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BS: Books to read before one dies
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Subject: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Dewey Date: 11 Apr 11 - 03:19 AM Life is short- ideas are precious when known about and implemented here in this life. I have a small list of books that have truly impacted my life and how I live it. I would like to hear your list of recommendations as well. please do me a favor and share them in this thread. My book list of profound books is small, but is as follows. 1. Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill 2. The Bible 3. The Power of Positive Thinking, Dr, Norman Vincent Peale 4. Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends And Influenece People ***Think and Grow Rich, and the parables of the New Testament have been my biggest help of all time. I am interested in books on philosophy (unified truth) and psychology self improvement especially- but open to all other suggestions as well. Dewey |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: BlueJay Date: 11 Apr 11 - 03:46 AM The Grapes of Wrath |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,mauvepink Date: 11 Apr 11 - 04:18 AM I guess alongside the Bible one could say any other major religious work too i.e The The Holy Qur'an as perhaps if people knew it as well as many Bible passages there may be less fear. Though I am agnostic I can still find things in the Bible that are marvellous and inspiring. It is a wonderful literary work. I have not yet took the time to try and read any of the Qur'an but it is is on my 'to do' list Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" is another greatly misunderstood work but I would also add Richard Dawkin's "The Blind Watchmaker" and "The Selfish Gene" in this category. Hot on their heels would be Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" "Queen Victoria's Gene" (whose author eludes me just now) is a great piece of writing about the effects that haemophilia had on the modern history of Europe. Truth IS stranger than fiction and this book proves no exception George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and Richard Bach's "Jonathan Livingston Seagul" back to back. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon on a secluded beach reading. Paul Galico's "The Snow Goose" could easily be read in such a time too but is not as philosophically intense as the two mentioned previously. This is an impossible task, I have come to realise, as I look across to my bookshelves. Far too many books that should be read and only one lifetime to do them in that it's hard to go back and read some again. ... but then I can get lost in chick-lit too and there are some astounding novels out past and present. mp |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Apr 11 - 06:08 AM Derbyshire telephone directory - essential for finding a Derbyshire number (I have found) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: JHW Date: 11 Apr 11 - 06:10 AM Might leave the Bible till after; more time and they should have a copy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Wesley S Date: 11 Apr 11 - 07:26 AM Ragtime by EL Doctrow and To Kill A Mockingbird. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray Date: 11 Apr 11 - 07:41 AM Death & books; God knows life's too short - I expect on my death-bed I'll be cursing the days, weeks, months, years I've wasted in reading about life instead of just living it. The Bible? Short of the anal sex in the Song of Solomon there's nae a joke in the hale beuk!, just a load of impotent resentment and empty promises. If it's philosophical enlightment you're looking for try The Desperate Dan Book 1979 (if you can find a copy - I saw one in Oxfam in Preston recently) which recycles some epic tales from the pen of Dudley D. Watkins, who as well as inventing Oor Wullie, The Broons, Lord Snooty, Desperate Dan and a host of others, also found time to illustrate Bible stories (not the anal sex in Song of Songs 5:4 I hasten to add) and religious tracts, as well as a touching scene of the crucifixion which turned up a few years back. Still wary of Fakesong, I'm currently on with I, Claudius by way of night time reading, which is the perfect example of something Mark E. Smith once said in an interview. MES: The book world's a crap world really. Journalist: Worse than the music world? MES: Yeah - because it asks more of you and offers you less. Amen to that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: theleveller Date: 11 Apr 11 - 08:10 AM Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis (more famous for Zorba the Greek). He wrote the book when suffering from a terminal illness and it is part autobiography and part fiction. It begins: "I collect my tools: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, intellect. Night has fallen, the day's work is done. I return like a mole to my home, the ground. Not because I am tired and cannot work. I am not tired. But the sun has set." The simple, poignant epitaph on his grave sums up his philosophy: I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: The Sandman Date: 11 Apr 11 - 08:59 AM please ,...dont waste your time on pincher marten, or any book by martin amis, amis seems not to understand that writing beautiful english is not enough , that a story with a plot might make his books less boring, likewise william golding and pincher marten. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Will Fly Date: 11 Apr 11 - 09:19 AM Oh, I dunno, Dick - "The Lord Of The Flies" is a pretty interesting read... :-) As for meself, I'd recommend "War And Peace" any day, and Edward Heron-Allen's "The Violin As It Was And Is", plus "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" and my (almost) complete collection of Rupert Bear Annuals. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Bert Date: 11 Apr 11 - 09:43 AM Just a few to start with. All of Lewis Carroll except maybe Sylvie and Bruno. Wilt by Tom Sharpe. Trapp's War by Brian Callison. 73 North by Dudley Pope. The histories of Herodotus. Looking for Dilmun by Geoffrey Bibby. Arabia Felix by Carsten Niebuhr. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Rapparee Date: 11 Apr 11 - 10:27 AM Well, then I won't die. See, I always have three or four books going at once and if I finish ONE then there are the others I have to finish, only I start a new one, so I'm never finished. Hence I can't die. But I'm not going to read any more Henry Miller. One was more than sufficient. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 11 Apr 11 - 02:08 PM mauvepink mentioned Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." I recently reread "The Voyage of the Beagle"- The text has been shortened in some editions, leaving out his comments on the people, their customs, etc. "The Leopard," Guiseppe di Lampedusa. The author was 'the Leopard', the wealthy nobleman who owned the olive groves, the vineyards, and was 'don' to the people. His classic work chronicles the change from the old ruling class order to the takeover by the merchant class and the initial development of a middle class. Part novel, part autobiography, it is history without boredom. Small Lampedusa was a microcosm of the changes that swept Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. This also is a favorite re-read. I have put "Don Quijote," to shorten the title, on my bedside table, and will read that one again. Ones new to me? I have too many old favorites. But some of those mentioned here probably will twig my interest. "Report to Greco," a likely one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Jack the Sailor Date: 11 Apr 11 - 03:41 PM Mortality For Dummies? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 11 Apr 11 - 07:44 PM Re: The Histories of Herodotus Hand to heart, this is a true story. About 25 years ago I went into the local Crown Bookstore (a chain now unlamentedly out of business) seeking a copy of subject book. The clerk asked me who wrote it!!!! ---------------------------------------- A full unabridged translation (into English) of The Count of Monte Cristo. Actually I don't want to read it, but I've never seen one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Rapparee Date: 11 Apr 11 - 08:13 PM Hugo go and read the "Count of Monte Cristo" and I'll read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame*" and we'll see who comes out the Victor. *Not the be confused with the quarterback or halfback of Notre Dame. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 11 Apr 11 - 08:28 PM Very nice, Rapparee, clever. At Southern California (USC) they thought the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame were the same as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse back in the Knut Rockne days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Joe_F Date: 11 Apr 11 - 09:12 PM Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: J-boy Date: 11 Apr 11 - 11:05 PM All of them,preferably. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: catspaw49 Date: 12 Apr 11 - 12:21 AM The list is ridiculously daunting. I think it is easier to pick a number one. And you do it like this..............Think about "Fahrenheit 451" where they are burning all books so the book people all pick one book which they memorize to pass on. I pick "To Kill A Mockingbird." Harper Lee only wrote one novel but it is hands down the best of the latter half of the 20th Century........it actually was voted that title. She was a close friend and associate of Truman Capote. Every time I read the book I am completely in awe of her greatness in content, message, and delivery. Her style captivates you and puts you into every scene. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Patsy Date: 12 Apr 11 - 04:03 AM It all depends on how long I've got. It would have to be everything that I enjoyed reading as a girl growing up from comics like Topper, Beano, Diana, Jackie, books like Little Women, Mary Poppins which isn't quite like the film, Paddington, Children of the New Forest, A-Z of Rock and Pop Music and movies and Kings and Queens of England. I am not a royalist, it's just the ones in-between the well known monarchs I can never quite remember the actual sequence they came in. I do find the story of them fascinating and gory in places. Makes me feel quite glad to be a peasant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 12 Apr 11 - 04:06 AM The Wind in the Willows...and...The Secret Garden. I have two exquisitely illustrated versions here, bought when I worked for The National Trust.. I'm saving reading them for a 'special' time. Maybe The Twilight Time would be a good time... