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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2009 20:20:06 GMT
Five books sounds great to me. But's it's going to be really hard to decide which five books... (for me, at least) What if we decided on a deadline for each person to submit a very short list of must-reads? Then we could publish our lists simultaneously on the agreed-upon date. Having a short list would allow for easier comparison and discussion of the lists. Then the results would be grouped into the beginning of a master list, [highlight=Yellow]and we'd have another deadline to submit a second list, a third, etc.[/highlight], until we felt we had a sufficiently lengthy, solid list to send out into the world.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2009 20:37:16 GMT
Sounds like a death march! It's all in the word "deadline."
However, we should definitely set a date for people to publish a list of 5. And then we'll see what happens. I am already thinking along the lines of "if TWO people challenge something on somebody's list, then a defense of the work should be made". If just one person says "Oh, I hated that one," just ignore it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2009 22:16:43 GMT
Speaking of challenging -- would you explain how "setting a date for people to publish" and "deadline" are two different things?
I certainly hope no one would attack someone else's choice. It would be nice if people are willing to give a reason for including a selection that might puzzle others.
My feeling is that this idea has reached the point where someone might want to assume the burden honor of starting the thread, stating the goals, methods, etc.
Why, just look at those hands shoot up!
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 11, 2009 15:36:15 GMT
AnyPort Reading List -this is to be a list of our all-time favorites, books that we read again and again, books that we would love for others to discover, books that have changed our lives, and books that we will proudly compile into our figurative AnyPort library.
For simplicity's sake, I think we should do this in stages. In the first stage, everyone will submit 5 choices. Following stages will include 5 more choices, and selections from the Bible/Shakespeare. So to introduce stage 1:
Rules: 1) Submit ONLY 5 choices (I know this is difficult, so think hard. If you forget something, save it for the next round, as opposed to "cheating"). 2) Each selection will be a book with author. No collections of books under one author. 3) No Shakespeare, Bible, or children's books, for now.
Ready, Set, Go!
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 11, 2009 15:43:46 GMT
1) Siddhartha - Herman Hesse 2) 1984 - George Orwell 3) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 4) Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson 5) 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 11, 2009 15:55:59 GMT
Oh boy oh boy oh boy!
One quick question, Existentia -- should each person make up the list exclusive to whatever other lists have been posted? For instance, I see a book on your list that I would have included in my first five. Shall I go ahead and put it anyway?
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Post by lola on Dec 11, 2009 16:18:34 GMT
Will give it the old college try, existentia.
1. Uncle Fred in the Springtime, P.G. Wodehouse, Blandings Castle setting 2. Persuasion, Jane Austen 3. As I Lay Dying, Wm. Faulkner 4. Stalky and Co., Kipling. For one's inner Edwardian public school boy. 5. The Letters of W.A.Mozart and Family, the big complete one they have at Washington U. Music Library, that I will buy once daughters' undergrad education is paid for.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 12, 2009 4:10:08 GMT
LOL! Lola, I see we have similar tastes in humour.
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Post by lola on Dec 12, 2009 15:30:02 GMT
LOL! Lola, I see we have similar tastes in humour. brother!
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Post by lola on Dec 12, 2009 15:42:43 GMT
How about if we agreed not to think of it as the definitive list etched into the immortal granite of cyberspace?
That might make it less intimidating to set down. Or say it's something you dash off spontaneously?
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2009 18:12:43 GMT
Too true, Lola. That is the beauty of Existentia's method -- any five in a group don't define you, nor do they exclude zillions of other possibilities.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 11:48:13 GMT
I very much want to participate in this however,for clarification purposes,Existensia,I will ask you,(because we seem to be on same wavelength much of the time ) I'm a tad confused. Is this first five list limited to fiction/novels? I'm looking to where poetry would fit in? (if this confuses,confounds,just tell me to shut the F up. ,seriously) Anyway,without poetry here's my list: The Alexandria Quartet,Lawrence Durrell Possession,A.S. Byatt The Razor's Edge,W. Sommerset Maugham The Idiot,Fyoder Dostoevsky One Hundred Years of Solitude,Gabriel Garcia Marquez This was very difficult to do.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 13, 2009 12:17:21 GMT
Gosh... the questions...
Feel free to repeat something somebody already said. There will be other opportunities to submit other choices... as Bixa said, I don't mean for it to be an intimidating immortal sketched list... the rules are just there to create some structure. It's fun to make a list, don't you think?
Lola... is that entry pertaining to the music library generally available?
Casimira, for now we will deal with fiction/novels... poetry, philosophy and plays can be dealt with later.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 12:22:04 GMT
Thank you Existentia,I realized and decided to just take the plunge,I know your intentions,and really appreciate your doing this. I will just say,I can get very neurotic...do not pay any attention,please.Something about lists I guess. Fine,fine idea.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 13, 2009 14:43:53 GMT
Thanks, Existentia.
