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 Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:26 pm
I, myself, like Orwell, Le Guin, Heinlein, Huxley, Anita Brookner, William Gibson, Ayn Rand (I know, I know... ******** you too), among others...
Yourself?
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:37 am
ForeverMusing I, myself, like Orwell, Le Guin, Heinlein, Huxley, Anita Brookner, William Gibson, Ayn Rand (I know, I know... ******** you too), among others... Yourself? Orwell and Huxley are like... Gods! I loved Conrad alot too. (we even have the same last name whee ) I actually want a society like Brave New World. I think it'd be really successful.
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:03 pm
Y'know, after thinking about it a lot, I don't think I'd want a Brave New World. I was caught up between pragmatical, measurable gain and less-than-rational love of being free and creative, and I still am, slightly.
But the idea of having your feelings manipulated into loving a state, and existing solely for the sake of keeping the state existent just isn't attractive. There is no alternative to that world.
In a free world, although we may still have not found rational purpose, we still search for it. In Brave New World, there is no and never will be any purpose.
Make any sense?
BUT I SO TOTALLY WANT FREE AND MASSIVELY DISTRIBUTED SOMA!
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:20 pm
 Queen of RandomGreat books I've read in the past month that I really suggest include Babyji, Forever, The Hundred Secret Senses, Saving Fish from Drowning, and the Twentieth Wife.
I'm currently working on school-related books, so no fun for Lizzy.
TT-TT Lizzy the Great
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:26 pm
Oh gods... watch me never shut up now!Definitely -- witty narration, clever plot formation... who else could make farm animals so eerie (Richard Adams doesn't count -- Watership Down is just bunnies)? All in all, though, I think Orwell is one of the authors whose works don't stop being relevant.Eh... haven't read any, so I can't judge.Siddhartha is the only one I can think of off the cuff; I never had it as assigned reading, but when I picked it up a few years ago I found it very interesting and well-written.ForeverMusing Huxley, Anita Brookner, William Gibson ForeverMusing Ayn Rand (I know, I know... ******** you too)
As far as 'the classics' go, Dickens can kiss my arse (objections may be made to my high school english department), Steinbeck and Hemmingway can get in line, Twain can't be praised enough, Shelley 's terrific but probably needs therapy and/or rehab, Shakespeare's the man (when you ignore R & J -- Taming of the Shrew is awesome, and Othello was one of my favorites), Charlotte Brontë is love (not Emily -- HATED Wuthering Heights), and Jane Austen ftw.
I don't pick many of those up for enjoyment, though (well... Jane Eyre and the occasional Twain or Austen, maybe). But especially anyone who liked Jane, but is a great book anyway, I gotta mention The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. ^_~
I tend to like fantasies and historical fictions, especially when they're a little mixed -- Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series is probably a good example, but my favorite of hers is The Firebrand, an alternate telling of The Illiad. Sharon Kay Penman's got a couple historical trilogies I love, Charles de Lint's modern fantasy nearly always holds my interest, and Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series is (to me) classic. ^^
Michael Crichton, Stephen King, John Grisham... actually, SkyyBlueandBlack (one of my mules' profiles) makes full use of those interest tags. xp
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:24 am
ForeverMusing Y'know, after thinking about it a lot, I don't think I'd want a Brave New World. I was caught up between pragmatical, measurable gain and less-than-rational love of being free and creative, and I still am, slightly. But the idea of having your feelings manipulated into loving a state, and existing solely for the sake of keeping the state existent just isn't attractive. There is no alternative to that world. In a free world, although we may still have not found rational purpose, we still search for it. In Brave New World, there is no and never will be any purpose. Make any sense? BUT I SO TOTALLY WANT FREE AND MASSIVELY DISTRIBUTED SOMA! But imagine a world where everyone is just so totally satisfied with where they are in life. I mean I realize that it's a chemically engineered happiness, but we kind of do that now. (Not to the extend in Brave New World of course, but it's there) I mean look at drugs legal and illegal they all ******** with the brain and chemicals to make you think and feel ways you usually wouldn't (I mostly talking about anti-depressants and such.) I don't know, Maybe I just get all excited about it because the one thing I want is to be content with my life. But if you were searching for more than that you wouldn't really want the whole Brave New World thing. I also have a terrible time with my mother so the idea of being decantered is pretty much like.... the most amazing thing I've ever heard of. In fact the whole first chapter of the book made me go "Oh my God, I wish I was there, seeing that, talking to that guy. I wish I was born out of a bottle." I mean even if I was an Epsilon (I think that was the lowest class... I'm not sure.) I'd still be happy, you know, I'd have to be. I mean that's what I was born for. I think the only thing that would freak me out would be having like 87 identical twins... That was the only thing in the book that made me cringe just a little but still, I would deal if that world meant happiness and no attachments to parents and stuff. Oh man, it just sounds like paradise.
