So I came to the conclusion I am a closet literature nerd, as I emerged from the dusty library holding a dozen books. You know you borrow entirely too much when the old librarian holds books she deems your style, during her tea breaks.

So I thought.. hrm... these passioneers.. they must love the written word, yes? What are some of your favourite books and why? Perhaps we can share our favourites and help others get into books they may have not read. So here is my list:

1.[b:0533bb9a86] Good Morning, Midnight- Jean Rhys[/b:0533bb9a86]. I was introduced to this book from my grandmother actually. I fell inlove with Sasha from the moment I read the words "I stayed there, staring at myself in the glass. What do I want to cry about?". It's a great moving novel really. The words suck you in and the next thing you know, you are buzzed on Pernod and stumbling across the cobblestones of Paris.I would suggest this book to anyone.. it's simply moving. You really do get a sense of what a crumbling woman goes through. Awestruck.

2. [b:0533bb9a86]Sophie's World -Jostein Gaarder [/b:0533bb9a86] A friend of mine offered the title to me after she finished her A levels in Religion. I had been dabbling in Philosophy at a younger age yet hadn't grasped some of it. This book reads so smoothly and you learn such a wide grasp of philosophy! It's through an unbelievable adventure in a child's eyes. I think anyone interested in Philosophy and Religion should read this book.. it's a must! So very interesting.

3. [b:0533bb9a86]A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood.[/b:0533bb9a86] I am sure many of you have read this yourself.. as Margaret has established herself as the queen bee in Canadian literature! It's an amazing and poignant novel that surrounds the ideas of feminism and an overbearing regime. Especially with the current problems in Iraq.. it's important to read. One of the best Dystopian novels by far.. I say it is much better than 1984 !

3. [b:0533bb9a86]Novel on Yellow Paper - Stevie Smiths[/b:0533bb9a86] . Ahhhh great fun. It's a quirky little book really.. it talks about everything in such a simple poetic manner. It's one of those novels about nothing and everything at the same time. I couldn't put it down really.. not at all!

4. [b:0533bb9a86]Peppered Moth - Margaret Drabble[/b:0533bb9a86]. Great book.. I think it expresses what alot of us small town people have felt at one moment or another. Why others stay in these small towns and never leave, and why some of us feel the need to fly anywhere but home. It contrasts deep sadness with little spurts of amusing and happy moments as well. It makes you reflect your own family ties afterwards and what it means to have the choice to change, and what is predetermined. Loverly book.

Hhee... well I just finished a Great Books course, and the three main textbooks... well I loved them so much... They're definitely up there on my list:

-Relativity, Albert Einstein
-A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
-The Book of The Cosmos (a collection of various order/chaos/cosmos readings.. literally everything), ed. Dennis R. Danielson

I've also been reading Naomi Klein's No Logo for the last two years... I rather enjoy it but never have the time to pleasure read....does the Income Tax Act count as pleasure reading???

I didn't think so lol

[quote:8060853b68="Sweet One"]....does the Income Tax Act count as pleasure reading???

I didn't think so lol[/quote:8060853b68]

God I hope you're kidding....lol :wink:

...jim

[quote:070a37ef60="preciousthings"]So I came to the conclusion I am a closet literature nerd, [/quote:070a37ef60]

Welcome PT, I've been "out" for many, many years..

Near impossible to list only a few. Damn, this is more difficult than the "desert island - 5 CD's" thread...

Here's a few all-time faves;

Away - [b:070a37ef60][i:070a37ef60]Jane Urqhart[/i:070a37ef60][/b:070a37ef60]
Life of Pi - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Yann Martel[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Catch 22 - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Joseph Heller[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Reading Lolita in Tehran - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Azar Nafisi[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
The Power and the Glory - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Graham Greene[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
One Hundred Years of Solitude - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Gabriel Garcia Marquez[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Guns, Germs and Steel - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Jared Diamond[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Joshua Then and Now - [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Mordecai Richler[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Anything by [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Timothy Findley[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Anything by [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Umberto Eco[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Anything by [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Isabel Allende[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]
Anything by [i:070a37ef60][b:070a37ef60]Kurt Vonnegut[/b:070a37ef60][/i:070a37ef60]

...jim

[quote:0258434a4f="preciousthings"]3. [b:0258434a4f]A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood.[/b:0258434a4f] [...]One of the best Dystopian novels by far.. I say it is much better than 1984 ![/quote:0258434a4f]

I agree.

