Books everyone should have read.

Books everyone should have read.

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Discussion

Ferson

2,019 posts

123 months

Wednesday 18th December 2013
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"Brave New World" and "Brave New World: Revisited", both by Aldous Huxley, are definitely worth reading if Orwell's writings are of interest. Some people have said that Huxley's vision is perhaps closer to the truth, though both authors have gotten things right in their works. Similarly, I'd suggest Zamyatin's "We", being one of the first dystopian stories published.

It might be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I'd also suggest "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While beautifully written, the content of the story provides a great look into the 'Golden Age' of the 1920s. In terms of pure writing style, Fitzgerald is an author I think very highly of. Having taken a brief read through some of his other works I haven't found anything as beautiful as Gatsby, though his talent was undeniable.


Brother D

3,698 posts

175 months

Wednesday 18th December 2013
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Forgotten Voices of the great war.
The Hobbit.


silverthorn2151

6,298 posts

178 months

Friday 20th December 2013
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Can't be doing with Rushdie or Catch 22.

But then my list would have Three Men In A Boat, the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe and Trustee From The Toolroom by Neville Shute on it.

Vive la difference.

Cactussed

5,292 posts

212 months

Friday 20th December 2013
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The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and ran away is quite fun

K12beano

20,854 posts

274 months

Friday 20th December 2013
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Ferson said:
It might be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I'd also suggest "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While beautifully written, the content of the story provides a great look into the 'Golden Age' of the 1920s. In terms of pure writing style, Fitzgerald is an author I think very highly of. Having taken a brief read through some of his other works I haven't found anything as beautiful as Gatsby, though his talent was undeniable.
Quite interested in that - only just caught up with the recent film. Film was OK but didn't have me too excited. Wondering if the book has a lot more to offer - as they so often do.


Still puzzling that I consider Salinger a ****, found Heller quite sleep inducing, yet like Kerouac (I can't bring myself to watch the film of "On the Road" or "Cody" or whichever book it is actually based upon), love Pirsig and have a so-so feeling about Hunter S Thompson and the Rum Diaries (done film and book, and I wouldn't die in a ditch over it but it's OK). Sometimes these books I should like just don't push the buttons!


Meanwhile Ayn Rand is quite a slog. But I'm drawn back (Fountainhead) to keep going. Also "Golden Age" America portrayed in an interesting way...

coppice

8,562 posts

143 months

Saturday 21st December 2013
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If you are interested in F Scott then I recommend 'A Moveable Feast ' in which Hemingway writes about his time as a young man in Paris and mixing with F Scott and the barking Zelda, Ezra Pound , Gertrude Stein and many other other of the movers and shakers of the literary scene. It is an achingly perfect book- and when I first went to Paris a big thing for me was having a coffee in the Cafe Deux Magots (where Hemingway wrote )and buying another copy of said book from Shakespeare and Co (home from home for expat US writers and where EH bought his books).

'On the Road ' is of its time but a great read; the film is a travesty. As films of books usually are - different media.It's a bit like baking a cake about music.

Edited by coppice on Saturday 21st December 15:26

Ferson

2,019 posts

123 months

Tuesday 24th December 2013
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K12beano said:
uite interested in that - only just caught up with the recent film. Film was OK but didn't have me too excited. Wondering if the book has a lot more to offer - as they so often do.
I haven't seen the 2013 film, but from how it was presented prior to release, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. The aesthetic didn't appeal to me, even if it is apparently Baz Luhrmann's style. The 1973 film with Robert Redford, on the other hand, takes a more traditional approach to presenting Gatsby's character. It also features 'that bloke' from Law & Order, Sam Waterston.

A film would have difficulty doing the writing style justice. So much of the book's presentation simply wouldn't transfer to film easily, and the quality of narration is what makes the book enjoyable. Tear away the narrative and the entire plot goes down a notch - especially when Nick is meant to be an unreliable narrator. There are some fantastic lines from the book that don't make it into the film. Without giving anything away, the last line is fairly powerful.