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:29 am
faolan Definitely -- witty narration, clever plot formation... who else could make farm animals so eerie (Richard Adams doesn't count -- Watership Down is just bunnies)? All in all, though, I think Orwell is one of the authors whose works don't stop being relevant. Oh man, I never got around to reading Animal farm. Someone told me to read Communist Manifesto first because it would help me understand it better but I know I would never be able to bring anything through my front door that had the word communist anywhere near it without my mother trying to shake the devil out of me. So I just gave it up. I'll get around to it someday, maybe when I go to college or something. I did read 1984 which was one of his books. It was so frightening though, for awhile I was so scared it was actually going to happen.
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:27 pm
hippiefoRk faolan Definitely -- witty narration, clever plot formation... who else could make farm animals so eerie (Richard Adams doesn't count -- Watership Down is just bunnies)? All in all, though, I think Orwell is one of the authors whose works don't stop being relevant. Oh man, I never got around to reading Animal farm. Someone told me to read Communist Manifesto first because it would help me understand it better but I know I would never be able to bring anything through my front door that had the word communist anywhere near it without my mother trying to shake the devil out of me. So I just gave it up. I'll get around to it someday, maybe when I go to college or something. I did read 1984 which was one of his books. It was so frightening though, for awhile I was so scared it was actually going to happen.
The good news is that it's a lot shorter than 1984! xd
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:19 pm
chibi-faolan hippiefoRk faolan Definitely -- witty narration, clever plot formation... who else could make farm animals so eerie (Richard Adams doesn't count -- Watership Down is just bunnies)? All in all, though, I think Orwell is one of the authors whose works don't stop being relevant. Oh man, I never got around to reading Animal farm. Someone told me to read Communist Manifesto first because it would help me understand it better but I know I would never be able to bring anything through my front door that had the word communist anywhere near it without my mother trying to shake the devil out of me. So I just gave it up. I'll get around to it someday, maybe when I go to college or something. I did read 1984 which was one of his books. It was so frightening though, for awhile I was so scared it was actually going to happen.
The good news is that it's a lot shorter than 1984! xd Oh yeah, When it got to the part where The Main Character from the book was reading a book I was like: "This is ******** ridiculous." Especially since my favorite character already died and everything. Oh, I just loved Syme to make that clear...
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:27 pm
Hmm.... I liked 1984 but I liked Brave New World better.
They're different but they're often compared. I think I liked Huxley's style of writing better. Although I do also like Animal Farm.
As for other authors, I actually do like Dickens. He does a good deal of unnecessary description but, I happen to love his subtle humor. I think it's something that is often looked over.
I love Oscar Wilde. The Picture Of Dorian Gray is one of my favorite books. I absolutely love Wilde's writing. I really just think the whole idea behind The Picture Of Dorian Gray is an amazing one, not to mention the characterizations are probably close to, if not the best I've ever read.
I love to hate Thomas Hardy. I've only read Jude The Obscure and some of his early poetry, but I don't care for his writing style. I think that the characters in Jude were very flat. Despite this, I understand and appreciate the message he was trying to get across through this novel.
I think that Shakespeare is a bit overrated. Yes, I like his writing, but I'm not sure that I agree that he is the master of the English language. I say this mainly because of the contractions that he would use in his writing to keep the plays in Iambic Pentameter (making them quite hard to read).
(Just two more..... heh.)
E.A Poe is also one of my favorite writers. I do like his poetry better than his prose though, so because this is a literature topic and I don't know if poetry is included, I'll refrain.
Lastly there's James Joyce. Although he can be rather cryptic in his writing at times, I absolutely love it. I especially like his short stories. The way he can take something so simple and have it blossom into something so complex.
Anyway.... I don't know there are sooo many more authors that I like but.... I'll stop here. 3nodding
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:19 pm
A little interesting thing about Brave New World. (Im 1/2 way through it.) Soma is what i think the ancient greeks called Mushrooms. The trippy kind.
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:35 pm
Gah! I take back what I said about Brave New World's Society being the greatest!
Island's Society is best! (Another book by Huxley)
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Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:40 pm
My favorite book is On the Road.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:15 am
Brave New World is a good book, but I would not like to live there. I'll take some soma, though.
Has anyone here read any Philip K. d**k? I'm really getting into this s**t. I totally recommend The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
I ******** love books. I'll read anything I can get my hands on. Kurt Vonnegut and Stephen King are particular favorites. I think I've read every book by King except the Dark Tower series.
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