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Classic Books
- Thread starter Stephen
- Start date
Cat among the pigeons
Hey Booker,
An interesting list. But is it really yours? It reads more like a safe list of books that are academically thought of as classic. Which brings the whole thing back round to the definition of the term, I suppose.
By the way, the gigantically over-rated Catcher In The Rye is by JD Salinger. Another question would be, What the hell else did Salinger write?
Tobytook
Hey Booker,
An interesting list. But is it really yours? It reads more like a safe list of books that are academically thought of as classic. Which brings the whole thing back round to the definition of the term, I suppose.
By the way, the gigantically over-rated Catcher In The Rye is by JD Salinger. Another question would be, What the hell else did Salinger write?
Tobytook
booker
New Member
Re: Cat among the pigeons
i put "classics" in commas to denote the fact that they are; as you point out "academically thought of as classic.".
and i listed them because i think they're all good books.
as for j.d. salinger didn't he go into hiding for 40 years?
i saw a photo of him in the observer a while ago that was supposedly the first sighting of him in yonks.
no i borrowed someone elses to impress you all!
i put "classics" in commas to denote the fact that they are; as you point out "academically thought of as classic.".
and i listed them because i think they're all good books.
as for j.d. salinger didn't he go into hiding for 40 years?
i saw a photo of him in the observer a while ago that was supposedly the first sighting of him in yonks.
Oh, Funes
you make me feel so ignorant. I have no idea who the two you mentionned are. It seems as if the more I read the less I know.
I just started 'Il deserto dei Tartari' by Buzzati, and Gunter Grass's 'Mein Jahrhundert'. I must have bought them last year or so and forgot they were there.
One of these days I will have to take a deep breath and put some order to my books which stand three-layer deep on the shelves. I know I am bound to find many more hidden treasures.
you make me feel so ignorant. I have no idea who the two you mentionned are. It seems as if the more I read the less I know.
I just started 'Il deserto dei Tartari' by Buzzati, and Gunter Grass's 'Mein Jahrhundert'. I must have bought them last year or so and forgot they were there.
One of these days I will have to take a deep breath and put some order to my books which stand three-layer deep on the shelves. I know I am bound to find many more hidden treasures.
Wouldn't it be nice if, when we have read a book, or even while reading it, we gave a brief account about it? It could serve as a guide to all others, and even be helpful to the reader, to clear and fix ideas?
As for Salinger, isn't 'Raise high the roof carpenter' also his? Such I long time since I read this book, I am forgetting. But it rings a bell.
As for Salinger, isn't 'Raise high the roof carpenter' also his? Such I long time since I read this book, I am forgetting. But it rings a bell.
Darren
Active Member
That's where our reviews library comes in
If the book or author isn't in there just suggest it and I'll add it as soon as I get a spare minute.Nabokov - Lolita
Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Murakami - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
I loved all these books for many different reasons although they all seem to have a certain darkness about them.
Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Murakami - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
I loved all these books for many different reasons although they all seem to have a certain darkness about them.
fluffyfluff
New Member
Anything by Steinbeck or Salinger , I highly recommend.
Though not a true classic but it will be considered one in due time is "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. You know I have actually have had people giggle when I said that it was one of my favorite books of all time. I guess they can not get past the rabbits and see the meat of its meaning. A beautifully written book!!!!!! To embark on a new life and challenge oppression..... ah what strength & courage Hazel, Fiver and all the other rabbit heroes exhibted. LOL can you tell I love this book?
Though not a true classic but it will be considered one in due time is "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. You know I have actually have had people giggle when I said that it was one of my favorite books of all time. I guess they can not get past the rabbits and see the meat of its meaning. A beautifully written book!!!!!! To embark on a new life and challenge oppression..... ah what strength & courage Hazel, Fiver and all the other rabbit heroes exhibted. LOL can you tell I love this book?
Kid stuff?
The book offers a far richer and more developed background, especially in terms of theology. So rich and well-developed in fact, that I was surprised no-one "hi-jacked" it before William Horwood, almost twenty years later, in his popular "Duncton" chronicles - about moles. Horwood's first novel, Duncton Wood, was pretty good actually, but he really milked it with the sequels and they never rang as true. (I believe Horwood was commissioned to write a bona fide sequel to Watership Down, actually, seemingly on the strength of his thinly-concealed plaigarism! Not sure if it ever came to anything, though.)
