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lovejuice
05-16-2009, 05:16 PM
oh, boy. what am i gettin' myself into. this list is more a fun challenge to your truely rather than a representative of my taste. each entry'll be accompanied by a short paragraph or two. the higher the entry, the more well-thought out my comment is (or i hope).

the list includes only novels. no collection of short stories. no play. no poetry. no non-fiction. also to make the comparison more relevant, i will list only books that i read in original or translated english. (therefore, no wuxia. sorry, gu long.)

some of the books listed here was read...like...a decade ago, so again, the list represents my own taste in literature as much as...the president of the united states represents his people.

100. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)
99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
97. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
95. The Hearing Trumpet (Leonora Carrington)
94. The French Lieutenant's Woman (John Fowles)
93. The Angel Maker (Stefan Brijs)
92. The Magic Toyshop (Angela Carter)
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe)

90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe)
89. More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon)
88. Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
85. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde)
84. The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
82. Taken at the Flood (Agatha Christie)
81. A Word Child (Iris Murdoch)

80. Waterland (Graham Swift)
79. Guerrillas (V.S. Naipaul)
78. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
76. Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
74. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
73. Doctor Faustus (Thomas Mann)
72. Surfacing (Margaret Atwood)
71. Henry and Cato (Iris Murdoch)

70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James)
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies)
68. Little Green Men (Christopher Buckley)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
66. Under the Net (Iris Murdoch)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
62. The Melancholy of Resistance (Laszlo Krasznahorkai)
61. Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco)

60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
58. Two Serious Ladies (Jane Bowles)
57. Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
55. Of Human Bondage (W. Somerset Maugham)
54. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (Iris Murdoch)
53. The Reivers (William Faulkner)
52. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Umberto Eco)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

50. The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
48. Wise Children (Angela Carter)
47. The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino)
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler)
42. Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)
41. The Bell (Iris Murdoch)

40. Dangerous Liaisons (Choderlos De Laclos)
39. Flatland (Edwin A. Abbott)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
36. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Philip K. Dick)
33. Ubik (Philip K. Dick)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

30. Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)
29. Immortality (Milan Kundera)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
26. Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow)
25. The Good Apprentice (Iris Murdoch)
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)
23. Return to Laughter (Elenore Smith Bowen)
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
21. I, Claudius (Robert Graves)

20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)
19. Life is Elsewhere (Milan Kundera)
18. The Joke (Milan Kundera)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
16. Baudolino (Umberto Eco)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
13. The Nice and the Good (Iris Murdoch)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene)

10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
8. A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Iris Murdoch)
7. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Milan Kundera)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman (Angela Carter)
4. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
3. The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 06:01 PM
100. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

http://www.tbpcontrol.co.uk/TWS/CoverImages_00/000/723/0007234376.jpg

This reminds me of Davis's list in which he places Armageddon at the beginning. You want to include some book/movie so much that it'll always stay right there, no matter how many more are added to the list. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is such a book. While I'm a Christie's fan and have no problem placing her among my twenty favorite authors, it's harder to praise any of her work with the same regard. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, as her most famous work, is included to make a statement how awesome I think she is.

99. Wide Sargasso Sea

http://girlebooks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/wss.jpg

A theme that will be observed over and over again is that I am illiterate about anything written before the birth of Quantum Theory (14 December 1900). I have missed out on Jane Eyre and many classic literatures. From time to time, I have teased with this idea of venturing into the unknown, and Wide Sargasso Sea is a result of that. Strictily speaking, it's written in 1966. A prequel to Jane Eyre, with more emphasis on postcolonialism and one black/caribbean character from Bronte's.

D_Davis
05-16-2009, 06:08 PM
Wow - this has got to be hard to do.

I couldn't imagine putting together a list like this.

Good job, man. Looking forward to reading it.

Will you include novellas?

Mysterious Dude
05-16-2009, 06:12 PM
I don't think I have even read a hundred books. That is sad.

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 06:50 PM
Will you include novellas?
unfortunately, no. :| trust me, you don't know how much i want to include The Langoliers.

Sycophant
05-16-2009, 06:50 PM
Well, I think lovejuice reads like 100 novels a month.

I mean this more than I've meant it about any other list that has ever been on Match Cut: I will use this list for recommendations.

Kurosawa Fan
05-16-2009, 06:53 PM
I can't wait lovejuice. Fantastic undertaking, and I'm really excited to see the results.

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 07:13 PM
98. Of Love and Other Demons.

http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9781400034925&height=300&maxwidth=170

I have this strange relationship with marquez. Never like any of his novels, but my best shorts are stolen from his. In a way, I feel like I'm in his debt. The problem's I don't think his style very appropriate for a novel. The shorter his book is, the better it'll be. Of Love and Other Demons, a merely hundred-something-paged, is his only book I manage to like. Or at least, I have yet founded a way to steal, bastardize and "improve" it. :P

97. The Drawing of the Three

http://images.filedby.com/bookimg/0451/9780451210852.jpg

King was my favorite author. I love to say, it's not me who changes, it's him who picks up this funny idea only five-hundred-paged novels are worth writing. Unfortunately I read most of his novels in translated thai, so The Drawing of the Three, which is lean, mean and awesome, is his sole representer in this list. But take heed, ye of genre literature. There'll be more sci-fi to come.

Kurosawa Fan
05-16-2009, 07:31 PM
Have you read Chronicle of a Death Foretold? Really a striking little novel by Marquez, and might be my favorite of his, though I'm pretty limited.

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 07:36 PM
96. The Alchemist

http://benrizki.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/the_alchemist.png

Sorry, KF, but better here than any higher, right? ;) Let's just say, I think of Coelho as a self-help, spiritual writer than a novelist. The Alchemist, if nothing else, is a good merge of these two different genres. It's dreamy, optimistic (a rare quality on this list). Can't say it's actually help me into a better person. It gives me a better chance with a cute girl who recommends me this book though. :lol:

95. The Hearing Trumpet

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n61/n305229.jpg

Now, this is interesting. Name me a surrealist painter. Easy, right? A surrealist film-maker. Not too hard for you guys. Now a surrealist novelist. I'll be surprised if anyone can give me more than five. A novel that contains an out-of-ordinary event is mostly categorized as either fantasy, fabulist, postmodern or magical realism. This leaves surrealist as a backwater genre.

The Hearing Trumpet is a rare surrealist literature. Probably the finest one too. (Even better than Breton's, the father of the genre.) Reading it gives a taste not too different from admiring a Dali's, an Ernst's, a Magritte's, or better yet, a Carrington's. It's a rare experience that I cherish, and even if the book is flawed, it's still worth its place on this list.

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 07:37 PM
Have you read Chronicle of a Death Foretold? Really a striking little novel by Marquez, and might be my favorite of his, though I'm pretty limited.
not yet, but I still would love to. his only other books i have read is one hundred year of solitude and the general in his labyrinth.

Kurosawa Fan
05-16-2009, 07:40 PM
I seem to be the only one who hated The Alchemist, so I won't begrudge you putting it on your list. Especially since it helped you with the lady.

lovejuice
05-16-2009, 08:01 PM
94. The French Lieutenant's Woman

http://www.tbpcontrol.co.uk/TWS/CoverImages_00/009/947/0099478331.jpg

Again we're back to this theme of my ignorance on classic literatures. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, Fowles plays with the convention of the 19th century and then sprinkles it with enough postmodernism. (The novel has not one, not two but three endings.) I can only imagine how much more fun it would have been if I were more familiar with the work of Bronte, Austen and Dickens. The book's biggest achievement is it propels me to read more classic, some of which will appear later on.

93. The Angel Maker

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00047/IN5666445angel-maker_47010t.jpg

I can't recommend this book enough for people who's into gothic literature. As much as The French Lieutenant's Woman is an odd to Bronte, Brijs's novel is to Shelley. The hero is called Victor Hoppe. (No point for guessing whom he refers to.) A troubled genius. A religious man who loves the Son but has some score to set with the Father. one day he returns to the village of his childhood bringing with him mysterious triplet.

It'll be nice to have with you while reading this book a checklist on "gothic literature" and see how many The Angel Maker fulfills.

Melville
05-16-2009, 08:05 PM
Have you seen the film version of The French Lieutenant's Woman? It was pretty good, and it added an extra layer of postmodern cleverness.

D_Davis
05-16-2009, 08:06 PM
97. The Drawing of the Three

http://www.darktowerbooks.com/images/darktower2-drawing_of_the_three-us_orig.jpg

King was my favorite author. I love to say, it's not me who changes, it's him who picks up this funny idea only five-hundred-paged novels are worth writing. Unfortunately I read most of his novels in translated thai, so The Drawing of the Three, which is lean, mean and awesome, is his sole representer in this list. But take heed, ye of genre literature. There'll be more sci-fi to come.

Probably my favorite of the DT series. Such a fantastic read; it's like a non-stop build, with some incredible payoff.

megladon8
05-16-2009, 10:57 PM
Incredible undertaking, lovejuice.

I've already added "The Hearing Trumpet" to my Amazon wish list :)

lovejuice
05-17-2009, 02:03 PM
92. The Magic Toyshop

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2zIPCElBisw/SOYaT2ua-EI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/qod-KGNup68/s320/Magic+Toyshop.png

Some of you might have a vague recollection of my top ten authors. It should come as no surprise then this list contains a share amount of work by those titans. Carter's one such. The Magic Toyshop is her second novel. By itself, the book's very much flawed; the ending is too abrupt and predictable. Still it's quite a pleasure to observe the novel of budding Carter. It contains enough motives to conceivably give birth to such masterpieces appear later on in this list.

Oh, and did I mention it has an underaged girl being violated by a swan puppet.

91. A Personal Matter

https://www.bibdsl.co.uk/imagegallery2/bds/199604/9780330344357.JPG

Upon compiling the list, a shocking surprise appears to me that A Personal Matter is the only book by a real Japanese author. (Tell you that so you don't have to hold your breath for Murakami.) How can that be, considered I'm such a big fan of the culture? Is it because I've read most Japanese novels in thai translation? Could be. Or perhaps it reflects the reading culture of Japan is more visual based than texual.

I confess to not remember anything much about A Personal Matter. Yes, it's quite good. About a relationship among a father, his deformed son, a wife and a few potential mistresses. I have to soon pick up more Oe's.

lovejuice
05-17-2009, 02:07 PM
Have you seen the film version of The French Lieutenant's Woman? It was pretty good, and it added an extra layer of postmodern cleverness.

that sounds wonderful. I have to check it out.

thefourthwall
05-18-2009, 12:39 AM
Love this thread--some initial reactions.


94. The French Lieutenant's Woman

<3 <3 <3



93. The Angel Maker

Ooo, looks interesting, putting this on my to read list!


92. The Magic Toyshop

Oh, and did I mention it has an underaged girl being violated by a swan puppet.

Is this an allusion to the poem "Leda and the Swan" by Yeats (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15525)? Or the greek myth of Zeus seducing/raping Leda (http://www.loggia.com/myth/leda.html)? For me, it seems slightly less creepy if it's based on other literature. I hope it is. I like Carter.

lovejuice
05-18-2009, 06:08 AM
Is this an allusion to the poem "Leda and the Swan" by Yeats (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15525)? Or the greek myth of Zeus seducing/raping Leda (http://www.loggia.com/myth/leda.html)? For me, it seems slightly less creepy if it's based on other literature. I hope it is. I like Carter.

more likely, the second one. i don't recall yeats mentioned. imo, with carter, the creepier, the better.

lovejuice
05-18-2009, 06:39 AM
90. Things Fall Apart

http://www.devon.gov.uk/content/thingfallapart.jpg

A typical way to read Things Fall Apart is as the story about the colonization of Ibo tribes by the big, bad European. The indigenous way of life is destroyed, and Okonkwo, the strong man, is falling apart. Yet to read it like this is to ignore the fact that the Ibo are ruled by super-macho Frank Miller's type. The men tyrannize their own sick, young and female. With almost Marxist, poetic justice, the outcastes are the first who join the Christian church and later on overturn the society.

Colonization can't ever be justified, but neither is Manichean over-simplification. Till these days, I can't figure out which way are the more intended. Perhaps it doesn't matter.

89. More than Human

http://howtosplitanatom.com/wp-content/more-than-human.jpg

Not the sci-fi-ness of it that places More than Human here. The novel exemplifies fluid story-telling. I dare anyone who approaches this novel for the first time to guess what'll happen next. The more familiar you are with the convention, the more easily you'll be fooled. A character which holds a mark of a hero or a heroine simply disappears in the next chapter and opens way for a supporting cast to enter the limelight. Every new chapter is told from the perspective of a new character, so readers feel like starting a new novel every time. A less pretentious version of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, you might say.

D_Davis
05-18-2009, 10:14 PM
More Than Human is amazing. It's actually a collection though!

:)

It's three connected novellas (I believe 2 of them were published separately, I know Baby Was Three was).

Does that disqualify it?

Just kidding.

