Moxie
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The Book Shelf
- Thread starter Kieran
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tented
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1. Anna Karenina
2. Molloy - Samuel Beckett (I stopped reading novels for years after having to read this for a postmodernism class in college)
3. Harry Potter
4. Franny and Zooey - Salinger
5. I read a lot of fiction (covering multiple genres) and nonfiction, so no single favorite.
6. I’ve stayed away from filmed versions of Anna Karenina. It couldn’t possibly be conveyed correctly. Maybe if someone made a faithful miniseries, instead of a film, they could get close, but even then I doubt it.
7. Contemporary — only because I‘m not really into fantasy.
8. Standalone
Oh yes! Of course or when you're on holiday & have no trips out that day & you've already seen the resort & don't fancy going for a swim. :0)I was really thinking of like on a "snow day," when you kinda do nothing else.
Oops! I'm very sorry for mentioning the 7 letter h word which some people would love to take but can't at the moment.
I wonder if any of the more practical people here could help me, please. I want to learn to do some D.I.Y. as Dad used to do it all & it would save us some money. I've looked through the books Dad has got but they go through all the stuff everyone would know like how to use a saw, how to sand & how to paint a fence or wall as well as the stuff I'd like to know or need to know. Does anyone know of any good D.I.Y. books which don't quite go back to basics that much?
I like Anna Karenina too. It's my favourite Tolstoy novel.
That's the reason I prefer contemporary fiction to fantasy too. I prefer classic & period novels to contemporary ones though as I think they're better written most of the time. Some contemporary authors just appear to have a competition to see how many times they can use swear-words & talk about the graphic details of what goes on in the bedrooms of people in intimate relationships & they're really blunt about it. Some contemporary authors use language a 5 year old could understand & don't talk about adult themes or leave anything to the imagination of their readers which I detest. My favourite contemporary novel is "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine".
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tented
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About two years ago, out of curiosity, I randomly picked 3-4 titles on the NYT fiction bestsellers list, just to see what they were like. I couldn’t believe how dumbed down they were. You put it perfectly: language a five year old could understand. Short sentences, short paragraphs, short chapters — all to give the feeling of whizzing through seamlessly. “Hey, I’m halfway through already! Reading a book isn’t so bad after all.“
My overall impression was that in the near future, publishers won’t even need authors (however untalented) anymore: a computer program will be writing them. And this is not a joke. Research is already taking place to have AI “write” music, poetry, fiction.
I don't normally read best-sellers but got a few a couple of years ago when I decided to embark on a reading challenge. (They were "The child" by Fiona Barton & "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine" by Gail Honeyman as well as a couple more with titles that escape me. They weren't bad. The child got me going by changing place & time quite often. The ones my Sister got & lent me a few times when I was staying at hers were though. They make me drop to sleep. I would never feel good at reading books like that unless I'd read something very heavy before them so could do with a break & don't have any knitting, sewing, weaving, hat-making or sewing to do. Reading a book is great.
That would be dreadful. Not all new authors are untalented though. New books that have been well-written in my opinion are "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine", "All the light we cannot see", "A thousand splendid suns" & "Summer's child" in fiction & "The age of the horse" by Susanna Forrest, "A history of ancient Britain", "A history of Scotland" & "The Vikings" by Neil Oliver (I'm a big fan of Neil Oliver & have all his history books & all his D.V.D.'s except "Coast" series 6-10 & "Two men in a trench"), "A history of the world" by Andrew Marr, "Destructive Emotions & how to deal with them" & "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman.
mrzz
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(I changed the thread so we do not highjack the "What are you reading NOW" thread since the discussion , as it is expected, became general).
I did not read that much Lem, but what I read impressed me a lot. When I wrote his name on the post to Horsa, I remembered he was Polish and I was pretty sure you would have something to add. I read just "Solaris" and "Memoirs found in a bathtub", apart from some short stories, which I do not recall the name, but they were all with the same extremely high level of quality. I will definitely look after the story you mentioned. (btw, @Horsa, there is a Solaris movie adaption by renowed director Tarkovsky... there are two or three beautiful scenes on it, I admit, but... apart from that is pure crap, it does not do minimal justice to the book).
