| Topic Summary |
| Posted by casimira on Jan 14, 2010, 5:31pm |
| I don't recognize any of them T63. But, I am in full agreement with Bixa on your previous recommendations in the other thread. |
| Posted by traveler63 on Jan 14, 2010, 7:23pm |
I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife. I must say it was written well, but somewhere I lost interest in it. I know everyone that has read it just loved it, but while it was a good book it wasn't my cup of tea. What did I miss?
Thanks Bixa for your input. Somehow, since I got back from vacation, it has been so busy that I haven't been reading as much as usual. I haven't read any of the "The Girl Who......." books and I am patiently waiting for some of the reserves that I have, it seems everyone is reading the same books from the library. So, hopefully I will catch up quickly here. I just started Rules of Vengeanceby Christopher Reich. Yes it is a thriller, but it is so much better written, more like a Ludlum book(which I loved the Bourne sagas). I will let you know how I like it. |
| Posted by casimira on Jan 14, 2010, 11:03pm |
I went ahead and bought Mafouz's ,"Palace Walk" today. I have generally liked most of Tilly's choices.Now it's in her top ten...  |
| Posted by kimby on Jan 15, 2010, 12:32am |
Rather than go for my alltime top favorites (that was my first list), I'll add 5 that I loved recently, assuming that they should be on the list for voting purposes whether they are the most worthy books or not.
1. Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
2. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
3. the curious incident of the dog in the nightime - mark haddon
4. Follow the River - James Alexander Thom
5. River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt - Wilbur Smith |
| Posted by tillystar on Jan 15, 2010, 10:06am |
I hope you enjoy it Casimira. I am feeling pressure ha ha. I particularly loved it as it reminded me of a street in Marrakech that I stayed on once and I could picture the sights and sounds and people I met…I hope it transports you too!
I am taking a recommendation from you and have borrowed The Children’s Book back (books are great gifts ha!), I was going to start it last night but fell asleep. I have never been keen on AS Byatt, but since both you and my Mum raved about it I’ll give her another go!
|
| Posted by casimira on Jan 15, 2010, 11:14am |
I am deep in "Palace Walk "Tilly,I can't put it down.Rarely does a book grab me that early on.I am absolutely enthralled with.Thanks.
I do hope you enjoy the Byatt.I found it was one of those books I know I will go back and read again. |
| Posted by traveler63 on Jan 15, 2010, 7:17pm |
| River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt - Wilbur Smith. I love anything by Wilbur Smith and have just finished the Assegai which is one of my favorites. |
| Posted by kerouac2 on Jan 21, 2010, 1:25pm |
Second list:
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
Tim - Coleen McCullough
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
Monkey Grip - Helen Garner |
| Posted by kimby on Jan 26, 2010, 5:29pm |
| (I thought I was the only person who had read "Tim" by the author much more famous for Thornbirds.) |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Jan 28, 2010, 11:10am |
| Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. I think it's about time for a third round. I'm thinking, maybe another list of 5. This time including works other than novels, including plays, Bible, philosophy texts, non-fiction, short stories, poerty collections, and children's books. Please specify which category your selection falls into, for those of us who are unfamiliar. If there is enough demand, there will probably be more opportunity to add to this list. |
| Posted by kerouac2 on Jan 28, 2010, 11:22am |
I am not going to include the bible on my list!  (Then again, I've never read it, but I've heard quite a bit about it.) |
| Posted by kerouac2 on Jan 28, 2010, 11:59am |
I won't be last for once. Here is my third list:
1. Guevara (biography) – Paco Ignacio Taibo
2. Mr. President – Angel Flores
3. The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams
4. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
5. The Day of the Locust – Nathanael West
|
| Posted by casimira on Jan 28, 2010, 12:52pm |
I'm going to list all poetry this round:
1. Leaves of Grass,Walt Whitman
2. Flowers of Evil,Charles Baudelaire
3 Poet in New York,Federico Garcia Lorca
4. Selected Poems,Edna St. Vincent Millay
5. Five Decades:Poems (1925-1970),Pablo Neruda |
| Posted by kimby on Jan 28, 2010, 9:34pm |
1. Aldo Leopold - A Sand County Almanac (nature essays)
2. Edward Abbey - Desert Solitaire (ditto)
3. Norman Maclean - A River Runs through it (autobiographical novella)
4. Barbara Savage - Miles from Nowhere: a round-the world bicycle adventure (travel journal)
5. Jung Chang - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (memoir) |
| Posted by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2010, 12:01am |
Existentia -- I am so sorry. I procrastinated about adding to the second round. Do I put up two sets of five, or simply skip to a list of five for round three. (sorry!) |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Jan 30, 2010, 3:15pm |
| If you didn't post your second set of 5, go ahead and post it, as well as your list for this round. |
| Posted by bixaorellana on Jan 30, 2010, 5:51pm |
| Thanks, Existentia. I really like how you've set this up & didn't want to mess it up because the dog ate my homework. |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Jan 30, 2010, 11:17pm |
Well ... I take breaks! 