Semantics aside, it is a great read. My 3rd favorite Sturgeon.

lovejuice
05-18-2009, 11:48 PM
88. Jude the obscure

http://bibliofreakblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/014043538701lzzzzzzz-193x300.jpg

Finally we have a real 19th century. During my short high school education in the states, I managed to dodge a lot of classics, but ended up reading three Hardy's: this book, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and The Return of the Native. Funny that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is not among them. What I like about Jude the Obscure is how big a loser Jude is. He's likely the most shitted upon protagonist on this list. I as a reader don't feel for him that much though. A decent guy, but as if his only path to immortality is to be spited upon by the church.

87. Ham on Rye

http://assets.fishpond.co.nz/9780876855577.jpg

Lone time ago, I came in here and bitched about how much I disliked South of No North. People still insisted I should give Bukowski another chance, so I did with Ham on Rye. Not only am I pleasantly surprised to find myself liking it, but also that Chinaski is here presented as a total loser who by the time the novel ends is still a virgin. Totally not the same Chinaski in South of No North.

I am even more baffled that South of No North was written before Ham on Rye. There is a big gap of ten years between South of No North and his next short story collection, Hot Water Music. Post Office, his first novel, is the only one predates South of No North.

So what's the moral of this story? I'm not sure. I leave the stage for anyone who's well-versed in the guy's work to elucidate.

monolith94
05-19-2009, 12:05 AM
Yeah, Okonkwo is pretty much a stone-cold bastard. Can't say that I care much for the novel, though.

lovejuice
05-19-2009, 12:26 AM
i read Things Fall Apart twice. i like it more when i realize what a bastard Okonkwo is -- I catch that only through my second reading -- so i prefer the marxian interpretation to the colonial one.

but since you already know that, so perhaps further reading probably will not improve your feeling toward it. ;)

Benny Profane
05-19-2009, 01:38 PM
Ham on Rye is about 83 spots too low, but it's great that you are now a quasi-fan of Bukowski. I would read Post Office next. Hot Water Music is my favorite short story collection, like, ever.

D_Davis
05-19-2009, 09:54 PM
Have any of you Bulowski fans ever been to Red's Bookstore?

I got yelled at by him once, it was pretty cool.

lovejuice
05-20-2009, 06:32 AM
86. Speaker for the Dead

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/speakerforthedead/speakerforthedead.jpg

Regardless of the anticlimax and the much less stellar sequel, I can’t ignore a book so immersive I finished it in one sitting, barred the toilet break. While Kubrick unmasks space as a place of utter silent, Card gives us its vastness. Intergalactic travel is possible and practical in Speaker For the Death, but it comes with high price. It takes a person 10 years at least just to go from one life-sustainable planet to the other. 20 years if you want to return. Only people who’s truly desperate with his life want to escape this way.

It’s a very nice concept, but by itself quite problematic too, and perhaps is why I can’t ever finish its sequel, Xenocide. After all, sci-fi, I believe, should inspires and elevates.

85. The Eyre Affair

http://profmike.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/eyre-affair.jpg

This book is like a hundred different ways to spell “awesome”. It’s a Harry Potter for a literature nerd. (The fact that I’ve never read Jane Eyre voids this statement somewhat. :confused:) I enjoy every page of it, and all the subsequent books including other series by the same author. One thing though, Fforde is much better at writting his protagonist into a tight corner than helping him or her escape. Over and over again, he resources to deus ex machina. Aside from that, I can safely say The Eyre Affaire is the most “fun” book on this life.

Duncan
05-20-2009, 02:13 PM
Speaker for the Dead? Wow, I read that many years ago. I was big into the Ender series around age 11 or 12 and read Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind within a month or so. Good times, although I remember Ender's Game being head and shoulders above the rest. Or, to put it another way, Ender's Game is the only one I really remember.

Ambitious list, man. Looking forward to the rest.

lovejuice
05-21-2009, 05:38 PM
84. The Inheritance of Loss

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42171000/jpg/_42171990_desai_203b.jpg

Gosh, this book has an amazing cover, all versions of it.

The Inheritance of Loss is a book that helps defining among the most obscure jargons in english language, "post-modern," and it does that not by out-weirding The Day of the Locust. A worthless exercise, I declare. (Take that, Safran Foer!) The Inheritance of Loss is actually comprehensible. The book is narrative and experimental at the same time. It's heavily fragmented, but Desai manages to keep the story flow in an elegant manner. Good job.


83. The Power and the Glory

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/GrahamGreene_The_PowerAndTheGl ory.jpg/200px-GrahamGreene_The_PowerAndTheGl ory.jpg

Greene are one of those authors I'll really like, if I dig into more of their work. Judged from his novels and screenplays, he seems like quite a guy. A bit of an intellectual, a moralist, a spy, a hooligan and a bushwhacker. Auteur theory be damned, versatility, i rank, as among the most important assets in an artist. Not to say Greene lacks signature. He's more like a guy who's having a ball writing about this and that, and when he has fun, more often than not, we do too.

although given the nature of the work here, "fun" is probably the last thing you should expect from The Power and the Glory.

lovejuice
05-21-2009, 11:32 PM
82. Taken at the Flood

http://www.agathachristie.com/cms-media/uploaded-images/thumbs/flood_resaved_jpg_235x600_q95. jpg

I did say The Murder of Roger Ackroyd would represent Christie on this list. I didn't say it'd be the sole representer. I'm too much her fanboy to include just one novel. Unlike The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Taken at the Flood is not among her famous work. That's beyond me. I find it simply the best. The book pairs a good story with a good mystery. Christie builds it on Tennyson's poem, Enoch Arden. Hers is a classic post-war tale about a soldier who returns, with a twist. The mystery is very strong too. The rug will be pulled off so many times but in a manner that's not silly or unacceptable.

The best of Christie's novel, after all, exemplifies the art of storytelling. In this respect, Taken at the Flood might be the second best-told story on this list.

81. A Word Child

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n8/n43736.jpg

Prepare to see Iris Murdoch mentioned over and over again. She's after all my second favorite author, and a writing machine; 26 novels through out her life. A Word Child features the second most annoying protagonist in Murdoch's career. A snotty prick who has to deal with a grave sin from his past. I almost give up on this book, but then during the second half, it gets much better and wins me over at the end.

I'm not going to recommend it to an uninitiated though. Let's just say it's good, it's compact, and leave it at that. I might get into more details when we come to her better novels.

lovejuice
05-22-2009, 07:03 PM
80. Waterland

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_153Sx7Vj9q0/Scc5z4PFDLI/AAAAAAAABrM/SzLaiqo3ofA/s320/Waterland.jpg

Waterland is a novel of a landscape, spanning two hundreds years and three generations of a family settled down in the Fens, somewhere in the Eastern of England. Swift makes the place sound like a post-apocalyptic world with lot and lot of water, and not many trees or tall structures. I love how at one point, he mentions such a landscape can intimidate and sterilize any guy. After all how can you "grow" when nothing in your sight does? :lol: Also there's this wonderful scene with a group of boys and two girls in swimsuits, and a prank involving eels. :confused: The novel's highly erotic. Swift is among those few who can rival Carter on this front.

79. Guerrillas

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/15230000/15231348.JPG

Another theme that runs consistently throughout this list is my anti-revolution stance, and Guerrillas is about one most abhorrent revolution leader, and yet you can agree, one most realistic too. Jimmy is the man of ambiguity; he is a bisexual, half-chinese half-black, half-muslim half christian, half-proletariat half-intellectual, half-rapist half-boytoy, half-farmer half-urbanist, in short a perfect allegory for a revolution. What I find lovely is that he's also a novelist, writing in the socialist realism style. His novel sucks so bad and yet it's little different from the "acclaimed" work of Jack London and Maxim Gorky.

Naipaul can be one big son of a bitch. If you disagree with him, rather burn his book than read it. Otherwise, he's your formidable ally.

lovejuice
05-22-2009, 08:09 PM
78. The Handmaid's Tale

http://douggeivett.files.wordpress.co m/2008/08/thehandmaidstale1sted.jpg

Similar to Godard's war movie paradox, can you really write a feminist novel? Since I first read it many years ago, I always regard The Handmaid's Tale as a pro-feminist or at least anti-misogynist book. It's been lately I realize many women hate it. Surely Atwood never have intended her own dystopian view as exemplary? But what will the ill-treatment of women in her novel lead to?

Since I cannot answer all these, I will cheat my way out and say the book is very immersive; Atwood's prose is nightmarish. I like any novel that hooks its readers in and never shy away from leaving scratches and bruises.

77. Ender's Game

http://www.geocities.com/enderwiggin_battleschool/EnderAmerican3.jpeg

I don't think such individual exists, but if you have never read or heard about this novel, imagine a Harry Potter written by a sadistic, militaristic, incestuous bastard. The origin of this book is quite interesting. (I might not get it right, so anyone feels free to correct me.) Card first wrote it as a radio show. Later on he wrote his own space odyssey and decided to build it on those characters from the show. Thus, Ender's Game, the novel, was written. In many aspects, it's indeed a novel written in retrospective.

The novel is gritty, extremely so. Ender, the child protagonist, is put through one impossible ordeal after the other. Very creepy as well in its treatment of sibling relationship. Not only Ender-Valentine, but also Peter-Valentine. Only minor bitching is the climax. Seriously, Card, Ender is the only fool who doesn't see the twist coming.

Mara
05-22-2009, 08:57 PM
Two of my favorites.


It's been lately I realize many women hate it.

What-- seriously? Every woman I've ever known that has read this book loved it. I consider it very much a feminist novel.

lovejuice
05-22-2009, 11:22 PM
a few i have talked to can't stand atwood's "treatment" of women in her dystopian future. that perhaps is the point of this novel, anyway. kinda like saying 1984 is anti-human.

Duncan
05-22-2009, 11:56 PM
I've never read anything by Atwood (I keep meaning to, but...), but I know my mom can't stand her novels. My aunt in law doesn't like her novels either.

Melville
05-23-2009, 12:34 AM
Jeez, I haven't even heard of a good number of the books listed so far. I've read only these ones:
99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys) - excellent. I posted a few words on it somewhere.
90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe) - pretty good. mostly interesting for the reason you state (the ambiguous presentation of colonization).
86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card) - okay. Is this the one with the obsessive hand-washing, or is that the next one?
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) - okay. The eyeball-digging scene and the sociopathic brother were the best parts.


I've never read anything by Atwood (I keep meaning to, but...), but I know my mom can't stand her novels. My aunt in law doesn't like her novels either.
I remember you telling me you read and strongly disliked an essay of hers. I couldn't stand the one thing I read by her (a short story the name of which I can't remember).

Mara
05-23-2009, 12:57 AM
I've never read anything by Atwood (I keep meaning to, but...), but I know my mom can't stand her novels. My aunt in law doesn't like her novels either.

Wow.

I truly believe she is the greatest writer producing right now. Not everything she's ever written has been great, but she's been on a tear in the last decade. (Her best previous to that was The Handmaid's Tale.

I absolutely insist you all go and read The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake immediately.

Duncan
05-23-2009, 11:02 AM
I remember you telling me you read and strongly disliked an essay of hers. I couldn't stand the one thing I read by her (a short story the name of which I can't remember).
Yes, that's true. An excerpt from her book on debt, which I thought was pretty terrible. Like it had no relation to the real world. I also read an op-ed by her in the Globe and Mail after Harper made those "rich artists at their galas" comments. It seemed shrill. And it was one of those Art is Important pieces which almost inevitably grate on me.

Duncan
05-23-2009, 11:04 AM
Wow.

I truly believe she is the greatest writer producing right now. Not everything she's ever written has been great, but she's been on a tear in the last decade. (Her best previous to that was The Handmaid's Tale.

I absolutely insist you all go and read The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake immediately.

There are like five of her novels in my mom's library (she keeps reading her books even though she doesn't like them, apparently). The Blind Assassin is definitely among them, so I'll make a point of reading it eventually. Not immediately though.

megladon8
05-23-2009, 08:56 PM
Rep for "Ender's Game".

Philosophe_rouge
05-24-2009, 07:09 AM
I'm not a huge fan of Atwood, I don't like her writing style for the most part. I find most of her poetry insufferable, and her articles very hit or miss. They often have good ideas, but are presented in an inexplicably grating way. Perhaps if I hadn't had her work shoved down my throat for much of high school (a mini-essay topic, one of many, "Is Margaret Atwood Canada's greatest writer?" *shudder*). That being said, I do enjoy Alias Grace and am interested in exploring more of her work. I think being on the lengthy side as a writer helps in this regard, because after the first few hundred pages, I start to enjoy her prose not just her ideas and characterizations.

Thirdmango
05-24-2009, 10:18 PM
ah man, I totally didn't see the end coming on Ender's Game.

lovejuice
05-26-2009, 05:28 PM
76. Marcovaldo

http://ciclogatto.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/marcovaldo.jpg

Calvino's among my favorite authors, but he's more a short-storyist than a novelist. To include some of his work, I'm bending my own rule. Marcovaldo is strictly speaking a collection of short stories sharing the same theme and characters: Marcovaldo, his wife and their children. The book is sometimes sub-titled The Seasons in the City, which is most appropriated considered it's about the romance of city life. Calvino is an amphibian writer; he can write equally well about urban life and Italian countryside. Marcovaldo especially is beautifully written, full of humor and human.

