Mine are:
St Exupery: The Little Prince
Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Herge: Tintin in Tibet
Willans and Searle: "Compleet Molesworth"
Dickens:David Copperfield
Monsarrat: The Cruel Sea
Just three come to mind:
Mulisch - Discovery of Heaven
Kafka - The Proces
Tolstoj - Anna Karanina
Vladimir Nabokov Ada
Vladimir Nabokov Lolita
Milan Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being
J.P. Donleavy The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
Thomas Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow
John Barth Giles Goat-Boy (or The Sot-Weed Factor...I can't decide)
Sarge
Choosing the (or authors) option for now, and even this is far from carved in stone:
Chekhov
Gogol
Kundera
Camus
Chandler
Mankell
Pretentious but good anyway: Gravity's Rainbow
Funny: Catch-22
Serious: The Plague
Classic: Anna Karenina
Historical: Julian
This is very hard. As I do with questions of this type concerning music, I want to discard the classics straight off - they go without saying. My list of true, personal favourites is not inordinately long, but just a little too much for this list (why six, of all numbers? ??? ;) ) - I could list about 15 books which I would want here. So
1.
Quote from: Henk on April 05, 2008, 10:17:13 AM
Mulisch - Discovery of Heaven
You're not alone - put me down for that one too. A book that contains everything. Including quite a bit of Janacek.
Also:
2. The Baroque Trilogy (Neal Stevenson - Pynchon fans take note) - the three enormous books count as one! Finds new ways to cope with the problem of 'the extra-long book' just as Bruckner did for 'the long symphony'. Extraordinary plotting, zesty, virtuosic writing, outrageously detailed, very funny, thought-provoking, intelligent and stirring
3. A children's book that I loved as a boy and am now loving reading to (with) my daughter- The Hounds of the Morrigan (Pat O'Shea). Not just a beautiful, magical reinvention of Irish Celtic myth, but a treasury of witty language, comic characterisations, delightful, playful fantasy and wild, windy countryside.
4. Possession (AS Byatt). Just superb understanding and recreation of literary history and style. Browning (on whom one of the two poets is evidently modelled) is one of my favourites, and Byatt's pastiches of his style are miraculous.
5. Either of Lempriere's Dictionary or The Pope's Rhinoceros (Lawrence Norfolk). The former is simply a brilliant book; the latter, more ambitious still, contains two purely descriptive chapters which stand a mile above anything else in the book - pure musical prose-poetry
6. House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski) Well, it's like nothing else in existence. Another all-encompassing, wildly inventive, intelligent, mystifying book, and a work of (visual) art in its own right.
Among others, books by Eco, Fowles, Ian Pears, Pamuk, Perec, Powys, Pasternak (hmmm, suspicious number of 'P's!), Hesse and Anthony Burgess (Earthly Powers) could easily be swapped for those above.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) - Lewis Carroll
Darkness at Noon (1940) - Arthur Koestler
Wise Blood (1952) - Flannery O'Connor
Lolita (1955) - Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire (1962) - Vladimir Nabokov
Gravity's Rainbow (1973) - Thomas Pynchon
Some authors who inspire, or have inspired, me:
Robert E. Howard
Gene Wolfe
Stephen King
Kurt Vonnegut
Larry McMurtry
Thomas Ligotti
Wow, lots of Pynchon love here. :P ;D
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I dated a girl like the Esther of the book's first half (ie before she tries to kill herself), so the novel has even more resonance for me than for most people.
4. General author: Mark Twain. Hard not to love!
3. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Powerful stuff. Not necessarily really in my top 5; chosen to represent the wide category of novels from the past 25 years which I have come to love; a category which includes Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Edward P Jones' The Known World and Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
2. General author: Jean Shepherd. I only hope that someday I will be able to write as well as Jean Shepherd, as beautifully and simply. Mark Twain's legacy among 20th century authors was divided in two, in my humble and probably ridiculous opinion; his social commentary and anger went to Kurt Vonnegut, and his gentle country humor went to Shepherd.
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. In England this is marketed as a mature teen book, but this is probably my all-time favorite novel; I actually start to miss its presence if I loan it to someone, so when friends express interest in reading it, I buy them their own copies. It's that kind of book.
Well, I don't read much fiction anymore (too busy reading numerous non-fiction books, plus have to keep up w/ my medical reading as a radiology professor - our residents are outstanding, so no BS them! ;D).
But in my early years (i.e. high school & college), I did a lot of fictional reading; just to list a few favorite authors based on reading 'multiple' books by them are listed below; although I read dozens of other novelists at the time, the number of their books were limited to one or a few:
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and others.
Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) - Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, & Dodsworth.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) - The Red Pony, Of Mice & Men, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, & Travels w/ Charley.
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
Jaws - Peter Benchley
The Elementals - Michael McDowell
The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
The Reproductive System (aka Mechasm) - John T. Sladek
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - H.P. Lovecraft
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
My list isn't based on a very highly informed experience of reading. Only recently have I really started to read a lot. Here is a very 'immediate' list:
Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky: The Idiot
Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
Eco: The Name of the Rose
Eco: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Quote from: gomro on April 05, 2008, 03:30:26 PM
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
Haven't read that, but what a
great title for a book.
Dostoevsky: The Idiot
Stephen King: The Stand
Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea
Dickens: David Copperfield
Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
Norman Mailer: The Naked and The Dead
Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2008, 05:02:29 PM
Haven't read that, but what a great title for a book.
I haven't read the Bradbury book, but I think that's a quotation from
MacbethAuthors I like:
Thomas Pynchon (yep, another fan :) )
Henry James
J. M. Coetzee - beautifully stark prose to counteract James's prolixity :P
Graham Greene - I used to like him a lot, but haven't read one in almost ten years
Roald Dahl - a nostalgic vote purely for
Fantastic Mr Fox. Loved loved loved this one when I was a kid.
Musil - The Man Without Qualities
Camus - The Stranger
Hesse - Steppenwolf
Mann - The Magic Mountain
Doblin - Berlin Alexanderplatz
ando
Eco - Foucault's Pendulum (the ultimate un-put-downable book IMO )
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
André Gide - The Immoralist
Hermann Hesse - Narcissus and Goldmund
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - The Sorrows of Young Werther
Nikolay Gogol - The Nose, The Overcoat
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 05, 2008, 10:20:26 AM
Vladimir Nabokov Ada
Buying this the next trip to the bookstore. Thanks. :)
To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee
LOTR- J. R. R. Tolkien
Sherlock Holmes(Complete)-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with illustrations by Sidney Paget
All Creatures Great and Small-James Herriot
Dracula-Bram Stoker
Nicholas Nickleby-Charles Dickens
and a fairly recent contender to my favorites' list, but still needs to pass the test of time:
The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde
Dan Simmons (Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, Hyperion)
Stephen King (The Stand, Pet Sematary)
Tad Williams (The War of the Flowers)
Larry Niven (Ringworld)
Frank Herbert (Dune)
P.D. James (Adam Dalgliesh series)
Martha Grimes (Richard Jury series)
I'm sure there are plenty more I could think of, but I'm off to bed to read. ;)
Quote from: Keemun on April 05, 2008, 08:27:34 PM
Stephen King (Pet Sematary)
Keemun,
I was fortunate enough to receive a signed a copy from him for high school graduation back in '84. He signed it :
To the son of Flash. With best wishes from Chris "fast hands" Morgan and "terminal slump" King-Stephen King 5/13/84. Not sure who Chris Morgan is. I should ask my dad who got the book signed for me. King has a home in Bangor, Maine, my hometown.
Quote from: Bogey on April 05, 2008, 08:22:56 PM
Dracula-Bram Stoker
I adore this book. Hence the nickname, too.
Fascinating thread! I'll be sure to post a quintet when I can trust my mind to be as clear as to select them. Currently, sleepless, no. ;)
The bible. Somebody had to say it.
Quote from: Keemun on April 05, 2008, 08:27:34 PM
P.D. James (Adam Dalgliesh series)
I think I've told you this before, but that is also one of my favorite series. So far I've read
The Murder Room and
The Lighthouse and am left eagerly searching for more! (We have some of the earlier books at home, so when I go back for the summer I can catch up.)
Bogey - several of my friends have also recently read and loved
Dorian Gray, so I checked it out from the library today. :)
Thanks for replies. Lots of interesting suggestions for further reading here and not much overlap really. I should have added Orwell to my list. My work colleague insisted tht I read Slaughterhouse 5, which I did. It is a weird book but I did like it.
Quote from: Bogey on April 05, 2008, 08:40:36 PM
Keemun,
I was fortunate enough to receive a signed a copy from him for high school graduation back in '84. He signed it :
To the son of Flash. With best wishes from Chris "fast hands" Morgan and "terminal slump" King-Stephen King 5/13/84. Not sure who Chris Morgan is. I should ask my dad who got the book signed for me. King has a home in Bangor, Maine, my hometown.
I've seen the home in Bangor (I'm from Portland). Pet Sematary is for me the most legitimately frightening book I ever read by Stephen King.
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 05, 2008, 01:57:47 PM
This is very hard. As I do with questions of this type concerning music, I want to discard the classics straight off - they go without saying. My list of true, personal favourites is not inordinately long, but just a little too much for this list (why six, of all numbers? ??? ;) ) - I could list about 15 books which I would want here. So
1. You're not alone - put me down for that one too. A book that contains everything. Including quite a bit of Janacek.
Are you Dutch then? I think Mulisch is not very well-known outside the Netherlands, though his work deserves to.
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 05, 2008, 01:57:47 PM
2. The Baroque Trilogy (Neal Stevenson - Pynchon fans take note)
Noted. I'm currently reading
Cryptonomicon and loving it. I'll order the trilogy.
Sarge
Quote from: Corey on April 05, 2008, 08:08:19 PM
Buying this the next trip to the bookstore. Thanks. :)
My pleasure. Anything by Nabokov is worth reading. He's one of the giants. But be aware that my listing
Ada is based on an extreme personal identification with parts of the story and may be coloring my admiration for the book. Whether
Ada is actually one of the supreme masterpieces of the 20th century, or one of his lesser books, I'm not in a position to objectively evaluate. Love is blind.
Sarge
@ Sarge, re. Stevenson's Baroque trilogy - Yes do read it! The best thing I read last year - but then it took most of the year to get through all three books ;D Actually, the best thing I've read for many years.
@ Henk - my father is Dutch, but I don't speak the language; I read The Discovery of Heaven in translation
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 06, 2008, 05:03:22 AM
@ Sarge, re. Stevenson's Baroque trilogy - Yes do read it!
I assume the books are meant to be read in order. Is this the correct order?
