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Logos

Prog Reviewer

Joined: March 08 2005
Location: Finland
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Points: 2383

Posted: November 30 2006 at 06:44

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:

people care more about The Simpsons that about The Iliad and The Odyssey,

Nothing against Homer, but the Simpsons are way more entertaining LOL

Edited by Logos - November 30 2006 at 07:19

progadicto View Drop Down

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Joined: July 19 2005
Location: Chile
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Points: 4316

Posted: November 30 2006 at 06:55

video vertigo wrote:

I like fantasy stuff such as:
Dune
The Eye of the World
George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books (all of them are essential)

by Frank Herbert

... E N E L B U N K E R...

progadicto View Drop Down

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Joined: July 19 2005
Location: Chile
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 07:08

I agree with almost any writer you've mentioned specially: DOSTOIEVSKI, ORWELL, HOMER, PLATO, SHAKESPEARE, KAFKA, TOLSTOI, BORGES, PHILIP K. DICK, GARCIA MARQUEZ, STEINBECK... and many other. I want to add to that list some authors that I consider relevant specially in the las 50 years...

-KURT VONNEGUT: specially Slaugther House 5, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast for Champions, Galapagos...
-Almost every thing by JOHN CHEEVER
-Almost everything by PEDRO JUAN GUTIERREZ, brilliant cuban writer!!!
-Chilean poets PABLO NERUDA, GABRIELA MISTRAL, GONZALO ROJAS and CLAUDIO BERTONI
-CESAR VALLEJO: awsome peruvian poet... you have to read Trilce and Los Heraldos Negros...
-JOAQUIM MACHADO DE ASSIS: another great and inffluential brazilian writer...
-ADOLFO BIOY CASARES: argentinian writer, Borges' contemporary and for some moments, better than him...
-FREDERIC BROWN: specially Lost Paradox
-WILLIAM BURROUGHS: Noca Express and The Naked Lunch
-GEORG TRAKL (awsome poet from Austria, very dark and melancholic...)
-and any screenwrite made by the brilliant BEN HECHT who works with Alfred Hitchcock, amongst others...

Best regards...

... E N E L B U N K E R...

Vompatti

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Posted: November 30 2006 at 08:39

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Franz Kafka: The Trial
George Orwell: 1984

daz2112

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Joined: January 18 2006
Location: England
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Points: 4483

Posted: November 30 2006 at 14:36

Love the Harry Potter series!

In the constellation of cygnus,There lurks a mysterious force...The black hole

JrKASperov View Drop Down

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Joined: July 07 2004
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 15:48

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:

What a shame, people care more about The Simpsons that about The Iliad and The Odyssey, we are doomed.

Hmm, can't agree with that. Though the Simpsons come in an otherwise 'easy accesible' media form, it is indeed a work of art, with unique humour and always a reference to society. Soft critique, if you will. To not look upon that as a work of art I find saddening. Homer isn't just great because he's old and well known, being a 'classic' is overrated.

Epic.

Zepology101 View Drop Down

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Joined: March 21 2006
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Points: 340

Posted: November 30 2006 at 16:37

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and Wind in the Willows.

Peter

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Joined: January 31 2004
Location: Canada
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Points: 9669

Posted: November 30 2006 at 17:13

The phone book is pretty essential, IMO.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

The Hemulen View Drop Down

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Posted: November 30 2006 at 17:22

How about some plays? (This post does of course have a MASSIVE bias towards Absurdist theatre)

Beckett - Waiting For Godot, Endgame, Not I, Come and Go, Breath

Ionesco - The Rhinocerous, The Chairs

Jarry - The Ubu Plays (his novel The Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, Pataphysician is also essential reading in my opinion)

Pinter - The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter

Also, never trust anyone who's never read a Discworld novel.

1800iareyay View Drop Down

Prog Reviewer

Joined: November 18 2006
Location: United States
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Points: 2492

Posted: November 30 2006 at 18:06

THnks of rhte suggestions. I forgot a few key books.