Fitzgerald said:
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

santona1937

736 posts

129 months

Wednesday 25th December 2013
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1984
one flew over the cuckoos nest, and sometimes a great notion, both by Ken Kesey
On the Road Jack Kerouac
Gulag Archipelago
Down and out in London and Paris, George Orwell
The Electric kool aid acid test Tom Wolfe
Anything by Allan Ginsburg
The Second Sex- Simone de Beauvoir
Kitchen Confidential- Anthony Bourdain
The physiology of Taste Brillat Savarin
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Please kill me, the uncensored oral history of Punk
Brave New WOrld- Aldous huxley
The Whole Jeeves series



A993LAD

1,627 posts

220 months

Wednesday 25th December 2013
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War and peace by Tolstoy

Its massive but I downloaded it to my phone and read it on the train over about 6 months.

Brilliantly written descriptions of many real events are woven into the fiction and I feel much better informed of European history now I've read it.

I think it was really cheap off amazon so great value too.


DoubleSix

11,691 posts

175 months

Wednesday 25th December 2013
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Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Derek Smith

45,514 posts

247 months

Thursday 26th December 2013
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One of the formative books of my youth was:

The Strange One, by Bodsworth.

Long out of print.

A Sparrow's Fall, by the same author, is well worth reading.

TooLateForAName

4,727 posts

183 months

Tuesday 7th January 2014
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Those who enjoyed 1984 in relation to the current political/social situation might want to try some Kafka. The trial or the castle would be good starting points.

Agree One Day in the life is an excellent book.

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass
The Clown - Heinrich Boll
The Plague - Albert Camus


ali_kat

31,988 posts

220 months

Tuesday 14th January 2014
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Some good classics here, and some surprising suggestions, I'll thrown another curve ball into the mix

Fluke - James Herbert

Don't judge it on his normal style.

Don't judge Gatsby by the films either - the book is a different fish

M3DEV

1,438 posts

194 months

Sunday 19th January 2014
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DoubleSix said:
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Yes, this was much better than I expected.
Around the World in 80 days. A wonderful book!


Legend83

9,947 posts

221 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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Having just read it, I would but The Road by Cormac McCarthy in this category.

Anyone who has access to nuclear weapons should read this book.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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Legend83 said:
Anyone who has access to nuclear weapons should read this book.
Rules me out. I only have access to conventional weapons of mass destruction.

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
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Another vote from me for Ivan Denosovich, you can't fail to see your own life in a better light after reading it.
'The Stand' by Stephen King - a great tome although ruined if you remember anything of the frankly rubbish mini-series.
'Arabian Sands' by Wilfred Thesiger is just staggering in simplicity, beauty and the brutality of the desert.
For any interest in Sir Winston; 'Churchill, A Life', by Martin Gilbert is pretty much required reading.
Afficionados of old Hollywood who haven't read them should get David Niven's 'The Moon's a Balloon' and 'Bring on the Empty Horses' for some great entertainment.
For a quick skip through the movers and shakers of history then Simon Sebag Montefiore's 'Titans of History' zips through a huge amount of people in a short measure but with sharp, focused interest.
Finally, for stopping and watching the world go by then get a copy of 'The Cloud Collector's Handbook' smile

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
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E24man said:
Another vote from me for Ivan Denosovich, you can't fail to see your own life in a better light after reading it.
'
A mate of mine in his 50s, very clever guy but not hugely academic, asked me for some recommendations of "proper" books to read.

First off I lent him The Count of Monte Cristo. He liked that. Then I lent him To Kill a Mockingbird. He enjoyed that too.

Then I gave him Ivan Denisovich. His verdict, which I think is my favourite book review of all time, was "Nah, not for me....too much soup."


E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
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TwigtheWonderkid said:
Then I gave him Ivan Denisovich. His verdict, which I think is my favourite book review of all time, was "Nah, not for me....too much soup."
laugh I like that but I fear your friend has missed the point - soup was the high point of the day/week/month/year and hence worth talking about laugh

Bradgate

2,819 posts

146 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
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Animal Farm.

A Deceptively simple yet highly sophisticated allegory which teaches you everything you need to know about political propaganda. Every time Peter Mandelson opens his mouth, I think of Squealer.