Post: #26

"Atlas Shrugged"- Ayn Rand.

Post: #27

Speaking of Vargas Llosha, "Captain Pantoja and the Special Service" had me laughing so hard I was crying. "The War of the End of the World" is a masterpiece.

Post: #28

Sea Wolf ~ Jack London

Post: #29

The Alchemist isn't a good piece of literature, but it does make people feel good about themselves, in the same vein as The Secret and Celestine Prophecy. Caters to the new-agey types. (Women)

Post: #30

^cosign that

Post: #31

Interesting replies

Post: #32

(01-12-2012 04:19 AM)the chef Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 06:31 PM)G.L.Piggy Wrote:  Post Office by Charles Bukowski

can you explain why? i just finished reading this book the other day and thought it was overrated. a few good laughs in the beginning chapters but pretty forgettable after that.

1984 has to be my favorite novel. read it in high school and finished it in 3 days. have been rereading it every year since then.

basically i liked the mood he set. i know it isn't the best book ever written but it is subtly funny and sort of wore on me like a good neighborhood bar or a favorite t-shirt.

Post: #33

Orwell's definitely up there with "Animal farm" or "1984"

His essays,and other novels are interesting too.Also "Down and Out in London and Paris" a powerful social document.
He wrote so clearly and precisely ;he was way up on all the political language and manipulation of populations.

Also one of my favourites:

"Player Piano " by Kurt Vonnegut

A real eye opener when it comes to the increasingly global world ,industrialisation,computerisation and mechanisation ,and keeping your humanity.
Funny..believe it or not,and way ahead of it's time ,written in1952.
I need to read more of his stuff.

Post: #34

bump this.

in the past month i've read:
-slaughterhouse five
-crime and punishment
-fear and loathing in las vegas
-the rum diary

and i have to say i was kind of disappointed with all of them. nothing was really that memorable. the storyline of slaughterhouse five was really well thought out but i am not a big fan of vonnegut's writing style, it just isn't very entertaining to me. crime and punishment was a good character study but i didn't really find it compelling to read. fear and loathing and the rum diary were both quick reads that were amusing for a bit but pretty forgettable.

i'm wondering what novel to start next... thinking of "atlas shrugged" just because that everyone believes that it's the greatest novel ever written. a friend who's read the book told me it's a bunch of pretentious philosophical jargon though. not sure if i should buy it or not.

Post: #35

Blindness - José Saramago

Post: #36

(01-12-2012 04:19 AM)the chef Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 06:31 PM)G.L.Piggy Wrote:  Post Office by Charles Bukowski

can you explain why? i just finished reading this book the other day and thought it was overrated. a few good laughs in the beginning chapters but pretty forgettable after that.

1984 has to be my favorite novel. read it in high school and finished it in 3 days. have been rereading it every year since then.

you should read "we" by zamyatin. same style, similar story written early 1900 but was banned/censored until recently. I like it way better than 1984.

Post: #37

thanks, i'll check it out

Post: #38

(01-11-2012 06:36 PM)TheShiningOne Wrote:  The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (and The Tell of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu)

This. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. The Sound and The Fury By William Faulkner and As I Lay Dying by the same author.

Faulkner is my favorite writer.

Post: #39

(01-13-2012 09:42 AM)ATTA Wrote:  Sea Wolf ~ Jack London

^
dito

Post: #40

I'm only a couple dozen pages into Youth In Revolt, and I'm willing to put it into my top 10 already. I don't think I can name a favorite...maybe East Of Eden or The Fountainhead.

Post: #41

Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Post: #42

read a few pages of "the rum diary" tonight and was intrigued. i can already tell it's much better than fear and loathing.

Post: #43

I've got addicted to entrepreneur and self-help books now that I just don't consider novels Can someone enlighten me how novels make you a better person? Isn't it like watching a movie?

The only benefit I can sense is if you read romance novels, you can use what you read on women and talk/describe your way into making her horny for you.

Post: #44

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Post: #45

Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

Post: #46

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
Talk - Carl Hancock Rux
Twelve Sons - Franz Kafka

So many to list but those will do for now.

Post: #47

Most of Orwell's works are excellent. I return to them every couple of years.

Anthony Burgess wrote some great novels too. A Clockwork Orange is possibly my favourite novel of all time. 'Honey for the bears' was a great novel too with a lighter story line.

A few randoms I love:

Metroploe by Ferenc Karinthy
Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury
Archangel by Thomas Harris

Post: #48

(03-12-2012 12:10 AM)Freedom Wrote:  I've got addicted to entrepreneur and self-help books now that I just don't consider novels Can someone enlighten me how novels make you a better person? Isn't it like watching a movie?

The only benefit I can sense is if you read romance novels, you can use what you read on women and talk/describe your way into making her horny for you.

Studying Literature gives you a base from which to work and understand the world.

I always recommend reading the classics as an introduction to forming a paradigm from which one can start deciphering knowledge.

Literature gives a way into the world that goes beyond the confines of politics, economics, history, psychology, law etc.

Yeah, whatever, I majored in English so I have to defend my useless degree.

Post: #49

(03-12-2012 12:24 AM)MHaes Wrote:  Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

+1

Post: #50

(03-11-2012 11:47 PM)the chef Wrote:  read a few pages of "the rum diary" tonight and was intrigued. i can already tell it's much better than fear and loathing.

was off today so i finished this book. it was very good. much better than fear and loathing. i can definitely see how thompson's writing has played a big influence on bourdain... the commentaries towards the ends of the chapters were memorable.

i'd reread this book in a few months.