Your favorite literature
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Topic: Your favorite literature
Posted By: Sweetnighter
Subject: Your favorite literature
Date Posted: March 06 2005 at 23:38
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So here's the deal- I've been an avid Ayn Rand reader for the past year
or so, and I've read the Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, and The
Virtue of Selfishness. Although I love her writing, I've sort of tired
of it. I want to start writing song lyrics as well, so I'm looking for
some kind of intellectual inspiration. So, my question to you is, who
are your favorite authors/books? This isn't supposed to be like "Yeah
Harry Potter 3 was awesome", mind you, I'm looking for some more
classic literature, be it british or american, that is reflective,
insightful, and applicable to modern-day life. I was considering picking up Jack Kerouac's On The Road. Is that a good read? Do you have any other suggestions? ------------- I bleed coffee. When I don't drink coffee, my veins run dry, and I shrivel up and die. "Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso? Is that like the bank of Italian soccer death or something?" -my girlfriend |
Replies:
Posted By: James Lee
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 01:16
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On the Road is great! I'd also recommend Hunter S. Thompson's "Hells Angels" and "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe...all three books have the same 'characters', set during the transition from the Beat period to the Psychedelic. It's interesting to see how they appeared in different contexts (in 'On the Road', Neil Cassady is called 'Dean Moriarty'). Other than that, my favorite literature is early fantasy/ horror; Lord Dunsany, H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, George MacDonald, William Morris, etc...also a big fan of Stanislaw Lem. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/sollipsist/?chartstyle=kaonashi"> 
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Posted By: mirco
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 07:45
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Take some writer from the beat generation, or Henry Miller. ------------- Please forgive me for my crappy english! |
Posted By: Manunkind
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 08:34
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YES! This is one thread I will be coming back to again and again! Off the top of my head - some really dense, feverish stuff - Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Black Spring), Thomas Pynchon - anything, but I think Gravity's Rainbow rules, John Hawkes - Blood Oranges and the rest of his early stuff, Malcolm Lowry - Under the Volcano, and the one and only Edgar Allan Poe. Proceed with caution I'll be back with something less baroque next time to stop you reeling. ------------- "In war there is no time to teach or learn Zen. Carry a strong stick. Bash your attackers." - Zen Master Ikkyu Sojun |
. Posted By: Captain Fudge
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 08:48
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Richard Brautigan - Trout Fishing In America (I'm 14 and i do read stuff like that!), and yes, he was a genius ------------- 
Teenage sucks hard -- Emo sucks even harder Epic. Simply epic. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 10:41
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My favorite book of all time is probably the novelization of Star Wars. Just kidding. I really dig any book by John Updike. |
Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 14:13
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Love all the work by the following authors: Gabriel Garcia Marquez oh,and of course, Neil Peart!
Just finished reading Chronicle Of A Death Foretold (marquez) The Celestine Prophesy by James Redfield utter crap and not only a load of nonesense but incredibly poorly written Avoid this at all costs-trust me! ------------- 
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Posted By: mirco
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 18:01
------------- Please forgive me for my crappy english! |
Reed Lover wrote:Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 18:11
Yes,translations are available. Marquez is an established world-famous author and no doubt his books are available in many languages. -------------
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)Posted By: mirco
Date Posted: March 07 2005 at 18:16
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Your'e not so far: in fact Cortazar spent a very large part of his life in Paris, and died there if my halzeimer don't trick me. So he wrote about France big time. ------------- Please forgive me for my crappy english! |
Posted By: Rob The Plant
Date Posted: March 08 2005 at 23:13
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Clive Barker is really intersting, "Weave World" is one of the crazziest things I've ever read. Great book. Lots of good stuff, read Epics like Homer, and Virgil, and Chaucer (easy to read if you're English, especially if also French.) ------------- Collaborators will take your soul. |
Posted By: tuxon
Date Posted: March 08 2005 at 23:23
I found Imagica from Barker to be a better read, good writer this Barker Character ------------- I'm always almost unlucky _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Id5ZcnjXSZaSMFMC Id5LM2q2jfqz3YxT |
Posted By: Emperor
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 01:18
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Really, Henry Miller is the UNICUM! Though, be careful if you cannot stand with a dirty kind of humor... ------------- I Prophesy Disaster... |
Posted By: Emperor
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 01:21
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I like as artifical as scientifical literature. My favorite authots are: Dante, Shakespeare, Druone, Hasek, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Miller, Scott, Hemminguway... ------------- I Prophesy Disaster... |
Posted By: Emperor
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 01:22
Do you remember that scene with some Indian in a toilet? ------------- I Prophesy Disaster... |
Posted By: James Lee
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 01:56
I really liked "Heart of a Dog". I hear "Master and Margarita" is his best, I haven't read it yet- what do you think? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/sollipsist/?chartstyle=kaonashi">
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Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 03:17
Barker is one of my favorite authors - not the most prolific, by any means (whatever happened to part two of 'Galilee', Clive?  ), but well worth it from the 'books of blood' short stories (don't let the title put you off) to the Epics, 'Great & Secret Show' and 'Imagica'. Those aside, however, I still find myself going back to re-read 'Weaveworld' every now and again....
I think I secretly fancy Immacolata  ------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: James Lee
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 04:55
I like his short stories a lot more than his novels...but apart from Robert Aickman, I think he's the best modern horror writer. For my part, I fancy Jacqueline Ess...  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/sollipsist/?chartstyle=kaonashi">
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Posted By: mirco
Date Posted: March 09 2005 at 07:54
------------- Please forgive me for my crappy english! |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 10 2005 at 02:56
Only one thing to say to you.... Shut up! -------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: Manunkind
Date Posted: March 10 2005 at 13:20
Actually I don't I'm a postgraduate student of literature, so I really have to read a lot and forget stuff very quickly ------------- "In war there is no time to teach or learn Zen. Carry a strong stick. Bash your attackers." - Zen Master Ikkyu Sojun |
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. I only remember the 'feel' of a given book. But then again thanks to my weak memory I can re-read as much as I want and start off afresh each time
.Posted By: James Lee
Date Posted: March 11 2005 at 16:03
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Interesting how many of Clive's female characters are sexually deadly...there's an opening for some amateur psychoanalysis there, but I don't want to ruffle any gay feathers. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/sollipsist/?chartstyle=kaonashi">
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Posted By: Wizard/TRueStar
Date Posted: March 15 2005 at 15:29
| All the Richard Bach novels. |
Posted By: synthguy
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 15:59
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Two of Arthur Miller's plays have always been my
favorites. "Death of a Salesman" and "The Price". He had great insight into the human condition. Kurt Vonnegart's "Slaughterhouse Five" is perhaps my favorite novel. I enjoy Wells and Conan Doyle also. I've read seven or eight Stephen King novels, which I enjoy, but to me, are the equvalent of Saturday morning carto ------------- Wearing feelings on our faces when our faces took a rest... |