern Germans & 2 million eastern Dutch -- an officially recognised language BTW, not a dialect, in Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks the pater familiae speaks in it all the time, mixed with a little French, French derivations survive in my own mother tongue too, e.g. g. we don't say the letter h -- bu said Google Translate reads something ridiculous, St. Plechelmus would never have said such nonsense:
"A loud noise on the rattle cabinet, quite a bit of noise and a lot of noise and also a loud noise." Al UTTER nonsense, especially the word "noise"." How dares GT! ;D

Okay, now you really made me curious. What is the correct translation for the three sentences you wrote?
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Crudblud

There are only really two authors whose fiction I read, enjoy, and revisit enough to consider favourites. These are Thomas Pynchon and Émile Zola. From Pynchon my favourites are Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Inherent Vice; from Zola Nana, Germinal, and L'Assommoir.

In terms of fiction generally, and excluding the above selections:
  • Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury
  • Rulfo - Pedro Páramo
  • Balzac - Lost Illusions
  • Swift - Gulliver's Travels
  • Cervantes - Don Quixote

I can't think of a sixth that has impressed itself upon me so insistently, so five will have to do.

Karl Henning

My relationship with books is not anywhere near as close as was true before my stroke, so this thread has served as a much-appreciated reminder of books and authors I loved erewhile, but which/who have dropped off my radar. Thus, I suddenly find myself jonesing for some Richard Brautigan. 
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 03:42:33 AMOkay, now you really made me curious. What is the correct translation for the three sentences you wrote?
Again, obvious. In (slightly modernized) transliteration: "piano concerto around something minor", "un-Napoleonic commonwealth of some elite" and "nuclear gun powder." Thanks. ;-)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 09:16:32 AMAgain, obvious. In (slightly modernized) transliteration: "piano concerto around something minor", "un-Napoleonic commonwealth of some elite" and "nuclear gun powder." Thanks.

You mock me and I don't appreciate it.
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 09:44:06 AMYou mock me and I don't appreciate it.
I didn't know and I do apologize. Some sort of translation in English (Dutch & German come easier to me) would be:
Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 02:57:11 AMPlechelmus & me would say something like, respectively: "'n bonke geluud op de rammlkaste", "noga 'n buutn'laans zooichie'" and "ærg völle lawaai & ok noch 'n bonke romml"
or: "lots of piano rattling," "some foreign political constructs," and "a lot of noise and even much more damage." Comprendo?



... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 10:06:36 AMI didn't know and I do apologize. Some sort of translation in English (Dutch & German come easier to me) would be: or: "lots of piano rattling," "some foreign political constructs," and "a lot of noise and even much more damage." Comprendo?






Much clearer now. I might have overreacted. I too apologize, for Pamuk's and Chopin's sake. :laugh:

"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 10:15:46 AMMuch clearer now. I might have overreacted. I too apologize, for Pamuk's and Chopin's sake. :laugh:
Muchas gracias. Here at the Arctic Circle the choleric type - I will not say Latin, or even south-of-Siebenbürgen, Vlach character - is indeed less common. Especially we "Saxons" (19th century pseudo-academic misnomer for the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League c. 1300-1800 led by (Thomas Mann's) mother city Lübeck, but varying by region, although in common use for merchants - also Renaissance scholars like Agricola or Ubbo Emmius - between London, Bruges, Antwerp, Bergen, Kristiania (Oslo), Gothenburg, Aalborg, Århus, Helsingborg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Lübeck, Rostock, Danzig (Gdansk), Königsberg, Klaipėda (Memel), Kaunas, Kalmar, Gotland (Visby), Stockholm, Riga, Reval (Tallinn), Tartu, Narvik, Helsingborg all the way to beyond St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Moscow (where young Peter learned the language in the trading colony there long before his foundation of "Piter" in 1703, he used this language during his travels to Western Europe and also London) and via the Barends Sea the only access for a long time, because the Swedes dominated the Baltic Sea until 1709/1721, the port of Archangelsk (where the Saxon "Dutch" Reformed churches still stand, as in most of the ports & cities mentioned).

