Books/Literature Thread

[Redballjets88]

I have been on a bit of a reading kick lately so I thought I would start a thread where folks around here can talk about whatever they have recently read.

I haven't seen another thread like this so I hope this isn't a copy of an older thread.

This week I read Catcher In the Rye in about a day and a half, I loved it and really it pisses me off that it is so widely banned in schools.

Other than that I recently read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and have started reading Paradise Lost which has proven to be a very challenging read, so much so that the publisher has footnotes on every page.

Anyone else read anything good lately? Or have recommendations? I mostly enjoy reading classics. I want to read War and Peace sometime but it seems like a hell of a task ha.

[Nickdfresh]

...
This week I read Catcher In the Rye in about a day and a half, I loved it and really it pisses me off that it is so widely banned in schools.

..

Uh-oh.

[Nickdfresh]

Seriously, if you want to tackle Paradise Lost, I suggest taking a course on John Milton because so much is lost in translation...

You also have to read Moby Dick because it essentially is a parody of PL...

Which is the problem of literature, every time you read something, you need to read something that it alludes too to fully understand its context...

[Redballjets88]

Seriously, if you want to tackle Paradise Lost, I suggest taking a course on John Milton because so much is lost in translation...

You also have to read Moby Dick because it essentially is a parody of PL...

Which is the problem of literature, every time you read something, you need to read something that it alludes too to fully understand its context...

Ha don't worry about me shooting anyone over reading the catcher, it didn't get to me that much.

And yeah, it probably would be best to take a course to fully understand whats going on in Paradise Lost, but so far I have a decent handle on what is going on. I mainly will read it with my lap top on and a cliffnotes type site up so I can make sure I got everything in.

You're right about how so many books intertwine with one another, shit I could live at barnes and noble if they let me.

[Nickdfresh]

...
And yeah, it probably would be best to take a course to fully understand whats going on in Paradise Lost, but so far I have a decent handle on what is going on. I mainly will read it with my lap top on and a cliffnotes type site up so I can make sure I got everything in.

If you really want to fuck your head up, dump the Cliff Notes and get a book of critical essays written by college professor types as theses. You'll get into all sorts of often bizarre interpretations. Also keep in mind that there is a whole history behind Milton and he was persecuted I believe because he was an adamant Puritan IIRC...

He also wrote it blind using his daughter as a scribe, at an age (his 60s) when most writers are putting a gun in their mouth or retiring...

You're right about how so many books intertwine with one, shit I could live at barnes and noble if they let me.

It's often called "intertexts." It is when authors appropriate previous writers works' as metaphor or allusion...

But, actually, Paradise Lost is used as an 'intertext' in the film "Animal House" when Donald Sutherland is "teaching" it and calls Milton boring with terrible jokes...


As for the thread, I'm currently finishing up a WWII historical text on Guadalcanal by Richard Frank...

[Redballjets88]

Seriously, if you want to tackle Paradise Lost, I suggest taking a course on John Milton because so much is lost in translation...

You also have to read Moby Dick because it essentially is a parody of PL...

Which is the problem of literature, every time you read something, you need to read something that it alludes too to fully understand its context...

another thought...

I bought Ulysses recently, haven't started it yet, but like you pointed out it is a reworking of the Odyssey. From what I have heard it is a masterpiece.

[Nickdfresh]

another thought...

I bought Ulysses recently, haven't started it yet, but like you pointed out it is a reworking of the Odyssey. From what I have heard it is a masterpiece.

I took a course on it, you're going to have a tough time following the theme and the moment to moment action as it is "stream of consciousness" narration...

[Nickdfresh]

I'm reading Delta Of Venus by Anais Nin. It's a collection of short stories written by Ms. Nin when she and Henry Miller were paid to write erotica for an anonymous collector. The writing, the emotional content is more interesting than the titillating factor of the stories.

Interesting...I've read a little of Miller (Sexus I think) and recall an older lady giving me a dirty look and an older gentleman giving me a wry smile at the library...

[Coyote]

I've been on a Hunter S Thompson kick... "Hell's Angels", "The Great Shark Hunt"...

Started Miller's "Tropic Of Capricorn" again, and I gotta finish Dostojevski's "Brothers Karamazov" some day...

[Coyote]

Interesting...I've read a little of Miller (Sexus I think) and recall an older lady giving me a dirty look and an older gentleman giving me a wry smile at the library...

[sadaist]

A few recent good books I've read are "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom (it's much different than what you might think. I recommend it. He wrote Tuesdays with Morrie which is also a good read), "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Tolstoy, and "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Oscar Wilde.

I picked up a box set with three William Faulkner books...Light In August, Sanctuary & The Sound And The Fury. Haven't tackled them yet. I've been told he is a difficult author to read and I haven't had the concentration of late to start one.


And Dave's autobiography was a fun read. I especially liked the details on how they get paid after everyone gets a chunk. Can't wait for the next book to see what's really happening with this current reunion.

[Guitar Shark]

A few books (fiction) I've read over the last couple of years that I recommend:

Bel Canto
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Life of Pi
Like Water For Elephants

[LoungeMachine]

My Pet Goat has always interested me....

[Guitar Shark]

My Pet Goat has always interested me....

your poor goat.

p.s. This thread is about Books/Literature, not BestiaLity

[chefcraig]

Recently finished Mick Brown's Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound, a "take-no-prisoners" type bio on Phil Spector. Quite timely, considering Spector was just found guilty in actress Lana Clarkson's death.

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/non-v...ml#post1341657

[Andy Taylor]

I'm on bio kick lately: going through Zappa and Kate Bush bio's at the moment.

[chefcraig]

I'm on bio kick lately: going through Zappa and Kate Bush bio's at the moment.

Andy, if you wish to read a terrific book on Zappa, you must pick up The Real Frank Zappa Book. It is indeed written by the man himself, and edited by Peter Occhiogrosso. Laugh out loud funny, and more insightful than any book on music I've ever read. Yes, it does cover the man's career, yet also veers into other areas that are not only entertaining, yet enlightening as well.

[Andy Taylor]

Andy, if you wish to read a terrific book on Zappa, you must pick up The Real Frank Zappa Book. It is indeed written by the man himself, and edited by Peter Occhiogrosso. Laugh out loud funny, and more insightful than any book on music I've ever read. Yes, it does cover the man's career, yet also veers into other areas that are not only entertaining, yet enlightening as well.

Yep, it must be interesting to hear Frank's version of it. I saw various mentions of it and I was planning on checking up on it. Actually if you haven't read this one, the bio by Barry Miles is great too. He did McCartney's official bio. In this one he takes Frank's quotes from different places including the book you mention and he gives you a complete different perspective. Zappa thought himself a cool revolutionary type figure but Miles takes him down a peg or two. Funny thing is ... I'm not really a Zappa music fan. I appreciate the humour more than the music and he's a huge influence on Warren Cuccurullo so I wanted to check out more.

[Nickdfresh]

I feel self-conscious when I'm reading the Anais Nin book on the subway commuting to and from work. I hold the book a certain way so that no one can see the title, but if someone reads over my shoulder...oh, well.

I wouldn't worry, I doubt more than .01% of the population even has a clue who she is...

Henry James, however, caused an uproar with his "filthy" books...:0

[Ally_Kat]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

[Matt White]

Hmmm...lets see....

DEEP BLUES by Robert Palmer

MODERN TIMES by Paul Johnson

WISE GUY by Nicholas Pileggi

THE DISCOVERERS by Daniel Boorstin

THE GERMAN WAY OF WAR: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich by Robert M. Citino

[Andy Taylor]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

Wtf?

[Seshmeister]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

That's also the tagline on the New Testament...

[Andy Taylor]

One of the funniest things I've read.

[Nickdfresh]

A fun little quiz:

Mom's Homeroom - Learn ways to help your kid succeed in school

[chefcraig]

Just finished Dan Simmons' "The Crook Factory", a 95% true tale of Earnest Hemingway's adventures in Cuba during WWII. Hemingway took an assortment of drunks, millionaires, whores, priests, bartenders and fisherman and turned them into a counter-espionage ring, spying on Nazi's and tracking German submarines from a fishing boat. Through articles released via the Freedom Of Information act, Simmons was able to piece together a tale that is entertaining as hell, and totally believable. Real life people such as Ian Fleming and J. Edgar Hoover make appearances, along with some documents that lead one to believe that John F. Kennedy may have passed on American secrets to a female German spy in the early days of the war (When his father Joe found this out, Kennedy was transferred from South Carolina to the Pacific Theater).

Fascinating stuff, and as I said, a mostly true story.

[Coyote]

This week I picked up "Zen Guitar" by Philip Toshio Sudo, and I started on "The Montauk Project" by Preston B. Nichols & Peter Moon.

[binnie]

Books I'd recommend to anyone:

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

A dystopia in the vein of Orwell's 1984 but in more disturbing in many respects.

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace

A whodunit? with a serious of twists. It will make you question about how we can know anything for certain.

Siri Hustvedt - What I Loved

I'd call it a 'bitter love story' but that really doesn't do it justice.

Martin Amis - Money

A very slow start, but you'll be hooked after 150 pages. A burn out story about the perils of greed.

Graham Greene - The Burnt Out Case

One of his less 'obvious' novels (although they are all worth a read). Sad, funny, frustrating and compelling - one of those books that you can't tear yourself away from.

[Matt White]

[Pennypacker]

Im currently reading Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust

Basically, all Germans had a "radical eliminationist anti-semitism" in their nature, which eventually brought about the Holocaust. Much controversy around this thesis...

[FORD]

Gonna read this one next....