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The Book Thread - What You're Reading & Everything Book Related
- Thread starter lesterlong
- Start date
Trouble, there are so many things to discover in the wonderful world of literature, even in Germany, France and the US.
I could give you a few names - no, I could give you dozens and dozens - and it still wouldn't give a representative idea of the literary Universes in these countries.
In Germany, of the classics, Goethe is still up there. Apart from "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers", which they oblige you to read in most literary classes, a symphonic unhappy love-story gone bad, his whole work is excellent, and "Faust" is the flagship. Of the modern classics, I like to read Brecht. And of contemporary writers, why not Peter Handke?
Of the French, well, who to pick? Of the classics, Voltaire of course, and Rabelais, of the modern classics, Camus, Queneau, Artaud, Genet and Ionesco plus Celine of course, and of contemporaries, the later Echenoz and the earlier Houellebecq.
In US literature, I have a sweet spot for the beatnik generation. I'm not calling them all geniuses, but Kerouac and Burroughs did stir things around (his novel "Queer" is an excellent excercise in minimalist literature, and "The Naked Lunch" is just outstanding). Of the contemporaries, Ellroy and Updike as said, but also Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. "Mr Sammler's Planet" must be one of the funniest books ever written in America, together with Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces".
I could throw in twenty more, but it would only be name-dropping.
I could give you a few names - no, I could give you dozens and dozens - and it still wouldn't give a representative idea of the literary Universes in these countries.
In Germany, of the classics, Goethe is still up there. Apart from "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers", which they oblige you to read in most literary classes, a symphonic unhappy love-story gone bad, his whole work is excellent, and "Faust" is the flagship. Of the modern classics, I like to read Brecht. And of contemporary writers, why not Peter Handke?
Of the French, well, who to pick? Of the classics, Voltaire of course, and Rabelais, of the modern classics, Camus, Queneau, Artaud, Genet and Ionesco plus Celine of course, and of contemporaries, the later Echenoz and the earlier Houellebecq.
In US literature, I have a sweet spot for the beatnik generation. I'm not calling them all geniuses, but Kerouac and Burroughs did stir things around (his novel "Queer" is an excellent excercise in minimalist literature, and "The Naked Lunch" is just outstanding). Of the contemporaries, Ellroy and Updike as said, but also Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. "Mr Sammler's Planet" must be one of the funniest books ever written in America, together with Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces".
I could throw in twenty more, but it would only be name-dropping.
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V
vod
"Tortilla Flat" - J.Steinbeck
i just read it for the second time. it must be my favourite fiction book. i just love it. i see it as a very wise book, but a short and funny one as well. all ya should read it.
as for exotics:
anyone of you familiar with the name Bruno Schultz? a polish jew writing before the WW2. i recommend you read "The Street of Crocodiles", a very oniric book. dreamlike reality. i loved it.
yeah and i used to read a lot of Philip K. Dick. "Ubik" was i think the book that sparked my interest for his works and i think it's one of his best (he wrote a lot of shit as well as good stuff).
that was the fiction bit. last years i read much more non-fiction than fiction. mostly history and political stuff (anyone familiar with the name Kapuściński?).
but here's a book about the origin and first years of organized crime america style: "Tough Jews : Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams" by Rick Cohen. a good read for sure.
i just read it for the second time. it must be my favourite fiction book. i just love it. i see it as a very wise book, but a short and funny one as well. all ya should read it.
as for exotics:
anyone of you familiar with the name Bruno Schultz? a polish jew writing before the WW2. i recommend you read "The Street of Crocodiles", a very oniric book. dreamlike reality. i loved it.
yeah and i used to read a lot of Philip K. Dick. "Ubik" was i think the book that sparked my interest for his works and i think it's one of his best (he wrote a lot of shit as well as good stuff).
that was the fiction bit. last years i read much more non-fiction than fiction. mostly history and political stuff (anyone familiar with the name Kapuściński?).
but here's a book about the origin and first years of organized crime america style: "Tough Jews : Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams" by Rick Cohen. a good read for sure.
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Diary- by Chuck Palahniuk
True art comes from suffering
Select quotes ( I love the style of writing, its a great style to get ppl reading who haven't picked up a book in a long time.)