I think her novel is more accesible in that it is easier to imagine occurring in the future (compared to 1984). And that makes it all the more powerful.

Mmmmm books.
First and foremost, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Words cannot describe how much i LOVE this book.
The Catcher in the Rye-JD Salinger
American Gods, Neverwhere, and Stardust-Neil Gaiman
Mrs Dalloway-Virginia Woolf
No Logo-Naomi Klein
Autobiographies/Biographies of Mick Fleetwood, Grace Slick, Aerosmith, Melissa Etheridge
She's a Rebel: A History of Women in Rock
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-Hunter S. Thompson
The Republic of Nothing-Lesley Choyce
Great Expectations-Dickens
Wuthering Heights-Bronte

CREEPY...

preciousthings... we have oddly the same taste in literature.

I have a little stack of books I absolutely CANNOT part with when I go to Mexico. The stack was bigger, and when it was, it included ALL of the first four you listed.

You might be interested to know that the reason[i:661f11bfb1] I [/i:661f11bfb1]picked up good morning midnight was because of a reccomendation from sarah slean I read somewhere. The book was definitely good, but so very depressing.

My top 5 books that are coming with me to M�xico:

1: Dina's Book - Herbjorg Wassmo
2: Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
3: Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint Exup�ry
4: Lolita - Vladmir Nabokov
5: Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell

~ng

[quote:f6c36d83ff="nikolita"]CREEPY...

preciousthings... we have oddly the same taste in literature.

[/quote:f6c36d83ff]

Ah! that is creepy, because I've read all the books on YOUR list and loved them! haha! Hrm, yeah I read that she read it after a few months of myself having read "Good Morning, Midnight". It is an extremely depressing book.. but at the same time, something pulls you in about it. Tis a strange thing. Right now I am reading "The Ballad of The Sad Cafe" by Sarah's recommendation

speaking of creepy...joleary we have very similar tastes as well

i would add stuart mclean though..i love his sence of humor!

I'm going to narrow mine down to three:
"The Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger
"The World According to Garp" by John Irving
"I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb

[quote:a720647e43="sourburger"]"The World According to Garp" by John Irving
[/quote:a720647e43]


i love that book!!

Christmas will always be the same to me: constant lazyness! I'm not much of a reader, but I just want to be different this year. So right now, I'm reading:

[u:f8d9ab4de2]The Complete Stories[/u:f8d9ab4de2] by [b:f8d9ab4de2]Franz Kafka[/b:f8d9ab4de2]

It's not bad; confusing but not bad... at least this helps me with getting ideas to do some artworks!

* * * * *

But the only book I considered as my favorite (so far) is:

[u:f8d9ab4de2]The Alchemist[/u:f8d9ab4de2] by [b:f8d9ab4de2]Paulo Coelho[/b:f8d9ab4de2]

Easy to read... this book is like philosophy about life and somehow changed me in some way!

Handmaids Tale better than 1984? No way :P I admit that it is a good read but it certainly doesn't reach the "classic" status of "1984" and its predecessors, "Brave New World" - Huxley, and "We" - Zamyatin.

"Master and Margarita" - Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantastical, witty, and and at some points, realistic view of Soviet life. One of my favorites.

Anything by Nabokov - His mastery of the English language is worth reading alone.

Other authors I like - to tired to list all the books I love
-Hemingway
-Solzhenitsyn
-Tolstoy
-Dostoyevsky
-The Bronte sisters
-Turgenev

ya ya... big into the Russians.

[quote:cf21751678="johnathan"]Handmaids Tale better than 1984? No way :P I admit that it is a good read but it certainly doesn't reach the "classic" status of "1984" and its predecessors, "Brave New
[/quote:cf21751678]

Oh... you DIDN'T just go there ! Haha. As much as I did enjoy 1984 and Brave New World I think A Handmaids Tail is MUCH more believable in our society then the others. I think it also touched on more pressing matters that trancend all generations with women's rights, and their various movements. Not to mention, I found it more enjoyable to read then the others (though I still loved them).

Vladmir Nabokov is genius. GENIUS.

The World According to Garp... good, but odd. I liked the whole piece of literature inside a piece of literature... but that whole part near the beginning where she let the grown man suckle her like a baby... WEIRD.

~ng