[archosman]

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Why would you reccomend this, is it good? LOL

Anyhow, thanks Frasey for opening the subject, as I've learned quite a bit from the recommendations

Bad spellers of the world, untie

Silly wise guys, untie

 

[mmwwhats]

Not a trilogy, not epic, and not deep... but oh so GOOD: Read Odd Thomas!

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperNothing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Second that Vonnegut is my favorite author. I am one or two books away from finishing all his books. Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle, Welcome to the Monkey House, Sirens of Titan they are all good. Just pick up any one.

Yes, a great author. I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, not far from the Midtown neighborhood where Vonnegut lived in a classic New York town house. The first time I saw him in public, at a bagel shop on a Sunday morning, I literally stared. I have never seen a celebrity who looked as much like himself as he did. He was extremely tall-- well over six feet -- and the mass of disordered hair was almost comically what I would have expected. He definitely cut a memorable figure.

I spotted him a few more times on the street in the last years before his death. His passing reminded me (and some others who wrote about his passing) that Manhattan is becoming a much poorer place with the steady dwindling of what is probably the last generation of successful writers, musicians and artists who can afford to live here. The neighborhood he lived in, the East 40s, has become surreal. A house like that today would cost between 10 and 15 million dollars. Oh well, at least we have a Starbucks on every corner.

 

[Fuzzy OneThree]

Native Son
1984 by Orwell (or Animal Farm)
A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
A Brave New World by Huxley
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain
Catcher in the Rye
Any Vonnegut (or Fahrenheit 451)
Ender's Game
Kite Runner

I haven't read all of those books, but I have heard excellent things about them

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzzy OneThree /img/forum/go_quote.gif Native Son 1984 by Orwell (or Animal Farm) A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens A Brave New World by Huxley Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain Catcher in the Rye Any Vonnegut (or Fahrenheit 451) Ender's Game Kite Runner I haven't read all of those books, but I have heard excellent things about them

Some great suggestions. I can personally vouch for Farenheit 451; truly a stirring work. And, given the current attitude toward reading books in this culture, more than a little frightening. I've also read a lot of Huxley (been meaning to get a copy of Eyeless in Gaza). Brave New World is a masterpiece, and any of his essay collections are also worth reading; I can particluarly recommend Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

 

[vagarach]

The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez, comes highly recommended, though I haven't read it.

Brave New World really is a superb work, and you can read it in a day quite easily!

I've been reading the Song of Fire and Ice Quadrilogy by George R.R. Martin, which is at times absolutely brilliant and at others tedious and dull, so you may want to check it out if a 1000 page (per book) fantasy saga is your cup of tea.

 

[fraseyboy]

Some more very good suggestions guys. I'll wiki and see if I like the sound of them.

A thing I'm a bit worried about is if the books are at my reading level. I don't want to read one of them, then not understand some of it or miss parts. Then I won't be able to read it later on in life, as all of the major plot will be ruined since I will know whats going to happen.

 

[BetaLyr]

You can hit up SparkNotes (if the book is on there) to fully understand the book.
Animal Farm, for example, is a political allegory of the Soviet Union and totalitarianism. For some people, if reading for leisure, it's harder to figure out, but most people should. ~90 pages, and pretty simple. SparkNotes explains it completely, too.
A Tale of Two Cities was another great classic. It has some more complicated symbolism, but is also on SparkNotes.

I'd recommend Johnny Got His Gun, but it was somewhat disturbing. It's about a guy who got injured during the war, and had to have all of his limbs amputated, along with his face. He also lost the ability to hear. So he's pretty much trapped in his own head.. It gets a bit confusing, too, because it's written as if it's a flow of thoughts, and lacks punctuation.

I also loved the Artemis Fowl series when I was younger. Haven't gotten around to reading the newer books, though. If you haven't read them, you should. It's sort of a kiddy series, though. But I read them in middle school and still enjoyed them.

