BS: Books I should have read before

Subject: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 01:32 PM

At the tender age of 57 I am finally getting around to reading Steinbecks "The Grapes of Wrath" for the first time. I'm not sure why I haven't read it before now. And just last year I finally picked up "To Kill a Mockingbird". Who knows - maybe "War and Peace" is next.

Anyway - I'm fessin' up. Does anyone want to join me? Is there a classic book out there that you need to read?

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Morticia
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 01:43 PM

I don't know about need to but there are a few where I couldn't get past the first chapter, Dr Zhivago being one and any Agatha Christie being several others.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 01:48 PM

Probably all of Remembrance of Things Past - or however you prefer it translated.. I only ever got so far as Swann's Way.
And Ulysses, which for some reason I've barely sniffed the pages of.

War and Peace is great though, and definitely a one to put on your to do list.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 02:07 PM

John Steinbeck is among my favorite authors. In the '60s I started "Grapes" several times, but couldn't get through it. It remained in my library all these years, and finally about five years ago I did read it. Fifty years on I re-read "Of Mice and Men", "Tortilla Flats", and "The Wayward Bus".

Others that I've read long after leaving school, are Washington Irving (a collection of ghost and supernatural short stories)and E. A. Poe, "Murders in the Rue Morgue." I discovered the joy of rich description and complex sentences. In fact, I needed to re-read some portions to assure I understood the sentence or paragraph.

Reading is my favorite past time, and I am usually reading books concurrently, although not in the same sitting---usually something fiction, a history, and some other sort of non-fiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: David C. Carter
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 02:11 PM

Finnegan's Wake-Joyce.I have attacked it several times to no avail.

Scraped through Ulysses-just!

I didn't even make it to the end of Swann's Way.

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom awaits another reading but I'm halfway through-Democracy In America at the moment.

Have promissed myself Les Misserables,I've got to read that!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 02:20 PM

Thomas Hardys "Far From The Madding Crowd"... in which it gives an insight into how Folk music was in the 18th-19thc in the UK... where the farm labourers would all gather in the barn after the harvest and sup copious amounts of ale and ALL... even the tone deaf.. were expected to sing about whatever was happening or a fantasy of some sort. The film was great but I nevr really got round to the book ... which I am assured is ten times better than the film.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: heric
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 02:37 PM

The only classic I keep re-reading, believe it or not, is Moby Dick. They say nobody ever reads it. But it is what got me back into reading again.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 02:59 PM

That's some disease that you catch when swimming underwater isn't it??

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 03:03 PM

So many books...so little time. I slogged through Josephus, surprized myself and read Frazer's The Golden Bough probably 20 years back but it was one that I thought I would probably never read. I've read Moby Dick twice now and really got a lot more out of it the second time through. I can't really think of any, off-hand, that are prominent on my "to read" list right now. Will check back later. Good thread!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 06:39 PM

Recently (meaning sometime in the past two years or so) I reread "Moby-Dick" -- it was almost like reading it for the first time since I originally read it when I was around 14. And, believe me, at 14 I certainly didn't have the knowledge and experience to appreciate what a WONDERFUL book Melville wrote!

The edition I recently read was the Penguin edition with the notes -- which were as fascinating as the text itself. I can see rereading this on a very regular basis -- it's so rich in both knowledge and insight that I'm sure I'll discover something "new" in each rereading.

Stuff seems to be resurfacing lately -- my once-a-week lunchtime book/play right now is "Inherit the Wind" -- also a reread with the original reading of it in my distant youth. I'd read it so long ago it's as if I'm reading it for the first time.

I found that Proust was perfect if I was having trouble sleeping -- a couple of pages and I was out like a light. Could have been the translation, but never got further than "Swann's Way" (and I'm not quite sure how I managed that).

I'm reading a novel (also a lunch time book) about Poe, so I'm thinking of rereading what I own of Poe, short stories, poetry, etc., as well.