In personal life and in writing, I too am an urbanist, so I appreciate all eulogies of skyscrapers, freeways, advertising posters and neon signs.

75. A Tale of Two Cities

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/taleoftwocities.JPG

Will it surprise you to know that A Tale of Two Cities is the only Dickens's I have read? It surprises me. Without well-rounded knowledge of the man, there's nothing much I can say except that the book gets here on the anti-revolution quota.

And yet, it's a stretch to say A Tale of Two Cities is anti-revolution or tries to make any political statement. The book, if anything, is apolitical. Dickens presents the Revolution and the Terror more as a stage for sacrifice, heroism and adventures. I have to say, the protagonists are quite uninteresting. (For a good reason, the book is not titled "Sydney Carton.") Madame Defarge and the Vengeance though are bitching antagonists. Among the very best I have read.

lovejuice
05-29-2009, 06:10 PM
74. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

http://s2.thisnext.com/media/230x230/The-Perks-of-Being-a_FE0D6D9A.jpg

A credit to Nick for reminding me of this wonderful book. :twisted: Which means if i could think of it by myself it'd probably end up lower on this list, but who care?

Really, there are certain books that just need to be read at certain age, place and time. I am a perfect reader for this one. I read it when it first published in 1999, the first year I came to the United States, feeling outcasted like a fuck. If I have to apologize for liking "every faux-thoughtful, whiny quasi-outcast's favorite book freshman year of high school," I'll say back in 1999, Juno is not yet a niche. Sure outcasted teenagers have existed since...the beginning of time, but an outcasted was really an outcasted. And when the book first came out, there was no cult status attached to it. (I'm surprised that there is now, to be honest.)

Can't say if it'll hold up, but a book that I once liked so much I bought three copies and gave them as birthday gifts to my close friends sure merits a place on this list.

73. Doctor Faustus

http://assets.cambridge.org/97805213/75924/cover/9780521375924.jpg

I love a novel about music, specifically classical music. Too bad, Hesse's Gertrude were not better written. Unlike jazz, there's hardly a good classical music novel. Doctor Faustus is Mann's creative attempt to rework Faust myths. The title is a misconception since the good doctor is now reincarnated as a genius composer.

Like Mann's other novels, nothing much happens in term of plot progression or story. It's a novel that works only if you enjoy the characters and the intellectual conversations among them. The Faustism doesn't quite work either. Yes, the guy cuts a deal with the devil literary, but that central piece doesn't hang with the rest of the novel.

I strongly recommend it for anyone who's into classical music and German philosophy. Not so much if you are into Faust. I'm not sure yet if there exists any Faustian novel on this list.

Hugh_Grant
05-29-2009, 06:17 PM
Two Graham Swift questions:

1. Did you see the filmed version of Waterland, with Jeremy Irons?
2. Have you read Last Orders?

lovejuice
05-29-2009, 06:25 PM
Two Graham Swift questions:

1. Did you see the filmed version of Waterland, with Jeremy Irons?
2. Have you read Last Orders?
the first is no, and for the second, i have to say that novel doesn't quite do it for me. it's just too fragmented to the point that it lacks gravitas. i don't really care for any of the characters. in fact i don't think anything in that novel sticks with me at all.

the same goes with as i lay dying, although the claim that swift "copies" faulkner is preposterous.

Qrazy
05-29-2009, 06:40 PM
I found The Handmaid's Tale to be a piece of crap. The film is also bad. It's the only Atwood I've read. I liked the first four of the Ender Series but I agree the first is the strongest. I've also read the first three of the Shadow series and the first is also the strongest there. A Tale of Two Cities is great. I've been meaning to read Jude the Obscure and Things Fall Apart for a while now.

Melville
05-29-2009, 06:55 PM
the first is no, and for the second, i have to say that novel doesn't quite do it for me. it's just too fragmented to the point that it lacks gravitas. i don't really care for any of the characters. in fact i don't think anything in that novel sticks with me at all.

the same goes with as i lay dying,
Boo! Dead, bitter fish mother! False teeth!

I love that book.

Qrazy
05-29-2009, 07:04 PM
I've heard the film adaptation of Last Orders is pretty good.

lovejuice
05-29-2009, 08:18 PM
Boo! Dead, bitter fish mother! False teeth!

I love that book.

it has an awesome bridge and river-crossing, but what faulkner's novel doesn't have that.

Melville
05-29-2009, 09:06 PM
it has an awesome bridge and river-crossing, but what faulkner's novel doesn't have that.
Which other of his novels have awesome bridge and river-crossings? Have I been missing out on awesome river-crossings?

And seriously, how can Addie's bitterness not stick with you? "In the afternoon when school was out and the last had left with his little dirty snuffling nose, instead of going home I would go down the hill to the spring where I could be quiet and hate them." Gold!


Mind you, based solely on the movie (not having read the book), I agree with your assessment of Last Orders. I didn't think the fragmentation did much for the movie.

Hugh_Grant
05-29-2009, 09:16 PM
I've heard the film adaptation of Last Orders is pretty good.
Decent movie, but a waste of a fantastic cast.

D_Davis
05-29-2009, 09:19 PM
76. Marcovaldo


In personal life and in writing, I too am an urbanist, so I appreciate all eulogies of skyscrapers, freeways, advertising posters and neon signs.





I need to read more Calvino. I've got a few of his books on my to read shelf. Never heard of this one, though.

So as an urbanist, are you into JG Ballard? Have you read Concrete Island, High Rise, Millennium People, or Running Wild? I imagine you would like the king of spec-fi's stuff; it is very good.

lovejuice
05-29-2009, 09:52 PM
Which other of his novels have awesome bridge and river-crossings? Have I been missing out on awesome river-crossings?

be patient, my good man. it's coming!


So as an urbanist, are you into JG Ballard? Have you read Concrete Island, High Rise, Millennium People, or Running Wild? I imagine you would like the king of spec-fi's stuff; it is very good.

lovely. i heard the name, but never actually read one of his. will check him out.

D_Davis
05-29-2009, 10:23 PM
lovely. i heard the name, but never actually read one of his. will check him out.

He is amazing. My favorite short story writer, and one of my favorite authors in general. A great thinker, writer, and all around creative genius. His recent passing has left a void in the world of literature that will never by filled by another author.

lovejuice
05-29-2009, 11:39 PM
72. Surfacing

http://aaronstheman.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/9780771098994.jpg

Two couples camping on a deserted island, a perfect setting for a Jason film, isn't it? Atwood takes this familiar setting and gives it a feminist spin. Although the book is not as canonical as The Handmaid's Tale, Surfacing, I find, more accomplished. It's a nightmarish tale of a woman losing her grip on reality. The novel is very subtle. Her prose suggests a lot of things, so much so that some readers might find the ending anticlimactic when Atwood refuses (or is unable) to tie everything and even hate the book for that. I personally have no problem. The book is fun for critical reading. You can almost dig any of your favorite literature theory out of it.

71. Henry and Cato

http://server40136.uk2net.com/~wpower/images/product_images/9780099429081.jpg

Henry and Cato are two childhood friends. Cato has grown up to be a priest who thinks he may be in love with a young criminal under his care. Henry became a rebel son and went to America. Only after his older brother died, does he come back and take charge of his house and inheritance. Henry falls in love with his brother's mistress while he's being pursued by Cato's sister.

The story is very Murdoch, although this one adds a curious spin halfway through. It's her only novel features a mafia/organized crime. I can't really get into that too much without spoiling the best part.

One big problem is, like The Return of the King, its ending just goes on and on. Not that a novel has to be like a Jackie Chan's movie in which right when Chan does the finishing move, the frame freezes and the credit rolls. But a 40-page ending in a 450-page novel is just unacceptable.

lovejuice
05-30-2009, 08:15 PM
70. The Wings of the Dove

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n24/n123141.jpg

This book is so awesome. Just read the synopsis: "when two orphans, Allie Pierce and Delaney Marsh, meet on a turbulent train ride, they join forces to find a new life of adventure and opportunity and they form a special bond that leads to eternal love." Classic. So the existential crisis that plagues the two main characters...

Oh, wait. Wrong novel.

http://img.infibeam.com/img/cfa6cc6f/283/1/9780141441283.jpg
Reading James's The Wings of the Dove in second language is like taking literature Colonoscopy. This is the toughest fiction I've ever read. (Haven't done any Pynchon.)

The book violates my minimalist's aesthetic; it's a 100-page novel written to 500 something because of James's flooding prose. And yet, it's precisely this prose that captures me so much. As a writer, I keep asking myself how on earth he wrote something like this? Each paragraph is like a bubble in which the substance is a thin film, while the prose is overblown to gigantic proportion. It surprisingly fits well with the story too: old world mannerism, greed and superficiality.

69. The Manticore

http://server40136.uk2net.com/~wpower/images/product_images/9780143051398.jpg

Fucking love this cover. Once again Penguin FTW!

Does this book merit its placing? Perhaps not. Davies is a writer whose work is best read in collective oeuvre than in separated pieces. In The Manticore a patient narrates his childhood to a psychiatrist. This is the second book in The Deptford Trilogy, about a group of people living in a small Canadian town, interlinked by a murder mystery of a millionaire/politician.

The best part is the classic Jungian relationship between the patient and his lovely doctor. Too bad it fizzes out and doesn't quite develop into a climax, although the actual climax is awesome and forgivable. A hint that it involves an ancient cave and a horde of killer, giant mammals.

Duncan
05-31-2009, 12:27 AM
I vastly prefer Fifth Business over The Manticore, but then again, I don't remember a horde of killer, giant mammals at the climax, so maybe my memory is failing me.

lovejuice
05-31-2009, 02:38 AM
I vastly prefer Fifth Business over The Manticore, but then again, I don't remember a horde of killer, giant mammals at the climax, so maybe my memory is failing me.

i refer to the fact that they enter the bear cave. you know match-cutter, to get them to read a book, there need to be some giant monsters. :P

Duncan
05-31-2009, 03:18 AM
Best thing about that Wings of a Dove cover is the swans in the background.

lovejuice
05-31-2009, 04:06 AM
68. Little Green Men

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/14520000/14520583.JPG

You know the list’s credibility when it includes a book recently read and mentioned in BDT. In any case, Little Green Men is extremely funny. I can’t remember when is the last time I laugh this hard, reading. Buckley comes up with this ingenious idea that there exists a government branch specialized in kidnapping people and making it looks like alien’s doing, so the CIA, military, NASA and whatnot can ask for more budget. It has been going swell since the Cold War. Up until one of the abductees is Jack Banion, an insanely famous Washington talk show host who’s about to moderate a presidential debate.

Again an extremely funny book, but a big problem is its being too light. Buckley's attitude toward UFO believers seems to sway back and forth between sympatized and downright condescending. The novel would have been better if he tends toward the first. He probably can’t, so Little Green Men ends up a laugh riot and not much else.

67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

http://mrquale.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hitchhikersguide.jpg

Now I remember when the last time I laughed that hard was. I won’t waste time talking about this book. You know it better than I do. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was probably read by everyone here. If you didn’t, ignore the movie adaptation and go straight to the bookstore. Seriously, it’s the closest thing we have to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

It perplexes me really how they can screw up with the adaptation. Considering Adams actually wrote the script, the first draft anyway. It’s never struck me as a particularly hard sci-fi to adapt.

lovejuice
06-04-2009, 07:32 PM
66. Under the Net

http://i19.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/3b/ee/2411_1.JPG

Murdoch starts and ends her writing career as a wodehousian. Under the Net is her first novel in a long career of twenty six and in essence truly wodehousian, a master and a butler running amok solving problems: their own, other people's, their but which are caused by others. It contains a number of murdochian spin like un-fulfillable yearning, guilt and a man dealing with his own past. The book's funny and nuance, containing both lol and heartbreaking moments.

65. Wuthering Heights

http://onlyanovel.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/wuthering_heights.jpg

I'm seeing Mara eye to eye on this. It's beyond me how anyone can think of Wuthering Heights as a love story. To call what's between the leads "a destructive love" is already beyond compliment. Few more selfish characters has ever existed. (Unless you are going to quote Fitzgerald: "selfish people are in a way terribly capable of great loves.")

And yet, one can argue Wuthering Heights might be the most influential love story ever told. Edward the vampire. Batman. You name it. All dark heros, anti-heros and bad boys are originated in Heathcliff.

I really enjoy Wuthering Heights. To quote myself, this is Freddy vs. Jason of the 19th century novel. It feels almost like a meta-novel, a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the romance genre.

