Book talk.

by **spinwizard** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:11 pm

i love any book's 2 do with ww2

by **pitbull 993** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:12 pm

flashleg8 wrote:Just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it. I would highly recommend it. Can't praise it highly enough.

I just finished it for school and couldn't stand it. It is a classic so i understand why we read it but i got so tired of all of Holden's ( the main charicter for those who haven't read it) hang ups. I thought he was only looking for the bad in people and was a pervert so...... i wouldn't suggest it

by **flashleg8** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:13 pm

Machiavelli wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:Just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it. I would highly recommend it. Can't praise it highly enough.

I just read that book (for school). It was to goddam depressing and Holden was to goddam angsty. Goddam.

It’s certainly a bit depressing but I think he captures teenage angst beautifully. I read somewhere that they tried to ban this in US schools due to all the sex (pretty tame) and profanity (also pretty tame for modern standards), but that’s probably just the hard-liners as usual.

by **hecter** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:14 pm

I thought I'd leave a suggestion of my own after reading all this. Lewis Carols books and poems are good for a light read. He wrote Alice in Wonderland. It's actually really good, so don't dismiss it because it's been Disneyfied.

by **pitbull 993** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:15 pm

flashleg8 wrote:
Machiavelli wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:Just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it. I would highly recommend it. Can't praise it highly enough.

I just read that book (for school). It was to goddam depressing and Holden was to goddam angsty. Goddam.

It’s certainly a bit depressing but I think he captures teenage angst beautifully. I read somewhere that they tried to ban this in US schools due to all the sex (pretty tame) and profanity (also pretty tame for modern standards), but that’s probably just the hard-liners as usual.

That kills me
Hehehe

by **flashleg8** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:16 pm

hecter wrote:I thought I'd leave a suggestion of my own after reading all this. Lewis Carols books and poems are good for a light read. He wrote Alice in Wonderland. It's actually really good, so don't dismiss it because it's been Disneyfied.

Agreed - and don't dis it if you haven't read it but just watched the terrible Disney effort.

by **flashleg8** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:17 pm

pitbull 993 wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:
Machiavelli wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:Just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it. I would highly recommend it. Can't praise it highly enough.

I just read that book (for school). It was to goddam depressing and Holden was to goddam angsty. Goddam.

It’s certainly a bit depressing but I think he captures teenage angst beautifully. I read somewhere that they tried to ban this in US schools due to all the sex (pretty tame) and profanity (also pretty tame for modern standards), but that’s probably just the hard-liners as usual.

That kills me
Hehehe

Goddam phonies :lol:

by **Guiscard** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:18 pm

For sci-fi you can't beat Asimov. The robot stuff is absolutely mind-bending and the Foundation and Empire(?) series is brilliant too. Keep meaning to re-read them all actually, as I've never read them in the proper order.

Historical fiction I really rate the (non-Sharpe) Bernard Cornwell stuff. The series set in the Hundred Years War is really engrossing (as well as being reasonably historically accurate) and the King Arthur stuff is the best rendition of the legend I think I've read.

Just finished A Passage to India by Forster and Burmese Days by Orwell as part of a module on colonial India between the wars. Can definitely rate both. Orwell is pretty good anyway, to be honest. 1984 is a staple, but the non-fiction Homage to Catalonia, about his time in the Spanish civil war, and Down and Out in Paris and London are both engrossing and insightful. Down and Out actually takes my best ever book title. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck is also one of my favourites, as is To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

One more quirky book I've read recently and enjoyed is The Prestige by Christopher Priest. A brilliant book filled with engrossingly dark Victorian imagery, but the recent Movie adaptation was a bit of a let down. If you've seen the move then read the book, and if you've read the book DON'T see the movie.

by **btownmeggy** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:23 pm

flashleg8 wrote:Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it.

I have this problem with lots of books. I didn't go to a very good school until college (university), so I missed out on most of the learning associated with most people's basic education. However, I'm trying to catch up now.

by **btownmeggy** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:25 pm

Guiscard wrote:Just finished A Passage to India by Forster and Burmese Days by Orwell as part of a module on colonial India between the wars. Can definitely rate both. Orwell is pretty good anyway, to be honest. 1984 is a staple, but the non-fiction Homage to Catalonia, about his time in the Spanish civil war, and Down and Out in Paris and London are both engrossing and insightful. Down and Out actually takes my best ever book title. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck is also one of my favourites, as is To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

Holy moly, I love Orwell. He was an incredible writer, an upstanding example of what a democratic leftist should be, politically saavy, and quite simply, a GOOD man.

by **btownmeggy** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:28 pm

When people ask me for a book suggestion, I always say the same:

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

The original Spanish makes you understand what literary genius means, but there are many good translations, too.

by **Guiscard** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:29 pm

Interestingly, he started out pretty right wing and 'institutionalised' as a policeman in Burma. Didn't really realise how much his political views were galvanised by his experiences in Paris, London and Spain.

by **gordon1975** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:32 pm

im reading Conn Iggulden,s emperor series at the moment wich is brilliant,my all time favorite is Frank herberts Dune

by **Guiscard** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:33 pm

Actually yeh I read Dune, good stuff. Keep meaning to read the rest of the books. Are they as good as the first?

by **gordon1975** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:36 pm

some great ideas in them,but i found them dissapointing overall

by **unriggable** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:21 pm

On the subject of the Bible, L. Ron Hubbard's stuff is pretty funny...