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right: book to film. Yes, I suppose depth is almost always the prime casualty when translating page to screen. However, I do know that Richard Adams was reported to be much happier with the less well-known animated version of Plague Dogs than he was with Watership Down. The former packs a real emotional wallop, relentlessly bleak, with an ending that's reduced stronger men than I to tears. In fairness I think it's one of the most harrowing films I've ever seen.
Never read the book, though - never dared, actually!
Tobytook
I assume you mean you're glad you watched it first because it really isn't a film suitable for kids? I saw it before I read the book, many years ago - when I was far too young, to be honest. Unsettled the Hell out of me, although I did enjoy it very much and have seen it several times since.
The book offers a far richer and more developed background, especially in terms of theology. So rich and well-developed in fact, that I was surprised no-one "hi-jacked" it before William Horwood, almost twenty years later, in his popular "Duncton" chronicles - about moles. Horwood's first novel, Duncton Wood, was pretty good actually, but he really milked it with the sequels and they never rang as true. (I believe Horwood was commissioned to write a bona fide sequel to Watership Down, actually, seemingly on the strength of his thinly-concealed plaigarism! Not sure if it ever came to anything, though.)
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right: book to film. Yes, I suppose depth is almost always the prime casualty when translating page to screen. However, I do know that Richard Adams was reported to be much happier with the less well-known animated version of Plague Dogs than he was with Watership Down. The former packs a real emotional wallop, relentlessly bleak, with an ending that's reduced stronger men than I to tears. In fairness I think it's one of the most harrowing films I've ever seen.
Never read the book, though - never dared, actually!
Tobytook
kasstorr
kickbox
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a MUST read. It's a pulitzer and it's actually NOT boring! Gone with the Wind by Margret Mitchell (although its long) is another pulitzer that is not boring either.
I read Beloved and HATED it. It has a ghost story type of theme, but I kept getting lost in the imagery. Haven't read David Copperfield by Dickens, but I LOVED Oliver Twist. The Great Gatsby was good as well.
Another book that I really enjoyed was 'Til we Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
I read Beloved and HATED it. It has a ghost story type of theme, but I kept getting lost in the imagery. Haven't read David Copperfield by Dickens, but I LOVED Oliver Twist. The Great Gatsby was good as well.
Another book that I really enjoyed was 'Til we Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
stunt50000
New Member
I would add to the list
Frankenstein - Mary Shelly
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostovyesty
The Portrait of Dorain Grey - Oscar Wilde
I am not sure of the spelling of the last two - but they are very good
Frankenstein - Mary Shelly
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostovyesty
The Portrait of Dorain Grey - Oscar Wilde
I am not sure of the spelling of the last two - but they are very good
Here's some great 'classics' that I (a 15yr old girl) enjoy:
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Emma, by Jane Austen
Agnes Grey, by Anne Brontë
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
probably too easy for some adult readers but I loved them!
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Emma, by Jane Austen
Agnes Grey, by Anne Brontë
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
probably too easy for some adult readers but I loved them!
phil_t
New Member
Is that because you were forced to read such books at school and attempt to analyse them so much - i find that was the way with me, i was put off them by the thought of having to write essays - if so try and go back to some classics and read them purely for entertainment, you might be pleasantly suprised
If not, then just ignore that last, and stick with the modern fiction!!
If not, then just ignore that last, and stick with the modern fiction!!
murphyz
New Member
I was never a huge fan of reading in school, simply because I wanted to read what I wanted to choose, not what other people wanted me to read.
I remember a total of seven books in school that we were 'forced' to read. Since leaving school many years ago, I have now reread six of those books, owning a copy of each, and love then. I will read the seventh when I find it.
Mxx
I remember a total of seven books in school that we were 'forced' to read. Since leaving school many years ago, I have now reread six of those books, owning a copy of each, and love then. I will read the seventh when I find it.
Mxx