I recently received a gift card and am wondering what are some books worth picking up? I'm going to read Nate Silver's book, but am really interested in what everyone else reads. It can be anything from plays to graphic novels. I'll start:
1. Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose is a really good WWII documentary about paratroopers, it even comes with photos and HBO did a really good job making it into a miniseries.
2. Generation Kill by Evan Wright, another war documentary (also done by HBO) but it concerns the most recent Iraq war from beginning to the first 3 weeks or so.
3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
4. Moneyball by Michael Lewis, details the cyber metric aspect of baseball (which I love), it follows the Oakland A's in the early 2000's.
5. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner, a great introduction into philosophy and philosophers with an okay story behind it.
Honorable Mention would Stephen Colbert's and Jon Stewarts books
In absolutely no order: 1. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. An amazing, hilarious, and (imo) heart breaking classic. Alonso Quixano and Sancho Panza are some of my most favorite characters in Literature, and also my most favorite duo, second only to Mephistopheles and Faust, and speaking of which... 2. Faust (Goethe). This is perhaps one of the greatest works of art I have ever read. I wish I could read it in the Original German, as the english translation I read was beautifully crafted as it is. I mean, here's one of my favorite quotes ever: This is play of truly epic proportions. heaven and hell, love, death, ambition, regret, damnation, salvation... It has everything. 3. The Castle by Franz Kafka. A lot of people don't seem to love the Castle, but it's perhaps my most favorite Kafka work, and I've read everything he's ever done except Amerika. Something about the castle is very subliminal. If you asked me why I specifically prefer it over The Trial or any other of his amazing works, I couldn't really tell you. I think, however, that the Castle is Kafka at his purest. All of the characters are all so erratic and (imo) rat-like (best way to characterize them), and yet they feel so human in a darkly comedic fashion. It's so sad that this novel was never finished, ending in such a disappointing manner and with no ending, aside from a speculation of how it was supposed to end. 4.Ulysses by James Joyce. I bought this book mostly because I heard it was a difficult novel, and I LOVE challenges, and since I paid 12 bucks for it, I figured that would be the safety that would force me to read it. Little did I know, James Joyce and I are like brothers! I loved the Stream of Consciousness style of writing, I love the hilarity that the novel is soaked in, and I love the fact that he can make using the bathroom read like a poetic triumph of the human spirit. Stephen Dedalus is one of my favorite characters and someone I can relate to on a level not like any other character. I read Ulysses once a year, starting on Bloomsday. I loved Ulysses so much, I read most of his other works and can vouch for them as well, The only works of his I haven't read yet are his plays and Finnegans Wake, which I plan to read some day. 5.Symposium by Plato. A dialogue on Love that is so filled to the brim with content that I've read the dialogue more than 5 times in different translations and I still keep on finding new insights. If you think Plato was just a philosopher, reading the Symposium will convince you that if he didn't go into Philosophy, we would be praising him for creating some of the best plays ever written. He masterfully chooses each character, all of their words and actions carefully calculated with meaning and purpose. What seems like an unfinished conversation point or interruption actually is part of a larger point (most of the time very ironic and contradicting what certain characters say on love) It's also one of the most enjoyable dialogues to read because the subject matter is something that is always interesting to everyone. Aren't we all fascinated by love?Glitter is coined to meet the moment's rage;
The genuine lives on from age to age
Well I think some people might not be interested in erotic love between men and boys but they are missing out, cause the Symposium is pretty damn good. Bad thing about the Symposium is that if you don't know the history, characters and their relation to each other you will miss out on about 70% of the jokes, but it's pretty funny all the same. If you want to get the most out of it, study up on Athens at that time and the doings of the characters in the book before you read it. And keep in mind when it was written and where these characters were in at in their lives. Anything by Plato is worth reading even if you don't know the context, but context makes it infinitely better.
I give you 4 out of five. I slightly prefer Pierre Menard's Don Quixote. I would give my eye teeth that Plato would have never been a philosopher.
