Classic lit

[anothersam]

Riverworld series - Philip Jose Farmer

Wherein Mark Twain gets to relive his youth on a paddlewheel steamer pedalling his brand of pithy. Enjoyable.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Posting without reading past the OP. My English 3rd year class went on strike and locked ourselves in the classroom to protest at reading Far from the Madding Crowd, we got 50 odd pages of turgid nothingness in before cumulatively snapping. I tried it again as an adult and still put it down very quickly.

We had to do Of Mice and Men & The Pearl by Steinbeck for O level, they were very childlike IMO.

I will read Shakespeare & like Dickens, Conan-Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe and Wilkie Collins particularly of the classics genre.

I like listening to BBC4 extra (BBC7 as was) and the adaptations they do of classics & series. It is a good way to see if you'd enjoy a dip into a writer or book.

Must admit tho, nowadays I'm reading more current stuff and biographies.

*edit, classic Sci Fi & Fantasy is good too. I like Tolkein's way & I'm giving The Silmarillion another go at the moment but it needs a good sit down with no distractions to really get into it.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Lord of the Rings is a good read. Also, since someone's mentioned Science Fiction, here's a few of my favourites from that genre. I won't post a picture of my bookcase with the SF and Fantasy books, because there are 3 of them holding about 1000 books, so a bit tricky to photograph.

• Helliconia trilogy - Brian Aldiss
• Robot books - Isaac Asimov
• Foundation trilogy (the first one) - Isaac Asimov
• Heart of the Comet - Gregory Benford & David Brin
• Cyteen - C.J. Cherryh
• Riverworld series - Philip Jose Farmer
• World of Tiers series - Philip Jose Farmer
• Dune series - Frank Herbert
• Saga of the Exiles series - Julian May
• Ringworld series - Larry Niven
• Mars trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson
• Highway of Eternity - Clifford Simak
• Chung Kuo series - David Wingrove
• Neverness - David Zindell

There was a science fiction thread. I used to read quite a bit of Frank Herbert and Larry Niven. Larry Niven's collaborations with Jerry Pournelle, and sometimes a third author, were even better. I started reading a bit of science fiction in the last few years, including:

Neuromancer by William Gibson - think Matrix, think Bladerunner, think Tron
1984 by George Orwell - a culmination on Orwell's thoughts on the cynicism of Stalinism and of the abuse of language for political ends
Solar by Ian McEwan - not strictly science fiction but it has some decent science
The Time Machine by H.G Wells - an extrapolation of late Victorian social concerns, only 100 odd pages
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin - socially progressive, sort of political
The City of the Stars by Arthur C Clarke - very, very far set in the future, a bit far-fetched for me

I am currently reading The Martian by Andy Weir. Ridley Scott is filming it, so if you want to read it before the film comes out, get cracking.

I have The Gods Themselves by Issac Asimov on my bookshelf. I have never read any Asimov and this was supposed to be a good standalone book.

I want to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, arguably the first science fiction book.

Eventually I might get around to reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, both quite literary dystopias.

 

[Gravity Aided]

The Dark Design, by Phillip Jose Farmer as well. At one time, he worked where my father worked, and lived in Peoria most of his life.

 

[raleighnut]

There was a science fiction thread. I used to read quite a bit of Frank Herbert and Larry Niven. Larry Niven's collaborations with Jerry Pournelle, and sometimes a third author, were even better. I started reading a bit of science fiction in the last few years, including:

Neuromancer by William Gibson - think Matrix, think Bladerunner, think Tron
1984 by George Orwell - a culmination on Orwell's thoughts on the cynicism of Stalinism and of the abuse of language for political ends
Solar by Ian McEwan - not strictly science fiction but it has some decent science
The Time Machine by H.G Wells - an extrapolation of late Victorian social concerns, only 100 odd pages
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin - socially progressive, sort of political
The City of the Stars by Arthur C Clarke - very, very far set in the future, a bit far-fetched for me

I am currently reading The Martian by Andy Weir. Ridley Scott is filming it, so if you want to read it before the film comes out, get cracking.

I have The Gods Themselves by Issac Asimov on my bookshelf. I have never read any Asimov and this was supposed to be a good standalone book.

I want to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, arguably the first science fiction book.

Eventually I might get around to reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, both quite literary dystopias.

I'd read a few Phillip K Dick books as well, the guy was a genius.

 

[swee'pea99]

Something by Elizabeth Gaskell √ - Two somethings: North & South and Mary Barton

What did you make of Mary Barton? A deeply flawed novel, as a novel (two novelettes crudely welded together do not a novel make) but I thought the early sections and the accounts of Victorian industrial poverty staggeringly bleak and remorseless. Should be required reading for the Daily Wailerati.