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
Sarge
Difficult to choose. Writers I admire: Henry James, James Joyce, Frank Herbert, J.R.R. Tolkien, the German Arno Schmidt, and in Dutch literature Willem Frederik Hermans.
(Henk, there are a few Dutchmen here: Christo, Que, Harry, myself and a few others I forget; and pjme is Flemish)
@ Sarge again - Yes, that is the correct order. You realise, I assume, that Crytonomicon (though written first) is really in a sense the fourth book in the series, though taking place over a period around three centuries later.
I really can't get over how good those books were - I don't recall ever being so shaken by a work of fiction. It's such a dazzling, detailed, fantastical thing, learned, outrageous and philosophical at the same time - and his language is this wonderful mix of ancient and modern like I've never read before. Hope you enjoy them!
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 06, 2008, 05:01:22 AM
My pleasure. Anything by Nabokov is worth reading. He's one of the giants. But be aware that my listing Ada is based on an extreme personal identification with parts of the story and may be coloring my admiration for the book. Whether Ada is actually one of the supreme masterpieces of the 20th century, or one of his lesser books, I'm not in a position to objectively evaluate. Love is blind.
Sarge
Nabokov is big on my list of authors to read (along with Solzhenitsyn).
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 06, 2008, 05:14:51 AM
@ Sarge again - Yes, that is the correct order. You realise, I assume, that Crytonomicon (though written first) is really in a sense the fourth book in the series, though taking place over a period around three centuries later.
Yes, I'd read that somewhere. Would you suggest I stop reading it now (I'm only 150 some pages into it...barely begun :D ) and begin again after reading the trilogy?
Sarge
Quote from: Josquin des Prez on April 05, 2008, 09:37:36 PM
The bible. Somebody had to say it.
it's mostly non-fiction, sorry.
back to the o/p.
these guys do both fiction/non-fiction well
shelby foote
tolkien
cs lewis
turtledove
edmund hamilton
dj
Quote from: Corey on April 06, 2008, 05:16:58 AM
Nabokov is big on my list of authors to read (along with Solzhenitsyn).
Excellent, Corey. I endorse
Ada, then, with no reservations.
Sarge
Quote from: Haffner on April 06, 2008, 04:37:08 AM
Pet Sematary is for me the most legitimately frightening book I ever read by Stephen King.
Bingo.
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 05, 2008, 03:24:51 PM
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells
Nice!
Quote from: Keemun on April 05, 2008, 08:27:34 PM
Dan Simmons (Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, Hyperion)
Stephen King (The Stand, Pet Sematary)
Nice!
How about six recommended fiction books (includes collections of short stories)?
Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King
John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War
Gabriel García Márquez, Cien años de soledad
Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From
Flannery O'Conner, Everything That Rises Must Converge
J.D. Salinger, Nine Stories
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Odyssey by Homer (Translation by E.V. Rieu)
Complete Works of Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (What? It's fictional isn't it? ;D nobody said that a complete works wasn't allowed! 0:) )
My definitive list, at least for now!
D.
Alas, no time for reading fiction books for years, now. But a few favourites, recent ones and the old ones that stay with me, are:
William Golding - all, but especially Free Fall
Ismail Kadare - almost all, especially Le crépuscule des dieux de la steppe [no English edition so far, and you won't read the Dutch translation or the Albanian original]
Jaan Kross - especially Professor Martens' Departure (as you will prefer a translation instead of the Estonian original)
Imre Kertész - Sorstalanság, probably translated as Fateless [?]
Reinhold Schneider - a lot, only available in German
Orhan Pamuk - Snow
In Dutch literature, of course Willem Frederik Hermans, dear Jezetha. And also Boeli van Leeuwen, but please as little Harry Mulisch as is unavoidable >:D 0:)
Quote from: Bogey on April 05, 2008, 08:40:36 PM
Keemun,
I was fortunate enough to receive a signed a copy from him for high school graduation back in '84. He signed it :
To the son of Flash. With best wishes from Chris "fast hands" Morgan and "terminal slump" King-Stephen King 5/13/84. Not sure who Chris Morgan is. I should ask my dad who got the book signed for me. King has a home in Bangor, Maine, my hometown.
Bogey, that's awesome! I didn't know you were from Bangor, Maine. I've never been to Maine, but it's on my list of places to visit.
Quote from: Haffner on April 06, 2008, 04:37:08 AM
I've seen the home in Bangor (I'm from Portland). Pet Sematary is for me the most legitimately frightening book I ever read by Stephen King.
Haffner,
Pet Sematary was the first (and one of the few) novels to actually frighten me. I read it when I was in high school. I still have it, I should read it again.
Quote from: MN Dave on April 06, 2008, 05:40:19 AM
Nice!
Dave, have you read
Carrion Comfort or
Song of Kali?
Carrion Comfort was a great story on a grand scale, but I found
Song of Kali to be more frightening. Part way though the book I began feeling like I was experiencing a nightmare.
Hyperion is of course science fiction, but equally as good. I have yet to finish it, I think I became confused when the Shrike was introduced.
Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2008, 10:29:39 PM
I think I've told you this before, but that is also one of my favorite series. So far I've read The Murder Room and The Lighthouse and am left eagerly searching for more! (We have some of the earlier books at home, so when I go back for the summer I can catch up.)
Brian, I really liked
Murder Room, it was my first of her novels that I read. I'm reading
The Lighthouse right now, but I find it to be kind of slow.
Original Sin was good. I've read a couple of others I think, but I don't remember which one's right now. One of them was a very early Adam Dalgliesh novel about a psychiatric clinic and the other took place in an Anglican seminary.
Some of mine have been mentioned. But here goes.
Hesse - Narcissus and Goldmund
Robert Graves - I Claudius
Wilde - Dorian Gray
Upton Sinclair - The Jungle
Zola - Nana
Anything by PG Woodhouse
Mike
Quote from: knight on April 06, 2008, 08:34:19 AM
Robert Graves - I Claudius
I loved that book. I gave it to a friend to read thirty years ago. The last time I visited her (summer of 2006) she wouldn't give it back! She claimed it was hers. Maybe there is an unwritten law; a borrowed statue of limitations in which the object borrowed eventually reverts to the borrower if you don't claim your property within so many years. :D Anyway, I'll have to buy a new copy and read it again.
Sarge
Quote from: DavidRoss on April 06, 2008, 05:45:33 AM
Gabriel García Márquez, Cien años de soledad
YES.
Keemun, I sometimes have problems with the solutions in James' books, but never with the buildups. I love how atmospheric, how detailed her worlds are, how every character is a very real creation (unlike Christie), and how the tension ramps up very very slowly until it's unbearable ... :)
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 06, 2008, 05:17:53 AM
Yes, I'd read that somewhere. Would you suggest I stop reading it now (I'm only 150 some pages into it...barely begun :D ) and begin again after reading the trilogy?
Sarge
No, I wouldn't worry. The other three books are essentially a partitioning up of one enormous book, itself conceived in 8 parts (each the size of a large novel) - so all three have to be read together. Crytonomicon, OTOH, though it has important links to the trilogy, is a separate work. And this way, you are reading the earliest-written work first - like Wagner with Siegfried's Tod ( ;D ;D ;D ), Stevenson wrote the last part first, subsequently realising that he needed to go further back in time and write three 'prequels'!
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 06, 2008, 08:47:10 AM
I loved that book. I gave it to a friend to read thirty years ago. The last time I visited her (summer of 2006) she wouldn't give it back! She claimed it was hers. Maybe there is an unwritten law; a borrowed statue of limitations in which the object borrowed eventually reverts to the borrower if you don't claim your property within so many years. :D Anyway, I'll have to buy a new copy and read it again.
Sarge
I had to buy a new copy of
Claudius the God recently. I couldn't find the one from the '70's.
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 06, 2008, 09:10:36 AM
No, I wouldn't worry. The other three books are essentially a partitioning up of one enormous book, itself conceived in 8 parts (each the size of a large novel) - so all three have to be read together. Crytonomicon, OTOH, though it has important links to the trilogy, is a separate work. And this way, you are reading the earliest-written work first - like Wagner with Siegfried's Tod ( ;D ;D ;D ), Stevenson wrote the last part first, subsequently realising that he needed to go further back in time and write three 'prequels'!
Luke, could you give me the ideal reading order of Neal Stephenson's novels? I have never read any of his books, but I want to see what he is doing, and how (taking a writerly interest...)
Btw - the scores are on their way (since Thursday).
Quote from: Keemun on April 06, 2008, 07:22:15 AM
Dave, have you read Carrion Comfort or Song of Kali? Carrion Comfort was a great story on a grand scale, but I found Song of Kali to be more frightening. Part way though the book I began feeling like I was experiencing a nightmare. Hyperion is of course science fiction, but equally as good. I have yet to finish it, I think I became confused when the Shrike was introduced.
SONG OF KALI is one of the best horror novels ever.
Quote from: Jezetha on April 06, 2008, 09:38:28 AM
Luke, could you give me the ideal reading order of Neal Stephenson's novels? I have never read any of his books, but I want to see what he is doing, and how (taking a writerly interest...)
Btw - the scores are on their way (since Thursday).
Thanks! Looking forward in eager anticipation!
Re Stevenson, I've only read these four books. They take quite an investment of time, so I don't want to read his other books till I'm good and ready. Also, I'm slightly worried, because I can't imagine how they can be as good as the ones I've already read are. Or maybe I'm exaggerating - perhaps they aren't as good as I say. But they certainly worked wonders over me.
Anyway, if coming at them fresh, I'd read them in chronological order of the plot (just as you'd listen to The Ring!) - thus:
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
Crytonomicon
but as I said to Sarge, the last of these is fairly loosely connected to the three previous ones, which make up the trilogy, and set at a much later date, so it doesn't matter that he's reading it first.
Stendhal
Philip K. Dick
Ann Beattie
George Eliot
Mary Robison
Dostoyevsky
Quote from: lukeottevanger on April 06, 2008, 09:49:24 AM
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
Cryptonomicon
Thanks! I'll have a peek at
Quicksilver then...
Albert Camus: The Plague
Ian McEwan: The Comfort of Strangers
Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale
Frank Herbert: Dune
John Kennedy Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces
Toni Morrison: Beloved
--Bruce
The Devils--Dostoevsky
Bread and Wine--Silone
East of Eden--Steinbeck
The Cancer Ward--Solzhenitsyn
The Power and the Glory--Greene
Taras Bulba--Gogol
Quote from: Danny on April 06, 2008, 02:31:25 PM
The Cancer Ward--Solzhenitsyn
This one is sitting on my shelf, saying "read me".