It's funny that most people other than the OP (and theadvancedapes) have posted only fiction. As will I, in no particular order. 1. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. A behemoth of a book, but well worth it. One of the most memorable books I have ever read. Unfortunately I gave it to an ex-girlfriend, and don't know if I'll get it back. 2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Another large book. I was at times put off by how, well, amazing the main character basically is, but the book is fantastically gripping, and I love the sense of age I get off of it. 3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. The first Murakami book I read, and the one that made me fall in love with his writing. He has a way of combining the everyday and the uncanny that I can't get enough of. Well, actually I can; 1Q84, his latest offering, was a disappointment. 4. 1984 by George Orwell. Along with Murakami, he's one of my favourite authors, and I've read many of his books. 1984 was also the first of his that I read (unless it was Animal Farm) and I thought it was brilliant. Besides, 1984 is almost obligatory in Top Books posts... Speaking of non-fiction, Down and Out in Paris and London is a great read, too. 5. A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov. It's difficult to put my finger on why I like this book so much. I also like A Song of Ice and Fire, but it's not one of my favourites. When's the next book coming out?
You must have taken away something completely different from Infinite Jest than I did. I felt like the joke was on me for having read it....
It seems to be one of those extremely divisive books that people either tend to love or hate.
That's for sure, though I've only run across a very few people that managed to finish the whole book.
I like coming up with new years for subsidized time. 2002 - Year of the Whopper
2003 - Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
2004 - Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
2005 - Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
2006 - Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
2007 -Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems For Home, Office, Or Mobile (sic)
2008 - Year of the Dairy Products from the American Heartland
2009 - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
2010 - Year of Glad
2011 - Year of the Walt Disney World Family Vacation
2012 - Year of Romney For President Still mulling over 2013.
What page were all of the subsidised years on? 223? It felt like I was constantly going back to that page, to locate a particular passage in time.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Makes my top five list as well. I didn't care for IQ84 either. I felt like he was beating me over the head reexplaining core conceits of the book while at the end just punting off a lot of stuff as fantastically inexplicable. I like Dumas, but not the Count. The main character is just a little too cool to be interesting. Orwell is a terrific, read his essays if you havn't, start with killing an elephant.
1. The Singularity Is Near (Ray Kurzweil)
- projects the next 40-50 years of technological evolution and its implications for humanity 2. Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond)
- attempts to understand why there was disproportionate cultural and technological development over the past 10,000 years 3. What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee (Jonathan Marks)
- deconstructs biological and social science and creates a new model for understanding human evolution, variation and behaviour 4. The Better Angels of Our Nature (Stephen Pinker)
- explores the history of human violence from the Paleolithic to modern times 5. The Ancestor's Tale (Richard Dawkins)
- creates an accessible reverse narrative of the past 3.5 billion years of biological evolution
He has been criticized for being an environmental determinist and for not incorporating a more inclusive theory with room for cultural autonomy. Although these criticism are valid, I have yet to read a book that both explains the emergence of Eurasian city-state networks and the lack of development elsewhere. In the future, I hope that someone can adequately build on what he has done. As far as him not being a credible source in anthropology, I can say that most people in my department have nothing but positive things to say about this work. If I have a major criticism, it may be that it is too simplistic and does not focus enough (or at all) on the environmental factors that led to European colonial expansion. Either way, it is on my list because of what it taught me at a key point in my academic trajectory.
My roommate has Song of the Dodo! I should give it a read when I get back from NYC.
I really admire this work because I think it is a great mental exercise for people who have a difficult time conceptualizing deep time and how speciation occurs. However, I have heard many people say that they generally find Dawkins writing boring.
Have you read Human Natures: Genes, Cultures and the Human Prospect by Paul E Ehrlich? It's one of my favourite (American) anthropological books. I read it when I was sixteen and it really ignited my interest in anthropology.
No I have not. Thanks for suggesting this though, I'm going to have to give it a read soon.