The Wizard View Drop Down

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Joined: July 18 2005
Location: United States
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Points: 7341

Posted: December 02 2006 at 21:19

Naked Lunch

Howl and other poems

On the Road

three beat essentials

progismylife View Drop Down

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Posted: December 02 2006 at 21:25

The T wrote:

I forgot, not in the same level as those, but two personal favorites for very different reasons...

Bram Stoker's Dracula.... I'm a darkness weirdo infatuated with the Count, Lord of the Manor of Corpathia (If somebody knows that...)

1984... THE BOOK. It defines me by defining everything i HATE: thought control, police state, police power, lack of freedom.

Amen, brother. I also liked Burmese Days by George Orwell.

The T

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Posted: December 02 2006 at 22:31

progismylife wrote:

The T wrote:

I forgot, not in the same level as those, but two personal favorites for very different reasons...

Bram Stoker's Dracula.... I'm a darkness weirdo infatuated with the Count, Lord of the Manor of Corpathia (If somebody knows that...)

1984... THE BOOK. It defines me by defining everything i HATE: thought control, police state, police power, lack of freedom.

Amen, brother. I also liked Burmese Days by George Orwell.

HAven't read it, only 1984 and Animal farm (genius, genius).... what is it about? More of Orwell never hurts if it's in the same level as 1984 or "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others"

progismylife View Drop Down

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Joined: October 19 2006
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 22:33

The T wrote:

progismylife wrote:

The T wrote:

I forgot, not in the same level as those, but two personal favorites for very different reasons...

Bram Stoker's Dracula.... I'm a darkness weirdo infatuated with the Count, Lord of the Manor of Corpathia (If somebody knows that...)

1984... THE BOOK. It defines me by defining everything i HATE: thought control, police state, police power, lack of freedom.

Amen, brother. I also liked Burmese Days by George Orwell.

It's talking about some corrupt society in Burma, I think when the english had it as a colony. It was pretty interesting and I am crap and describing so go find a library.

Ivan_Melgar_M View Drop Down

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Posted: December 03 2006 at 11:41

JrKASperov wrote:

Hmm, can't agree with that. Though the Simpsons come in an otherwise 'easy accesible' media form, it is indeed a work of art, with unique humour and always a reference to society. Soft critique, if you will. To not look upon that as a work of art I find saddening. Homer isn't just great because he's old and well known, being a 'classic' is overrated.

Oh please man, The Simpsons are an intelligent and sarcastic parody of the USA society but in no way you can compare them with two masterpieces of the Universal literature that have survived since 800 BC to the date and still are theme for countless TV and Movie pictures for a society who is only able to receive literature through the big screen..

The Iliad and the Oddissey are essential books for any collection, each time I wnt to really have fun shut the TV off, put good music and read The Illiad.

Iván

Gyllir

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Joined: November 14 2006
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Posted: December 03 2006 at 14:38

Harry Potter is neither essential or classic nor will it ever be, though they can be fun.
You can't go wrong with my favorite novel The Trial by Kafka. Also Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Frankenstein, Affliction by Russell Banks, any graphic novel by Alan Moore, Hamlet, Deliverance by James Dickey, The Sound and the Fury...

Melomaniac View Drop Down

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Joined: May 07 2006
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Points: 4088

Posted: December 03 2006 at 14:47

The whole Dune Cycle

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The first four books of The Vampire Chronicles

The Foundation cycle by Isaac Asimov

Les Fourmis Trilogy by french author Bernard Werber (The Ants)

The Darkover Cycle by Marion Zimmer Bradley

ANYTHING BY CONTEMPORARY GENIUS NEIL GAIMAN (Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Good Omens co-written with Terry Pratchett, the Sandman comic books...)

"One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio

Ivan_Melgar_M View Drop Down

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Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:04

Gyllir wrote:

Harry Potter is neither essential or classic nor will it ever be, though they can be fun.

Agree 100%.

Iván

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - December 03 2006 at 17:06

stonebeard View Drop Down

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Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:06

Perhaps not essential, but I don't think you can deny that Harry Potter one of the most important series in literature.

My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!

sleeper

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Joined: October 09 2005
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Points: 16449

Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:15

All of Tolkiens work is essential IMO, from the Ainulindale to The Lord of the Rings including Unfinished Tales.

Pratchets discworld series is pretty essential IMO as well.

Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005