And my collection of James Bond books...

Too many books; not enough time.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 07:23 PM

Of the books that most people read in school, but somehow never got assigned to me, are Catcher in the Rye, Moby Dick, Animal Farm, and Sidhartha. On the other hand, I've read most of Steinbeck's books, and a good deal of Charles Dickens.

After giving it some thought, it just occured to me that with the exception of a few short stories, I've never read anything by E. Hemingway. I read the first chapter of a book called "Pylon" by William Faulkner, and I consider it time that I'll want back at the end of my life.

I've read three Russion novels: The Brothers Karamazov, Dr. Zhivago and Taras Bulba. They were great books, but I don't have the energy to tackle any more.

I tried Jane Austen (Emma) but I lost interest quickly. I can't even sit through movie or TV adapations of her works.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 07:32 PM

Trying to read 'The Dictionary" at the moment... not much of a story but some great words!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 08:46 PM

Hey Slag--
Which of Josephus did you read...or did you read all in the Whiston translation?
I wrote a term paper for Roman history class on the "Jewish Wars" way back when. In those days, the early 1960s (perhaps now too) Josephus was thought to be more of an apologist than an historian.
In this century there has been a resurgence in interest in Josephus. Steve Mason at York U. has been, along with others, translating and commenting on these works.   But the price per volume is very dear, so I'll head to an academic library to see if I can find them.
I have also read the Antiquities from the Loeb translations.

                     _________________________

Bat Goddess--
Is the novel with Poe as a character, the one where he helps to solve murders at West Point? I read that one a couple of years ago, if it is the same.

                      _________________________

Ranger Steve--
I must admit I've never read any Faulkner. But the movie, "Tarnished Angels," based on "Pylon" was pretty dreadful, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:27 PM

Just finishing my first read of "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"
It was the talk of 1943!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:38 PM

Faulkner and hemingway must be read. Two bona fide geniuses. I still don't se how Hemingway did what he did with such simple words and images. From plain pictures great, deep emotional patterns emerge, the untold story-told.

Faulkner is similar but whereas Hemingway does it in bold straightforward strokes, Faulkner does it with little strokes layering and layering until a fine masterpiece emerges.

John on the Sunset Coast; it's "Josephus the complete Works" translated by William Whiston, AM 12th printing, 1974. I believe I read it in '76 and on some rare occasions have returned to it as a reference. It is tedious and large sections are almost reprints of the Hebrew Bible but that is one of the very interesting parts. The variations in text demonstrate the Jewish mind and take on things at that moment. The "Christian Gloss" is kept in. I only wish I could have read the Greek translation. Yes it was an apology and you see that Josephus was an intelligent and diplomatic man. I have moved on from my original interest so I don't believe i will ever wade back into it but every so often something tweaks my memory and sends me back to it.

When I was young Poe was my poet, all melancholy and haunted. When I acquired a few ghosts of my own I moved on from Poe. Well, he's still there somewhere in the background, moaning about. I keep him walled up and it's only when I have a fine glass of port wine sherry that I can really hear him wailing.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Peter T.
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:41 PM

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a great book. I read it at the age of 16 and it changed my life.

I don't know about books, but this year I discovered the painter, Paul Klee. Never looked at his stuff much before, but now I am completely hooked on him, his amazing writings, and every single painting/drawing (10,000 at last count).

Read "War and Peace" -- it is blissful. If you can't read it, get the BBC version, with Antony Hopkins and Morag Hood. The most wonderful TV series ever.

Proust is great: the later volumes are quite different than Swann's Way, and way weirder.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 10:00 PM

Steinbeck's Red Pony was excellent, read many years ago. Also read what was it, A Light in August by Faulkner? I stole books off my brother's and sister's bookshelves when I was probably a tad young to be ready some of them one of which included Kafka's The Fly; it haunted me for a long time after.