Ah, Sophie's World is a great choice, although I found it a bit of a tough read myself. My own favorites tend to have a strong element of humor in them, though they're not necessarily light and fluffy. In no particular order: 1. The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy, a ridiculously funny and clever young adult novel. Nothing has so consistently delighted me for so long. 2. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This is generally known for the movie adaptation, but the book is so much bigger and more thoughtful. Despite being a young adult novel, its themes are rich and complex -- I've needed to re-read it several times. 3. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, the tale of a bloated, supercilious juggernaut of a man who steamrollers his way through New Orleans disdaining everything he sees. This is such a funny novel it has reduced me to tears in public. 4. The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem, a collection of robot fairy tales with a deep, philosophical undercurrent. This one is for the cerebral funny bone. 5. This is a bit of a wildcard slot, so here goes: Tiny Tim by Harry Stein, a rare, intimate portrait of a very troubled man. Tiny Tim is known for his whimsical ukulele covers, but this biography reveals a wildly irresponsible man-child with alien ideas about sex. Easily the best work of biography I've ever read, though the book itself can be hard to track down.
Searched this thread for "confederacy" and found your #3. A wonderful slice of New Orleans, that. A treat for all readers.
in no order numbers to keep me on track.
I made a rule one book per author and kept myself to fiction. 1. Street of Crocodiles - Bruno Schulz
2. The Aleph and other stories - Joge Luis Borges
3. The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton
4. Candide - Voltaire
5. Cain - Jose Saramago
6. Nine Humorous Tales - Anton Chekov
7. The Patricide Club - Ambrose Bierce
8. The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem
9. The First and Last men - Olaf Stapledon
10. Midnights Children- Salman Rusdie Honorable Mentions The Stranger - Camus, Narcissus , Goldmund - Hess
Droll Stories- Balzac. I just noticed you only asked for 5 so I apologize but do not correct.
I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan, especially post-apocalyptic fiction. 1. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling 2. Dune by Frank Herbert 3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin 4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 5. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
I liked the sequels more than Ender's Game, actually. In Speaker for the Dead, he is an adult, and traveling through time in hyperspace, from planet to planet, performing rights for the dead. Very good read, and an entirely different book than Ender's Game. In fact, I think the series keeps getting better as it progresses. Xenocide, the 3rd book in the series, is another of my sci-fi favorites.
I'm also really interested in sci-fi ever since reading Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury. I've wanted to read Isaac Asimov and more sci-fi for some time but have never gotten around to it.
Damn, you people just made me realize I have to read way more. For me it would have to be:
-Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I just fell in love with the idea, the characters and everything about it. It was the first book I read for pleasure and I still read it every year.
-American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I love fantasy, and the way Gaiman brought these Gods to life is just fantastic.
-Harry Potter (1-7) by J.K. Rowling. Yes it is mostly for kids, but it´s so enjoyble for anyone. The way Rowling made this whole new world of magic within our world is brilliant.
-The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. It´s probably the best Batman story, and it is for a reason. Miller reinvented Batman and he did it in a great way.
-Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Another graphic novel where Gaiman brings to life the personification of dreams. It´s another fantastic read, even if you´re not into comic books. Honorable mentions:
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Hobbit by Tolkien
Watchmen by Alan Moore
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis
1. Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman
2. Godel Escher Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
3. Moby Dick - Herman Mellville
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy It's tough to pick a Top Five, but those are books that I'll recommend without hesitation. Ok, five more: 6. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
7. Franny and Zooey - J. D. Salinger
8. The Lord of the Rings (all 3) - J. R. R. Tolkein
9. Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan
10. The Private Life of Chairman Mao - Dr. Li Zhisui
Nice list. "Godel Escher Bach" was one of those great books, that I am still very hesitant to suggest to people - it's not for everyone, and it gets very dense about halfway through. So beautiful, though. Pro-tip for readers of "A Clockwork Orange" - there is a glossary at the back! I read it to the end before I realised that. I'm not sure if knowing that in advance would have made it better or worse, though!