Mara
06-04-2009, 07:39 PM
65. Wuthering Heights

It's a love story told from the point of view that people are bastards.

lovejuice
06-04-2009, 07:53 PM
64. The Grapes of Wrath

http://images.publicradio.org/content/2006/09/28/20060928_grapesofwrath_3.jpg

63. The Fountainhead

http://www.gurusoftware.com/images/GuruNet/RandFountainhead.jpg

More observant among you should recognize among the criterion for including and ranking novels in this list is which books look nice when paired up against one another. This two is the most perfect. I don't think, there can be any pair so different and yet so similar. The authors are not above hammering down their respective points, and by the end either you hate them or if you are adamant enough to finish the books, you are more than likely to include them in your best list due to their shear force, their thickness and how many god damned long hours you spend on them.

While Steinbeck's a more respectable author, or person in general, I rank The Fountainhead above The Grapes of Wrath. Yes, Rand is a nut job, and whatever she preaches and believed in the 60s is now slightly outdated, but I am more sympathized to Rand's pro-capitalism stance than Steinbeck's anti-the-man. (Rand's objectivism is on the other hand kooky.)

Duncan
06-04-2009, 09:21 PM
Like Wuthering Heights. Like The Grapes of Wrath's humanist points and a few of its political points. Boo to The Fountainhead.

lovejuice
06-04-2009, 11:10 PM
Like Wuthering Heights. Like The Grapes of Wrath's humanist points and a few of its political points. Boo to The Fountainhead.
out of curiosity, do you just find her philosophy disdainful, or don't like the structure and methodology of her novel?

Hugh_Grant
06-04-2009, 11:23 PM
I read The Fountainhead when I was sixteen, and I loved it. Since that was almost twenty years ago (yikes! I'm old!), I have no idea how it would hold up if I were to reread it.

Duncan
06-04-2009, 11:48 PM
out of curiosity, do you just find her philosophy disdainful, or don't like the structure and methodology of her novel?

Both. I think Objectivism is preposterous, selfish bullshit. Reading The Fountainhead, I knew everything she had to say within the first 50 pages. The next many hundreds of pages only serve to hammer home her points, and by the end she has lost any pretense of balance or subtlety and just lets loose a ridiculous, transparent, abrasive satire, plus an "inspiring" speech by Howard Rourke about how he blew up a housing project because it didn't meet his artistic standards. Absolutely absurd.

The one thing I do like about her is the respect she has for the individual. The problem is, her vision of the individual is an entity in total isolation that has no sense of compassion or empathy, only intellect, vision, and self righteousness.

She's a big fan of Nietzsche, but I think she takes all his worst points and runs with them. If you apply his philosophy to a single person, well, I think it's a pretty elevating philosophy. If you try to apply his philosophy on a wider scale (like his trumpeting of Napoleon in Beyond Good and Evil) it's a bit disastrous. She's also a big fan of his conception of pity as an insult to the pitied. I kind of agree, but one of the things I think gets overlooked in Nietzsche's writing is that pity and empathy don't mean exactly the same thing, but people keep equating them and basing their opinion of his writings on this false equality. I think this is a mistake by both Rand and quite a few other commentators. But then again, maybe I haven't read enough Nietzsche (but I have read quite a lot from him).

lovejuice
06-05-2009, 06:52 AM
Both. I think Objectivism is preposterous, selfish bullshit. Reading The Fountainhead, I knew everything she had to say within the first 50 pages. The next many hundreds of pages only serve to hammer home her points, and by the end she has lost any pretense of balance or subtlety and just lets loose a ridiculous, transparent, abrasive satire, plus an "inspiring" speech by Howard Rourke about how he blew up a housing project because it didn't meet his artistic standards. Absolutely absurd.
i can agree to that, really. although i cut her a break since the 60s and 70s were the vastly different time than what it's right now. objectivism is at best outdated and at worse, yes, "preposterous, selfish bullshit." yet it's quite rare for a writer to be this strong a proponent of capitalism. and i value that.

lovejuice
06-06-2009, 01:09 AM
62. The Melancholy of Resistance

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QhCgu9IQAho/RYipjE42loI/AAAAAAAAABU/6Tq4OQQcuSg/s320/melancholy.jpg

When it comes to writing big paragraph, Krasznahorkai beats the crap out of every guy in the street: James, Saramago, Faulkner, all the stream-of-consciousness folks I have ever read. More than that, his big paragraphs make sense and are kinda graceful. There's few thing I hate than people using big-paragraph as gadget. (There's one asshole in Thailand doing that.) In The Melancholy of Resistance, you can quite see why the book's written that way. I'm not saying it's the best way to tell a story. People who write as Krasznahorkai have some sort of assholic complex. They just need to work hard to justify that.

I said earlier I like book with comment on classical music. That part of The Melancholy of Resistance is, however, I find, the weakest. I am not sure if the style does not fit the subject or the discussion itself is quite uninteresting.

61. Foucault's Pendulum

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/Umberto_Eco_Foucault%27s_Pendu lum.png/200px-Umberto_Eco_Foucault%27s_Pendu lum.png

Ah, the first and the lowest Eco's on my list.

Foucault's Pendulum is about a bunch of history nerds doing stuffs not too different from many D&D players. Instead of writing a fantasy world, they are rewriting THE history based on daffy conspiracy theory involving Holy Grail, the Knight of Templar, Freemason and...does this sound familiar? Yes, it's a thinking men's The Da Vinci Code. Though the problem with this book is Eco, unlike Brown, is too honest and smart. When he cooks up something, he's above playing it as a fact. So, the book is caught in this phenomenological paradox. It wants to propagate the idea that the world and the history are what we see, believe and create, but it wants to do that in a realistic (i.e. non sci-fi) way. At the end, I don't think Eco succeeds very well in blending fact and fantasy. (The same failure as Dick in The Man in the High Castle.) The book, I find, is more fun during the first half when nothing much happens than when it starts to get rolling.

megladon8
06-06-2009, 02:19 AM
"The Fountainhead" is one of those books I really want to read, but it's just so damn intimidating.

Qrazy
06-06-2009, 02:44 AM
I really need to get on The Melancholy of Resistance as per our book swap way back when. I have it on the shelf across from me but I've gotten bogged down in Anna Karenina. Perhaps I'll read Melancholy for a change of pace.

Duncan
06-06-2009, 03:12 AM
"The Fountainhead" is one of those books I really want to read, but it's just so damn intimidating.

It's actually a very easy book to read. Tons of plot.

Qrazy
06-06-2009, 05:18 AM
It's actually a very easy book to read. Tons of plot.

I feel like I ought to read some Ayn Rand just so that I can legitimately shit all over her. Maybe Anthem?

lovejuice
06-06-2009, 06:45 AM
I feel like I ought to read some Ayn Rand just so that I can legitimately shit all over her. Maybe Anthem?

that one sure is handy. within her canon, it's quite liquidy though, so you might only legitimately piss over her. to shit, go with fountainhead, man.

lovejuice
06-06-2009, 06:50 AM
60. The Zero

http://www.jesswalter.com/images/jesswalter-210-Zero_pb.jpg

Yep, fondling the Mod. That’s how one gets ahead on an internet message board.

I’m not sure if The Zero is the best commentary on American politics and the post-911 world. It perhaps is the best we got right now. The protagonist is Remy, a New York policeman who suffers from multi-personalities after committing suicide. His life and being is invaded by this monster who secretly works for the government in anti-terrorist program.

Remy is an interesting allegory for America; how most victims of terrorism have to shoulder the sin which hasn’t been committed by them but at the same time which they cannot deny their responsibility. Remy is such a pitiful character, perhaps the most on this list. He does and does not do a bunch of evil things, but seems to be in hot spot for those.

E weights some criticism over this book, that Walter seems to cut away whenever it tends to get good. The criticism is justified, but I still think, the book has to be read more as an experience than to process the story. If you like Memento, definitely check this book out.

59. Blindness

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_scfe5YzN958/Rse27gGVSlI/AAAAAAAAAMk/julmuSbAU1c/s400/Blindness.jpg

Zero idea about the movie. Haven’t watched it, but I’m highly skeptical since this is among those un-adaptable novels. I have read a number of negative reviews on the other site, and I can see what’s the problem here. Saramago wrote this book not as a sci-fi or a thriller. It has that atmosphere of allegorical fable. (The same can be said about his two other novels: All the Names and The Cave.) Perhaps we’re not supposed to believe anything that happens in the novel does happen that way. We are specifically told not to visualize it.

Blindness shows how beastly human can be in an extremity. And yet, showing that is not really the point of the novel. It’s like listening to Little Red Riding Hood, and concluding all girls secretly want to be ravaged. People in fables are not characters in novelistic sense.

Ok, I’m not making any sense. Let’s just say, the subject of un-seeing is suitable for a textual representation. Visualizing this book is just a plain bad idea.

lovejuice
06-10-2009, 04:55 AM
58. Two Serious Ladies

http://www.peterowen.com/graphics/covers/twoladies.jpg

There is only one listed book written by a Bowles. And it’s not the husband. While I couldn’t care less for The Sheltering Sky, it’s actually this only novel by Paul's wife that impresses me. And I’m not alone. Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote are both her fans. In his memoir, Williams showers praises on the wife, while doesn’t even mention the husband as a writer.

Two Serious Ladies is the closest one can get if Raymond Carvers ever finished his novel. Half minimalism and half Miyazaki. Yep, that Miyazaki. A lot in this novel remind me of Miyazaki's world. A lady as a passenger on a lonely train. A character that is not quite a stranger, not quite a tourist, not quite a locale.

Like most work of minimalism, actual text doesn’t contain much story, but between-the-line is richly suggestive. Bowles’s collection of short stories is a much better read however.

57. Shanghai Baby

http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue8/images/lyne12.jpg

When I get too lazy, you can always tell I hit some dead end. How can I write about a novel which I read more than a decade ago? I have no idea how I would take this book nowadays.

I think I would hate it.

This controversial novel, banned in China, is about the new youth of Shanghai, one of the most modern cities in the east. Coco who is also an alter ego of Wei Hui dates a sensitive guy who is sexually impotent, while at the same time has a fling with a westerner. The fling drives her boyfriend to depression, drug and death at the end.

Yeah, I definitely would hate it.

It has some really good lines though, like how Coco says she’ll never date a guy unless he can name five classical composers, novelists and painters.

The novel actually had a sequel which made me respect Wei Hui somewhat less. It’s also adapted into a 2007 movie starring Bai Ling, but it has never been released outside Germany. Why Germany? Seriously, no idea.

D_Davis
06-11-2009, 03:28 PM
Foucault's Pendulum

I need to read this. It's been sitting on my shelf for years.

I should crack it open soon.

Have you read the Illuminati Trilogy, by Shea and Robert Anton Wilson? Talk about wit and style!

lovejuice
06-11-2009, 06:23 PM
Foucault's Pendulum

I need to read this. It's been sitting on my shelf for years.

I should crack it open soon.

Have you read the Illuminati Trilogy, by Shea and Robert Anton Wilson? Talk about wit and style!

not yet, but i remember you mentioning this. color me much interested.

lovejuice
06-11-2009, 06:30 PM
d, is this illuminatus trilogy standalone or interrelated? only the last one, leviathan, is available for mooching at the moment?

D_Davis
06-11-2009, 07:29 PM
d, is this illuminatus trilogy standalone or interrelated? only the last one, leviathan, is available for mooching at the moment?

I've only ever seen it and read it as an omnibus. I've never even seen the individual books before.

I'd definitely read it in order.

http://esvaziando.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/illuminatus1.jpg

lovejuice
06-11-2009, 10:08 PM
56. The Glass Bead game

http://img.quoka.de/Das_Glasperlenspiel_gebundene---foto-bild-35-16934235.jpg

Disputably Hesse is the most widely read Nobel Laureate. I have known a number of people who finish everything or almost everything by his. No surprise here since his novels are freaking thin! (On average 200 pages.)

The Glass Bead Game is with little doubt his masterpiece. It's the longest, the last and took him more than a decade to write. A somewhat sci-fi about a school master in this prodigious institute who have to moderate between two opposing thought and power.

The novel summarizes Hessianism from all his previous novels. He's a rather conflict persona, going back and forth between Dionysus and Apollo. At the end of his writing career, he reaches this conclusion that the two are different faces of the same coin. Whoopee! Quite anti-climatic. :)

But really I like this guy. Prepare to see more of his work in the top thirty.

55. Of Human Bondage

http://www.utne.com/uploadedImages/utne/blogs/Great_Writing/Of-Human-Bondage.jpg

Not sure if I really like this novel or the fact that it's Gu Long's favorite novel and a basis for The Sentimental Swordsman, the best Wuxia, and among the best novel, ever written. For certain though, Gu Long's reading influences my take on Maugham's. A story about struggling love, and how a man can redeems himself through letting go.

There's one really great line in which the protagonist mourns how school education never teaches children the treachery of this world. We leave it to them to figure out how to get along in this chaotic void of modern society. Very true and very touching.

D_Davis
06-11-2009, 10:30 PM
You should translate Gu Long's novels into English.

I want to read them so bad.

lovejuice
06-20-2009, 10:45 PM
54. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine

http://i.biblio.com/z/118/041/9780140041118.jpg

This is one weird novel. The most meta of all Murdoch's. In essence, it's also the most typical, a story of a husband torn between the loyalty of his wife and the allurement of his mistress. Within her oeuvre the theme has already been visited many times and will be revisited again and again. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine is where the motive is pushed to its utmost limit.