I have always loved and read Poe along with my other "scary" favourite, M.R. James.

Haven't done War & Peace, though my grandma said everyone should. There are a bunch of others, too. I don't know if I'll ever feel inclined.

One I am reading online, except that I hate reading online, so it is slow going is Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Samuel Clemens.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Amos
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 11:21 PM

The Black Swan by N. Nicholas Taleb--an eye opening introduction to the recurring core lapses in human thought and logic, and how we drift thereby away from reality.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 11:33 PM

Lord of the Rings is a once a year re read for me.......; PGWodehouse's early stuff still makes me laugh out loud though his later stuff is very weak........; LOVED Bleak House and will read it again but could not come to term with Moby Dick at all.

This IS a good thread.....

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 11:55 PM

There are a number of books I should have read, but the fact that I have read John Barth's Giles, Goat-Boy and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, both of my own volition, makes up for at least a few dozen of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:24 AM

I re read at least two Jane Austen novels every year. I revisit Hardy and keep trying to do Dickens, but other than bleak House, I can't seem to get through them. I love Faulkner and have read As I Lay Dying anumber of times. As for Hemingway, I find him lethally boring..just me I guess. What classics have I still to read ? tonnes..But I now have on my shelf The Mill On The Floss by Eliot, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence and a lot of Victorian "pot boilers".
   Thanks for starting this, I kove these book threads, gives me loads of suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Bert
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:30 AM

I am afraid that reading books in school put me off reading bools that I SHOULD read.

Going through a book line by line and anayzing it as you go completely spoils it.

So now I read books that I shouldn't read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:32 AM

Different strokes for different folks, HiLo. It's funny that way. I think I've read almost everything Faulkner ever wrote, and loved every word of it, but I think Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea," is one of the best things ever written in the English language, and very short.
          Just finished "Heart of Darkness," by Conrad, and half way through "The Secret Agent."

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:12 AM

Funny you should mention the old man and the sea, I have tried reading it again as I did not like it the first time. However, I just could not do it again. I have always thought it a highly over rated book. Isn't it interesting what attracts us to certain books and repels us in others. Perhaps I will have one more go at it.
   I do love Faulkner and I think he is the best of all American writers.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Amos
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:39 AM

De gustibus non disputandum, I suppose. I have always admired the tight phrasing and intensity of Hemingway's direct style.

IF you like Faulkner, allow me to recommend Robert Penn Warren's lesser-known works, particularly "The Cave" and "Night RIder". Great reads.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: RangerSteve
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:02 PM

I can blame most of my English teachers for making books seem boring. All the analyzing and crap made reading seem like a real chore. English teachers don't believe in reading for pleasure. I read "Lord of the Flies" on my own and thought it was a great book, but I read it as an adventure novel. Later, I had a teacher who said "If you read it as an adventure novel, it stinks. You have to read it for the symbolism". We analyzed the daylights out of it, and it sucked.
Fortunately, I had an English teacher in 8th grade who was also a history buff. He did an incredible job of bringing old novels to life, especially Dickens. He was full of little details about everyday life in Dickens time. Because of him, I found those books enjoyable and was able to read most of them later on without being told to.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:14 PM

I suppose I should try some Austen again... Got force-fed 'Pride and Prejudice' at school - with the 'read a paragraph, analyse the shit out of it' approach mentioned above. To a girl, the whole class of 32 pre- and pubescent 12-14yr olds upped and mutinied against it. We got through the first chapter and then it was swapped for 'The Hobbit'. This was in the days before the Colin Firth TV version, which might have made a difference...

I knew I was growing up when I made it all the way through 'Wuthering Heights' and understood it and it remains to this day, the only Bronte book I have ever read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:28 PM

Colin Firth was in "The Hobbit" ?

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Peter T.
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:31 PM

If the thread is about books one should have read before, I am reminded of Tom Stoppard's remark that he read Madame Bovary too late in life.