Ah bloody hell, this is going to be difficult. I'll try. This is in no order 1) Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert Heinlein 2) Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson 3) Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson 4) Prey - Michael Crichton 5) House Of Suns - Alastair Reynolds Yeah, sci-fi is my thing mostly. Honourable mention to Orson Scott Card, "Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson, all of Heinlein's works, most of Hunter S. Thompson's works, Sphere and Jurassic Park by Crichton, Richard Dawkins, Stephen King, and also Harry Potter, cause that shit was great when I was a kid. EDIT: Shit I forgot Philip K. Dick. Man there are too many people to list.
1. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller. A great war novel bordering on the absurd. 2. East of Eden - John Steinbeck. A great American novel, covering generations of a single family and their lives in California. 3. A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan. A view of the Vietnam war through the life of one man. 4. It - Stephen King. Great horror from a great horror writer. 5. Women - Bukowski. Dirty, funny and sad, classic Bukowski.
1. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson 2. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov 3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 4. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 5. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving This is the first time I've included Calvin and Hobbes as a book in a list like this, but it is well deserving. They capture so much, so perfectly. I enjoy sci-fi anthems. They inspire me, and The End of Eternity does so far more than most because of its ending. Man is destined for the stars. I also enjoy Dickensian stories of the lives of quirky characters. My last two picks both made me cry. Edit: Also Animal Farm Edit: Also Ender's Game
A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the most effective books that I have read. It just sticks with you. I don't necessarily like the message, but it is a masterful piece of literature. I read Bleakhouse a couple of years ago and enjoyed the characters in it. I really enjoyed Great Expectations. Dickens is fun stuff. I agree about the quality of Calvin and Hobbes. That book is like a warm blanket.
C&H is one of those works that made me really sad when I got to the end because there wasn't any more. Have you read any other Irving? Any suggestions? I haven't read Bleakhouse. I'll admit that I have only read Dickens (and most of the other literature I've read) because it was required for high school English classes. We read Great Expectation and A Tale of Two Cities, both of which I loved, but I haven't read any Dickens since. I guess I'll start with that!
Fair warning, Bleakhouse is expansive. You've really got to be in for the ride. I've read Cider House Rules, and I think one other Irving, but it's not coming to mind. I have heard great things about The World According to Garp, which I keep meaning to read.
Have you read Michael Lewis's The Big Short? It's a fascinating read, and makes you feel way smarter by the end. Here's my five (all fiction): 1. Dubliners by James Joyce; arguably the most masterful short story collection ever written 2. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway; his seminal war book 3. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey; a really beautiful and out-there novel about Oregon loggers which will always have a special place in my memory 4. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor; some of the funniest and darkest stories I've ever read 5. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; just a classic, page-turning book
I read and enjoyed The Big Short a lot. His explanations along with real life stories he attacts to it make understanding the technical stuff easy while allowing me to connect with the people in the book. The Hemingway book you mentioned, is it anything like A Farewell to Arms? I was really interested in Hemingway for a time but forgot about him.
It's hard for me to compare the two because I read AFTA a long time ago. The main difference is FWTBT involves a lot of combat (guerilla warfare in the Spanish Civil War) whereas the other if I remember is more about escaping the combat of war. I highly recommend it; it's exciting, reads fast and is very moving.