Quote from: Danny on April 06, 2008, 02:31:25 PM
Taras Bulba--Gogol
I love Gogol's short stories and this one, but I haven't yet read
Dead Souls which is supposed to be his masterpiece. I didn't put anything by him because it would seem almost akin to listing
Valse Triste as my favorite Sibelius, while never having heard the symphonies. ;D Even so,
The Nose is probably my favorite short story apart from
Death in Venice — even eclipsing Kafka's stories in my opinion.
Quote from: Corey on April 06, 2008, 02:45:42 PM
This one is sitting on my shelf, saying "read me".
Dude, read it already! ;D
Quote from: Corey on April 06, 2008, 02:45:42 PMI love Gogol's short stories and this one, but I haven't yet read Dead Souls which is supposed to be his masterpiece. I didn't put anything by him because it would seem almost akin to listing Valse Triste as my favorite Sibelius, while never having heard the symphonies. ;D Even so, The Nose is probably my favorite short story apart from Death in Venice — even eclipsing Kafka's stories in my opinion.
Why, I still haven't read any Mann, alas (saw Visconti's version of A Death in Venice). Have read Dead Souls, but didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as Taras Bulba, though his reflections in DS are why, I think, it is regarded as his masterpiece. But some parts of it he wasn't able to finish; he changed the course of it while writing due to his religious conflict, and because of that he destroyed the other part to it before dying. So, I put Taras Bulba instead, even if it isn't quite as profound in whole as Dead Souls is in parts.
And, dammit, I need to read Mann already!
Bruce, I had forgotten about; John Kennedy Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces. An excellent read. I have not read anything else by him.
Sarge, I used to treat books like holy relics. If I lent them out I expected them back in the same condition. Suddenly I realised some books never reappeared. Now I never lend anything that I am not prepared to wave goodbye to. If they go....they go.
Here is another list.
Brideshead Revisited, Waugh
Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Foundation Trilogy, Asimov
The Talented Mr Ripley, Patricia Highsmith
The Vivisector, Patrick White
Bonus ball....
"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
Who can resist the classic, attention grabbing, opening line to Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.
Mike
Absolutely, Mike! One of my favourites too - as I said in my post, I'd happily swap that one for practically any of the six I did choose. Burgess is just wonderful, isn't he? And a composer too - a composer first, in fact. What more could you want!
Quote from: Danny on April 06, 2008, 02:56:46 PM
And, dammit, I need to read Mann already!
Yes, you do. :D Just avoid the H.T. Lowe-Porter translations if you can (unfortunately for some of his lesser-known novels, hers are the only version available).
Quote from: Corey on April 06, 2008, 03:07:38 PM
Yes, you do. :D Just avoid the H.T. Lowe-Porter translations if you can (unfortunately for some of his lesser-known novels, hers are the only version available).
Thank you, my friend. Will make a note of that. :)
There are so many great books appearing in this thread! The depressing thing is how many of them I still have to read, and with so little time to do so...
Speaking of Burgess, A Clockwork Orange was on my "consider for the six" list, as well as Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. Read the Burgess shortly after seeing the film (probably a good idea, actually, given the language inventions). And speaking of Patrick White, a friend gave me a copy of The Twyborn Affair, still sitting in my "to read" pile. Haven't read anything by him. :-[
--Bruce
Luke, Yes he was protean really. Never a dull sentence. He also stretched my vocabulary somewhat. I think this thread may prompt me to reread a few items.
There are quite a few by the writers I have already mentioned that I would need to add to my favourite list. Also, there are masses I have forgotten altogether for the moment. I look forward to people hitting on them and reminding me of them.
Possibly thought to be passe now, but I consumed the whole 13 or so volumes of The Forsyte Saga.
Mike
Bruce, Patrick White is another marvelous writer, A Fringe of Leaves is also wonderful, cool and precice use of language and very unsentimental in the despatch of his characters.
Gunter Grass, The Tin Drum was quite a read, an entire society brought to life.
Mike
I was an English major, so this is darned hard to do. I'll set aside Shakespeare, Hemingway & the like, and go with 3 mystery & 3 sci-fi that never fail to please:
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes stories
Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe stories
Robert B. Parker - Spenser novels
JRR Tolkien - LOTR
Clifford D Simak - City
Edgar Rice Burroughs - John Carter of Mars books
Quote from: jwinter on April 06, 2008, 03:48:36 PM
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes stories
JRR Tolkien - LOTR
Both on my list JW.
Quote from: jwinter on April 06, 2008, 03:48:36 PM
Edgar Rice Burroughs - John Carter of Mars books
I might go with the first Tarzan novel here JW, but great call nonetheless.
Jorge Luis Borges - Ficciones
Borislav Pekić - The New Jerusalem
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - The Autumn of the Patriarch
Danilo Kiš - A Tomb for Boris Davidovich
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
Quote from: jwinter on April 06, 2008, 03:48:36 PM
Edgar Rice Burroughs - John Carter of Mars books
woohoo!
Quote from: Drasko on April 06, 2008, 04:30:41 PM
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Another one I need to read, man!
Quote from: Jezetha on April 06, 2008, 05:13:42 AM
(Henk, there are a few Dutchmen here: Christo, Que, Harry, myself and a few others I forget; and pjme is Flemish)
Can I be counted Dutch in Training? :P I've been picking up occasional words from my guild's chat channel in a computer game I play - the circle of friends I've met so far almost all hail from the Netherlands :D I've been making a word list in the vain hope that I may learn it via immersion.
(BTW, what is the difference between dank je and bedankt?)
And please add to my list of six anything penned by Jane Austen. 0:)
Quote from: gomro on April 05, 2008, 03:30:26 PM
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
The Reproductive System (aka Mechasm) - John T. Sladek
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - H.P. Lovecraft
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
Somehow I neglected #6, which would be
The Thurber Carnival - James Thurber
Keemun and Dave, FWIW the Stanley Hotel is only an hour or so up the road from my house. Our book club is considering reading The Shining and then meeting there to discuss it. Here is a special tour that may interest both of you should you head out my way.
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/tours.html
Quote from: Lethe on April 06, 2008, 04:43:36 PM
Can I be counted Dutch in Training? :P I've been picking up occasional words from my guild's chat channel in a computer game I play - the circle of friends I've met so far almost all hail from the Netherlands :D I've been making a word list in the vain hope that I may learn it via immersion.
(BTW, what is the difference between dank je and bedankt?)
Welkom in Nederland, Lethe!
There is no real difference in meaning between 'dank je' en 'bedankt' - the first is short for 'ik dank je' and the second for 'wees bedankt' (I think). But when you say 'dank je', it sounds more personal (because of the 'je'). 'Bedankt' is slightly more business-like and formal. Perhaps it's the same difference between 'thank you' and 'thanks'.
Btw - don't say 'Je wordt bedankt', as it is ironic, like in 'Thank you for nothing'...
Ahh, thanks, that context is really helpful :) I asked a friend, but they said they couldn't think of a difference between the two.
Quote from: knight on April 06, 2008, 03:00:56 PM
Bruce, I had forgotten about; John Kennedy Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces. An excellent read. I have not read anything else by him.
Unfortunately, there's not much else by him at all. :( I think there is another novel (I want to say 'Neon Bible'...?) which he wrote when he was a teenager, and perhaps some unpublished stories, but that's it. Confederacy of Dunces was printed only after his death when his mom started calling English professors telling them her son at written a classic novel, and would they please help her publish it. Eventually Walker Percy said he'd read it and let her know what he thought, fell in love, and spread the word. It's a sad story all in all - a great talent who died too young and never got to see anything like success. But, as classical music fans, we're familiar with that tune...
Thanks again for all the replies (this has been a much more popular thread than my usual ones on obscure composers..can't think why ::))
On the partial basis of others' suggestions, here is my list No 2
Herman Hesse: Narziss and Goldmund
Tolkein: LOTR
Orwell: 1984
Conan Doyle: Collected Sherlock Holmes (I live down the road from the town Crowborough where Conan Doyle lived for many years)
Dickens: Great Expectations (or A Tale of Two Cities)
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Quote from: Brian on April 06, 2008, 10:32:30 PM
Unfortunately, there's not much else by him at all. :( I think there is another novel (I want to say 'Neon Bible'...?) which he wrote when he was a teenager, and perhaps some unpublished stories, but that's it. Confederacy of Dunces was printed only after his death when his mom started calling English professors telling them her son at written a classic novel, and would they please help her publish it. Eventually Walker Percy said he'd read it and let her know what he thought, fell in love, and spread the word. It's a sad story all in all - a great talent who died too young and never got to see anything like success. But, as classical music fans, we're familiar with that tune...
I read (and enjoyed) this novel when it was first published. It's been a long time, but I remember its protagonist very well - the hugely overweight Ignatius J. Reilly, disturber of the peace...
Six authors are too few. I like Wodehouse, and Dickens, and Shakespeare, and Pynchon, and Nabokov, too!
Today's lists.
No. 1 (hard)
Joseph Conrad - Lord Jim, Nostromo
Hermann Hesse - Steppenwolf, The Glass Bead Game
Thomas Mann - Doktor Faustus, Lotte in Weimar
Mikhail Bulgakov - The White Guard
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in Times of Cholera, The General in His Labyrinth
Mario Vargas Llosa - The Paradise Around the Corner, The War of the End of the World
No. 2 (soft)
Juan Marse - El embrujo de Shanghai (The Spell of Shanghai)
Arturo Perez-Reverte - The Spherical Map
David Lodge - Nice Work!, Paradise News
Mika Waltari - The Dark Angel
Umberto Eco - The Island of the Day Before
Alvaro Mutis - The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll
No. 3 (mixed)
Amin Maalouf - Samarkand
Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood
Alessandro Barrico - Ocean Sea, Silk
Andre Malraux - Man's Hope
Gabriele D'Annunzio - The Fire
Giuseppe Tommasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard
(I deliberately limited myself to 20th and 21st centuries)
Thomas Mann: Zauberberg
Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
Garcia Marquez: Cien Años de Soledad
Samuel Beckett: Molloy
Melville: Moby Dick
Ernesto Sabato: Sobre heroes y tumbas
Quote from: vandermolen on April 05, 2008, 10:09:27 AM
Dickens:David Copperfield
I'm reading this know and taking my sweet time! Yesterday I read the chapter "A Greater Loss." What a shocker that development was!
Quote from: Bogey on April 06, 2008, 07:19:08 PM
Keemun and Dave, FWIW the Stanley Hotel is only an hour or so up the road from my house. Our book club is considering reading The Shining and then meeting there to discuss it. Here is a special tour that may interest both of you should you head out my way.
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/tours.html
How cool is that? Don't spook yourselves. ;)
Quote from: Bogey on April 06, 2008, 07:19:08 PM
Keemun and Dave, FWIW the Stanley Hotel is only an hour or so up the road from my house. Our book club is considering reading The Shining and then meeting there to discuss it. Here is a special tour that may interest both of you should you head out my way.