"Everything is a self-portrait. A diary.Your whole drug history's in the strand of your hair. Your fingernails. The forensic details. The lining of your stomach is a document. The calluses on your hand tell all your secrets. Your teeth give you away. Your accent. The wrinkles around your mouth and eyes. Everything you do shows your hand."
"The paint colors iris green and sap green are the juice of flowers. The color of Cappagh brown is Irish dirt, Misty whispered. Cinnabar is vermillion ore shot from high spanish cliffs with arrows.Bistre is the yellow brown soot of burnt beech wood. Every masterpiece is just dirt amd ash put together in some perfect way."
From one of my favorite contemporary authors and a master in training Chuck Palahniuk. www.chuckpalahniuk.net/
True art comes from suffering
Select quotes ( I love the style of writing, its a great style to get ppl reading who haven't picked up a book in a long time.)
"Everything is a self-portrait. A diary.Your whole drug history's in the strand of your hair. Your fingernails. The forensic details. The lining of your stomach is a document. The calluses on your hand tell all your secrets. Your teeth give you away. Your accent. The wrinkles around your mouth and eyes. Everything you do shows your hand."
"The paint colors iris green and sap green are the juice of flowers. The color of Cappagh brown is Irish dirt, Misty whispered. Cinnabar is vermillion ore shot from high spanish cliffs with arrows.Bistre is the yellow brown soot of burnt beech wood. Every masterpiece is just dirt amd ash put together in some perfect way."
From one of my favorite contemporary authors and a master in training Chuck Palahniuk. www.chuckpalahniuk.net/
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Rosy Cheeks said:
Hello Cheeks, In my original post I was just being silly regarding French & American writers. I have read much of Camus's work including "The Myth of Sisypus", he would certainly top my list of French writers. All of his works seem to be influenced by melancholic moods, which is probably why I enjoyed reading him so well. He seemed to be a man preoccupied with suicide most of the time, not from a philosophical point of view, but it certainly haunted his writings, he had a definite internal impulse toward self-destruction. And I'm much like you when it comes to American writers as well, there are to many I enjoy to list.
Peace
....
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Yes, you could. Although his navel-gazing kind of gets to me after 300 pages +
VictoryGardener
holy hell
I like the old stuff... my favorites:
The Sun Also Rises- Hemingway
To Have and Have Not- Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms- Hemingway
The Old Man and The Sea- Hemingway
Islands in the Stream- Hemingway
Also- Hemingway's book of short stories
Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men- Steinbeck
One Man's Meat- E.B. White
Plato's Republic
Utopia by Thomas More
Go Dog Go- I think it's by Dr. Seuss
The Lorax- Dr. Seuss
Yes! I like Hemingway!
The Sun Also Rises- Hemingway
To Have and Have Not- Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms- Hemingway
The Old Man and The Sea- Hemingway
Islands in the Stream- Hemingway
Also- Hemingway's book of short stories
Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men- Steinbeck
One Man's Meat- E.B. White
Plato's Republic
Utopia by Thomas More
Go Dog Go- I think it's by Dr. Seuss
The Lorax- Dr. Seuss
Yes! I like Hemingway!
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fr33th3w33d
Member
survivor or fight club by chuck palahnuik are pretty wild books.
Kirby
Member
The Book Thread - What You're Reading & Everything Book Related
I just bought The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger yesterday and plan to finish it this week. What is everyone reading? I plan to order:
1632 by Eric Flint
The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, & the I Ching by Terence McKenna
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
A Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., et al
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper
I just bought The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger yesterday and plan to finish it this week. What is everyone reading? I plan to order:
1632 by Eric Flint
The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, & the I Ching by Terence McKenna
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
A Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., et al
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper
SalParadise
Member
- The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery
- The End of Oil by Paul Roberts
- and On The Road: the Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac
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The_Leader
Non-Hilocentric
Legal Drug by clamp...#3
manga action rules, but reading backwards took a minute to get use to.
my fav read of all time would be The Iron Men.
manga action rules, but reading backwards took a minute to get use to.
my fav read of all time would be The Iron Men.