My favorite books are ones that got me back into reading, all recommended by more literary friends. They're mostly simple, concise, and pretty mainstream. In no particular order: 1. Candide by Voltaire 2. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. The first in the list that I'd read. A bit boring at first, especially for me as an inexperienced reader, probably typical of Hemingway. 3. Catch-22 by Heller 4. Infinite Jest or Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by Wallace 5. The Iliad by Homer
Both (1.) The Kite Runner and (2.) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini are absolutely fabulous. These two books made the New York Times' Best Sellers list. They historical fiction and are written with so much raw emotion that the reader can't help but believe it's true. The setting of both is in Afganistan during the Russian occupation, Mujahideen take over, and Taliban take over. Watch as Afghan flowers begin to grow thorns. 3. Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is a classic and well worth its fame. Read this book. 4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is another classic and one of my favorite "stranded/ lost/survival" stories. It's about a group a young English boys whose airplane crashes on an uninhabited island. Eventually, conflict arrises about the roles of leadership and tribes emerge. 5. I have to put Eragon by Christopher Paolini on this list because of my falling in love with dragons and anything to do with them stage. If you have seen the movie, you most likely wanted your money back or labeled it "meh". However, this book is so much more complex than the movie which left out the climax of all things. From the wiki: The book tells the story of a young farm boy named Eragon, who finds a mysterious stone in the mountains. A dragon he later names Saphira hatches from the stone, which was really an egg. When the evil King Galbatorix finds out about Eragon and his dragon, he sends his servants, the Ra'zac, after them in an effort to capture them. Eragon and Saphira are forced to flee from their hometown, and decide to search for the Varden, a group of rebels who want to see the downfall of Galbatorix.
5 of my favorites, in no particular order: Vurt - by Jeff Noon
A must read for cyberpunk enthusiasts, IMHO Permanence - by Karl Schroeder
Great space opera with a female protagonist World War Z - by Max Brooks
also looking forward to the movie... Ender's Shadow - by Orson Scott Card
this, for me, was the more interesting side of the Ender story Programming the Universe - by Seth Lloyd
quantum computing and how it relates to the universe at large
1. House of leaves because it taught me that you don't need to make a book like a book for it to be a good book 2. Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Which taught me that there can be Comedic Science Fiction 3. John Dies At the End It taught me that there can be unorthodox ways of telling a story and learning there are other takes on events 4. Snow Crash Which gave me a better way to look at the ability words have on a society as well as showing how two different worlds can be 5. Enders Game Taught me how to think like a kid who is able to understand adults but still have an imagination
I tell this to everyone who likes Ender's Game. Do yourself a favor and read Speaker for the Dead by the same author. Follows the same character several thousand years in the future, very interesting story about human nature. The concepts of the book I find absolutely fascinating.
1. The Instructions by Adam Levin
2. Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks
3. The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin
4. Dune by Frank Herbert
5. Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg The Instructions is a mostly unknown volume. It details four adventurous, mystical and action- and dialogue-packed days in the life of the 10 year-old Gurion Maccabee, who believes he is a messiah (or potential messiah). At over a thousand pages, this is a hard read, but a very satisfying one. Consider Phlebas is my quintessential action/space-opera. It's both smart and visceral, and introduces the reader to the Culture universe in a unique perspective: it's opponent's. The Conquest of Bread details, to varying degrees of accuracy, my idea of anarchy-in-action. Obviously it is very dated, and there are many other, more recent, books and online collections that build on it and others, but it holds a certain sentimental value for me, as it introduced me to the concepts and rationale behind anarchism. Dune for the world within. I feel that if you've read it, this should be fairly self explanatory. Seems counter intuitive that a book about a man, well into his thirties/in his early forties, coming to terms with his competence leaving him would resonate so loudly with my 17 year old self (at the time). And yet this novel presents some of the best character-driven plot I've had the pleasure of reading. The phrase 'from bad to worse' comes to mind when thinking about this novel, and there isn't a single person I wouldn't recommend it to.
Off-the-cuff, and weighted towards what I've been reading lately: 1. Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Currently on book 5.
2. The Hyperion stories, Dan Simmons.
3. Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin.
4. Watchmen, graphic novel, Alan Moore.
5. American Gods, Gaiman.
I gave up the Dark Tower series around book 5 or 6, more power to you if you manage to make it to the end though!