Books that would have saved one a lot of grief or time that I should have read before include:

The top would be a music theory book (had I read one in my teens, my life would have been different).

Next, would have been a serious book on female sexuality -- a lot of amateur lust would have been avoided.

In a related vein, Carol Gilligan's "In a Different Voice" or Deborah Tannen's books would have been a big help.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 01:03 PM

I found myself earlier this AM deep in a part of the Bible I'd never seen, much less read, and it was there all the time. Since it was audiobook, with poor chapter announcements, I may not have it right, but it was Acts/Romans material. It was all about the philosophical differences between Sadducees and Pharisees, and then when I got up from my nap I Wikied into the Essenes.

And I'd never understood ANY of these differences, even tho a church conflict in which I am a peripheral "aide" so clearly comes right out of these three ways of looking at faith.

A truism I often offer people to think about church life is, "Oh, it's in the Old Testament exactly like that." Because people have been subject to many of the same tunnel visions for so long that IMO ANY ancient text will show things still going on today-- and it can help take the edge off an upset to realize it's the same old same old.

Well, anyway, this thing having these 3 views of the Jewish people will be VERY helpful to me in a number of ways!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 01:06 PM

"I do love Faulkner and I think he is the best of all American writers."

          Yes, HiLo, I agree with you there!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Morticia
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 01:29 PM

Hmmm, never understood how anyone doesn't love Jane Austen, she is my comfort reading when life is not so good. Thomas Hardy however...

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 01:35 PM

I suspect gender has something to do with it. I read "Return of the Native" several months back, speaking of Hardy, but for comfort I read Robert B. Parker.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Peter T.
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 03:59 PM

Gender has nothing to do with it (I checked). When life is not so good, I too head straight for Jane Austen. Bliss is very slightly forgetting some of the details of, say, Emma, and being delighted again by Jane's brilliance. You can't go wrong with Jane.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 04:09 PM

Well, Peter, you should try Robert B. Parker!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 04:57 PM

I'll fess up that I've read a large share of Robert Parkers stuff. Let's just say he's a man of few words.

You ready?

Yeah.

So we can go?

Yeah.

I'll drive.

Yeah.

Want a donut?

No.

Coffee?

Yeah.

OK?

OK.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 07:47 PM

I suspect Parker was a Hemingway reader at one time. In many ways, it's hard to understand why he's effective. I guess it's important to know which words to leave out.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 07:57 PM

re J.R.R. Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings"; in addition to being a friend and collaborator with C.S.Lewis He was a translator on the New Jerusalem Bible and a contributor to the American Heritage Dictionary. Thought you might like to know.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:29 PM

Really couldn't funciton without Jane Austen.....

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:07 PM

"...re J.R.R. Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings"; in addition to being a friend and collaborator with C.S.Lewis..."

                  I was really discouraged when I discovered that J.R.R Tolkien was snorting the same stuff C.S. Lewis was.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: meself
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:07 PM

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham. Would've saved me a lot of grief if I'd read it when I was young and impressionable ...

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Becca72
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 07:24 AM

I love Robert B. Parker! Few other writers can make me laugh out loud.
I still intended to read Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, the Lord of the Rings series and probably a few others I can't think of just now.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 04:32 PM

And what have you written lately, GUEST?

Put on my list to read Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here"

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 07:45 PM

Actually, that earlier "Guest" post was mine Slag. I didn't know it, but my computer was logged out at the time.
                The last book I published was "Invasion of the Bible Thumpers." A really fast read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 08:57 PM

Is that the one where Bibles fall from outer space and take over the forms of the lost humans while they sleep? You are feeling drowsy, veerrry drrrowsyyy! Thump, thump, thump...