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/tours.html
Awesome! :D
Hey, check out my avatar. My favorite scene from
The Shining.
Quote from: Bogey on April 06, 2008, 07:19:08 PM
Keemun and Dave, FWIW the Stanley Hotel is only an hour or so up the road from my house. Our book club is considering reading The Shining and then meeting there to discuss it. Here is a special tour that may interest both of you should you head out my way.
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/tours.html
That looks cool. 8)
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 07, 2008, 05:28:14 AM
Awesome! :D
Hey, check out my avatar. My favorite scene from The Shining.
Excellent!
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 07, 2008, 05:28:14 AM
Awesome! :D
Hey, check out my avatar. My favorite scene from The Shining.
The tension is really portrayed well all over the movie; one of my favorites ever. Hoping there's a double-dvd with 5.1 surround out there.
Quote from: knight on April 06, 2008, 03:00:56 PM
"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
Who can resist the classic, attention grabbing, opening line to Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.
A splendid read--It was one of the first dozen or two to spring to mind, along with Ellison's
Invisible Man, Morrison's
Song of Solomon, and Stone's
A Hall of Mirrors--fine company, indeed, for the under-rated Burgess.
Quote from: -abe- on April 07, 2008, 01:26:17 AM
I'm reading this know and taking my sweet time! Yesterday I read the chapter "A Greater Loss." What a shocker that development was!
Too long ago since I read it to remember this chapter but I hope that you enjoy it.
Well, I read nothing but Sci-fi/Fantasy for many years in my late teens/early 20s.
Racking my brains...
Arthur C.Clarke ~ I loved all of his books but especially the Rama trilogy sequel.
Ben Bova ~ Mars
Tolkien ~ Hobbit/LotR
Larry Niven ~ Ringworld
Harry Harrison ~ Loved his writing especially the Stainless Steel Rat series.
Michael Moorcock ~ Some great writing here too. My fave was The Warhound and the Worlds Pain.
And many others...
Just a question: does anyone know the very stylish and poetic fantasy stories of Clark Ashton Smith? He is one of the 'Three Musketeers' of the magazine Weird Tales. The others are H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame).
Also: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 0:)/ >:D
Quote from: Jezetha on April 08, 2008, 11:14:39 PM
Just a question: does anyone know the very stylish and poetic fantasy stories of Clark Ashton Smith? He is one of the 'Three Musketeers' of the magazine Weird Tales. The others are H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame).
Yes.
Quote from: Jezetha on April 08, 2008, 11:14:39 PM
Just a question: does anyone know the very stylish and poetic fantasy stories of Clark Ashton Smith? He is one of the 'Three Musketeers' of the magazine Weird Tales. The others are H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame).
No.
Quote from: MN Dave on April 09, 2008, 06:15:32 AM
http://www.eldritchdark.com/
That's the site to go to - his poetry is there (which I have problems with), but also his stories. The story cycles about Zothique and Hyperborea are very good and can even be enjoyed for their style alone (which I still regularly do).
Quote from: Jezetha on April 09, 2008, 06:18:39 AM
That's the site to go to - his poetry is there (which I have problems with), but also his stories. The story cycles about Zothique and Hyperborea are very good and can even be enjoyed for their style alone (which I still regularly do).
I'll have to revisit him. I have a fat book put out by Fantasy Masterworks of many of his...works. :)
Oh, and it's good to see others here into the dark fantastic. 0:)
Quote from: Jezetha on April 08, 2008, 11:14:39 PM
Just a question: does anyone know the very stylish and poetic fantasy stories of Clark Ashton Smith? He is one of the 'Three Musketeers' of the magazine Weird Tales. The others are H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame).
Wonderful writer, very underrated. Probably the most articulate and poetic of the Three Musketeers. Mordant sense of humour: his
Monster of the Prophecy is a real gem. Of course, he and Lovecraft were correspondents and borrowed each other's monsters, imaginary evil tomes and alien gods for background in their stories, thus beginning the pseudo-mythology that spread throughout
Weird Tales magazine and was eventually termed the Cthulhu Mythos. Smith, however, knew people much better than Lovecraft, and so his human characters are quite a bit more well-drawn (for the time and the genre); HPL would have never been able to write the story
Phoenix, for example, which draws its final irony from a lover's promise.
Quote from: gomro on April 09, 2008, 09:23:02 AM
Wonderful writer, very underrated. Probably the most articulate and poetic of the Three Musketeers. Mordant sense of humour: his Monster of the Prophecy is a real gem. Of course, he and Lovecraft were correspondents and borrowed each other's monsters, imaginary evil tomes and alien gods for background in their stories, thus beginning the pseudo-mythology that spread throughout Weird Tales magazine and was eventually termed the Cthulhu Mythos. Smith, however, knew people much better than Lovecraft, and so his human characters are quite a bit more well-drawn (for the time and the genre); HPL would have never been able to write the story Phoenix, for example, which draws its final irony from a lover's promise.
Indeed. Lovecraft wasn't interested in love. Or money.
For the record, Howard is my favorite of the three. :)
Quote from: MN Dave on April 09, 2008, 09:38:15 AM
Indeed. Lovecraft wasn't interested in love. Or money.
For the record, Howard is my favorite of the three. :)
I am looking at ten Conan books from where I am typing this, so I am not exactly averse to the Hyborian Age and its chronicler (with L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter as auxiliary forces)...
Quote from: gomro on April 09, 2008, 09:23:02 AM
Wonderful writer, very underrated. Probably the most articulate and poetic of the Three Musketeers. Mordant sense of humour: his Monster of the Prophecy is a real gem. Of course, he and Lovecraft were correspondents and borrowed each other's monsters, imaginary evil tomes and alien gods for background in their stories, thus beginning the pseudo-mythology that spread throughout Weird Tales magazine and was eventually termed the Cthulhu Mythos. Smith, however, knew people much better than Lovecraft, and so his human characters are quite a bit more well-drawn (for the time and the genre); HPL would have never been able to write the story Phoenix, for example, which draws its final irony from a lover's promise.
It's good to see other members who know about CAS. I have been rereading Smith lately, and was again very impressed.
Quote from: Jezetha on April 09, 2008, 10:05:22 AM
I am looking at ten Conan books from where I am typing this, so I am not exactly averse to the Hyborian Age and its chronicler (with L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter as auxiliary forces)...
And let's not forget Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane and Kull--not to mention all his other characters. There is lots there to read despite the author's short, tragic life.
Quote from: bhodges on April 06, 2008, 10:31:05 AM
Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale
My discovery of the year so far. I am about to begin The Blind Assassin.
Quote from: MN Dave on April 09, 2008, 09:38:15 AM
Indeed. Lovecraft wasn't interested in love. Or money.
For the record, Howard is my favorite of the three. :)
Lovecraft was mine; this blog illustrates how deeply and unfortunately ingrained he has become, over the years: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14671423&blogID=369753626 (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14671423&blogID=369753626)
Quote from: gomro on April 09, 2008, 04:45:50 PM
Lovecraft was mine; this blog illustrates how deeply and unfortunately ingrained he has become, over the years: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14671423&blogID=369753626 (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14671423&blogID=369753626)
Oh yeah. the Cthulhu mythos is all the rage.
Quote from: MN Dave on April 09, 2008, 04:55:16 PM
Oh yeah. the Cthulhu mythos is all the rage.
I think you may have misunderstood my point in that blog -- maybe not, but bear with me. The weirdest thing about that phone nonsense was the way everyone
fell silent when I first uttered one of the Dread Names, just like people do over and over again in HPL tales, though I'm sure
none of them had ever read any Cthulhu stories, by Lovecraft or anyone else. My guess: they weren't accustomed to anyone trying anything other than the tried and true codewords in dealing with the phone-bot. Of course, when I
noticed their silence, my Dramatic Hambone gene began to twitch, and thus things went from mildly ridiculous to out and out idiotic.
The "unfortunately ingrained" comment in the original post had nothing to do with
their reactions, but with my
own nearly automatic choice of Cthuloid quotations when confronted with the need for some gibberish. A lot of brain cells wasted on monsters from the id -- and not even MY id, but LOVECRAFT's!
Quote from: gomro on April 09, 2008, 05:15:21 PM
I think you may have misunderstood my point in that blog -- maybe not, but bear with me. The weirdest thing about that phone nonsense was the way everyone fell silent when I first uttered one of the Dread Names, just like people do over and over again in HPL tales, though I'm sure none of them had ever read any Cthulhu stories, by Lovecraft or anyone else. My guess: they weren't accustomed to anyone trying anything other than the tried and true codewords in dealing with the phone-bot. Of course, when I noticed their silence, my Dramatic Hambone gene began to twitch, and thus things went from mildly ridiculous to out and out idiotic.
The "unfortunately ingrained" comment in the original post had nothing to do with their reactions, but with my own nearly automatic choice of Cthuloid quotations when confronted with the need for some gibberish. A lot of brain cells wasted on monsters from the id -- and not even MY id, but LOVECRAFT's!
What's strange is that I dealt with a "phone-bot" on Sunday morning to see when our power, which has been out all morning, was coming back on. So, when it asked me to say a number, I just mumbled some nonsense till I got a real person. Didn't think of using Lovecraft. I suppose I could have said, "Crom!"
Quote from: MN Dave on April 09, 2008, 05:58:07 PM
What's strange is that I dealt with a "phone-bot" on Sunday morning to see when our power, which has been out all morning, was coming back on. So, when it asked me to say a number, I just mumbled some nonsense till I got a real person. Didn't think of using Lovecraft. I suppose I could have said, "Crom!"
You
could have, but I think one of the advantages, as Conan saw it, of having Crom as a deity is that he never does anything. Moorcock's
Elric, on the other hand, served a deity that one could only HOPE wouldn't do anything... Nevertheless, fictional deities aside, yah, you see my point. Sad as it may be.
Quote from: gomro on April 09, 2008, 06:05:37 PM
You could have, but I think one of the advantages, as Conan saw it, of having Crom as a deity is that he never does anything. Moorcock's Elric, on the other hand, served a deity that one could only HOPE wouldn't do anything... Nevertheless, fictional deities aside, yah, you see my point. Sad as it may be.
"Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!"
Yeah, I'd take Crom any day. ;D
Quote from: orbital on April 09, 2008, 12:40:32 PM
My discovery of the year so far. I am about to begin The Blind Assassin.
I forgot to ask you: what did you think of
Of Human Bondage?
Quote from: Corey on April 10, 2008, 08:42:37 PM
I forgot to ask you: what did you think of Of Human Bondage?