Yes, I saw most of these cities myself, and everywhere you see the pious inscriptions in "Low Saxon" on the facades of houses and warehouses from before 1800, in some areas used to this day. So you can read it with your own eyes in hundreds, maybe thousands? of former "Hanseatic" cities (although many were not officially admitted), along all rivers in the North and Baltic Sea areas, far into Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, the Baltic countries, along the coast of Finland, in Russia, the Low Countries, etc. Although I myself mainly travelled to the rest of Europe, esp. Mediterranean countries (almost all "Mediterranean countries" done by now, I counted exactly 20, with Morocco added last Summer), I will visit Tunisia with my family this summer: even there inscriptions stemming from the Hanseatic & language can be found in hundreds Mediterranian ports. Hope to see you somewhere (was back at the three-languages University of Cluj for six days in October, too far from Bucharest, greetings!) Johan
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 10:15:46 AMMuch clearer now. :laugh:
Fye: Low Saxon, "mother tongue of all Anglo-Saxons", here only as spoken and written in German-Dutch border regions, the more western parts of the "Veluwe" was hollandized as a poor farming area from the 17th century onwards, the richer Hanseatic towns & cities only after the Second World War: "Hollandish" was not a city language to them, but a socially lower dialect; som of the eastern nobility still speak the Hanseatic ("Saxon") language, in addition to French, just like in Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (placed in Lübeck). (BTW I myself only learned English long after high school: from 1990 on, before that I could only read English, later than Dutch, German and French (or Latin, Greek, even some Spanish).
                                                 
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 11:42:36 AMHere at the Arctic Circle the choleric type - I will not say Latin, or even south-of-Siebenbürgen, Vlach character - is indeed less common.

You might be on to something: I felt much more at ease in Grenoble than in Eindhoven, in Venice than in Amsterdam, in Seville than in Utrecht and in Naples than in Den Haag. In Athens and Constantinople I felt downright at home. :D

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 11:42:36 AMLondon, Bruges, Antwerp, Bergen, Kristiania (Oslo), Gothenburg, Aalborg, Århus, Helsingborg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Lübeck, Rostock, Danzig (Gdansk), Königsberg, Klaipėda (Memel), Kaunas, Kalmar, Gotland (Visby), Stockholm, Riga, Reval (Tallinn), Tartu, Narvik, Helsingborg all the way to beyond St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Moscow

I've visited Bruges and Antwerp. Beautiful cities, I especially loved the former. 

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 02:04:05 PMFye: Low Saxon, "mother tongue of all Anglo-Saxons", here only as spoken and written in German-Dutch border regions

I guess this is that "German" language about which Charles V said he spoke it to his horse: I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse

Quote from: Christo on February 05, 2025, 11:42:36 AMHope to see you somewhere (was back at the three-languages University of Cluj for six days in October, too far from Bucharest, greetings!) Johan

Next time you come to Romania just let me know. I'll do the same if I go to The Netherlands. Meanwhile, greetings to a Low Saxon from a Byzantine (18-th century pseudo-academic misnomer for Eastern Roman). Cura ut valeas!



"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Mandryka

The Wind in the Willows (Grahame)
Winnie The Pooh (Milne)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling)
The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Celine)
A Dance to the Music of Time (Powell)
The Desire and the Pursuit of the Whole (Rolfe)

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on Today at 12:50:47 AMYou might be on to something: I felt much more at ease in Grenoble than in Eindhoven, in Venice than in Amsterdam, in Seville than in Utrecht and in Naples than in Den Haag. In Athens and Constantinople I felt downright at home. :D

I've visited Bruges and Antwerp. Beautiful cities, I especially loved the former. 

I guess this is that "German" language about which Charles V said he spoke it to his horse: I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.

Next time you come to Romania just let me know. I'll do the same if I go to The Netherlands. Meanwhile, greetings to a Low Saxon from a Byzantine (18-th century pseudo-academic misnomer for Eastern Roman). Cura ut valeas!
Each time, you're more than right. I feel at home in all places you mention, but also in Utrecht (totally diferent from Amsterdam, waaaays older and more on its own) and especially in the wild eastern towns and cities, even older than Utrecht, but of course no Mediterranean or Central European places. The town where we live now, 30 miles to the east of Utrecht, 50 minutes per direct train (5 times an hour) from Amsterdam, is as a settlement about 5,300 years old (first peasants in this corner of Europe, probably). We do a daily walk into the forest, we live next to it in a restiled 1908 barracks in Swiss-Dutch chalet style, refurnished thoug. Greetz, love Chopin too, johan  :laugh:
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: Christo on Today at 06:40:32 AMEach time, you're more than right. I feel at home in all places you mention, but also in Utrecht (totally diferent from Amsterdam, waaaays older and more on its own) and especially in the wild eastern towns and cities, even older than Utrecht, but of course no Mediterranean or Central European places.

It's clearly a cultural thing. I lived in Eindhoven for almost a year and my best friends there were a Greek, a Spaniard, two Italians and a French babe. Other members of our gang included a few other Italians and Frenchmen, a Turk and a Bulgarian babe. It was instant understanding and friendship from the first meeting in each case.
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham