I haven't read much classic literature, but I've kind of enjoyed what I have read. Now I'm thinking I might have a go at another one.
Stuff I have read and liked/loved:
A lot of George Orwell Some John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Erskine Caldwell On The Road by Jack Kerouac One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Cloud Atlas by the other David Mitchell
Stuff I'm really unlikely to want to read:
Things like Thomas Hardy or Jane Austen or the Brontes. Dickens is borderline. Tolkien I can't stand, so don't suggest any of that sort of shite. I tried reading The Dice Man once and didn't enjoy that at all either.
Stuff I sort of wonder if I should have a go at:
Something by James Joyce? A bit more Russian stuff. Perhaps something a bit older, even ancient... but has to be readable.
I've probably read more than is listed above, but I don't remember too well these days.
Any ideas for good reads?
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
.
[ 08.06.2010, 08:40: Message edited by: MiscellaneousFiles ]
Posted by Kanye West (Member # 837) on :
I like Solzhenitsyn, if that helps. Cancer Ward was good (but big), and also loved 'a day in the life'. Hipsters like The Master and Margarita, which is fine, if a bit confusing. Another russian book i really liked was 'dead souls' by Gogol.
I've struggled with Dostoevsky in the past, I must admit. Never tried Joyce.. seems almost impossible to read. The new Coupland was going on about Joyce. I don't know.
I didn't like David Mitchell at all. I would not call that classic by any stretch of the imagination. Please correct that entry.
I would obviously also recommend burroughs, Ellis, deLillo, etc.
i'm reading 'in the miso soup' at the moment and it's got a really good, disturbing tone.
[ 08.06.2010, 08:55: Message edited by: Kanye West ]
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
I haven't read many conventional classics. Things what I have read several times:
Short stories by Guy de Maupassant.
Rural France, late 19th century, razor-sharp observation, wry humour, pathos, brilliantly sketched characters, great storytelling, etc. You might like them.
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier.
More rural France, turn of the century, but this time in dream-like, fairytale form, coming of age, rite of passage, falling in love, growing up, sadness, adventure, the world as you imagine it in your romantic dreams, etc. Probably not your cup of tea.
The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett.
Not France but Staffordshire (with the Siege of Paris thrown in), though again late 19th century and apparently inspired by Maupassant. Any description would make it sound depressingly grim, grimy, stuffy and, frankly, boring, but it's not. It's fucking ace. Probably nobody's cup of tea, though.
[ 08.06.2010, 10:38: Message edited by: mart ]
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Guy de Maupassant ROCKS!
[ 08.06.2010, 10:37: Message edited by: Black Mask ]
Posted by Kanye West (Member # 837) on :
rather than reading, why not just relax your eyes and stare into middle distance, and then put a book in front of your face so it looks like you're reading. it's what i do.
Posted by Kanye West (Member # 837) on :
that way you can allow your mind to drift around, going wherever it likes. thoughts become day dreams, scenarios play out. Memories get revisited, only this time you get to choose the right outcomes. Plans appear like hands through the fog, offering a way through, or a way out, then draw back and become once again enveloped. Mumbling and grinning to yourself, your book sags in your hand. Childhood friends appear. Regret bursts like a volcano, showering the present with the burning shame of the past. The pathways shake and cross and tangle. Clarity is lost, the future is a chasm. Then you remember the friends episode where ross plays bad music and then somebody puts a turkey on their head and you're like damn i love friends, i'm going to torrent it later. you realise that you're only truly happy when lost in a realm of distraction. The book falls to the floor as you leave the cockpit, allowing you to begin the job of rummaging around in the cargo. autopilot guides your dribbling hull to the wrong destination.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Funnily enough... I've been reading quite a bit of Michael Moorcock, lately.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
I put this on another forum as well and a few people recommended Graham Greene, so I might give that a go first and then try some of this stuff.
I mentioned Cloud Atlas as a kind of example of the spread of stuff I'm ok with, rather than just 20s-40s kind of era. But I really did enjoy it. It has a profoundly dreamlike style and huge timeshifts which I liked a lot.
Posted by New Way Of Decay (Member # 106) on :
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Funnily enough... I've been reading quite a bit of Michael Moorcock, lately.
Surprisngly cheeseless fantasy books them. I think Corum is by and large my favourite fantasy book of all time. OF ALL TIME!
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Yeah. I read Warlord of the Air, then The Steel Tsar (I couldn't get hold of Land Leviathan) and now I'm reading Count Brass. I might have a go at a couple of Elrics I've got lying around. I'll try and get hold of Corum from the library.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by dang65: I put this on another forum as well and a few people recommended Graham Greene, so I might give that a go first and then try some of this stuff.
Give Greene's 'Our Man in Havana' a go - I reckon that will be right up your street. I much preferred it to the more deliberately 'literary' stuff like Brighton Rocks!.
Also, you'd probably like A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, the ending of which is evil and twisted and funny and horrible in a way you'd enjoy. And it's quite readable and short, so even if you hate it you haven't wasted much time. In fact the whole book is quite evil and twisted and funny - lots of jokes based around how damned socially awkward it can be when your horse accidentally tramples your host's son to death and stuff like that.
[ 09.06.2010, 04:37: Message edited by: Thorn Davis ]