The ending is such a big pile of crap that at first I was pissed. It however dawned on me that such bullshit might be the most and the only suitable ending for the novel of this nature.

53. The Reivers

http://bfgb.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/moses.jpg

Who would have thought a southern, melancholic writer of The Sound and the Fury can be this funny? And I am talking lol funny. A boy, a young man and a black servant steal a car from the owner of a plantation who is also the boy's grandfather. The three embrace this classic road trip which takes us through different landscape of Americaness. How Americans are obsessed with cars, growing up and get-rich-quick schemes. As mentioned, The novel features an awesome river crossing scene.

Mcqueen stars in the movie adaptation. No idea how good or bad it's.

Duncan
06-21-2009, 02:08 AM
The Glass Bead Game is one of my favourites. You're definitely way more into mystery novels than I am.

lovejuice
06-21-2009, 05:25 PM
52. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

http://www.mrbsemporium.com/internetshop/images/uploads/Mysterious_Flame.jpg

Most gorgeous. Novel. Ever.

Third autobiographical. Third illustrated book. And Third novel. Eco semiotically reconstructed the childhood of his alter ego who is suffered from amnesia. Readers are taken through pile upon pile of images from fascist Italy -- advertising, comic books, musical score and whatnot -- while the protagonist recounts his role as a young resistance fighter during the war.

It's debatable if this is anything more than a glorified illustrated book, semiotic or otherwise. I guess, the point Eco's trying to make is that childhood, even of an adult prodigious reader, is an assemblage of images. A child sees the world through images not texts, so the only honest way to be nostalgic is pictorial.

The book is printed in color, the pictures are gorgeous. It's not noticeably more expensive than your standard paperback.

51. The Remains of the Day

http://whatamireading.files.wordpress .com/2007/12/theremainsoftheday.jpg

Way back at the beginning, I mentioned there's only one true Japanese novel in this list. If you don't already know, regardless of the name, Ishiguro has grown up in England and written only in English.

And yet, the name of the author is the only thing that tips you off this Godford Park-like novel is not written by a native. Contradictorily it's that the author being Japanese which gives The Remains of the Day its extra layer. Nothing is more british than butlers. At the same time, a novel whose protagonist's biggest attribute is restraining is oddly Japanese.

Most annoying are those writers of the far east who flaunt their oriental-ness in the face of westerners. Refreshing is to read a work of a Japanese writer who only not avoids that, but also immerses himself in the culture of the biggest imperialist in the world history.

Qrazy
06-21-2009, 06:42 PM
Disputably Hesse is the most widely read Nobel Laureate.

Strange sentence.


The Glass Bead Game is with little doubt his masterpiece.

But really I like this guy. Prepare to see more of his work in the top thirty.

Erm... if it's his masterpiece shouldn't it be the highest placed of his works?


55. Of Human Bondage


I like Of Human Bondage quite a lot. I really ought to get on The Razor's Edge one of these days.

lovejuice
06-22-2009, 05:20 AM
Erm... if it's his masterpiece shouldn't it be the highest placed of his works?
depend on if you believe a favorite work is the same as a best work in one's opinion. I'm happen to think the two are different. The Glass Bead Game is Hesse's major work, due to its length, how long he has spent writing it and its being his last and a cumulative point of his philosophy. therefore, i classify it as his major work even though personally there are a few that i prefer.

so i already hit the half way mark. phewww.....this is harder than i anticipated. i promise the next 50 will be more solid in term of representing my taste. there won't be any more last minute adding.

Qrazy
06-22-2009, 05:58 AM
depend on if you believe a favorite work is the same as a best work in one's opinion. I'm happen to think the two are different. The Glass Bead Game is Hesse's major work, due to its length, how long he has spent writing it and its being his last and a cumulative point of his philosophy. therefore, i classify it as his major work even though personally there are a few that i prefer.

so i already hit the half way mark. phewww.....this is harder than i anticipated. i promise the next 50 will be more solid in term of representing my taste. there won't be any more last minute adding.

Ah fair enough, I agree that they're different. I think Andrei Rublev is Tarkovsky's masterpiece but I prefer Stalker slightly... depends on the day though, I go back and forth on that one. Still there's usually a correlation between what I feel to be an author's best work and my favorite, but it's true, not always.

lovejuice
06-29-2009, 01:24 PM
50. The Adventures of Augie March

http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/adventures-augie-march-def-30348214.jpg

Bad form, really, to begin a talk about your favorite novel with “I don’t remember much about it,” but here we go. What I did remember is that I joyfully finished this hefty-sized book -- 500 pages -- during a weekend in Las Vegas. Surely it must have done something right.

I just read what I wrote about it back then, and now it dawns on me why so little memory have I retain of it. Augie March, the main character, is among the most passive protagonists in modern literature. I’ll praise him as “the last great non-existentialist hero.” He’s a guy that feels no need to differentiate himself from his surrounding. He just floats along. Thus he and his book, together, provide a nice palate to portray America of their time.

As I’m sure I did mention, I like a book that put strong emphasis on setting and scenery. Bellow’s work fits the bill perfectly.

49. The Plague

http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/upload/9780141185132.jpg

The Plague is a hard book to categorize. There is this deadly virus that almost wipes out an entire village, a military barricade that prevents people from going in and out of the city, a doctor and a scientist who run around trying to save life. In short, it’s every disaster movie cliché, and yet the book that should be the father of them all takes a philosophical route. Death makes a philosopher out of us. Amid the death and mayhem, the book’s very serene to read. I don’t think we even witness a single death until the very end.

And speaking of existentialism. Unlike Camus’s other books which are pretty sure of their existentialist agenda, The Plague is again hard to categorize. College students must have been assigned to squeeze existentialism out of it. Should have been a fun exercise.

lovejuice
06-30-2009, 09:46 AM
48. Wise Children

http://mostlyfiction.com/images/cover_L-W/wisechildren.jpg

Wise Children is Carter's final novel, and it's really a work of a pro. The novel is obviously written by someone who knows what works and what doesn't. Her novels do not rely much on a story, style or a character but on as many imaginative details as she can cramp into one volume. Wise Children is methodologically good, but it lacks the oomp! of her two higher-ranked novels.

A book evolves around a theatre dynasty consists of one great shakespearian and an eccentric entomologist who are actually twins. The family in fact counts...I guess...seven pairs of twins! The main characters are two daughters of the said shakespearian.

Some sort of sexual perversion should be anticipated, and it's like Carter's trying to outdo herself. Incest. yes, thank you. With a little twist. Ok, that's gross. It's good to know you can still deliver, dear old sorely missed Carter.

47. The Blind Assassin

http://www.gorbould.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/blind_assassin.jpg

An image too big, but it's the only nonconventional cover I can find. (The conventional one is really pretty though.) And I also like how totally misleading and doesn't freaking have anything to do with the novel it is.

Almost till the end, The Blind Assassin can easily break the top thirty. Once come the revelation, the book's still pretty solid, but my excitement is lower down one notch. Nothing is really wrong, but under the semi-post-modern tale of two business families fighting for the button market intertwined with a sci-fi novel within a novel within a novel, "The Blind Assassin," Atwood still writes the same old story about how women are screwed by men figuratively and literally. A bit let down.

Mara
06-30-2009, 02:15 PM
I love The Blind Assassin. So much.

That cover is insane.

Benny Profane
06-30-2009, 02:32 PM
Augie March is the only "big" Saul Bellow novel I haven't read. I will get to it eventually.

lovejuice
06-30-2009, 03:35 PM
Augie March is the only "big" Saul Bellow novel I haven't read. I will get to it eventually.
I just mooch the rain king.


I love The Blind Assassin. So much.

That cover is insane.
right? i mean, it's hilarious whichever way you look.

lovejuice
07-02-2009, 08:38 AM
46. Fifth Business

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/45/FifthBusiness.png/200px-FifthBusiness.png

Another pair that looks good together. Both Calvino and Davies are great writers whom I admire their bodies of work than one particular book. Both of these novels are their most famous respective work. Fifth Business is a prequel to The Manticore and the beginning of The Deptford Trilogy. It still "centers" around the murder mystery, although I have to put the verb in quotation marks because really the murder comes at the end. The whole book is about this "fifth business" character who is somewhat of a saint-freaked schoolteacher. Like most Davies' work, the fun is more in the atmosphere than in the story.

I have read five of his books already and largely Davies still escapes my understanding. There is some magical elements in all his work, but it'll be hard pressed to call any fantasy. In fact, the magic is there, but the supernatural never takes place. The best I can come up with is that Davies deals only with practical magic type which actually makes his books more fantastical in some way.

If you plan to read it, I suggest to go for the whole trilogy since the ending might be a bit unsatisfying. Like a symphony than end in the fifth.

45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

http://digilander.libero.it/kyme/lib/s/Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore_fronte.jpg

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is, if anything, among novels with the second best opening line ever: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveller." (The novel with the best opening is way up high on this list.) So yes, it's one of those pretentious books told in the second person pronoun. To its credit, the usage here is justified. This is an adventure of "you" to find the lost books which are scattered around the world by a mad genius who, to impress the same girl "you" are trying to woo, makes a forgery of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller.

It's actually not as post-modern or weird as it sounds. Calvino's "point" is to capture that feel when you're about to begin a new novel which, according to him, is the most wonderful, reading-wise. The book's conclusion is very cute and satisfying.

I strongly recommend it to anyone new to the writer, although there'll be another novel ranked higher. And to be honest, I think, it's slightly overrated as Calvino's most famous.

lovejuice
07-03-2009, 11:15 AM
44. A Clockword Orange

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2302/2839197914_7653eb0ce6.jpg

So, no need for an introduction here. This book has a lot of nostalgic value for me. It's the first book ever that I read once I moved to the US many years ago, and perhaps the second or third book in English. (The first ever is King's Thinner and I'm not sure if I ever finished The Shinning.) I was not quite a reader at that time, just chilling out in a library, seeing this one book that's not too thick and has a nice cover. (Not the one shown here, but similar enough.) Took me perhaps one week and more. Needless to say, I'm very proud finishing it. Feel like reading real "literature" for the first time.

It's kinda sad that with the film adaptation, Kubrick and McDowell totally upstage Burgess. I much prefer the book though. And I have read two other books by Burgess. He might not hit the spot everytime, but he sure is an immensely interesting writer who deserves more recognition.

43. Darkness at Noon

http://www.aicahk.org/pic/top9/200px-Darkness_at_Noon_cover-1.jpg

Say it once, say it again. Any communist bashing book has a free ticket onto this list. Darkness at Noon is about a once hero of the regime who, after falling out of favor and committing a small treason, is captured, interrogated and psychologically tortured.

We used to have this argument here about whether the fail of communism is too much logic or not enough. I'll say why it can't be both? Koestler's protagonist is captured in this labyrinth of socialism and totalitarian where too much and not enough are both dead end.

I read this book not too long after The Grapes of Wrath, and while the evil of capitalism is mostly depicted as the beast with no face and no name, of communism is these dark endless alleyways.

Duncan
07-03-2009, 12:12 PM
Love Fifth Business and A Clockwork Orange. Like Darkness at Noon.

It's weird how much I associate Kubrick's vision with the look of the characters, even though that cover probably more closely resembles what Burgess describes. But I don't think Kubrick really shows Burgess up or steals the spotlight. I bet a whole lot more people have read the book because of the film.

Mara
07-03-2009, 01:28 PM
To say that A Clockwork Orange is written in English is a bit of a stretch. I read the book years before I saw the film, and loved it, so the film was always a disappointment to me.

lovejuice
07-03-2009, 01:33 PM
Love Fifth Business and A Clockwork Orange. Like Darkness at Noon.

It's weird how much I associate Kubrick's vision with the look of the characters, even though that cover probably more closely resembles what Burgess describes. But I don't think Kubrick really shows Burgess up or steals the spotlight. I bet a whole lot more people have read the book because of the film.

i don't really blame kubrick as much as mourning the fact that burgess will be swept away into obscurity along with arthur schnitzler, gustav hasford and howard fast, instead of joining the rank of clarke, thackeray, and nabokov.

which comes to think of it is quite funny because while lolita the book is >> almost anything, 2001 the movie is >> 2001 the book.

Duncan
07-03-2009, 02:47 PM
I dunno, I see Burgess' name referenced pretty frequently. I don't think he'll fade away into obscurity or anything like that.

lovejuice
07-06-2009, 08:06 AM
42. Bel Canto

http://http-server.carleton.ca/~agresik/belcanto.jpg

Lovely, lovely, lovely book. Perhaps even top thirty material, but boy! ain't Patchett a mediocre writer. I should not make that claim based on her only other novel, but The Magician's Assistant is among my bottom-of-the-barrel reading experience.

So there is this hostage situation in a Latin American country. A group of unclear political-oriented terrorists breaks into an embassy in the middle of an opera. I can't remember if it's the embassy of Japan or America, anyway some capitalistic country. It starts off quite cliche violence as you would expect from any hostage situation in a book/movie. Then as the negotiation drags along for months, the two sides start to bond, and with the help of music, chess, soccer, soap opera, other powers of consummerism and of course love the hostage situation turns into a pastoral that transcends all language, culture and political barrier.

I can't stress how lovely this book is. Definitely the most optimistic in this list. Sort of stuffs that warm and melt your heart in a clever way. And it's also deeply sad since we all know, this ain't going to end well.

41. The Bell

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_e6yTNj3TKvE/ScVH0HYCTYI/AAAAAAAAALs/-tW3CJlW2uo/s400/The+Bell+Book+Cover.jpg

This is Murdoch's fourth novel, and the first that starts to exemplify some of the themes which dominate her later masterpieces. The story happens in this strictly religious establishment. A cuckolding wife and a sexually ambiguous young man team up to rescue the legendary church bell from the bottom of the lake. Not only that but they are going to have the bell manifested by "miracle" in the middle of the religious festival.

Like many of her work, it's hard to pinpoint the "moral" of the story, even though Murdoch is a moralist, and her work should be read like a morality play. Perhaps that cuckolding is fine as long as the husband is a jerk? That retribution can come quite unexpected? That strict religious habit is bad for your moral? These all come from bastardized reading. Murdoch's moral ambiguous is her charm, and why her great novel deserves repeated reading.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's not too thick, very much fun to read and a good example of what a great Murdochian novel is like.

lovejuice
07-06-2009, 09:46 AM
40. Dangerous Liaisons

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/20110000/20116715.JPG

There's a son of a bitch in all of us. That's why a book like this is hard to resist. This book is eeeeeevil, a tale of two aristocrats seducing and manipulating simplistic good-hearted people, and in the process upping and destroying one another. Deep inside, all guys want to be like de Valmont, and all gals de Merteuil. Being smart and evil is fun, while being a virtous and a fool not much so. It's even better too if at the end you are destroyed. We all believe in a happy ending.

Frears's movie is also effing brilliant. So good in fact that, I might even recommend it instead of the actual text. Laclos penned the novel as a collection of letters, a style that's befitting its time, but can be quite lacking for a modern reader. Still it's extremely well-written, a paragon of how to speak as a snob.

39. Flatland

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/15240000/15241498.JPG

This book is a marvel. Especially if you know basic Special and General Relativity. The story is about a two-dimensional shape who is spiritted away into the third dimension. It's simple and yet elegant, like the most beautiful of mathematics proof.

Seriously I'm dying to know if Einstein ever read Abbott's work. To say that his theory is a simple step above this novel is an exaggeration; heavy out-of-this-world mathematics involve in that step, but the conceptual foundation is totally there. (Besides Einstein is notoriously not that good a mathematician.) If you are looking for a book that's "beyond its time," I can't think of anything that fits the bill as perfectly.

lovejuice
07-06-2009, 11:35 AM
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray

https://park-204.wikispaces.com/file/view/Dorian_Gray_1.jpg

37. The Scarlet Letter

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553210092.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Another pair that go together nicely. Both deal with the visibility of soul, or more precisely, what if sin leaves a clear mark on your body or your portrait. You probably know both stories well. Anyhow, The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a guy whose aging and ugliness in his soul appear only in the magical protrail while he himself remains blemish and young. The Scarlet Letter is about a fallen wife punished by a puritan town to wear the mark of her sin as a scarlet "A."

Biggest criticism against The Picture of Dorian Gray is that it's quite an annoying little book. True, Wilde wrote a novel as if he's writing a play, and wildian wits work better on stage or in theatrical setting. I cut the guy a little break since this is his only novel, so he can write any damn way he pleased.

Still It's quite a strange book from a playwright. The spotlight never leaves Gray. Story-wise he's the only character that ever takes action. His rise and his fall are solely his own doing. This makes for one monotonous novel unlike many plays of his. It's a good book, but consider its author, it can be better.

I told you how inadept I'm to 19th century novels and writers. Only exception is Hawthrone. I love Hawthrone, and The Scarlet Letter is not even his highest novel in this list. He wrote like a practical man who's full of purpose. His prose and story are clear, and even amid many characters and happenings, they never stray far from what he's trying to say. Within his puritanic mindset, there's always this touch of magic that make his books ever enchanting. Robertson Davies and Hawthrone in fact remain me a lot of one another.

Mara
07-06-2009, 01:41 PM
Aha! You are finally getting into my kind of books.

A few I love here, like Flatland (no, I don't do math, but I managed) and The Scarlet Letter.

I love The Picture of Dorian Gray, with all its faults. I wish he didn't go on and on about Dorian's obsessions with perfumes, or clothing, or whatever, but the overarching plot is really extraordinary and has some heartbreaking things to say about moral degeneration.

It works pretty nicely as a thriller, too. The first time I read it I was 14 or 15 and I read the final chapter at 1 a.m., and then lay in a cold sweat the entire rest of the night.

lovejuice
07-10-2009, 08:21 AM
36. The Baron in the Trees

http://www.luiss.it/giano/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/il-barone-rampante-copertina-2.jpg

I'm side-stepping my own rule. The Baron in the Trees was originally published as among the three novellas in Our Ancestors. Since its length is more befitting a novel -- over 200 pages -- it's now generally published as a separated volume.

Setted right before the Napoleonic war, the story is as suggested by the title. During his childhood, the baron has a big quarrel with his father, so he escapes into trees and vows to never get down from them. He then becomes a legendary figure, later inherits his father's estate and governs it from his position. He also protects his people and his village and fights in the war. (I can't remember which side. Probably of the emperor.)

I like this Italian cover especially how the baron still dons his full costume. Some American illustrations make him look like a Tarzan or a Mawkli. This is not a man versus nature type of story. Calvino wrote this almost as a children story; how far one boy can follow through his prank against the parent. The end has some nice moral ring to it as well, something about responsibility.

35. Fahrenheit 451

http://www.highlandersbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/51vo2eczoxl_ss500_-300x300.jpg

I have a lot of personal history with this book. Bradbury is an effing cool guy. He wrote his first draft for Fahrenheit 451 at the UCLA library a few yards from Royce hall where he gives his yearly lecture during the LA festival of book. Speaking of this lecture, Bradbury is a really old guy, but you won't believe what's his first sentence.

"I'm a great lover. This is a story of a great lover."

The first time I read this novel was 11 years ago. It was so-so. Recently I picked it up again and was amazed by how much my whole being was influenced by Bradbury's proses. And it's not merely 11 years that come between my first and second reading but also...like...hundreds of books. How can I not love a book about book loving writing by a biggest bibliophile?

Aside from the novel, I also like his short stories. As far as a sci-fi writer goes, unlike Clarke who's overly optimistic, Bradbury's more humanistic in the truest sense of the word. He believes in human, he loves human, loves us to our deepest flaw.

lovejuice
07-10-2009, 09:00 AM
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

http://www.cafes.net/ditch/flow.jpg

33. Ubik

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/absorbs/ubik2af0.jpg

Yeah...getting lazy now, so I'll just lump them here together.

I always love Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Dick's prose is touching, and I like how the sci-fi stands in for a lot of his own anxiety, insecurity and misoginism. It's however the "science" aspect that pushes me off. A protagonist suddenly finds himself lose in a strange world where he's a non-existence. The reason behind his spirited away is...well...quite a bullshit.

Fortunately recently I have read The Teaching of Don Juan, supposedly the definitive drug book of the 70s, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said starts to make more sense. Sure, phenomenology has to be taken with a grain of salt, and there is no such thing as reality-changing drug, but if Castaneda book could be sold like hot cake in the 70s, I can kinda see where Dick's coming from.

As a scientist, Ubik is a bit easier to love. It's more exciting as well. A group of "super-heroes," after a failed Moon Mission, find themselves up against a powerful enemy like none they have ever encountered. Manipulating time is now a thing of yesterday! I don't want to spoil this book too much -- the back jacket of my edition already did enough damage -- but it has a fun twist and really big idea behind all these. Good stuff. Classic sci-fi.

thefourthwall
07-10-2009, 09:27 PM
41. The Bell

I can't recommend this book enough. It's not too thick, very much fun to read and a good example of what a great Murdochian novel is like.

Added to the bookmooch wishlist!

Melville
07-11-2009, 04:27 PM
I like how you're so critical of most of the books on your list. My thoughts on those I've read (excluding the ones I've already commented on):

75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) - okay. My least favorite Dickens. Other than the descriptions of bloody massacres, I found it very forgettable.
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies) - didn't care for it. All the psychologoy stuff seemed silly.
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - hated it. Not my kind of humor.
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) - I like the high passion of the central romance, and its dedication to the interiority of its characters, but it went a bit far with the melodrama, and the happy ending seemed random.
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) - way too didactic and moralizing.
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago) - the central metaphor didn't make much sense.
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro) - its style of leaving everything unsaid seemed kind of gimmicky, especially since it made all the unsaid stuff so obvious.
49. The Plague (Albert Camus) - wonderful humanism.
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies) - love the plot structure, but it seemed too much like it was just sketching out the plot, with no mood or details to go with it.
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) - great, though I much prefer Kubrick's take on it.
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) - terrific, tightly structured around a perfect central scenario that brings in so many great political and ethical ruminations.

I didn't realize our tastes were so different.

lovejuice
07-11-2009, 09:15 PM
I like how you're so critical of most of the books on your list. My thoughts on those I've read (excluding the ones I've already commented on):

it's more fun and easier to bitch. :D


I didn't realize our tastes were so different.

i'll be interested in some of your favorite.

lovejuice
07-13-2009, 04:43 AM
32. To Kill a Mockingbird

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Ykml5rKBzi8/SGRErjlPcNI/AAAAAAAAAAM/j-c3x1vLUas/s320/to+kill+a+mockingbird+previous +book+cover.jpg

Not going through high school in the US means I have to discover some of these American classics by myself. An interesting experience. You don’t feel like they are forced upon you, and perhaps it allows you to appreciate the books more.

This is such a perfect little book for high school students. The age is right. So much to discuss. Not too obscure or symbolic, in fact most of the fine points are pretty obvious, and I love this novel for that. It is an easy book, and I mean this as a compliment. Also an adorable book, a single dad guiding his children through the bigotry of the south. Cute.

Sometimes simplicity pays off. This is a good case for that.

31. The Great Gatsby

http://bigread08.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/the-great-gatsby2.jpg

You might notice I try to avoid conventional covers, but I’ll be a fool to do the same here. Francis Cugat’s illustration is The Great Gatsby. So here it is in all its glory.

I guess American students are forced to read both of these at about the same age, correct? While To Kill a Mockingbird fits the bill of high school education, I doubt it here. Seem like The Great Gatsby will be a book one has to revisit later on to appreciate its fullest. How can a high school student understand the deepest sorrow of a guy whose dream is crushed and who confines himself watching that green damn light from afar? While the novel is told from a strange perspective and Fitzgerald skips over a lot of scenes, intentionally so, the book is extremely moving, and the ending is heart breaking like none other.

lovejuice
07-13-2009, 06:31 AM
tee hee! now we're entering top thirty. i should tell you while i'm pretty wishy-washy with anything below -- a lot of last minute changes and fumbling with order -- the next thirty will be pretty solid. now i can safely say these will be good representatives of my reading taste.

unfortunately it'll be more boring and predictable.

if it's not too laborious, i'm considering changing to one post one entry format. and perhaps trying to elaborate my thought more thoroughly.

ledfloyd
07-13-2009, 12:51 PM
nice to see calvino on the list. i'm a huge fan.

Llopin
07-14-2009, 10:36 AM
I'll rate your choices so far.

98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) **1/2
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) **
92. The Magic Toyshop (Angela Carter) ***
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe) ****
89. More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon) ***1/2
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski) ****
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene) ***
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) **1/2
76. Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino) ***
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) ***
70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James) ***
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) **1/2
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) ***
61. Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco) **1/2
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago) ***
57. Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui) **
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse) ****
50. The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow) ***
49. The Plague (Albert Camus) ***1/2
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino) ****
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) ***
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) ***1/2
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) ***
36. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino) ***1/2
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) ***
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Philip K. Dick) ****
33. Ubik (Philip K. Dick) ***1/2
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) ***

Clearly our tastes differ greatly in what we consider "excellent" literature, but overall I'm really enjoying the list. And getting some nice recs, as well.

Melville
07-14-2009, 03:52 PM
i'll be interested in some of your favorite.
Does this mean you're interested in seeing a list of my favorites? I think I already posted one at some point, but here's another:

1. Moby Dick, Herman Melville, 1851
2. The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky, 1880
3. Being & Time, Heidegger, 1927
4. Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky, 1864
5. Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
6. The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner, 1929
7. Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky, 1866
8. Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1885
9. Hunger, Knut Hamsun, 1890
10. Critique of Pure Reason, Kant, 1781
11. Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges, 1944
12. Jacques the Fatalist, Denis Diderot, 1796
13. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 1902
14. The Trial, Franz Kafka, 1922
15. Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1960
16. Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne, 1767
17. Pan, Hamsun, 1894
18. The Crocodile, Dostoevsky, 1865
19. The Outsider, Camus, 1942
20. The Seducer’s Diary, Kierkegaard, 1843
21. The Bacchae, Euripides, 406 BC
22. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954
23. Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre, 1938
24. Lolita, Nabokov, 1955
25. The Double, Dostoevsky, 1846
26. The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford, 1914
27. Pierre, or the Ambiguities, Herman Melville, 1852
28. Being and Nothingness, Sartre, 1943
29. Madame Bovary, Flaubert, 1857
30. King James Bible: Ecclesiastes the Preacher, 250 BC
31. The Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam (trans. E. Fitzgerald), 1120 (1859)
32. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens, 1861
33. 1984, George Orwell, 1949
34. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, 1930
35. Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf, 1924
36. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
37. The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot, 1917
38. Hamlet, Shakespeare, 1600
39. The Aeneid, Virgil (trans. Dryden), 19 BC (1697)
40. A Portrait of the Artist, James Joyce, 1914
41. Eugene Onegin, Pushkin (trans. Johnston), 1833
42. The Hunting of the Snark, Lewis Carroll, 1874
43. Lord of the Flies, William Golding, 1952
44. Collected Stories of H. P. Lovecraft, 1917-1935
45. Medea, Euripides, 431 BC
46. Season of Migration to the North, Salih, 1966
47. The Blithedale Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1852
48. Account of My Hut, Kamo Chomei, 1212

D_Davis
07-14-2009, 11:03 PM
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
I always love Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Dick's prose is touching, and I like how the sci-fi stands in for a lot of his own anxiety, insecurity and misoginism. It's however the "science" aspect that pushes me off. A protagonist suddenly finds himself lose in a strange world where he's a non-existence. The reason behind his spirited away is...well...quite a bullshit.


This is a good argument for the use of Speculative Fiction, rather than Science Fiction, to describe the work of authors like PKD. Dick didn't give a damn about the "science." He created interesting ideas and objects in order speculate on how people might act and react in a controlled environment. Rarely was he concerned about the plausibility of the ideas or objects. His real concern was in the plausibility of his character's actions, reactions, and emotions.

The ideas and objects were simply catalysts to push the narrative and character development forward. They helped focus the lens through which Dick viewed his literary creations, and give him a unique perspective from which he viewed his fellow man. For instance, the drugs used in A Scanner Darkly and in The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, or the simulacra in We Can Build You and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I know a lot of people think that discussing the differences between spec-fi and sci-fi is akin to arguing about the silliest of semantics, but I do not. Sci-fi is a sub-genre of Spec-fi, and while they share certain similarities, they are also vastly different.

lovejuice
07-15-2009, 03:01 AM
Does this mean you're interested in seeing a list of my favorites? I think I already posted one at some point, but here's another:

soon you'll learn that our tastes are not that different. ;)

Melville
07-15-2009, 03:14 AM
soon you'll learn that our tastes are not that different. ;)
Cool. I'll be interested in seeing which favorites we share.

Qrazy
07-15-2009, 08:27 AM
40. Dangerous Liaisons

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/20110000/20116715.JPG

There's a son of a bitch in all of us. That's why a book like this is hard to resist. This book is eeeeeevil, a tale of two aristocrats seducing and manipulating simplistic good-hearted people, and in the process upping and destroying one another. Deep inside, all guys want to be like de Valmont, and all gals de Merteuil. Being smart and evil is fun, while being a virtous and a fool not much so. It's even better too if at the end you are destroyed. We all believe in a happy ending.

Frears's movie is also effing brilliant. So good in fact that, I might even recommend it instead of the actual text. Laclos penned the novel as a collection of letters, a style that's befitting its time, but can be quite lacking for a modern reader. Still it's extremely well-written, a paragon of how to speak as a snob.

39. Flatland

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/15240000/15241498.JPG

This book is a marvel. Especially if you know basic Special and General Relativity. The story is about a two-dimensional shape who is spiritted away into the third dimension. It's simple and yet elegant, like the most beautiful of mathematics proof.

Seriously I'm dying to know if Einstein ever read Abbott's work. To say that his theory is a simple step above this novel is an exaggeration; heavy out-of-this-world mathematics involve in that step, but the conceptual foundation is totally there. (Besides Einstein is notoriously not that good a mathematician.) If you are looking for a book that's "beyond its time," I can't think of anything that fits the bill as perfectly.

Since I hate the story of the film Dangerous Liaisons I doubt I"ll like the book. Flatland on the other hand I really like.

D_Davis
07-15-2009, 01:37 PM
For fans of Flatland I recommend Rudy Rucker's spiritual sequel, Spaceland. It's a lot of fun, and tpyical of Rucker's gonzo approach to mathpunk in which he utilizes real concepts and theories to construct an engaging and entertianing story.

lovejuice
07-21-2009, 11:10 PM
30. Nights at the Circus

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4175XZQWNRL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

I don't quite understand this novel. That is a shame considered how I really like Carter, and Nights at the Circus is her definitive work. It's not her best, but it's the book that best summarizes her writing and her philosophy. Camp, freak and erotic.

In "Contemporary Moral Issues" thread, I stated that I didn't understand bestiality. The same comment is applied here. I can understand sex as power play qua Foucault, but sex as the cult of the beast is perhaps...too feminine for me.

But even if I don't understand it, doesn't mean I cannot like it. There is something deeply erotic about this adventure of a young reporter and a winged girl in a circus. A scene featuring a strong man, a tiger, the reporter and the wife of the beast master is a wonderful interplay of sexual tension.

29. Immortality

http://www.vydavatel.sk/images/006_9_8_0069871-23.jpg

Finally a Kundera's novel!

Immortality is generally regarded as his second best. It's the most post-moderny of his work. The story centers around the breaking down of a marriage. Yet it's also about the life and the life after death of Goethe. So what happens to the famous german poet after his death? He meets Beethoven and Hemingway, and have this all-out post-modern conversation about immortality!

Kundera is perhaps the only guy who can pull off this bullshit. Amid all the fourth wall breaking and fragmented narrative is this beautiful Russian folklore about an escaping princess. The tale is wonderfully weaved into the story and used as an allegory to the wife's final decision.

I really like the underlying idea of the novel. Kundera explains the phenomenon in which strangers on the street being mean to one another. It's the same subject of Haneke's Code Unknown and Haggis's Crash, although Haggis is not subtle enough to see beyond the issue of race. Yes, racial and language barrier lead to the confrontation, but that conflict is only skin deep.

Very very clever novel. Although I won't recommend it to an uninitiated.

Qrazy
07-21-2009, 11:47 PM
Kundera is perhaps the only guy who can pull off this bullshit.

I haven't read it but I love this sentence.

I'm also a fan of your sig. ;)

lovejuice
07-21-2009, 11:53 PM
I'm also a fan of your sig. ;)
thank for the quotation. even if i mildly enjoy his film, i have to admit sometimes i just want to yell that.

lovejuice
07-23-2009, 05:16 PM
28. Steppenwolf

http://www.spinebreakers.co.uk/PublishingImages/Features/My%20penguin%20bands/300%20wide/FINAL%20Steppenwolf%20-%20GOLDSPOT.jpg

27. Siddhartha

http://members.home.nl/wolthuis/sid8.gif

Though almost everyone will disagree with me, I read Steppenwolf as a novel about the joy of dancing. My dance coach once joked that dancers are generally pretty stupid -- he himself is a PhD in Physics -- so there's not that many good books about dancing. There is not, so I will grasp at the first chance to label any book as about "the joy of dancing."

More correctly, Steppenwolf is a loosely sequel to Demian, Hesse's super famous book which I cannot ever get behind. The idea introduced in Demian about "wolf people" who are the true descendants of Cain is picked up and elaborated here.

But idea, shmidea. In essence, it's still about a lonely man searching for the meaning through the help of a mysterious woman -- a german literature version of Shall We Dansu -- and that'll always be what Steppenwolf is about to me.

Siddhartha is very interesting, especially if you are an Asian and a buddhist. The book is a biggest, earliest mark of yellow fever or colonialism in reverse. (Hesse probably is related to Davis somehow.) Most common misunderstanding is that Siddhartha is about Buddha. He has a cameo, but the protagonist is this guy named Siddhartha, which is the actual name of Buddha before his enlightenment. The novel focuses on Siddhartha in search of enlightenment his own way. (There is even a scene in which he meets and denies Buddha outright.)

It's no secret that Hesse is enamored by eastern philosophy, but it's debatable if he actually understands it. Unlike Buddha, Siddhartha never conquers unhappiness. All through his life, he reaches another plateau of enlightenment, and still some obstacles exist that weight him down. He's quite a sad guy in his own way, something that's totally not buddhist. Or at least unconventionally so.

Qrazy
07-23-2009, 07:37 PM
Quite a fan of both and I recently downloaded but have not yet watched Rooks adaptation of Siddhartha. I have high hopes. I feel like I should re-read Steppenwolf because I read it on the subway over the course of a week and while I remember really liking it the details are mostly gone. Still there's so much else I want to read, even from Hesse, that I probably won't re-read it for a few more years.

Duncan
07-23-2009, 08:00 PM
Yeah, I love both those books. I'm a pretty big Hesse fan. When I was maybe 15, I'd say Siddhartha was my favourite book. And then around 17 it was probably The Glass Bead Game, which is still like top 5, top 10 material for me.

lovejuice
07-23-2009, 09:10 PM
26. Ragtime

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/files/fckeditor_files/image/Ragtime.jpg

The first half of this novel is fantastic. It has that Altmanic approach in which many events happen, many characters introduced. Far too many to keep track of, and yet the narrative are driving forward while the setting and time -- America of the early 20th century -- vividly depicted. The use of musical motive for the title is spot on. Ragtime is a polyphonic novel.

Generally my biggest pleasure in watching Altman's is to recognize pattern out of the chaotic structure. The same does not apply here. Unfortunately it's when the narrative starts to take shape that Ragtime is weakest. When we see what it's all about: a begrudging african-american husband exacting revenge upon the guy who's responsible for his wife's death and the lawman who refuses to do anything. Doctorow makes this jazz pianist into a Batman of some sort. This might appeal to some people, but not me.

Still imitation is the best form of flattery, and I'm planning to steal the fuck out of this novel.

25. The Good Apprentice

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/bookcovers/goodapprentice.jpg

Likewise, here we have another novel with god-awesome first half and a much more lacking second. The young protagonist of The Good Apprentice is accidentally responsible for his roommate's death. Out of guilt, he decides to run away and visit his estranged father. The father is a genius architect who lives in this house/castle with a really cool name, 'Seegard'. Instead of the father, he meets the new wife and three daughters who exact this mysterious, alluring effect on the young man.

People ask me if I am ever tired of reading Murdoch's novels -- there are twenty six of them. Sometimes, yes. But mostly her range is wide enough that there is always something to surprise me. The Good Apprentice belongs to that phase in which she wrote gothic, supernatural novels. There really is nothing supernatural, but the atmosphere is uncanny and deep in magic.

Unfortunately once the protagonist leaves Seegard, the energy drops down. The second half is still a good Murdoch's London novel, but nothing extraordinary in her oeuvre.

Lucky
08-10-2009, 10:50 PM
I demand more. If you finish this list, I vow to read your #1 unless I've already read it.

Qrazy
08-11-2009, 04:34 AM
And I vow to read The Melancholy of Resistance since I swore I would for your book club.

lovejuice
08-19-2009, 01:13 AM
I demand more. If you finish this list, I vow to read your #1 unless I've already read it.
it's this masterpiece of modern literature.

http://buylocalpasadena.files.wordpre ss.com/2009/07/twilight-movie-poster.jpg

Mara
08-19-2009, 01:24 AM
He's back!

lovejuice
08-19-2009, 01:28 AM
He's back!
I am actually never away. :) the net here is so bad i am too lazy to post. (been reading your short story thread. ;)) but now i will try to finish this tread and post more often.

Kurosawa Fan
08-19-2009, 12:56 PM
Post more and the next book I read will be The Infernal Desire Machine of Dr. Hoffman.

megladon8
08-19-2009, 07:20 PM
Post more and the next book I read will be The Infernal Desire Machine of Dr. Hoffman.


It's a great book. You should read it!

Kurosawa Fan
08-19-2009, 07:53 PM
It's a great book. You should read it!

I'm going to, I just want lovejuice to post more often.

lovejuice
08-20-2009, 06:47 AM
24. The Man Who Was Thursday.

http://www.cafes.net/ditch/thursday.jpg

Don’t believe the subtitle “A Nightmare.” This is the closest someone can get to writing The Little Prince.

Chesterton is famous for his priest detective character, Father Brown. Unfortunately I have never read any of those, so I don’t know how good he’s writing a mystery/thriller. Because The Man Who Was Thursday is anything but that. It starts off “thriller-y” enough with a policeman through misunderstanding and mayhem being initiated into among the seven heads of the biggest crime organization in the underworld.