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 09:39 PM

Well, Slag, that's not really the way it goes. But that's a good story-line you've suggested. It certainly bears looking into.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 09:46 PM

Sorry! That last post was mine (9:39). I was still logged out.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST,robomatic
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 03:04 PM

Finished "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and really enjoyed it. It was Smith's first book and was a sensation in 1943 for several reasons.
1)It was her FIRST book
2)It was HER first book
3)Had very poor immigrant working class heroes
4)Had frank sexuality and sexual amoral behavior
5)Female protagonist
6)Analysis in simple words of a failed father figure
7)Was taken for a near autobiography, although recent study suggests not.

It was a very rewarding book, and within the book the central family raises its children by reading from two books: The (Protestant) Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare.

As for Hemingway, I agree his stuff is simply hypnotic. I find Orwell similar in his ability to get important ideas across with simple words, and I think both were geniuses.

Robert B Parker is readable but doesn't really deliver for me, He and Kinky Friedman are in the same league, simple words, repetitive situations, non-clever plots and a kind of self indulgence like including pets as main characters for no obvious reason. A purer example of their style with pages dripping in testosterone would be Mickey Spillane rather than Hemingway. Diluted Spillane at that, whi ch is probably a good thing.

For the real mccoy check out John D MacDonald who could deliver on pretty much any topic; he was a genre maker with powerful imagery. Even the titles of his books rock, the best example being "One Monday We Killed Them All." His main characters presaged the sensitive male (who still had a pair). He also included a dawning ecological awareness which was very unusual for his time. Carl Hiaason's works are offshoots of MacDonald.

Greatest overall American writer: I'm a traditionalist, it's hands down Mark Twain. Before I left high school I read the collection of all his short stories and they covered a great range, including outer space, angels named Satan as best friends, and his satire of the Sherlock Holmes mystery.

I think Charles Dicken is going to move up to one of the ALL TIME GREATS as in Shakespere level, if he isn't there already. A Dickens book is a universe.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 08:49 PM

I've read a number of John D. MacDonald books. I liked Ross MacDonald better.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 02:26 PM

If you have any dalliance with Sci Fi, I would recommend T.J. Bass...IF you can find any of his works. He was like no other Sci Fi writer and had a chilling vision of the future, of what Mankind did to the world and of what the world passively did to Mankind in return.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: robomatic
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 03:33 PM

Rig: Let's not get into a feud of MacDonald versus MacDonald (with nary a Campbell). Ross MacDonald is very good but I don't think he's competitive with John D. They were in different genres.

As for Sci-Fi, Philip K Dick was a major mind-bender and way ahead of his time. In the 60's he was writing intelligently of alternate history, voyages within the mind, and trying to figure out if consciousness could distinguish between states of being. He personified one of my favorite bumper stickers:

"Reality - What a Concept!"

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 08:34 PM

The way I recall, they both wrote mysteries. John D. MacDonald's protagonist was Travis Magee, and Ross MacDonald's protagonist was Lew Archer. I would agree Ross was more along the hard boiled school--Hammet, Chandler and ect--but I wouldn't call them from different genres.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Peter T.
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 09:41 PM

I've read just about all of Robert Parker, and almost all John and Ross MacDonald. I still prefer Jane Austen. The others are sort of like potato chips, great, completely addictive, but not a full meal.

Raymond Chandler is in another league than the other three guys.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 09:54 PM

Chandler's plots often were lacking or confusing, but OH that use of language!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 03:02 PM

WOLFE, THOMAS!!!

Skip all of the interactive personal dialogue.

But read all of the amazingly poetic descriptive aspects of ALL of his books and short stories.

And then read those again whenever you need a Wolfe fix--- for as long as you live!

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Wesley S
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 03:21 PM

Thomas Wolfe? I just call him Tom. I loved "The Right Stuff" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test".....

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 03:59 PM

With Tom Wolfe, you can't go home again!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: robomatic
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 09:17 PM

I'm pretty sure it was Chandler who described a man formally dressed with a cravat that "looked like a tarantula on angelcake"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:49 AM

I think it was Chandler who told a journalist that when he got stuck on a book (some people call it writer's block now), he'd have somebody break down the door and run in and start shooting.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 12:00 AM

If you liked Philip K Dick do you like Poul?