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Jim Carroll Date: 12 Apr 11 - 05:12 AM Not long before he died my father asked me if I'd read The Grapes of Wrath. When I said I hadn't (I was in my early 20s), he replied, "I envy you - you have that to come". He was right Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 12 Apr 11 - 07:12 AM I agree with your father, Jim, it's one helluva book. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Bert Date: 12 Apr 11 - 01:32 PM The Owl and the Pussycat in French, illustrated by Monique-Alika Watteau |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Herga Kitty Date: 12 Apr 11 - 01:39 PM Shouldn't the thread title be just "books to read, while you can?" Or is there a separate list for after you die? Kitty (who will live and die a pedant...) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Jim Dixon Date: 12 Apr 11 - 02:47 PM When I first read the thread title, I took it to mean "Books I want to read" rather than "Books I have already read that I think you should read, too." And I took the "before one dies" clause to mean "someday, but not right now!" With that in mind, my list would be: Remembrance of Things Past (Proust) Ulysses (Joyce) – and if I make it through that, maybe Finnegan's Wake. The Life of Samuel Johnson (Boswell) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Doc John Date: 12 Apr 11 - 02:51 PM Some already mentioned but: Origin of Species - Darwin Evolution of Physics - Einstein & Enfield The Alice Books - Lewis Caroll His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman History of the Crusades - Steven Runciman The Leper King - Hamilton The Tyranicide Brief - Geoffrey Robertson From the Holy Mountain - William Dalrymple Dickens's complete works - on DVD! The Dickens Index to explain them 1984 - Orwell The William Books - Richmal Compton 120 Days of Sodom, Justine & Juliette - de Sade 1001 Nights The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 13 Apr 11 - 04:13 AM Yes but nobody is going to say, well i don't mind popping me clogs now I've read THAT book. I can sympathise with John Betjeman's lament before death, that he never felt he had had enough sex. Is anyone going to say, i wish I'd read The Anglo Saxon Chronicle? Jaysus! I wish me and Piers Plowman had got it on. There are already several books that I wasted my youth reading, and I wish I'd never given them the time of day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Stu Date: 13 Apr 11 - 04:33 AM I have to say, I read the Grapes of Wrath last year and that book's still with me. I wish I'd read it 20 years ago. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster Now We are Six by AA Milne The Border Trilogy by Cormac Carthy. Genius. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: GUEST,Doc John Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:11 AM All fiction is rubbish really: just a load of made up stuff about people who didn't exist. Q1:Discuss the character of Hamlet. Well, you can't can you: he didn't have one because he didn't exist, having being made up by some Tudor/Stuart chap. Now, if historians could write really well, there'd be no need of fiction at all. Can someone remind me who said that? Except myths, of course. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Dave Hanson Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:30 AM Life's too short to read ' War And Peace ' Definately read 1 The Grapes of Wrath, 2 Of Mice and Men, 3 To Kill a Mockingbird Dave H |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Bert Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:31 AM ...All fiction is rubbish really... but NOT "The Owl and the Pussycat" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Michael Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:05 AM To combine two threads:- 'If Today Was Your Last Day......'. I for one wouldn't bother reading. Mike |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Midchuck Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:36 AM "On the Beach" - to realize how incredibly lucky we've been over the last sixty-five years, no matter how we bitch and moan. Peter. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Joe_F Date: 13 Apr 11 - 09:11 PM "if historians could really write well" At least one of them could: Gibbon. Open _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empir_ to a random chapter, and read. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Deckman Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:44 PM "The Kalevala" ... all four Inglish translations. bob(deckman)nelson |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: J-boy Date: 14 Apr 11 - 01:40 AM I'd suggest you read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It's miserable as hell but it will give you an appreciation of what we have and more importantly what we stand to lose. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Cats Date: 14 Apr 11 - 09:53 AM Tess of the D'Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy. Not only is it an amazing story but you can sing along with the songs, hum the tunes and join in with the dances. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Books to read before one dies From: Micca Date: 14 Apr 11 - 03:45 PM I suppose ,for me, the one I feel evrey one should have read at least one is.... "The Rubyat of Omar Khyyam" (Fitzgerald trans) It Is a poem, it is a philosophy, a celebration and affirmation of life and a reminder of how transient it all is ,in one book! |