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetaLyr /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can hit up SparkNotes (if the book is on there) to fully understand the book. Animal Farm, for example, is a political allegory of the Soviet Union and totalitarianism. For some people, if reading for leisure, it's harder to figure out, but most people should. ~90 pages, and pretty simple. SparkNotes explains it completely, too. A Tale of Two Cities was another great classic. It has some more complicated symbolism, but is also on SparkNotes. I'd recommend Johnny Got His Gun, but it was somewhat disturbing. It's about a guy who got injured during the war, and had to have all of his limbs amputated, along with his face. He also lost the ability to hear. So he's pretty much trapped in his own head.. It gets a bit confusing, too, because it's written as if it's a flow of thoughts, and lacks punctuation. I also loved the Artemis Fowl series when I was younger. Haven't gotten around to reading the newer books, though. If you haven't read them, you should. It's sort of a kiddy series, though. But I read them in middle school and still enjoyed them.

Yeah I love Artermis Fowl too

I'm re reading the 3rd book right now, just as a light thing while i decide what book to get.

That sparknotes thing is cool... Might be handy. I'll look up those books.

 

[Solan]

Jorge L. Borges: Labyrinths

You will probably not find any other single book of fiction with as much philosophical depth as this one. Still, it is well written so that you will find it very accessible sans any advanced degree.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Jorge L. Borges: Labyrinths You will probably not find any other single book of fiction with as much philosophical depth as this one. Still, it is well written so that you will find it very accessible sans any advanced degree.

I read some Borges (in translation) in college; if I remember correctly I was assigned a couple of short stories for my freshman comp course.

I've long since forgotten the details of those stories, but I will always remember Borges for what was possibly the greatest one-liner of all time. His opinion of the Falkland Islands war between the UK and Argentina?

"Two bald men fighting over a comb."

It just doesn't get any better than that.

 

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif I read some Borges (in translation) in college; if I remember correctly I was assigned a couple of short stories for my freshman comp course. I've long since forgotten the details of those stories, but I will always remember Borges for what was possibly the greatest one-liner of all time. His opinion of the Falkland Islands war between the UK and Argentina? "Two bald men fighting over a comb." It just doesn't get any better than that.

Borges was also a superb poet, which is why he was able to produce wonderful statements like that. Unfortunately, his ability as a poet doesn't shine through as well as it could in the official Penguin translation. Try to look around on the net and see if you can find his poems translated by Barnes and Mezey instead; they are stellar poets in their own right, and their translations are superb.

[size=xx-small]Now that you're dead, I wonder,
What heaven, don Nicanor,
Could be heaven for you without horses
or truco or knives or a whore?[/size]

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Borges was also a superb poet, which is why he was able to produce wonderful statements like that. Unfortunately, his ability as a poet doesn't shine through as well as it could in the official Penguin translation. Try to look around on the net and see if you can find his poems translated by Barnes and Mezey instead; they are stellar poets in their own right, and their translations are superb.

I will definitely look for those translations; I've been looking for something other than a novel to read lately.

Your point about the problematic nature of translated lit is something I've thought about over the years. I've read a few of the great Russian novelists, including Dosteovski, Tolstoy, and Solzhenitsyn, and I've sometimes had the vague feeling that something significant was lost in the translations. I think every language has idiosyncracies that to some extent mold and guide a writer's expression.

I read somewhere that Thomas Mann had a lifelong working relationship with his English translator. Even though he was fluent in English (I think) he chose to leave the translation to someone else. I don't know if that long association was the reason, but I found his novels to have the richness of language lacking in other translated works I'd read. Buddenbrooks is, to this day, one of my favorite novels. I am not ashamed to say that I have made at least three attempts at The Magic Mountain with absolutely no success. I felt like I was lost in a hall of mirrors within 100 pages.

 

[Motty]

Since you like some fiction and thoughtful books, how about "American gods" by Neil Gaiman. It starts out as a road trip novel and deals with mythology in a slightly gothic style.