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Post by existentialcrisis on Feb 17, 2010 12:38:58 GMT
tilly, I've already done one swap on my last list, so you can do that if you want. Or.. you can just wait til the final round, because there will be another one.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 17, 2010 23:46:28 GMT
ExC, not to rush the process, but I'm (selfishly) hoping for a mid-term list that I can take to my used bookseller to stock up on reading material! I don't want to wait til the end of a long process to see the list.
But also, I think it would help all of us in coming up with our own lists, to see what's already been listed.
Is the objective to list unique titles that haven't been listed before (maximizing list size) or to see which titles get listed the most times? Personally, I'd go for the most titles, rather than the top 5 most popular titles. How many titles are we up to already, anyway?
If you don't do it soon, ExC, I won't be able to restrain myself, and will probably harvest a list myself and post it on here in case anyone else is anxious like me to see the list so far...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2010 0:36:11 GMT
I am very grateful to Existentia for taking this on, and think it should go at her pace, since it's her project. And it really doesn't matter what's already been listed. Theoretically, a dozen people could come up with identical lists in round one, for instance.
Personally, I would prefer not to see a list-so-far, as I don't want to be even subconsciously affected in making my own lists.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 18, 2010 0:42:19 GMT
OK, I'll keep my list to myself. But anyone who wants a copy, PM me. I can't help myself!
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2010 0:43:58 GMT
If you have lots of extra sorting/compiling/arranging energy, I could suggest a project ............
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Post by Kimby on Feb 18, 2010 2:00:57 GMT
Oh, tell me, tell me! (I've just completed my compilation of "the list")
(As long as it isn't getting to my long-overdue Australia travelog. It's K2's job to nudge me on that project!)
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2010 3:30:52 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Feb 18, 2010 4:11:26 GMT
Yes, ma'am! I'll get right on it.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Feb 18, 2010 7:25:21 GMT
Ummm... ok... so I won't publish a list just yet. I think a balance should exist between quality and quantity. If a book has already been mentioned, and you are struggling with your top picks, then you may want to forgo that title, knowing it will already be on the list. However, we don't want the quantity to get out of hand, and we should aim to keep this list to our personal favorites. I think I need to revise my last list again... I'm thinking philosphy may not be a subject of interest here. Am I the only one? Really?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 12:46:53 GMT
Ummm... ok... so I won't publish a list just yet. I think a balance should exist between quality and quantity. If a book has already been mentioned, and you are struggling with your top picks, then you may want to forgo that title, knowing it will already be on the list. However, we don't want the quantity to get out of hand, and we should aim to keep this list to our personal favorites. I think I need to revise my last list again... I'm thinking philosophy may not be a subject of interest here. Am I the only one? Really? Yes, balance between quality and quantity is good. I see no need for urgency in a list,the whole idea (for me anyway) in participating in this thread, is to take time to ponder the books we've read,ones we would like to read,never read again,and how our perceptions of books we may have loved years ago have changed. Who knows EC? Some aspiring philosophy readers may morph yet.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 19, 2010 15:15:54 GMT
Might be interesting to list the books that we read with great anticipation based on rave reviews from others, yet were sadly unimpressed with, and maybe weren't even able to finish....
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 21, 2010 4:39:58 GMT
I'm thinking philosphy may not be a subject of interest here. Am I the only one? Really? Dearest Existentia ~~ despair not! Why not proceed on the "if I build it, they will come" philosophy? Seriously, we can't keep clearing our throats and glancing away when you mention the subject. Also, a major goal of this forum is to keep growing. The more we offer, the more people of varied interests will be attracted to the Port.
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Post by spindrift on Feb 21, 2010 18:25:45 GMT
EC - I am very interested in philosophy
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Post by Kimby on Feb 22, 2010 16:34:47 GMT
I have loved several books with a philosophical bent (like The River Why, for example) though they are not strictly speaking about philosophy. Based on what I've learned about The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I expect it to be another.
Bring em on.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Feb 23, 2010 11:03:04 GMT
Unfortunately I don't know of many novels with a philosophical lean... I've done a lot of hard gritty work on philosphers from Heraclitus to Kant to Heidegger and I don't think it's reading that others would find enjoyable, though I have grown to see the beauty in it. For me it is harder to read flowerly descriptive novels than rigorous philosophical texts. I do prefer novels with a philosophical lean... but all the novels I have chosen would fit that criteria as far as I am concerned, without being works of philosophy. The short novels by Sartre and Dostoyevsky I mentioned are heavy on the philosphy... and somehow may not be considered good novels, unless you are completely drawn to the conceptual, as I am, as opposed to the storytelling.
Anyhow, I guess it's time to submit our final lists. This is a wildcard card list of 5 and it is the last one before I compile the list.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2010 12:07:27 GMT
You might want to try Mount Analogue by René Daumal.
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Post by Jazz on Feb 23, 2010 12:29:19 GMT
One of the most powerful books that I have read is Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. It is his autobiography of his time spent as a prisoner in Auschwitz. He survived and went on to become a psychologist and author. It has remained with me far longer than my readings of pure philosophy. www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/frankl/frankl.html
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Post by Kimby on Feb 23, 2010 17:54:31 GMT
I've chosen to make my wildcard list novels ones that really grabbed me as a young girl, but would likely appeal to adults as well. (With descriptive quotes to justify their listing here, as well as to intrigue others who may not have discovered these classics...)