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:34 AM

I have just read, for the first time, Anna of The Five Towns by Arnold Bennett. A curious and comforting book..in an odd way. I am now re reading Hardy, The Return of The Native. What wonderful writing. H e seems to have gone out of fashion of late...too bad, as he is the very best of Victorian novelists and can write rings round Dickens.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 11:42 AM

HiLo - I read "The Return of the Native" last winter. It's amazing how the characters stumble across all that stuff on the Salisbury Plain, that was placed there further back than anyone's memory goes, and they just kind of treat it like an object of nature, like a boulder or a tree.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: robomatic
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 02:26 PM

Hakman:

If you mean Poul Anderson, yes, but it's been many a year since I've read him. I can't recall anything with detail like I can with Philip K Dick, who was supreme at bending reality, just a bit misogynistic, and in general a lot of dark fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 02:46 PM

One thing I should have read before was the operating manual....

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Slag
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 05:08 PM

Philip K. Dick is sui genres, a class by himself: Ubik, Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said, The Man in the High Tower, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Radio Free Albemuth, etc. All great. all unique.

Yes to Poul Anderson. Fredrick Pohl's A Plague of Pythons was the first real Sci Fi novel I read and it hooked me! I didn't know people could think that way! I had read The Time Machine and Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter, Manhunter from Mars stories before but really didn't consider that there was an entire genre out there. I was very young.

H.P. Lovecraft, I have never read. Alas. I'll put that on my "To Do" list. (The cover art was a little off-putting.)

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: robomatic
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 08:34 PM

I keep a can of 'UBIK' handy for those 'cloudy' days, meself.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 09:01 AM

HiRiginslinger... yes, it amazing how the ancient artifacts are regarded as just part of the natural world. Hardy is a very nostalic writer I think, as many of his novels are placed in the generation or so before Hardy. I think he longed for the rural life of the past in the same way that many of us still do..in a romantic sort of way, don't you think ? I find his fondness for nature and his obvious depth of knowledge amazing To read Reurn of The Native is to spend a few emchanted hours in the "wilds" of Dorset....Now I am goibf to re read Far From The Madding Crowd.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 09:53 AM

The above thread was I, sorry, forget to identify myself

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 10:31 AM

Yeah, HiLo, I got the impression from reading Hardy that he was aware of society losing it's hold on something important. Reading him now only reinforces the extent to which he was right about that.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 12:11 PM

You only need to read one H.P. Lovecraft story -- "The Colour from Space" -- all the rest of them are more or less the same. But it is the only story I have ever read that gives you a sense of what a completely different reality -- with a different set of foundational principles -- might be like.   All the rest of his stories are creepy in the same way: our reality rubbing up against another. But this is the best.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 10:29 PM

Wondering if any non-religious types like myself ever read "The Last Tempation of Christ?" It made the "Christ" story more believable to me than anything else I ever read. And I know it took a lot of balls to write it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Wesley S
Date: 31 Mar 09 - 02:32 PM

I never read the book but I own the soundtrack CD from the movie. Great stuff recorded by Peter Gabrial. My wife owns a book written by the vampire queen Anne Rice about Christs youth spent in Egypt. I'll get around to it one of these days. You might find it of interest.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Riginslinger
Date: 31 Mar 09 - 02:42 PM

I've never seen the movie. I should probably look into it. I find Anne Rice hard to get into for some reason, but the story line sounds interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Books I should have read before
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 Mar 09 - 09:41 PM

Seeing as I am on the other thread...

Anything by H Rider Haggard.

Loads of others but I would include Russell Thorndikes 'Doctor Syn' and CS Foresters 'Hornblower' books as a must read. You will start to see what lots of other newer ones are based on.

Cheers

DeG