Read 1984 - classic...

by **qeee1** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:27 pm

pitbull 993 wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:
Machiavelli wrote:
flashleg8 wrote:Just finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. Maybe some of you read it at school - but I just got round to it. I would highly recommend it. Can't praise it highly enough.

I just read that book (for school). It was to goddam depressing and Holden was to goddam angsty. Goddam.

It’s certainly a bit depressing but I think he captures teenage angst beautifully. I read somewhere that they tried to ban this in US schools due to all the sex (pretty tame) and profanity (also pretty tame for modern standards), but that’s probably just the hard-liners as usual.

That kills me
Hehehe

Catcher is brilliant, my favourite book. Holden doesn't focus on the negative, he focuses on the positive, but in a pure sense, and he hates all that obscures it. He points out concerns everyone has but no one talks about.

btownmeggy wrote:When people ask me for a book suggestion, I always say the same:

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

The original Spanish makes you understand what literary genius means, but there are many good translations, too.

I'm a big fan of borges, even if he does verge on being a little too mystical a little at times.

Orwell is a thoroughly admirable character, spoke out against stalinism in an era where (nearly) everyone else on the far left was ignoring it. The popularity of his books can in some ways be contributed to the capitalist countries championing it, and many people see orwell as the passge from left to right, but Orwell remained a dedicated socialist his whole life, and funnily enough the books championed by the right are in many ways reversed and turned against them due to the concerns raised in them.

As a literary figure, Orwell isn't that significant, his manner of writing isn't that brilliant, and his ideas aren't all that new, but he spoke with an integrity and truthfullness, that makes him irresistable.

by **btownmeggy** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:34 pm

I think Catcher in the Rye is generally a much more attractive book to men than to women. I first read it as a post-adolescent (woman), and really hated it. That is to say, I hate it. My partner first read it as an angsty, teenaged boy and loved it and loves it still.

But I really love lots of other Salinger! Seven Stories is phenomenal and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" rocks my world big time.

EDIT: Oh, and qee, it's funny what you say about Borges, as I rather agree, even though he was an impassioned atheist and, apparently, a great believer in chaos and nothingness. However, he was a philosopher as much as a poet, and metaphysics and mysticism hold much in common.

by **qeee1** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:47 pm

btownmeggy wrote:I think Catcher in the Rye is generally a much more attractive book to men than to women. I first read it as a post-adolescent (woman), and really hated it. That is to say, I hate it. My partner first read it as an angsty, teenaged boy and loved it and loves it still.

But I really love lots of other Salinger! Seven Stories is phenomenal and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" rocks my world big time.

EDIT: Oh, and qee, it's funny what you say about Borges, as I rather agree, even though he was an impassioned atheist and, apparently, a great believer in chaos and nothingness. However, he was a philosopher as much as a poet, and metaphysics and mysticism hold much in common.

I think Catcher speaks a certain truth, that has not found such beautiful or genuine expression anywhere else in literature, and to dismiss it because the main character is too angsty is a great tragedy. It's like dismissing Don Quixote for being too detatched from reality. Salinger's other works are also great, but Catcher is truly his master piece.

As for Borges I don't know much about his personal philosophy, I've only read the Aleph, and Fictions, both English translations unfortunately.

by **Skittles!** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:50 pm

The Day Of The Triffids was a great book..

I'm really wanting to read 1984, but I can't burrow it from the library cause they don't have it. Stupid.

by **hecter** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:52 pm

An author I like is Anne Rice, but she isn't for everybody. I would recomend reading one of her books though, so you know if you like her or not.

by **qeee1** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:56 pm

hecter wrote:An author I like is Anne Rice, but she isn't for everybody. I would recomend reading one of her books though, so you know if you like her or not.

I'm not a huge fan, well firstly I don't agree with a lot of aspects of her political philosophy, but also I think her characters aren't very believeable, they're too much based upon the underlying philosophies they represent, and cease to be characters.

by **hecter** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:57 pm

As I said, she's not for everybody, but feel free to comment some more everybody.

by **AndyDufresne** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:01 pm

Ah, one of my favorite authors...Joseph Heller.

I loved Catch-22...it was one of the few books I ever actually laughed out loud while reading.

And many other Heller books are pretty good, but I always smile when I think of Catch-22.

--Andy

by **Skittles!** on Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:06 pm

Also, another book that just came out a few months ago
-The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins..

I would think some people would of heard of this book. I really like it, also, the last time I checked, it was the #1 best seller in Australia. Quite a good arguement too.

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