I know this question is not addressed to me but Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" (if that is the one you mean) was one of my favourite books of my (relative) youth. I couldn't put it down. I also enjoyed "The Razor's Edge".
Quote from: vandermolen on April 11, 2008, 03:52:26 PM
I know this question is not addressed to me but Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" (if that is the one you mean) was one of my favourite books of my (relative) youth. I couldn't put it down. I also enjoyed "The Razor's Edge".
I read it for the first time about a month ago and enjoyed it very much. :)
Quote from: Corey on April 10, 2008, 08:42:37 PM
I forgot to ask you: what did you think of Of Human Bondage?
Very very highly. I particularly enjoyed how the author made people come and go in and out of the novel -almost casually.
Quote from: Corey on April 11, 2008, 04:10:49 PM
I read it for the first time about a month ago and enjoyed it very much. :)
Have you read The Razor's Edge? If you liked of Human Bondage you will probably enjoy that. Interestingly I discovered Spinoza's "Ethics" (which I don't really understand) at the time of reading the Maugham book and that is where the title "Of Human Bondage" comes from (I guess) as it is one of Spinoza's chapter titles. At the time of reading "Of Human Bondage", which was recommended to me by my mother, I was rather obsessed with a girl who reminded me of Mildred in the novel. My mother saw the connection and recommended the novel to me. I really enjoyed it and must read it again some day (it's over 20 years since I read it).
I have to throw in H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness (collection), and Stephen King's The Shining, Carrie, and Salem's Lot here.
Kafka is hardly mentioned. :-\
William Faulkner, "The Sound and the Fury", but I like all of his books.
Cormac McCarthy, "Blood Meridian", ditto above
Raymond Carver, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (or any of his story collections), but I also like his poetry
Walker Percy, "The Moviegoer"; close 2nd "The Last Gentleman"
Joseph Conrad, "Nostromo"; close 2nd "Lord Jim"
Harper Lee, "To Kill A Mockingbird"
Runners up:
Henry Miller, "Sexus" "Nexus" "Plexus" - really, one long book.
Herman Hesse, "Damien"
Jack Kerouac, "Dharma Bums"; "The Subterreans"
Larry McMurtry, "Lonesome Dove"
Flaubert, L'éducation sentimentale
Balzac, Les illusions perdues
Stendhal, Le Rouge & le noir
Maupassant, stories, any stories
Bellow, Humboldt's Gift
Updike, stories
I like other books, too:
(http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr59/herstevens/DSC00003.jpg?t=1248867755)
A distinct Franco-American bias to Herman's list.
Quote from: Herman on July 29, 2009, 01:33:55 AM
Bellow, Humboldt's Gift
That good, eh? I am trying to decided whether to tackle this or
Augie March next. Unfortunately I don't have time to do both.
BTW Nabokov considered both Stendhal and Balzac "detestable mediocrities." But his admiration for Flaubert was great.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 02:12:07 AM
BTW Nabokov considered both Stendhal and Balzac "detestable mediocrities."
Sour grapes... ;D
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 02:12:07 AM
BTW Nabokov considered both Stendhal and Balzac "detestable mediocrities." But his admiration for Flaubert was great.
Virtually everything Nabokov said
ex cathedra was silly bull. His condescending tone about Jane Austen... terrible.
Quote from: Herman on July 29, 2009, 03:37:00 AM
Virtually everything Nabokov said ex cathedra was silly bull.
I disagree to a certain extent. While his potshots at exalted figures like Dostoyevsky and Mann are excessive, some of his observations are pertinent. Ditto his analysis of
Don Quixote. At least he provokes one to take a fresh look at some canonical texts.
I think his trashing of Pasternak, though, really was a case of sour grapes.
Joseph Conrad too disliked Dostoyevsky, but at least he was Joseph Conrad. 0:)
I very much doubt that Nabokov will ever make his way into the canon where Stendhal, Balzac, Cervantes, Th. Mann, Dostoyevsky and Jane Austen rightly sit. He might be remembered, though, as the guy who attacked them all. ;D
Well, canons come and go, and suspect it will be a long time yet before people stop reading Lolita.
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 05:21:18 AM
Joseph Conrad too disliked Dostoyevsky, but at least he was Joseph Conrad. 0:)
Nabokov disliked both Conrad and Dostoyevsky 0:)
QuoteI very much doubt that Nabokov will ever make his way into the canon where Stendhal, Balzac, Cervantes, Th. Mann, Dostoyevsky and Jane Austen rightly sit. He might be remembered, though, as the guy who attacked them all. ;D
Lolita at least is already canonical, or at least as canonical as anything written in the 1950s could be.
I tried some Conrad recently. Ugh. ::)
BTW, Nabokov didn't so much attack Cervantes as subject him to critical re-appraisal. He considered Don Quixote a success in some ways and a failure in others. It's all in his book Lectures on Don Quixote.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:33:59 AM
Nabokov disliked both Conrad and Dostoyevsky 0:)
Who did he like, then, apart from himself?
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:33:59 AMLolita at least is already canonical, or at least as canonical as anything written in the 1950s could be.
I'd risk a bet: had Lolita been 21 instead of 12, the book wouldn't have been the hit it was. ;D
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 05:39:24 AM
Like what?
NOSTROMO. I kept wondering when it was going to take off. Then I gave up.
Quote from: MN Dave on July 29, 2009, 05:47:44 AM
NOSTROMO. I kept wondering when it was going to take off. Then I gave up.
That's a masterpiece but apparently not your cup of tea. :(
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 05:38:55 AM
Who did he like, then, apart from himself?
A partial list, just from memory:
Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Gogol, Kafka, Flaubert, Dickens, Joyce, Pushkin, Chekhov, Proust
Not a bad list I think 0:)
Dostoyevsky
Wodehouse
Evelyn Waugh
Harold Lamb
Washington Irving
Richard Brautigan
Quote from: MN Dave on July 29, 2009, 05:47:44 AM
NOSTROMO. I kept wondering when it was going to take off. Then I gave up.
I did exactly the same thing. I couldn't take his fake Latin American country seriously, and I didn't like the writing style.
Heart of Darkness is good, though.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:51:07 AM
A partial list, just from memory:
Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Gogol, Kafka, Flaubert, Dickens, Joyce, Pushkin, Chekhov, Proust
Not a bad list I think 0:)
Not bad at all, indeed. :)
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:51:07 AM
A partial list, just from memory:
Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Gogol, Kafka, Flaubert, Dickens, Joyce, Pushkin, Chekhov, Proust
Not a bad list I think 0:)
Leave Proust out and I agree.
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 05:21:18 AM
Joseph Conrad too disliked Dostoyevsky, but at least he was Joseph Conrad. 0:)
I very much doubt that Nabokov will ever make his way into the canon where Stendhal, Balzac, Cervantes, Th. Mann, Dostoyevsky and Jane Austen rightly sit. He might be remembered, though, as the guy who attacked them all. ;D
He didn't consider himself a great writer either. Pushkin in contrary he considered a genius.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:52:59 AM
I did exactly the same thing. I couldn't take his fake Latin American country seriously, and I didn't like the writing style.
Heart of Darkness is good, though.
I should get that.
Actually, a writer's opinion about another writer is not to be taken too seriously. Valid also for composers, as we know only too well. :)
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 06:01:00 AM
Actually, a writer's opinion about another writer is not to be taken too seriously. Valid also for composers, as we know only too well. :)
QFT
Though that does not stop me from speaking admiration for any composer :)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 29, 2009, 06:02:03 AM
QFT
Though that does not stop me from speaking admiration for any composer :)
Even Telemann or Ditters von Dittersdorf? :)
There must be other factors stopping me from speaking their admiration 0:) 8)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 29, 2009, 06:15:15 AM
There must be other factors stopping me from speaking their admiration 0:) 8)
Yes but you have not heard Mahler's needless reorchestration of Ditters symphonies for the entire city of Boston! ;D
I must have answered this before as it came up under new replies, but currently my list for "serious" fiction is:
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Europe Central - William T Vollmann (hard to pick which book, the 4 published books of the Seven Dreams are also contenders)
Austerlitz - WG Sebald
Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
Against the Day - Thomas Pynchon (have a love / hate relationship with TP, sometimes I think he is an "empty virtuoso" with nothing to day, other times I am a huge fan)
I am a total modernist when it comes to fiction. Anything written before the 1960s is problematic for me
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:52:59 AM
Heart of Darkness is good, though.
Better than good...GREAT!
Not sure if I could come up with only six favorites...I may or may not be back on this one. :)
It is simple for me:
1. Ed McBain 87th Precinct series written by Evan Hunter - simple, hardboiled, old detective proceedurals - reading is easy and complelling.
2. Jack Kerouac - On the Road - I was an 80's beatnik.
3. Rosemary Timperly (1920 - 1988) - British writer who wrote psychologically claustrophobic works, her stories always well rounded and compact.
4. Oscar Wilde - One always needs something sensational to read.
5. Benjamin Franklin - Being human, dealing with other humans, figuring things out.
6. Arthur C Clarke - more visionary than novelist.
No order.
Nothing too pretentious I hope.
Quote from: John on July 29, 2009, 07:50:27 AM
It is simple for me:
1. Ed McBain 87th Precinct series written by Evan Hunter - simple, hardboiled, old detective proceedurals - reading is easy and complelling.
2. Jack Kerouac - On the Road - I was an 80's beatnik.
3. Rosemary Timperly (1920 - 1988) - British writer who wrote psychologically claustrophobic works, her stories always well rounded and compact.
4. Oscar Wilde - One always needs something sensational to read.
5. Benjamin Franklin - Being human, dealing with other humans, figuring things out.
6. Arthur C Clarke - more visionary than novelist.
No order.
Nothing too pretentious I hope.
Interesting choice - yes, I can imagine you as an 80s beatnik of the Taoist sort ;D
Isaac Asimov--The 3 robot detective novels and the Foundation Trilogy
Conan Doyle--Complete Sherlock Holmes
G. K Chesterton--Complete Father Brown
Dorothy L. Sayers--The Lord Peter Wimsey novels
Karel Capek--The Absolute at Large
Rudyard Kipling--The Jungle Books and Just So Stories
I could have put in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
Quote from: bwv 1080 on July 29, 2009, 07:03:45 AM
Anything written before the 1960s is problematic for me
In what sense?
Quote from: Florestan on July 29, 2009, 11:17:15 PM
In what sense?
in the sense its not interesting to me
Quote from: bwv 1080 on July 30, 2009, 05:15:05 AM
in the sense its not interesting to me
Great answer, indeed. I guess asking "Why?" is superfluous.
Quote from: bwv 1080 on July 30, 2009, 05:15:05 AM
in the sense its not interesting to me
What happened in 1960 that suddenly made literature interesting to you? ???