(No order) 1. A Farewell to Arms
2. This Side of Paradise
3. Bill Graham Presents
4. Hitch-22
5. The House With a Clock in It's Walls (when I was young)
1. Fountainhead
2. Catcher in the Rye
3. Animal Farm & 1984
4. Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorn
5. The Awakening
6. Crime and Punishment
7. Girl, Interrupted
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
10. Lord of the Flies I think in general I really enjoy reading Utopian ideals, even if they are expressed through insanity.
1 - City of Thieves by David Benioff: fictional, but based off his father's life during WWII. It is his adventures in trying to find eggs in Petersburg and German occupied territory for a general's daughter's wedding. 2 - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: post-civil war Barcelona, which gives us a rich atmosphere for this beautiful tale. I can't give a decent synopsis. Both this and the former book are rather funny, but neither is near a comedy; the stories are both too grave. 3 - Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe: a good sci-fi/fantasy book. It's broken into a tetralogy. Extremely deep characters and vivid descriptions. A very eccentric storyline, and deep. 4 - any Calvin and Hobbes book by Bill Watterson: I grew up wanting to be Calvin, yet I grew up near opposite. Still envy the boy. If you don't count comics, I'll throw in Stephen Bietsy's Man-of-War here instead, a book that lasted me my childhood, but didn't stay with me as Calvin and Hobbes did. 5 - Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: futuristic; we grow chicken meat on plants, harvest human organs from pigs, create diseases, etc. Real biology advancement heavy. Focuses on the friend of a genius and the life he lived up until the disaster and how he attempts to reconcile with his relation to it.
1. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien 2. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut 3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini 4. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas 5. The Plague - Albert Camus
1. The Foundation Series - by Isaac Asimov 2. The Dark Tower series - by Stephen King 3. Anna Karenina - by Leo Tolstoy 4. Stranger in a Strange Land - by Robert Heinlein 5. The Lost World - by Arthur Conan Doyle
1. Anything by Jasper Fforde 2. Anything by Lemony Snicket 3. Anything by JRR Tolkien 4. Anything by PG Wodehouse 5. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
In no particular order Angela's Ashes- its a story of an Irish immigrant family seen through the eyes of their oldest son. It's ridiculously sad, but at the same time the writing makes me crack up through my tears. Absolutely one of the best books I've ever read. East of Eden- definitely my favorite Steinbeck book. I loved Steinbeck growing up, and I think that this was definitely his masterpiece. The Old Man and the Sea- when I first read this book as a kid I thought, "well this is boring". Several years later, when I reread it for a paper I was writing, I understood Hemingway much more, his style was fantastic and I fell in love with the book immediately. The Harry Potter Series- simply because I grew up with the books, and it's had such a large impact on my generation. Rowling is the reason I loved reading as a teenager and the reason I love all of these other books. I absolutely love the story and reread the series once every few years. I can't think of a fifth one right now, I'll come back and edit this post when I figure one out
All of these books have some kind of a magical realism, or post-modernism element. So if you're not into it I would skip over this list. 1) As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 2) The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien 3) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy 4) The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie 5) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
100%. His ability to write perspectives and characters in that book, besides an incredibly evolving plot, wowed me.
I read a lot and this list is very incomplete: 1) 1984 by George Orwell, the most important book ever written IMO. It reveals, explains, shocks and sharpens your mind. 2) The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, the best explanation for why there is no god. 3) Die Klavierspielerin (Don't know the english title, probably The Piano Player) by Elfriede Jelinek, I must have read it 5 times already and it never stops to lure me into the weird world of sexual repression and the beauty of language. 4) De Dömdas Ö (The Island of the Damned) by Stig Dagerman, a very bleak and moving look at the human condition, beautifully written in just a couple of days when Stig was retreating on an island. 5) Harry Potter (parts 1-7), for the pure joy of reading it. After 100 years it will still be a classic.
