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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:06 pm
Figured we'd have a thread dedicated to various literary works seeing as we read through a lot of s**t. Plus I figure it'd be more encouraging for those of us that don't read Harry Potter. *points at Peppy's HP thread*
I plan for this to be the place to talk about stuff you like to read, plan to read, can't wait to read, and in addition to all of this recommend different books to people. Doesn't matter if it's a short story, novel, a "novella" (which is a fruity name), epic poem, cook book, whatever. Party over here.
At the moment I'm reading through a pile of books and stories for school, which range from textbooks to fiction works depending on the class. So far I've really enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. All of these books related to my class Reading and Readers so obviously there are similar themes present in them all. Fahrenheit 451 was fun because it was almost like Orwell's 1984 if the world was less severe and run by illiterate, violent folk; it also had a lot of thoughtful ideas regarding the nature of reading and what it can do to people. The Reader was a sweet human drama that makes us question what we think is right and wrong.
My Japanese Literature class had me reading some weird s**t. Especially one folk tale we were covering this semester (as we are doing classical literature) called The Lust of the White Serpent which had me laughing because the main character finds out his wife and her hot jailbait maid turn out to be White Serpent Spirits, embodiments of lust that, according to a priest, "take the form of horses to mate with strong mares, and then produce unicorns. Then the unicrons will make with other horses to produce dragon steeds." That bit and a part in the story where a priest tried to remove the serpents was frightened to death by a giant wailing head coming out of the main character's house, for some reason, had me laughing. Oh, and Snow Country is a s**t book. There is a plot and it's very progressive but because of the way the book is written you don't really care.
Required readings aside, I'm a huge fiction buff. Particularly sci-fi and fantasy books. Terry Pratchett's good for a laugh with his Discworld series and The Dark Side of the Sun. Neil Gaiman - as I'm sure many of you know - is very neat with the way he takes stories that have been overdone and giving his own twist to them. China Mieville is also a spectacular writer with his Bas-Lag books, for those of you that are looking for "anti-fantasy" or "weird fiction". A friend of mine also turned me on to Richard Morgan's books, which take place in a future where death has become nothing more than an inconvenience. And before the workload started pummeling me I was reading some stories by H.P. Lovecraft in an attempt to understand why ******** Cthulu has become so popular.
So! What do you guys like to read? Fiction, non-fiction, works of academia, poetry, gripping crime dramas, victorian romance, harlequin romance, chat transcripts, holy books, (rambles on...). Spare no details!
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:23 pm
I am an Anthony Burgess fan myself. I have read A Dead Man in Deptford and A Clockwork Orange. I love his use of symbolism and his unique writing style as well.
I also enjoyed reading Gormenghast, the Lord of the Rings trilogy plus The Hobbit, The DiVinci Code, and obviously all the Harry Potter books as well and the whole Hitchhiker's Guide series. I just finished reading The Clan of the Cave Bear recently.
I enjoy meany genres of books, but I perfer sci-fi/fantasy, humor, or some good old fiction.
Now, I did read through MANY books as required reading back in school, Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, and The Picture of Dorian Grey to name a few. I usually enjoyed the required reading.
I would enjoy discussing books with people here. I am a very avid reader, so this is right up my alley so to speak. In the guild I own, we have started a book of the month club which I find fun to read through (coincedentally, the book club is run by a member named LeVar Burton), but there isn't much participation in it unfortunately.
Edit: Oh! I left out On the Road! I enjoy Sheakspeare, Homer, and Sophocles as well (as for as plays go).
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:28 pm
I am not the typical literary fiend, nor literate person - particulary given the setting we are discussing [in].
I am re-reading a variety of classics.
As of yet I still have to read Snow Crash which is a shame, as so many people I know have read it. I am slogging through William H. Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy, and it is not going by quickly, though it is more an issue of my not having time with my own writing getting in the way.
Peter Benchley is a favorite author of mine. Jaws and White Shark are fantastic, though only Jaws is on my bookshelf. I have yet to pick up the other - though I trust I will at some point.
Michael Shaara is another author I have in my home, though I personally feel his son is not nearly half the author his father was. A shame really.
The entire Master & Commander series is fantastic, and though the author escapes me at the moment, I believe the series is outstanding, though each individual book is a little dry on its own. I'm still slogging through this series as well.
Joseph Campbell is another favorite, though he doesn't write fiction. The same goes for Jared Diamond, though I do not necessarily agree with everything in his books. I agree less with The Fifth Chimpanzee and more with Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Bradbury, Asimov, and Vonnegut are all regulars on my shelf, though I have also dabbled in the "mainstream" of Piers Anthony and Roger Zelazny. Though by dabbling, I mean "read all/most of Xanth/Amber."
You will also not that most of the fiction I read is from the 60s and 70s. For some unspeakable reason I really like the stuff from that particular era in fiction writing. It strikes me as much more raw and unrefined - and there fore to me, better.