Quote from: bwv 1080 on July 29, 2009, 07:03:45 AM
I am a total modernist when it comes to fiction. Anything written before the 1960s is problematic for me
Florestan's quote would have been easier to digest if he'd included the first half of the statement.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 30, 2009, 05:37:10 AM
What happened in 1960 that suddenly made literature interesting to you? ???
It got less boring ;D
I like Joyce, Waugh, Conrad, Twain, Faulkner, Melville and other earlier writers, but name me one book written before 1960 that has the visceral impact of
Blood Meridian
Okay, here are six from me. As a side note, I could NEVER get into 1984, even though I've tried multiple times.
H.G. Wells: The Island of Dr. Moreau
T. Ligotti: The Nightmare Factory
G. Wolfe: Book of the New Sun
K. Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions
Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
A. Clarke: Childhood's End
Quote from: MN Dave on July 30, 2009, 06:25:55 AM
As a side note, I could NEVER get into 1984, even though I've tried multiple times.
Have you tried Zamyatin's
We? Maybe that one could work better for you.
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Library-Classics-Yevgeny-Zamyatin/dp/081297462X
Quote from: Drasko on July 30, 2009, 06:52:12 AM
Have you tried Zamyatin's We? Maybe that one could work better for you.
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Library-Classics-Yevgeny-Zamyatin/dp/081297462X
I will wishlist it. Thanks, Drasko.
Excluding novels not written in English because of the translation issue, the novels that have had the greatest impact on me are:
Dickens: Bleak House
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Mervyn Peake: Gormenghast trilogy
Conrad: Nostromo
Mrs Gaskell: North & South
Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
I must say that no modern novelist seems able to match the intensity of these classics. Perhaps it's just me.
Quote from: Spitvalve on July 29, 2009, 05:52:59 AM
I did exactly the same thing. I couldn't take his fake Latin American country seriously, and I didn't like the writing style.
Nostromo is genius. I took the severe writing style as a mirror of the harsh (and completely fleshed-out and believeable) world of his invented country.
Quote from: Henk on July 29, 2009, 05:54:48 AM
Leave Proust out and I agree.
Let me know when you actually read Proust.
Quote from: corey on July 30, 2009, 09:14:14 AM
Let me know when you actually read Proust.
Proust is autobiographic so of a lower status then the bigger writers. Real literature isn't autobiographic.
Quote from: Henk on July 30, 2009, 10:59:05 AM
Proust is autobiographic so of a lower status then the bigger writers. Real literature isn't autobiographic.
One True Scotsman Fallacy. 8)
1. Gone with the Wind - Mitchell
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Tolkien
3. The Iliad - Homer
4. War and Peace - Tolstoy (not finished yet, but I'm starting to love it)
5. The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
6. Les Miserables - Hugo
Actually I forgot something, so I'm taking Gormenghast out (it wasn't completely finished anyway) and replacing it with:
Henry James: The Golden Bowl
Quote from: Henk on July 30, 2009, 10:59:05 AM
Proust is autobiographic so of a lower status then the bigger writers. Real literature isn't autobiographic.
Wrong.
My list of favorites has changed a bit since I posted here almost two years ago (wow...):
Elias Canetti - Auto-da-fe
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Hermann Broch - The Sleepwalkers
Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (Though I've only read four of the seven novels, they are substantial enough for me to place them among my favorites. I intend to read the others pretty soon.)
Robert Musil The Man Without Qualities (which reminds me I still need to read Young Torless!)
James Joyce - Ulysses (Only finished two days ago as I type this, but I think it has had a substantial impact on me, to the point that I can't stop thinking about it!)
Quote from: Ten thumbs on July 30, 2009, 11:25:27 AM
Actually I forgot something, so I'm taking Gormenghast out (it wasn't completely finished anyway) and replacing it with:
Henry James: The Golden Bowl
Kudos for actually finishing it. I couldn't, and I love difficult literature.
Not six but TEN of the Kurt Wallander mystery stories by Henning Mankell.
Three of them recently were the hit on the BBC Mystery series with Kenneth Branagh as the Swedish detective.
Quote from: Henk on July 30, 2009, 10:59:05 AM
Real literature isn't autobiographic.
I would contend that all literature is autobiographical, one way or another. I would probably even contend that all art is autobiographical.
(:o Ducking behind computer screen, braces self for onslaught of slings and arrows. . . )
Quote from: secondwind on August 03, 2009, 09:58:54 AM
I would contend that all literature is autobiographical, one way or another. I would probably even contend that all art is autobiographical.
(:o Ducking behind computer screen, braces self for onslaught of slings and arrows. . . )
I agree with you, in the larger sense of term.
Quote from: secondwind on August 03, 2009, 09:58:54 AM
I would contend that all literature is autobiographical, one way or another. I would probably even contend that all art is autobiographical.
(:o Ducking behind computer screen, braces self for onslaught of slings and arrows. . . )
I agree. But with Proust it's one-on-one. That's an important difference. With Proust it's just one-way direction from the writer to the book he writes. With good art it's a two-way-direction from the artist to his work, and from the work to the artist, as Harry Mulisch says.
Mulisch says "in the same degree I write the book, the book writes me".
Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on August 03, 2009, 09:38:56 AM
Not six but TEN of the Kurt Wallander mystery stories by Henning Mankell.
Oh I like those too! Have you read the Stieg Larsson trilogy yet?
Quote from: Henk on August 03, 2009, 10:15:19 AM
Mulisch says "in the same degree I write the book, the book writes me".
well, Proust could've said the same thing - except he didn't talk as much about himself as HM does.
Quote from: Herman on August 03, 2009, 11:20:28 AM
well, Proust could've said the same thing - except he didn't talk as much about himself as HM does.
Agreed.
Quote from: matti on August 03, 2009, 11:06:08 AM
Oh I like those too! Have you read the Stieg Larsson trilogy yet?
You Temptor, you! :-* No, I have not red the Stieg Larsson - yet. The Kurt Wallander books have kept me long enough from reading Thomas Bernhard, Thomas Mann, Günter Grass . . . not to mention cleaning my house, doing my laundry, seriously listen to music - - -
:D
Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on August 03, 2009, 12:03:03 PM
You Temptor, you! :-* No, I have not red the Stieg Larsson - yet. The Kurt Wallander books have kept me long enough from reading Thomas Bernhard, Thomas Mann, Günter Grass . . . not to mention cleaning my house, doing my laundry, seriously listen to music - - -
:D
In that case I'm afraid I'll have to advice you not to read any Larsson. Apart from the tasks you mentioned, they will also keep you from sleeping... they are that good. Stay away from them! ;D
Quote from: corey on August 03, 2009, 08:41:56 AM
Kudos for actually finishing it. I couldn't, and I love difficult literature.
Okay and I loved it but I confess I got stuck with 'What Maisie Knew'. That is one I must go back to.
The Royal Family by Vollmann
The Castle by Kafka
The Things They Carried by O'Brien
Watt by Beckett
The Everlasting Story of Nory by Baker
When I was 5 I Killed Myself by Buten
Quote from: corey on August 03, 2009, 08:39:18 AM
My list of favorites has changed a bit since I posted here almost two years ago (wow...):
Elias Canetti - Auto-da-fe
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Hermann Broch - The Sleepwalkers
Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (Though I've only read four of the seven novels, they are substantial enough for me to place them among my favorites. I intend to read the others pretty soon.)
Robert Musil The Man Without Qualities (which reminds me I still need to read Young Torless!)
James Joyce - Ulysses (Only finished two days ago as I type this, but I think it has had a substantial impact on me, to the point that I can't stop thinking about it!)
Well you never have to worry about leaving yourself open from attack, each of those books could serve as a sturdy shield or weapon, if you're proactive.
Awesome it's Philo!! Yes. No.
:)
Quote from: Philoctetes on August 04, 2009, 01:22:02 PM
The Royal Family by Vollmann
The Castle by Kafka
The Things They Carried by O'Brien
Watt by Beckett
The Everlasting Story of Nory by Baker
When I was 5 I Killed Myself by Buten
Interesting choices, I will investigate them. Only read the Castle. Good to see you back, with that lovely avatar!
Not forgotten but overlooked listing:
Jean Genet: Our Lady of the Flowers
Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Violent Life
Quote from: Philoctetes on August 04, 2009, 01:25:50 PM
Well you never have to worry about leaving yourself open from attack, each of those books could serve as a sturdy shield or weapon, if you're proactive.
One would get more use by reading them. Try it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356541209342218.html
Quote from: MN Dave on August 26, 2009, 08:37:47 AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356541209342218.html
Quote from: Joe Queenan. . . vying with the phoned-in ruminations of the snooty, burned-out hacks who masquerade as professionals at our top magazines and papers.
They always speak highly of
you, Joe . . . .
Quote from: Josquin des Prez on April 05, 2008, 09:37:36 PM
The bible. Somebody had to say it.
Good choice, although most people consider it to be non-fiction.
Bumpity bump...because why not...
(and also because this thread has been of help for pointers in my recent e-library building, what with my new reading hobby of these last few months ;D ).
The novels that have impressed me most so far and make me pursue fiction reading further:
E. Bronte - Wuthering Heights
G. Greene - Our Man in Havana
E. Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea
J. Verne - Autour du Monde en 80 jours
H.G. Wells - the Island of Dr Moreau
O. Wilde - The importance of being Earnest
PS: I have been stuck about halfway Proust's Swann's Way for yonks but when I have been in the right mood, the beauty of its writing is undeniable.
PPS: I feel bad to leave E.A. Poe out. The Fall of the House of Usher and Murders in the Rue Morgue were brilliant reads.
William Faulkner: Light in August / The Hamlet / Flags in the Dust
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian / Suttree / All the Pretty Horses
1. Samuel Beckett
2. Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
3. Halle Butler (The New Me)
4. Jeff Noon (Pollen)
5. A Frolic of His Own (Gaddis)
6. Ashleigh Bryant Phillips (Sleepeovers)
Don't feel the best about 3-6, but 1-2 are locked in. 8)
Quote from: Papy Oli on January 29, 2025, 03:46:59 AMPS: I have been stuck about halfway Proust's Swann's Way for yonks but when I have been in the right mood, the beauty of its writing is undeniable.
You are a better man than me. I got 300pp into Swann's Way, and lost all will to live. My loathing for its introspective, pointless, grinding, painfully slow narrative grew almost with every page.
YMMV, of course 😁😁
Quote from: San Antone on January 29, 2025, 04:57:17 AMWilliam Faulkner: Light in August / The Hamlet / Flags in the Dust
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian / Suttree / All the Pretty Horses
Seen
Blood Meridian pop up often here and there. I've added to my wishlist earlier this week.