Two others that stand out from recent posts - Dickens's Christmas Carol, which I found almost unreadably awful (only its brevity made me stick with it at all) and Moby Dick - absolutely unreadable. Like Don Quixote, which I also once attempted - another 'must read before you die' icon that I think I'd rather die than read.

Oh, and if you want a great Irish writer, try Spike Milligan's war reminiscences: milestones in 20th century literature. Or possibly not. But a cracking good read, either way.

 

[Yellow Fang]

What did you make of Mary Barton? A deeply flawed novel, as a novel (two novelettes crudely welded together do not a novel make) but I thought the early sections and the accounts of Victorian industrial poverty staggeringly bleak and remorseless. Should be required reading for the Daily Wailerati.

Two others that stand out from recent posts - Dickens's Christmas Carol, which I found almost unreadably awful (only its brevity made me stick with it at all) and Moby Dick - absolutely unreadable. Like Don Quixote, which I also once attempted - another 'must read before you die' icon that I think I'd rather die than read.

Oh, and if you want a great Irish writer, try Spike Milligan's war reminiscences: milestones in 20th century literature. Or possibly not. But a cracking good read, either way.

I thought Mary Barton was interesting. It contained fascinating representations of factory workers' lives. It had an account of a Chartist march on Westminster. The views espoused by John Barton, Mary's father, appeared to anticipate Marx by several years. I am currently reading Friedrich Engel's The Condition of the Working Class in England, which was written about the same people in the same city in the same period of time. Gaskell saw both sides of the argument and sympathised with workers and bosses. I suspect Engels would have thought her bourgeois. I was not convinced by the love story or the proceedings of the trial or the reconciliation at the end. OTOH, I found Mary's dash to find a witness exciting. Over all it was worth reading.

I got half way through Don Quixote and thought it was a joke flogged to death. Some readers love Moby Dick and others loathe it, but I'll give it a go.

I read all of Spike Milligan's war diaries thirty years ago. They were hilarious.

 

[ufkacbln]

Weirdest one for me was the Camel album "The Snow Goose"

A superb prog rock album ( I will edit and post a link when I get home)

Then I read Paul Gallico's book and found it very moving

The two certainly compliment each other,and I am glad that I followed the link

Edited:

 

[HertzvanRental]

As an aside, do any of you find that you go through a period where you "eat books" then find that you cant really be bothered to read anything at all until something comes along to get you back again! I do!

 

[postman]

Revisiting Mr Dickens again.Love these books.David Copperfield.I even have dvds of some of the books.Wonderful.

 

[RedRider]

As an aside, do any of you find that you go through a period where you "eat books" then find that you cant really be bothered to read anything at all until something comes along to get you back again! I do!

I think I forget the pleasure of reading, sometimes for months on end. So, yes.

As for literature I'd like to recommend some classic short story writers...
Saki, Guy de Maupassant, Nikolai Gogol and Jack London and Damon Runyon.

I think you'll have some trouble with Ulysses, by James Joyce. Even the Third Policeman (Flan O'Brien) is easier to follow, as Irish Literature goes. Or Short Stories of Liam O'Flaherty, a personal choice. With Joyce, you might try Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, might be a bit more accessible. or the short stories. Silas Marner and Robinson Crusoe are absolutely first rate writing. They have influenced literature and thought since they were published. Moby Dick, The Sea Wolf, Lord Jim(sorry, Conrad((Korzeniowski))but absolutely not to be missed. )Three Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana all great books of nautical lore, and I'll add in Treasure Island for the pirate folk out there. Moby Dick, as with most Melville, very heavy on the symbolism . If you want to read a good book by Hemingway, try A Farewell to Arms.

As you've mentioned those seafaring novels you're probably aware of In the Heart of the Sea, true story of the whaling ship Essex out of Nantucket, sunk by a sperm whale and one inspiration for Melville. I found it a gripping read.

 

[Lisat]

As an aside, do any of you find that you go through a period where you "eat books" then find that you cant really be bothered to read anything at all until something comes along to get you back again! I do!

Yes I can go months without picking up a book, then go into a frenzy of reading.

 

[Gravity Aided]

@RedRider ,That it is. I also found White Jacket to be good by Melville. This book was the cause for the U.S. Congress to ban flogging in our navy altogether. A very issue oriented book, mainly concerned with the discipline regimen of the USN.

 

[RedRider]

I've not read White Jacket but I did pick up Redburn, largely for it's descriptions of Liverpool and it's docks.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I might also recommend John Dos Passos, but his major work, the America Trilogy,is quite stream of consciousness based at times, and a difficult read. I've read it, but it was a long haul, over the winter on the turbo trainer.