But my eye is on the prize!  |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Jan 30, 2010, 11:20pm |
Meanwhile, I'm struggling with this current list... one of the books that has impacted me more than any other is a philosophical work that I don't know if I should list because it's virtually impossible to read.  |
| Posted by tillystar on Feb 1, 2010, 4:17pm |
Thank you to those who enjoyed and recommended The Book of Negroes as some friends and I have said we will start an informal book club (in a pub, with lots of wine involved) once a month.
We couldn't choose what our first book would be and this thread made me suggest that book (sneaky really as I wanted to read it!) and everyone jumped at the idea  |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Feb 2, 2010, 8:28am |
Glad to hear it, Tilly! The idea of a book club in a pub appeals to me, but alas, I seem to have no literate friends around...  |
| Posted by traveler63 on Feb 2, 2010, 11:19pm |
Here are my third set of 5:
1. The Sonnets - William Shakespeare
2. Gifts from the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
3. Pieces of Eight - Sydney J. Harris
4. A Tear and a Smile - Kahlil Gibran
5. The Eve of St. Agnes - John Keats This is tied with False Dawn by Louis Auchincloss.
It has been a long time since I have read these but now I am going to go back and do that. |
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Feb 3, 2010, 8:28am |
Oh dear... I will take a stab at this... umm... I will make this list of philosophical works. And maybe there will be opportunity to add more later
1) Jean Paul Sartre - Nausea (philosophical novel)
2) Dostoevsky - Notes from the Underground (philosophical novel)
3) Henry David Thoreau - Walden
4) Plato - Apology of Socrates
5) Rene Descartes - Meditations
I tried to stick to "readable" philosophy texts that I think are worthy of readership. However, the philosophical works that have most influenced my life are Martin Heidegger's Being and Time and Introduction to Metaphysics. But I can't, with good conscience, put these on the list. |
| Posted by kerouac2 on Feb 3, 2010, 8:52am |
I have a beautifully bound copy of Nausea (which I ashamed to say that I have not read), because I found a relatively damaged copy in the trash somewhere (when I see books in the trash anywhere, I am in the trashcan with them within 10 seconds). Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine who needed to get out of the house at least one night a week signed up for a book binding and restoration class, and he needed a couple of books to work on for the duration of the class. When he saw my copy of La Nausée, he knew it would be perfect.
And he returned it to me in perfect condition about 4 months later. |
| Posted by spaceneedle on Feb 3, 2010, 9:17am |
Feb 3, 2010, 8:52am, kerouac2 wrote:I have a beautifully bound copy of Nausea (which I ashamed to say that I have not read), because I found a relatively damaged copy in the trash somewhere (when I see books in the trash anywhere, I am in the trashcan with them within 10 seconds). Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine who needed to get out of the house at least one night a week signed up for a book binding and restoration class, and he needed a couple of books to work on for the duration of the class. When he saw my copy of La Nausée, he knew it would be perfect.
And he returned it to me in perfect condition about 4 months later. |
|
K2,
You would not believe how hard it is to find those who are experts in the dying art of book binding here in the US.
I have a lovely set of Charles Dickens' volumes I inherited from a grandparent and several of them were falling apart. They are really beautiful books, from the Edwardian era. They have pen and ink drawings inside...
When they came into my possession they had been stored in a damp garage and needed a lot of help. I finally found a book binder in the midwest and sent two of the worst ones there to be repaired. It was VERY expensive but they did an amazing job. There are two others that need TLC but the cost is so high that I haven't gotten around to it. They are now stored in a cabinet with glass doors, inside... but still.
I worry when I see the Kindle becoming so popular. I love the feeling of a book in my hands, there is nothing like it. I get worried someday everything will be electronic.
Sorry for the thread drift...
Back to topic! |
| Posted by lola on Feb 3, 2010, 2:57pm |
As the daughter and also the wife of philosophy majors, I tend to be philosophy averse.
All poems, then, in no order.
1. The Iliad and The Odyssey -- Homer
2. Shakespeare's Sonnets
3. Borrowed Towns -- Richard Newman, a local guy. Whenever I run into him I tell him he's my favorite living American poet. Is it partly his deadpan delivery? Possibly. It reassures him whenever I say it, though, and poets need all the boost they can get.
4. Cold Mountain Han Shan
5. Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay
|
| Posted by existentialcrisis on Feb 4, 2010, 8:45am |
lol lola! I can't say I blame you, we are an annoying bunch.
Now that I think about it, Nausea was kind of an annoying read... I wish I could quickly go back and re-read everything so I could give a better informed opinion. I mean, the book has a purpose and it's good to have read it... but you could get by only having read a few pages of it... I may have to revise my list. |
| Posted by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2010, 7:12pm |
| I've been so remiss about contributing to this thread, but it's because of my dithering about books I read long ago and liked. Too many times I've gone back to such books, only to find that the intervening years have made them trite or jejune or whatever. So that's what you say above, Existentia, about wanting to go back & re-read is why I'm vacillating so badly. |
| Posted by lola on Feb 4, 2010, 7:57pm |
| What if we call it a list of books we liked a lot at one time anyway? If we had to reread and re-approve everything it would be a long time between posts. |
| Posted by lola on Feb 4, 2010, 7:59pm |
| Even if I survived to the end of the rereading, I'd be so much wiser by then I wouldn't be sure about the ones at the beginning. |
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