Quote from: hopefullytrusting on January 29, 2025, 05:43:06 AM2. Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
This one too, so I have just added it too.
Quote from: foxandpeng on January 29, 2025, 05:47:35 AMYou are a better man than me. I got 300pp into Swann's Way, and lost all will to live. My loathing for its introspective, pointless, grinding, painfully slow narrative grew almost with every page.
YMMV, of course 😁😁
I checked the actual book, I stopped near page 270... Maybe some time soon :-[
Quote from: Papy Oli on January 29, 2025, 06:29:33 AMI checked the actual book, I stopped near page 270... Maybe some time soon :-[
I applaud your tenacity 🙂
De Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
Quote from: Karl Henning on January 29, 2025, 07:36:07 AMDe Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
Dickens, of course, is another "How do you pick just one?" guy.
Red and Black, Stendhal
Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse
Tonio Kröger, Thomas Mann
Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky
Idiot, Dostoevsky
One Thousand and One Nights
Quote from: Karl Henning on January 29, 2025, 07:36:07 AMDe Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
I read one book by Di Lillo, Underworld. I actually remember it, which is a plus, but I seem to recall not being entirely satisfied having finished it. It started with a brilliant vignette of Jackie Gleason in the VIP box at the baseball game which is the starting point of the plot.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on January 29, 2025, 09:11:22 AMI read one book by Di Lillo, Underworld. I actually remember it, which is a plus, but I seem to recall not being entirely satisfied having finished it. It started with a brilliant vignette of Jackie Gleason in the VIP box at the baseball game which is the starting point of the plot.
I have something of a sentimental fondness for
White Noise, so I'm not sure how it might break for you. I haven't really tried any of his others.
Another Boyle title I should revisit is World's End.
Quote from: Karl Henning on January 29, 2025, 07:36:07 AMDe Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
I sympathise with your Wodehouse and Dickens conundrum. And I loved Water Music when I read it years ago, I should either reread it or try one of his others.
Quote from: Iota on January 29, 2025, 12:24:15 PMI sympathise with your Wodehouse and Dickens conundrum. And I loved Water Music when I read it years ago, I should either reread it or try one of his others.
I tried to read Wodehouse per
@Karl Henning recommendation a long time ago (not my cup of tea, same with Dickens, although I did find why many could find them delightful).
Not really a static set, as tastes change and I can only reread favorites so many times.
Nikolai Gogol (Dead Souls)
Vladimir Nabokov (Pale Fire)
P G Wodehouse (I think I've read everything...no longer revisit him often, but he's got to rank)
Melville (based mainly on Moby Dick)
Then there's a revolving cast of more obscure faves, including some guilty pleasures and thriller authors:
Richard Condon (Manchurian Candidate and others)
Flann O'Brien (The Third Policeman and others)
Ross Thomas (The Fools in Town are On Our Side and others)
T C Boyle (haven't kept up with everything and generally prefer his short stories, but he's very good)
Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men, which completely blew me away on first reading, though less so on rereading)
Michael Chabon (greatly enjoyed Wonder Boys and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, though I've found both earlier and later work somewhat disappointing and don't keep up with his output)
Eric Ambler (A Coffin for Dimitrios and for his pioneering spy fiction)
Graham Greene (the king of expat fiction, The Quiet American and many others)
Bill James, Welsh pseudonymous author (for the Harpur and Iles series)
Lawrence Block (maybe lowbrow, but I loved much of his Matt Scudder series)
Michael Connelly (maybe lowbrow, but many of his Bosch and Mickey Haller books are quite good)
Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita, though it shows up on many "overrated" lists)
In senior years I'm reading much more nonfiction.
Don DeLillo is an author I ought to like, based on plot synopses and blurbs, but I never dug anything I read.
Dream of the Red Chamber aka Story of the Stone
Austen: Persuasion*
Williams: All Hallows Eve
Graves: I Claudius
Sayers: Busman's Honeymoon
Twain: Life on the Mississipi
*if I was honest, this list would consist solely of Jane Austen novels
Quote from: JBS on January 29, 2025, 07:25:38 PMDream of the Red Chamber aka Story of the Stone
Austen: Persuasion*
Williams: All Hallows Eve
Graves: I Claudius
Sayers: Busman's Honeymoon
Twain: Life on the Mississipi
*if I was honest, this list would consist solely of Jane Austen novels
I didn't like omitting Twain. Big fan of
Life on the Mississippi.
It should mildly sting, too, that I'm late to add Evelyn Waugh.
favourite authors (in order):
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Aldous Huxley
Anthony Burgess
Richard Brautigan
Thomas Berger
Quote from: Peter Power Pop on January 30, 2025, 08:03:31 PMfavourite authors (in order):
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Aldous Huxley
Anthony Burgess
Richard Brautigan
Thomas Berger
Love Brautigan
From the
English-speaking world, four continents:
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (1940, UK)
- George Orwell, 1984 (1949, UK)
- Patrick White, Voss (1957, Australia)
- Flannery O'Connor, The Violent Bear It Away (1960, USA)
- John Williams, Stoner (1965, USA)
- John Maxwell Coetzee, Foe (1987, South-Africa)
- William Golding, The Double Tongue (1995, posthumously, UK)
- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004, USA)
- Philip Roth, Nemesis (2010, USA)
Quote from: JBS on January 29, 2025, 07:25:38 PM...
Williams: All Hallows Eve
...
Fascinating, Jeffrey. You're the first person I've ever encountered who reads Charles Williams (apart from myself, I mean). I'm not sure I could choose a favourite:
The Place of the Lion has had a lot of rereads, as has
The Greater Trumps, but that's just a mood-based choice. There's nothing else quite like them, is there?
Anyway, now I've found myself in this thread (how did I miss it, back in 2008?), I'll see if I can offer a shot at my six favourite works of fiction:
P.G Wodehouse:
Enter Psmith (or the larger book,
Mike, from which it's derived)
Colin Wilson:
The Philosopher's StoneWilliam Morris:
The Well at the World's EndErin Morgenstern:
The Night CircusAudrey Niffenegger:
Her Fearful SymmetryC.P Snow:
The SearchForce me to choose just two of those, and it would be
The Night Circus and
The Well at the World's End.
Force me to choose just one, and I'd burst into tears.
Ask me for any 'bubbling unders', and I might choose Georgette Heyer:
The Corinthian, mainly because when she has Sir Richard Wyndham go into a wayside inn and eat 'a dish of ham and eggs', she does it with such skill that she makes me want to do precisely likewise.
Quote from: Karl Henning on January 29, 2025, 07:36:07 AM...
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
...
Interesting question.
Estimated number of my re-readings of Psmith books:
Psmith in the City: 5
Psmith, Journalist: 4
Leave it to Psmith: 3
Enter Psmith: 30? 50? I started reading it at the age of 11 or 12, and never stopped. Blessings upon my Uncle Les, who gave me his copy, and I read it (literally) to bits, eventually having to buy a new (old) one.*
* Uncle Les had the whole of Rimsky's
Scheherazade on 78s. That seriously impressed this young lad, I can tell you.
Only in normal languages, partly read in (Dutch/German/whatever) translation (not everything has been translated into English, as indicated). A few more titles than allowed, of course (with friends, I often read Nobel laureates, relatively many of which are on this list):
1321 Dante Alighieri, La ("divina") commedia (Florence)
1806/1831 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I & II (Saxe-Weimar)
1866 Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (Russia)
1886 Lev Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Russia)
1901 Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks (Germany)
1924/1938 Willem Elsschot, Lijmen/Het been ("Convincing/The leg", Belgium)
1929 Alfred Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz (German exile)
1932 Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March (Austrian exile)
1934 Sándor Márai, Egy polgár vallomásai ("Confessions of a Citizen", Hungary)
1942 Stephan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (Austrian exile)
1944 Jan Karski, Courier from Poland: The Story of a Secret State (Poland)
1951 Gustaw Herling Grudziński, A World Apart: Imprisonment in a Soviet Labor Camp During World War II, (Poland)
1951 Margerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian (France)
1958/1963, Primo Levi, If This Is a Man/The Truce (Italian deportee)
1959 Czesław Miłosz, Rodzinna Europa ("Homeland", Poland)
1960 Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate (USSR)
1961 Naguib Mahfouz, The Thief and the Dogs (Egypt)
1966 Shusako Endo, Silence (Japan)
1969 Augusta Roa Bastos, Moriencia ("Slaughter", Paraguay)
1970 Anatoly Kuznetsov, Babi Yar (Ukraine)
1971 Ismail Kadare, Chronicle in Stone (Albania)
1979 Gregor von Rezzori, Memoirs of an Anti-Semite (Bukovina-German)
1981 Saulius Kondratas, Žalčio žvilgsnis "The Gaze of the Snake", Lithuania)
1985 Mario Vargas Llosa, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta (Peru)
1991 José Saramango, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (Portugal)
1995 Jaan Kross, Mesmeri ring ("Messmer's Circle", Estonia)
2001 Per Olov Enquist, Lewis resa ("The Journey of Lewi Pethrus", Sweden)
2002 Amoz Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness (Israël)
2004 Orhan Pamuk, Snow (Turkey)
2007 Sofi Oksanen, Puhdistus ("Purge", Finland/Estonia)
2010 Laurent Binet, HHhH (France)
2013 Stephan Hertmans, War and Turpentine (Belgium)
2014 Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob (Poland)
2015 Susan Abulhawa, The Blue Between Sky and Water (Palestine)
2019 David Grossman, More Than I Love My Life (Israël)
2019-21 Jon Fosse, The Other Name: Septology I-II, I Is Another: Septology III-V, A New Name: Septology VI-VII (Norway)
2022 Eva Manasse, Dunkelblum schweigt ("Dunkelblum remains silent", Austria)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM1932 Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March (Austrian exile)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM1942 Stephan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (Austrian exile)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM1960 Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate (USSR)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM1966 Shusako Endo, Silence (Japan)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM1979 Gregor von Rezzori, Memoirs of an Anti-Semite (Bukovina-German)
Quote from: Christo on February 04, 2025, 10:43:18 AM2004 Orhan Pamuk, Snow (Turkey)
Excellent choices.
Have you read Roth's "The Tomb of the Emperor" (sequel to "Radetzky-Marsch") and Rezzori's "The Snow of Yesteryear" and "Tales of Maghrebinia"?
"Snow" is the only Pamuk novel that I enjoyed, a page-turner actually. All his other novels I found prolix, interminable and dull.
Quote from: Florestan on February 05, 2025, 01:13:49 AMExcellent choices.
Have you read Roth's "The Tomb of the Emperor" (sequel to "Radetzky-Marsch") and Rezzori's "The Snow of Yesteryear" and "Tales of Maghrebinia"?