100 years of Solitude -- Gabriel García Márquez Returning to Earth -- Jim Harrison The Story of Lucy Gault –- William Trevor The Hours of the Night –- Sue Gee Was -– Geoff Ryman
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Post by lola on Dec 13, 2009 17:23:14 GMT
Hi, existentia. No, the Mozart letters are not generally available. Neither, probably in the U.S., is Stalky and Co. Call me a rebel.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 13, 2009 17:43:15 GMT
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Post by lola on Dec 13, 2009 18:07:04 GMT
Part of my joy in those books was the stumbling upon them, probably. I happened upon The Magician's Nephew in our small hometown library as a kid, too. If some teacher had made me read them all I doubt I would have been as charmed.
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Post by lola on Dec 16, 2009 1:53:10 GMT
Now I'm definitely going to have to give 100 yrs etc a try.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2009 2:49:03 GMT
Now I'm definitely going to have to give 100 yrs etc a try. Oh do Lola!!
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 16, 2009 9:23:08 GMT
100 yrs. is a great read... I know it's hard to take anything seriously that has been on Oprah's Book Club ... but I read it years before that happened lol
I'm still wondering about the Mozart selection. Is this a read that would only be enjoyed by a true Mozart fan, or is this simply a phenomenal read in any case? I'm just wary because there are few historical figures who I would be interested in reading their personal letters or even biographies. I am mostly concerned with the literary (or musical) works themselves. Perhaps I require enlightenment?
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Post by lola on Dec 16, 2009 16:04:35 GMT
Hmmmm. I have trouble recommending books to others. (Yesterday my 18 yo and I were in a library full of books, and she wanted something contemporary and easy yet worthy, just having finished all her final exams. I was not much help.) My taste is eccentric, I guess, and I've been known to dislike something just because everyone else loves it (see Oprah and H. Potter) and to love something just because.
It would help to have some sort of interest in Mozart, probably, and it's a thick volume. I already liked his music when my mother had an extra ticket to Amadeus, and then I became fascinated with his personality. That play does a good job of showing the childlike, funloving nature that comes through in his letters. The letters also show the arc of his life from babyhood through marriage and begging for loans close to the end. I conceived a jealous dislike of his wife Constanze, and suspect her of not taking good enough care of the poor sweet guy.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 17, 2009 7:55:32 GMT
I did watch Amadeus. I suppose I enjoy "biographies" on film ... I've also quite enjoyed watching Gandhi and Malcom X on film. But when it comes to reading them, it seems like so much effort just to learn the complexities and dymanics of a personality/psyche. Part of the problem may be the struggles I have with reading in general. If I am limited to reading a smaller number of works, I tend to be picky in choosing ones I think I will really enjoy and/or learn something valuable from.
I guess it just comes down to taste. I get much more absorbed in theoretical and conceptual ideas, which is probably because I'm a philosopher ... I noticed, actually, when preparing my honours thesis, that other students papers' focused on biographical aspects of their chosen philosphers, whereas I virtually ignored that side of things, and focused on the ideas themselves. It's interesting how people are drawn to different aspects of literature.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2009 8:48:14 GMT
This is an ever changing list, but here is the one that I will give for the moment:
Journey to the End of Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline The Desert of the Tartars – Dino Buzzati The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald On the Road (unexpurgated version) – Jack Kerouac The Beach – Alex Garland
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 17, 2009 9:35:10 GMT
Thanks K2! Was patiently awaiting your list!
Now how about everyone else?
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Post by tillystar on Dec 30, 2009 9:40:27 GMT
I can't even think of 5 that can be later changed! Well in this 5 minutes it looks like this:
Silas Marner - George Eliot Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter The Woman who Walked into Doors - Roddy Doyle Nana - Emile Zola The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
About the Oprah book club, why is it do disliked? I had a google and it looks like it has some good books on it. We have a similiar thing in the UK called the Richard and Judy bookclub and I have found some great reads from it.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 30, 2009 9:42:16 GMT
PS. Casimira - The Children's Book has gone down a treat and been declared the best present ever and she has been curled up with it ever since. Thank you!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2009 12:12:01 GMT
PS. Casimira - The Children's Book has gone down a treat and been declared the best present ever and she has been curled up with it ever since. Thank you! So glad! Gave to a dear friend and same reaction,greets me every day to tell me how much she loves (is a neighbor). Every once in a while I do something right
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Post by Kimby on Dec 31, 2009 5:24:21 GMT
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand Lost Horizon - James Hilton Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder The Agony & the Ecstacy - Irving Stone The River Why - David James Duncan
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 31, 2009 11:03:37 GMT
1. 100 years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( and I read it way before Oprah came along). 2. The Thorn Birds - Coleen McCulloch 3. The Age of Innocense - Edith Wharton 4. The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli 5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
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