Like your first, third and fourth well enough. There are better sabremetrics books out there, but none more accessible. My list: 1. Tolkien's The Silmarillion
2. Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities
3. Asimov's Foundation and sequels
4. Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and sequel
5. Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
1) Long Dark Tea Time of the soul by Douglas Adams 2)The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins 3)Mortality by Hitchens 4) My First summer in the Sierra's by John Muir 5) Early Days in the Range of Light by Daniel Arnold
1. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is a must must must must must must must must must must read for every human being. 2. The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten. It's essentially about the zen of music. 3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Beautiful book about the importance of keeping your eyes open to the world around you. 4. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. 5. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. It's honestly a difficult read because it follows Native American's view of cyclical time. Beautiful writing with a large theme of appreciation.
Since you listed it twice, I feel like I have to ask exactly what you thought made Ishmael worth reading? I found it to be a waste of my time so I'm curious what would make it such an amazing book to someone else.
I'm almost offended that you said it was a waste of time. Regardless of if you agree or not with Quinn arguing we should be 'Leavers' instead of 'Takers,' you have to admit that the beauty with which he describes his belief is great. Why I thought it was worth a double listing is because it does resonate strongly with what I believe. He speaks of balance, compassion, love...and I agree with him that the world would be such a better place if we all were 'Leavers.'
No offense meant, I was genuinely curious about your obviously very different opinion of the book.
I figured it was out of curiosity. It's just that that book is so aligned with my philosophies I hold it dear to my soul.
My issue was more with presentation than content. While I think Quinn had some good ideas the book came across as very .... obvious (?) ... and to me quite shallow and simplistic. Although I think there's something to be said about the shallow/simplistic part in terms of it allowing the reader to fill in the depth on their own, that's not really what I'm looking for in that type of book.
Completely understandable. I loved the book more so for the content. I think I fell in love with the content to much I didn't even care about the simplistic writing.
I would like to ammend my list to include The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen. It has shaped who I am today.
1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Really interesting situation, and the pacing and sequence of events is flawless. 2. The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Funny if inappropriate book about ecoterrorism, written from the point of view of the ecoterrorists. 3. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. This is just a lovely high fantasy book with a (mostly) great series accompanying. 4. Sabriel by Garth Nix. Honestly this was just really entertaining, with a well developed and nonstandard mechanic being central. 5. Foundation by Isaac Asimov, and the rest of the series. Predictions of the future, scifi, politics, group psychology, really good stuff.
1. "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George RR Martin. No explanation necessary. Have you picked up "The Lands of Ice and Fire"? It's a collection of maps of the world and it gives you a peek into what the east looks like, including Yi Ti and Asshai. 2. "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol is an amazing non-fiction book that looks into the lives of the people who live and work in the South Bronx. It's very powerful and I read it straight through. 3. "My Uncle Oswald" by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl's uncle discovers the world's most powerful aphrodisiac and concocts a scheme that involves having his beautiful female acquaintance use it on the most famous men in Europe. The only book that has ever made me laugh out loud. 4. "My Life" by Bill Clinton. It's huge but it's very well-written and it gives you great insight into past and current politics. I recommend reading it back to back with Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History" as they really complement each other nicely. 5. "The Alchemist's Door" by Lisa Goldstein. Not everyone likes this book but it was one of my favorite growing up and I still enjoy rereading it. It's historical fantasy featuring the court magician of Elizabeth I . I like the blend of history and fantasy.
Sure. The book starts with a little girl in Norway during the 1980's. She lives with her mother and her father is in the UN away. One day she receives a letter containing questions and a philosophy reading from a person who calls himself Alberto Knox. They correspond for a while, Sophie learns about philosophy, when she receives a postcard saying happy birthday to someone else with the same birthday called Hilde. SPOILERS AHEAD SPOILERS
Alberto and Sophie meet, then Aberto tells Sophie that she is only a character in a book, entitled Sophie's World, on philosophy that is a birthday present. The viewpoint then switches the Hilde, who is reading about Sophie as Sophie figures out that she is a character in a book. Sophie then tries to break out, eventually becoming a spirit, unable to interact with Hilde and the real world.
SPOILERS Essentially, you're reading a book about a person reading a book about a person reading books about philosophy.