"Snow" is the only Pamuk novel that I enjoyed, a page-turner actually. All his other novels I found prolix, interminable and dull.
Answer, no, I didn't ("yet", as Jeffrey would say; but I'm just 63 and working). And: fully agreed, read a handful of heavy-loaden novels by Pamuk while visiting Turkey (many times), but enjoyed only
Kar (Snow) and his personal book on Istanbul. But, but ... do the two of us
really share some tastes?? :o E.g. Chopin's
"Second" concerto in the original setting for sextet I heard last Saturday? (Superbly performed by Anna Fedorova and friends?):blank: Could we
ever bridge the gap between you, as a European, and me (Low Saxon)?? ::)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
Some favourite Dutch novels (i.e. "Flemish, Belgian" novels not included, which are a world on its own). I see now that relatively many were written in, or heavily conditioned by, WW II – and also that I like some titles very much. :)
1783 Rhijnvis Feith, Julia
1813 Willem Bilderdijk, Kort verhaal van eene aanmerklijke luchtreis, en nieuwe planeetontdekking, uit het Russisch vertaald ("A remarkable space travel" [to the moon, by the "Dutch Goethe," 42 years earlier than Jules Verne].
1839 Hildebrand, Camera Obscura
1860 Multatuli, Max Havelaar, of De Koffij-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij ("Max Havelaar, or The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company," author from Java)
1887 Lodewijk van Deyssel, Een liefde ("A love")
1888 Louis Couperus, Eline Vere
1892 Jac van Looy, Gekken ("Madmen")
1894 Marcellus Emants, Een nagelaten bekentenis ("A bequeathed confession")
1900 Frederik van Eeden, Van de koele meren des doods ("About the cool lakes of death")
1904 Arthur van Schendel, Een zwerver verliefd. Een zwerver verdwaald ("A tramp in love. A drifter lost")
1925 Herman de Man, Het wassende water ("The rising flood")
1930 Albert Helman, Serenitas (author of Surinam)
1936 Godfried Bomans, Pieter Bas
1938 F. Bordewijk, Karakter ("Character")
1939 A. den Doolaard, De herberg der zeven zigeuners ("The Inn of the Seven Gypsies")
1943 Etty Hillesum, Het verstoorde leven ("The disrupted life")
1944 Anne Frank, Het Achterhuis ("Diary," author from Germany)
1944 David Koker, Dagboek geschreven te Vught ("Diary written at camp Vught")
1945 Floris Bakels, Verbeelding als wapen ("Imagination as weapon")
1947 Hella Haasse, Oeroeg (author from Indonesia)
1948 Anna Blaman, Eenzaam avontuur ("Lonely Adventure")
1949 Simon Vestdijk, De kellner en de levenden ("The waiter and the living")
1953 J.B. Charles, Volg het spoor terug ("Follow the trace back")
1954 Bé Nijenhuis, Laatste wagon ("Last wagon")
1956 Theun de Vries, Het meisje met het rode haar ("The girl with the red hair")
1957 J. Presser, De nacht der Girondijnen ("NIght of the Girondins")
1957 Marga Minco, Het bittere kruid. Een kleine kroniek ("The bitter herb. A small chronicle")
1958 Belcampo, Het grote gebeuren ("The big thing," author from Riessn)
1962 Heere Heeresma, Een dagje naar het strand ("A short day at the beach")
1965 Jan Wolkers, Terug naar Oegstgeest ("Back to Oegstgeest")
1966 Willem Frederik Hermans, Nooit meer slapen ("Never sleep again")
1972 Gerard Reve, De taal der liefde ("The language of love")
1972 Klaas J. Popma, Het paradijs is dichtbij ("Paradise is near")
1973 Frank Martinus Arion, Dubbelspel ("Double play, "author of Surinam)
1984 Hellema, Joab
1984 Maarten 't Hart, Het roer kan nog zesmaal om ("The helm can be turned six more times")
1986 Frans Kellendonk, Mystiek lichaam ("Mystic body")
1986 Leon de Winter, Kaplan
1988 Boeli van Leeuwen, Het teken van Jona ("The sign of Jonah," author of Curaçao)
1988 Tip Marugg, De morgen loeit weer aan ("The morning is bellowing again," author of Curaçao)
1989 Hermine de Graaf, Stella Klein
1989 Koos van Zomeren, Het scheepsorkest ("The ship's orchestra").
1989 Rob Tuankotta, Also Spricht Tuankotta ("Thus Speakes Tuankotta")
1990 Jan Siebelink, De overkant van de rivier ("The other side of the river")
1992 Harry Mulish, De ontdekking van de hemel ("The Discovery of Heaven")
1993 Tessa de Loo, De tweeling (1993, "Twins")
1996 Abdelkader Benali, Bruiloft aan zee ("Wedding at the beach," author from Morocco)
1997 Marcel Möring, In Babylon
1998 Moses Isewaga, Abessijnse kronieken ("Abessinian chronicles," author from Uganda)
1999 Thomas Rosenboom, Publieke werken ("Public work")
2000 Vonne van der Meer, Eilandgasten ("Island guests")
2001 Louis Kruger, Wederkomst ("Second Coming," author from South-Africa)
2004 Willem Jan Otten, Specht en Zoon ("Specht and Son")
2006 Arnon Grunberg, Tirza
2009 Franca Treur, Dorsvloer vol confetti ("Threshing-floor full of confetti")
2012 Oek de Jong, Pier en oceaan ("Pier and ocean")
2012 Tommy Wieringa, Dit zijn de namen ("These are the names")
2014 Alexander Münninghof, De stamhouder ("The progenitor," author from Poland)
2014 Kader Abdollah, Papegaai vloog over de IJssel ("Parrot flew over the IJssel river," author from Afghanistan)
2018 Arie Kok, Zoete zee ("Sweet sea")
2018 Esther Gerritsen, De trooster ("The consoler")
2018 Johan Herrenberg, Nederhalfrond ("Lower hemisphere," the author is a GMG member)
That's new definition of "six", Christo! ;)
Quote from: ritter on February 10, 2025, 04:53:35 AMThat's new definition of "six", Christo! ;)
Sixty-two books, if I counted right. Ten Sets of Six or Six Sets of Ten, that is. :D
Quote from: ritter on February 10, 2025, 02:42:10 AMThe interesting but off-topic discussion has been moved here (https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,33928.msg1605199.html#new). I have called the new thread "Lower Saxon". If @Christo or @Florestan think another title is more apropiarte, please let me know via PM.
This note will be removed in 24 hours or so.
Many thanks, Rafael. With every Important Word I tapped on Low Saxon reality on the ground ('Lower' is also okayish, but 'Saxon' is a typical 19th century misnomer for what was/is the lingua franca of the North and Baltic region from 1200 to the present) to teach our Vlach-with-Latin-temperament one or two things about the Northern Barbarians, I felt the hot breath on my neck. From moderators with furrowed brows, I'm glad you got us out of our thorny position. Andrei and I can now argue as usual about Calvin's acid-sour Marxist-Leninism and the attempts of non-Romans to utter, well.
I am deleting this post again. :-)
Quote from: Florestan on February 10, 2025, 05:18:55 AMSixty-two books, if I counted right. Ten Sets of Six or Six Sets of Ten, that is. :D
I
had to skip some Low Saxons, sorry. :)
I probably ought to have included The Sot-Weed Factor in my list. John Barth died last year, and I knew nothing of it? Somehow, I've decided it's time for me to re-read Giles Goat-Boy.
Quote from: Mandryka on February 06, 2025, 03:40:28 AMWinnie The Pooh (Milne)
The Desire and the Pursuit of the Whole (Rolfe)
Ah, Winnie The Pooh and Hadrian VII - together at last! (Well, they do have one thing in common: they have the same middle name ("The")).
No derision intended - Pooh is quite high on my list, too - doesn't make the final cut, although I do find the end of
The House at Pooh Corner, where CR is explaining about going off to school in a terribly understated and English way, very moving, especially given what we know about Milne's actual son.
My own list:
Little DorritLight in August (Faulkner)
UlyssesThe Midnight Folk (John Masefield)
Lanark (Alasdair Gray), and
Powell's 12 volumes, of course
'Serious'
Stendhal
Turgenev
Dickens
Tolstoy
Flaubert
Dostoevsky
Thomas Mann
Hermann Hesse
Alessandro Manzoni
Cervantes
'Light'
Alexandre Dumas
Jules Verne
Eugene Sue
Paul Feval
Arthur Conan Doyle
Agatha Christie
David Lodge
Arturo Perez Reverte
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Quote from: Florestan on February 15, 2025, 05:01:35 AM'Serious'
In that case, my 'most favourite' authors, three of them won the Nobel Prize for Literature:
Dante Alighieri (Florence)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Saxe-Weimar)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia)
Lev Tolstoy (Russia)
Thomas Mann (Germany)
Willem Elsschot (Belgium)
Konstantin Paustovsky (USSR)
Czesław Miłosz (Poland)
Vasily Grossman (USSR)
William Golding (UK)
Jaan Kross (Estonia)
Amoz Oz (Israël)
Stephan Hertmans (Belgium)
Marilynne Robinson (US of A)
David Grossman (Israël)
Marcel Möring (Madalmaad)
Jon Fosse (Norway)
Quote from: Christo on February 24, 2025, 09:56:43 PMIn that case, my 'most favourite' authors, three of them won the Nobel Prize for Literature:
Dante Alighieri (Florence)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Saxe-Weimar)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia)
Lev Tolstoy (Russia)
Thomas Mann (Germany)
Willem Elsschot (Belgium)
Konstantin Paustovsky (USSR)
Czesław Miłosz (Poland)
Vasily Grossman (USSR)
William Golding (UK)
Jaan Kross (Estonia)
Amoz Oz (Israël)
Stephan Hertmans (Belgium)
Marilynne Robinson (US of A)
David Grossman (Israël)
Marcel Möring (Madalmaad)
Jon Fosse (Norway)
I wonder what is meant by serious, especially on a forum like this? Are there non-serious composers or writers?
I will say that every published person I've run into seems quite serious about what they are doing. :)
Quote from: hopefullytrusting on February 24, 2025, 09:59:34 PMI wonder what is meant by serious, especially on a forum like this? Are there non-serious composers or writers?
I will say that every published person I've run into seems quite serious about what they are doing. :)
There's only about 8 billion people around, there must be
someone who isn't dead serious. >:(
Quote from: Christo on February 24, 2025, 11:27:17 PMThere's only about 8 billion people around, there must be someone who isn't dead serious. >:(
No doubt, I just suspect such a person wouldn't be published - there's a certain level of arrogance required to publish something where others might read it.