1. Green Mansions (William Henry Hudson, "a master of natural history writing, W. H. Hudson forms an important link between nineteenth-century Romanticism and the twentieth-century ecological movement. First published in 1904, Green Mansions is a poignant meditation on the loss of wilderness, the dream of a return to nature, and the bitter reality of the encounter between savage and civilized man.)
2. The Faraway Lures (Harry Behn, 1963, a historical novel based on "The Egtved Girl (ca. 1390¨C1370 BC)...a Nordic Bronze Age girl whose well-preserved remains were found at Egtved ( 55¡ã37¡äN, 9¡ã18¡äE), Denmark in 1921. Aged 16¨C18 at death, she was slim, 160 cm tall (about 5ft 2in), had long blonde hair and well-trimmed nails. Her burial has been dated by dendrochronology to 1370 BC.... Heather is Mr. Behn¡'s imagined portrayal of the Egtved Girl.")
3. The Princess and the Goblin (George MacDonald, 1872, "said to be one of J.R.R. Tolkien's childhood favorites, The Princess and the Goblin is the story of the young Princess Irene, her good friend Curdie--a miner's son--and Irene's mysterious and beautiful great great grandmother, who lives in a secret room at the top of the castle stairs. Filled with images of dungeons and goblins, mysterious fires, burning roses, and a thread so fine as to be invisible and yet--like prayer--strong enough to lead the Princess back home to her grandmother's arms, this is a story of Curdie's slow realization that sometimes, as the princess tells him, "you must believe without seeing." Simple enough for reading aloud to a child (as I've done myself more than once with my daughter), it's rich enough to repay endless delighted readings for the adult. --Doug Thorpe )
4. Bambi (not the Disney version - Felix Salten, 1923, "Considered to be one of the first environmental novels published, an English translation by Whittaker Chambers was published in North America by Simon & Schuster in 1928")
5. The Fox and the Hound (also not the Disney version, by Daniel P. Mannix, "the novel won the Dutton Animal Book Award in 1967, which resulted in its publication that year by E.P. Dutton. It was a 1967 Reader's Digest Book-of-the-Month club selection and a winner of the Athenaeum Literary Award.")
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 24, 2010 2:38:35 GMT
Kimby, I absolutely adore The Princess and the Goblin! I don't know how many times I read that when I was a girl, absolutely enthralled. A few years ago I took it out of the library and was amazed to find that it seemed even richer and more satisfying to me as a adult.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2010 8:12:00 GMT
Okay, here is my wildcard list:
Mount Analogue - René Daumal Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham The Odyssey - Homer
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Post by tillystar on Feb 25, 2010 9:47:13 GMT
I love Tom's Midnight Garden, it was one of my childhood favorites.
You have made me want to re-read it now.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2010 20:23:51 GMT
What happened to the list(s) we were compiling here? Are we no longer doing it?
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Post by Kimby on Mar 18, 2010 14:24:13 GMT
I'll second that. (I had offered to compile a list, but ExC wanted to do it herself. Perhaps she is waiting for the rest of you to post your "wildcard" list of 5 titles.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 18, 2010 15:40:25 GMT
She is, I'm sure, plus it was decided there was no hurry. I had better hurry and submit my wildcard list, though. Thanks for the reminders, ladies.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2010 21:05:56 GMT
Sorry,I clearly need to go back and reread the thread. I'm glad we're not abandoning the project and I certainly did not mean to appear to be rushing this. I'm easy...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2010 10:31:28 GMT
My wildcard list:
The Blue Bird,Maurice Maaterlinck A Passage to India,E.M.Forster A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,Betty Smith The Moviegoer,Walker Percy The Children's Book,A.S. Byatt
I also need to modify my 1st list as I had a quartet listed,so,#1,in lieu of the Alexandria Quartet,I am replacing it with Justine,Lawrence Durrell
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Post by lola on Mar 19, 2010 17:20:28 GMT
Sorry, but don't quite understand concept of wildcard list.
The thing about books is they can hit you so favorably or otherwise based on your own peculiar "psychology of the individual" as Jeeves would say. I tried to read one of the books everyone loved, and partly because it started out with a dreamer dad who becomes obsessed with a notion to the detriment of his family, I couldn't stick with it. (not a huge Don Quixote fan either)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2010 17:31:53 GMT
I didn't either Lola,so, I just winged it...
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Post by existentialcrisis on Mar 19, 2010 19:01:54 GMT
Yes, I have been waiting for the wildcard lists to come in. It seemed as though the thread was forgotten about, but I haven't rushed it because my life is particularly busy and stressful right now, as I need to move in a few days and still haven't found an apartment!! So take your time, but please do submit your wildcard lists.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 19, 2010 19:37:42 GMT
I've just caught onto this tread. The book that changed my life and way of thinking when I was in my early twenties was ~
Candide.......... Voltaire
then
La Rochfoucauld maxims
Resurrection.......Tolstoy
The Dhammapada
The Wasteland ......T S Eliot
*more to be added*
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