Not that many Lem translations here... also not that easy to find (the right) foreign books... even if nowadays is easier, of course. I really need to reset my inner dial and start looking for more English translations of the authors I like. To this day I simply do not do this in "automatic mode".
For some odd reason I remember Karel Čapek, @Chris Koziarz ... (well, I was not sure of his nationality, just checked he is Czech...). "War with the Newts" is a masterpiece... and you can laugh for hours while reading it.
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I'm very sorry, Mr. Zz. I didn't mean to but I thought I'd just ask & when I'm in conversations I just go with the flow. This can make for very interesting conversations as it starts on 1 very interesting conversation & moves onto another & then another. It can be very hard for some people to keep up with though. Oops! I'd better behave before you call the moderators again. Lol.
I guess I could try to learn your language again & make things easier for you. I've read books in foreign languages & still do sometimes. I read the French version of "Around the World in Eighty Days" & I've got a book of Spanish poems which I read sometimes. It would give me something fun to do to keep me out of mischief for a bit when I wasn't busy doing other things which aren't so fun.
Thank you very much for the recommendations.
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mrzz
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The punishment for your hellish crime
for your behavior, malicious and bent
Is to give an assessment, in rhyme
Of the marvelous book "Crime and Punishment"
I'll have to read it first.
That punishment isn't the worst.
You could have sat me in the corner writing lines a hundred times.
Instead, I've to read, think about what I've read & write more rhymes.
Your assignment will make me feel like Geoffrey Chaucer,
Instead of the person my user-name was based on, Horsa.
I'll find out how Chaucer felt when he wrote Canterbury Tales.
I hope my endeavours don't turn out to be fails.
By the way I love your above poetic punishment endeavour.
I must say I think it's extremely clever.
mrzz
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I was going to reply that your reply was simply fantastic... but you had to spoil it with those two last lines!
Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it. You'll have to learn to take a compliment from genuine people, you know. I had to. You're just too modest, you know.
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I'm thinking of reading "The mysterious island" by Jules Verne. It's on Mother's book-shelf. It never used to be as Dad didn't like her reading anything like that. It's not the type of book I'd normally read though. I don't know whether I'd find it too scary so I want to ask if anyone else has read it. If so, what do they think of it? Should I just read it anyway & see what I think myself?
I finished reading "The age of the horse" by Susannah Forrest yesterday. It's a very good book which covers equine art, science & poetry as well as history. It's fascinating but gets to the gory details & is very upsetting in places. I took notes of the most interesting parts as well as parts I needed for my equine history report & then gave it to a colleague.
Hi @Kieran!
I'm very sorry I took over your thread a little when you were away. I just had a lot to say on the subject of books. Someone decided to have a go at me on here at 1 time but it got sorted. Thank goodness! I really didn't like having a slanging match when no-one likes to see them. I think in rhyme sometimes so ended up writing poetry on here at times too. I guess you could say I was keeping your thread warm for you at 1 time. I hope you don't mind.
Saying that I just wanted to ask everyone on here a question if you don't mind. Since you're back & it's your thread I thought it was only common courtesy to ask.
Ann.
I'm very sorry I took over your thread a little when you were away. I just had a lot to say on the subject of books. Someone decided to have a go at me on here at 1 time but it got sorted. Thank goodness! I really didn't like having a slanging match when no-one likes to see them. I think in rhyme sometimes so ended up writing poetry on here at times too. I guess you could say I was keeping your thread warm for you at 1 time. I hope you don't mind.
Saying that I just wanted to ask everyone on here a question if you don't mind. Since you're back & it's your thread I thought it was only common courtesy to ask.
Ann.
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Hi Kieran!Hi Ann!
No courtesy required! Would love to read your question, thanks...
O.K. Thank you very much. I'll just ask my question below. :0)