The list for me is pretty extensive and I've probably missed out on a lot.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:34 pm
Unfortunately my reading is stunted at the moment. Though I do suggest David Lowenthal's "Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History" some real though provoking stuff.
I could suggest plenty of comics but most of my reading gets absorbed by Grad School's loom o' doom.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:52 am
Gibson's Neuromancer is dated, unreadable nonsense, important only because it was first. Yes, read Snow Crash instead - it is faster paced, funnier, and a true classic.
Speaking of Stephenson, now I'm reading his Cryptonomicon, his historical fiction set in WW2, having code-crackers portrayed as the first hackers. Intermingled with the WW2 era character's descendant working in the present day on encryption. A bit like DeLillo's White Noise, only far more entertaining, not to mention funnier... or Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, only here at least you know WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.
Then I heartily suggest China Mieville's weird fiction (his term, not mine) series , starting with Perdido Street Station. Amazing, amazing stuff - just been re-reading his latest, Iron Council myself - not for the plots, or even engaging characters (although Mieville's characters are unusually human, considering the world they live in), but the prose... wow. Mieville's grasp on language, even the poetic, is unsurpassed. Not to mention his gift in describing cities, especially the monstrous, malevolent megalopolis of New Crobuzon - a mixture of Industrial Revolution era London, present day New York, Pratchett's Ankh Morpork, and Hieronymus Bosch's paintings of the underworld.
And finally... bits and pieces of Hunter S. Thompson's Songs of the Doomed. Because Dr. Gonzo rules.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:49 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:34 am
I've been unable to read for pleasure since I earned my college degree. The years of constant reading just burned the joy out of the process.
Before that, I was reading a long list of authors. Works by John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Hunter Thompson, JRR Tolkien, Douglas Adams, Issac Asmov and others grace my bookshelves.
I also developed a taste for the works of the so-called "killer B's", aka Gregory Benford, Greg Bear and David Brin. I started with Greg's Blood Music, Heads and Moving Mars. About the same time I found Blood Music, I discovered Heart of the Comet by Benford and Brin. From there, I moved on to David Brin's Earth.
After reading The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling, I gave up on their style of writing.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:44 pm
Literature, eh?
Lesse... been a while since I read an old fashioned book.
Two off the top I can reccommend are Battle Royale (yes, there's a BOOK. As a matter of fact the book came first!) and The Neverending Story (yes, there's a BOOK. As a matter of fact the book came first!).
Battle Royale I found very entertaining because amazingly enough the writer (whose name escapes me at the moment) manages to create unique characterizations of all 42 students. And many of them get much more interesting deaths instead of just being blown away in a large group at the begining like the film did. I personally found it a very addictive read and finished it in a matter of days. I highly recomend it. I find it superior to both the film and comic.
The Neverending Story was a surprise find in a bookstore. It takes a rare full advantage of the medium of a published book. What happens in "our world" is printed in one color and what happens in "Fantasia" is printed in another color. There are two color illustrations at the begning of each chapter and the first letter of the first word of each chapter goes in Alphabetical order. So with chapter 1 the first letter is a highly ornate letter "A," the second chapter a "B" and so on.
The story is similar to that of the first two films, but the major divirgince is in the second half when Bastion enters and re-creates Fantasia. He does lose his memories over time and becomes power mad, trying to crown himself king of Fantasia when the Child-Like Emperess won't speak to him again (a rule of Fantasia is that you can only see her once). Atreeu ends up mounting a rebellion against him in order to save his corrupted friend. Very engrossing.
And just because comic books are litterature as far as I'm concerned...
Animal Man. The first (and only) three trades of the first 24 issues of the book spotlight Grant Morrison's run on the title and dammit it's good. This book also takes full advantage of the medium and plays with the idea that characters in a comic book are put through hardships merely for the amusement of us, the auidience. During a peyote-induced hallucination Animal Man actually sees the reader and later on takes advantage of his knowledge of existance as comic book in order to step outside of the panel and remove his enemies from being. The penultimate issue is the last, where after going on a journey through limbo he ends up at the door of his writer, Grant Morrison.
Also, a recent find: Imperfect Hero. A Japanese comic published by ComicsOne. This is only enjoyable if your're a sentai fan like myself. The premise is basically this: A member of a sentai team is living with a member of the villians. The villian has come to earth to look for a boyfriend and the sentai member is too much of a coward to say anything about it. On top of that you have the characterizations which is what makes the book so funny. The Villianess is a total spaz but a cutey. The Green Ranger is too much of a coward to take her out when she's living with him. The Pink Ranger has a crush on the Green Ranger and is insanely jealous of this new girl he's living with. The Red Ranger is a total glory hog and never takes his suit off. The Blue Ranger is an otaku and the Yellow ranger is well...well he's your typical quiet spoken fat guy. Again, only funny if you're a sentai fan but I'm loving it.
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