I remember someone here dislikes the book. I guess that has to do with the middle section. In a way, it’s the funniest and yet the most mundane and predictable. After a while it’s not much fun knowing and foreseeing everything before your protagonist does.

Then the last section rolls in, and it’s the most transcendental and exuberating experience I’ve ever had in reading. Almost as if the book transforms right in my hands into…something else...a shot of rainbow racing skyward before raining down seven color unicorns, each riden by a Shaolin master wielding Anduril. The book’s that good. It’s without any doubt the happiest book in this list.

lovejuice
08-20-2009, 01:43 PM
23. Return to Laughter

http://www.pacaritambo.com/images/Books/ReturnToLaughter.jpg

Surely the most obscure title in this list. Thank to this one anthropology class am I lucky enough to discover it.

Laura Bohannan is a training anthropologist stationed in Africa during the 50s. In truly anthropological fashion, she records her life with the native. Due to the intellectual atmosphere of that time, she considers her conduct and her tale among the native not professional enough. (No, she doesn't shag any of them!) Thus she calls her book “an anthropological novel” and uses the non de plume, Elenore Smith Bowen.

The native here is the Tiv of Northern Nigeria. Quite an interesting people. Compared to other African tribe, the Tiv are a bunch of atheists. Sure, they do believe in witchcraft, but in the same way as we, modern people, believe but never understand science. Witchcraft is just their expression of power structure.

Return to Laughter is anything but another African memoir. As the name suggests, it investigates the most humanistic aspect of us, laughing. Only through the prism of those indigenous people can we understand what makes us laughing and reasoning animals.

Eleven
08-20-2009, 02:02 PM
24. The Man Who Was Thursday.


This is such an awesome book. Incidentally I was reading around the same time that I saw Larry Cohen's God Told Me To, which also takes this metaphysical left turn after being ostensibly a mystery-thriller. I too adore Thursday's hilarious and increasingly predictable middle section.

Lucky
08-21-2009, 03:33 PM
it's this masterpiece of modern literature.

http://buylocalpasadena.files.wordpre ss.com/2009/07/twilight-movie-poster.jpg

Already read it. Twice.

lovejuice
08-23-2009, 02:54 PM
22. A Confederacy of Dunces

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/confederacy-dunces-cover.jpg

Comedy, my ass. I’ll always associate A Confederacy of Dunces to a very turmoil period in my personal life. The book is deeply tragic. Ignatius is, next to Norman Bates, a modern Oedipus. He is also the greatest Bovaryean character of the 20th century, a man who believes himself much bigger than he actually is. That physically he is a big guy is a wonderful irony. Speaking of which, he is no doubt the most famous, fat, male character in all literatures. (There must be a famous, fat, female character somewhere, but I can't think of one at the moment.)

Ignatius is hardly the only Bovaryean characters in the book. From a stripper to a black hobo and a business man, the cast is a prism of colorful, endearing people, people who live their own illusion while at the same time striving to get by in a real world.

I actually read the book before learning about the behind-the-scene, and little does it surprise me. Only a kind of genius/madman can write this book and especially conceive Ignatius. While the book ends with a bittersweet note, such ending would probably have eluded Toole forever. :sad:

Kurosawa Fan
08-23-2009, 02:56 PM
REP!!!

lovejuice
08-28-2009, 12:43 AM
21. I, Claudius

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13720000/13726715.JPG

This one writer I met compares I, Claudius to Oedipus as a tragedy of a young republican who at the end turns into what he hates most, an emperor. I’m not sure I agree with this interpretation, but at least it gives form to what I previously consider a formless novel. The book is pretty much one anecdote after the other, but Graves’s writing is so full of gusto that 500 pages can be breezed through with little effort.

The book and its sequel are an “autobiography” of a Roman Emperor, Claudius, who is generally considered lame and feeble minded. Amid the bloodbath and the political intrigue, it’s quite a comedy. Most hilarious is the even more and more fucked up situations those poor Romans find themselves in. You think Augustus is bad, what till you see Tiberius, but you don’t know what fucked up mean until you serve Caligula.

The novel is about an ancient world and its people, but the sentiment is ultra modern. These Roman politicians are no different from your everyday Washingtonians. I am not familiar with classic enough to judge whether the anachronism is intentional. Though I always take it for grant that the thousand something years of the Middle Age achieves very little in term of human development, if not the other way around.

lovejuice
09-02-2009, 02:16 AM
20. The Little Prince

http://daddytypes.com/archive/petit_prince_renard.jpg

Match-cut, I challenge you, find me a hater of The Little Prince. I have yet met anyone who thinks the book overrated, let alone dislike it. A magnificent achievement considered it’s among the most famous and well-read book on this planet. (Seriously anyone here hasn’t read it?) I have probably read the book a dozen times already. In fact there is even a period that I have read it once every year. And it never grows old.

The book’s charm lies in its message which is a combination of naiveté and sophistication. It’s optimistic enough to enchant children and children inside all of us. At the same time, there is a light touch of melancholy. Saint-Exupéry’s conclusion seems to be that every child has to grow up; that’s a tragedy; but it is necessary and unavoidable.

The satire on different types of adults is biting but never goes overboard into the rebellious or asinine. The relationship between the prince and the rose is childishly beautiful and as complicated as any love story ever told. The perfect balance between adult and children world is why The Little Prince is a classic that truly can be read by all ages.

lovejuice
09-02-2009, 03:10 PM
19. Life is Elsewhere

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4113KXyqqVL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Unfortunately I remember very little about this novel except that it’s as wonderful as a Kundera is supposed to be. In term of his oeuvre, its significance is as the beginning of Kundera’s post-modern period, when he goes overboard with his meta-fictional, polyphonic approach to novels.

Interestingly Jaromil, the main character, is Kundera’s only anti-hero. Sure, most of his male characters are despicable, but Jaromil is truly evil, as evil is in the world of Kundera, being an instrument to a Communist regime. The novel deals with the role of poetry and art in the ever changing erotic and political space.

The central tragic figure is Jarolmil’s art teacher who lends his hand to the revolution but later on is outright denied by the regime which he himself helps creating. Funny enough, the ironic faith of an artist and a revolution is repeated over and over again in history: the case of Mayakovski and the political mayhem in Thailand. Artists just…never learn, I guess.

Philosophe_rouge
09-06-2009, 06:20 AM
I actually hate the Little Prince. I've read it three or four times over the course of my life, and seen the Planatarium show, and it just does not resonate with me at all.

Kurosawa Fan
09-06-2009, 02:37 PM
I actually hate the Little Prince. I've read it three or four times over the course of my life, and seen the Planatarium show, and it just does not resonate with me at all.

:eek:

lovejuice
09-06-2009, 05:28 PM
I actually hate the Little Prince. I've read it three or four times over the course of my life, and seen the Planatarium show, and it just does not resonate with me at all.
color me shock. also my dad doesn't like the book very much. not that it's very surprising. the surprising part is that he actually read it at all.

Mara
09-07-2009, 01:27 AM
I actually hate the Little Prince. I've read it three or four times over the course of my life, and seen the Planatarium show, and it just does not resonate with me at all.

Whoa.

lovejuice
09-08-2009, 03:26 AM
18. The Joke

http://www.ilknokta.com/urun/S/9755101527.jpg

Kundera’s first novel is also his most accessible and in my opinion serves best as an introduction to his work. While the book is still wonderfully post-modern – the perspective shifts among four characters; the book stops midway to discuss the theory of traditional music – it is most conventional in a sense that a clear narrative thread exists.

And what a story it tells! Perhaps The Joke is the most precise and illuminated analysis of why Communism, as a practice and a regime, fails. Simply because it lacks sense of humor. Due to an unintentional joke Ludvik plays upon his colleague and amour, he is expelled from the university and sentenced to hard work in a mine where another tragedy/comedy awaits which will shatter him beyond repair. (There’s a hint of autobiography here.) The bright future snatched away, Ludvik plans revenge, using joke, to get even with his enemy and interrogator.

The novel well captures the dynamics between comedy and tragedy and best serves to exemplify Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy. Are we supposed to laugh or cry at Ludvik? What’s about the whole Czechoslovakian Communism? What’s so sad about the novel and the regime is that it’s a comedy at which we can’t laugh, and what’s so funny, a tragedy over which we can’t cry.

Even though it’s far from Kundera’s most famous, it’s the book I encourage an uninitiated to take on. There is also a Czech movie version which I haven't watched.

Qrazy
09-09-2009, 10:21 PM
I actually hate the Little Prince. I've read it three or four times over the course of my life, and seen the Planatarium show, and it just does not resonate with me at all.

What about it do you hate?

lovejuice
09-23-2009, 03:08 PM
17. Narcissus and Goldmund

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51N3245TQ8L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

My favorite Hesse’s is actually a misnomer. Narcissus merely appears at the beginning and the end, while the principal character all through the novel is Goldmund.

The novel is essentially the spiritual quest of a young man, the theme most common in the author’s narrative. Narcissus is Goldmund’s master in a monastery before the boy realizes he’s not cut out for the life of intellectual. Goldmund flees the cloister with spiritual aid from Narcissus, himself, to become a libertine. Ensued is the tale of a free spirit wandering the German countryside during a turbulent time, with the Black Death looming around the corner.

It’s not easy to pick one definitive Hesse’s. He’s more a writer one appreciates his whole oeuvre rather than any single volume. Narcissus and Goldmund is the closest summary of his aesthetic style and philosophy. The Apollonian Narcissus is pitted against the Dionysian Goldmund. No one particularly wins with clear hand. The novel seems to suggest that a Dionysian lives a happier life, while an Apollonian more fulfilling.

Narcissus and Goldmund is definitely the most memorable of all his work. Hesse has never been particularly gifted with creating scenes; his novel is more about atmosphere and contemplation. Yet there’ll be a few long remained in readers’ mind: the Black Death, of course; the threesome between Goldmund and the two sisters; his apprentice with the jewelry master; and Goldmund’s heartbroken tale about his only truelove.

Hesse, I think, is one who changes back and forth between two opposite poles of his belief system; either Cain versus Abel, or Apollo versus Dionysus. He of Damian, of Peter Camenzind, of Knulp are hardly the same person. Hesse as a writer is not too different from his own creation, always in search of an answer to life’s big question. Perhaps he finds it in his last novel; the best way to live seems to be as Ludi, the game Magister who has -- or aspire to possess – the best of both worlds.

lovejuice
09-24-2009, 11:09 AM
16. Baudolino

http://ogrifoemeu.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/livro-baudolino.jpg

Baudolino, the title character, is a professional liar and a sort of superhero. Drop him into a middle of an unknown land, then watch him slowly pick up the native tongue in less than a week. (I have been pondering how realistic this ability is. Perhaps so considering by 1200, in which the novel is set, most European tongues might not be that different from one another.) Baudolino is adopted by Frederick the Holy Roman Emperor and later on works as an emissary to his stepfather.

True to Eco's style, the novel is separated into two parts. The first is more historical based, about Baudolino's life in the court. As depicted, the political intrigues that plauges the palace of one Middle Ages emperor will shame those of Washington. Being an absolute monarch means anything but having absolute power, and being the emperor's favorite means you have to juggle the favor of a handful of characters.

No one depicts Middle Ages as Eco does. It's cruel, bloody and hilarious as hell. There is this humorous episode when the emperor tries to siege Baudolino's hometown, and he has to work for both sides. Another involving the Arch Cardinal and the Magi. I don't laugh easily -- definitely not when I read "literature" -- but Baudolino is among the wittiest books.

The second part turns into a historical fantasy and is more plot driven. Baudolino leads a group of mismatch in search of a legendary land of Prester John (nowadays, Ethiopia). This is easily the most outlandish thing Eco has ever written, full of fantastic creatures. Then again, Eco being Eco, there has to be a soft hint that all might have been the fruits of Baudolino's runaway humor.

Nothing much to say except that I enjoy this book dearly. Unfortunately if you have never read any Eco's, you probably won't pick this one. If you read one -- we all know which one -- and enjoy it, then you will not be disappointed by Baudolino.

dreamdead
09-24-2009, 02:57 PM
I haven't read Narcissus and Goldmund since 2000 and I would argue that my tastes are far more refined and knowledgeable, but I vaguely remember feeling fooled by how little Narcissus appeared in the novel, which affected my appreciation for it. I suspect my emotions wouldn't damage my opinion of it today...

Duncan
09-24-2009, 05:07 PM
I loved N&G. I found the ending kind of devastating. Maybe my second favourite Hesse, The Glass Bead Game being my fave.

lovejuice
09-25-2009, 10:53 AM
15. Life of Pi

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1147/564964315_2f6a3bdcd1.jpg

It's true that almost everyone will regard Life of Pi as that book in which a boy is stranded together with a tiger in a lifeboat. Narrativewise, a lot more does happen.The book can be roughly separated into four parts. The first is the actual "Life of Pi", how Pi comes to religions, and his childhood in India with a zookeeper dad. This part is actually my favorite. I love how Martel argues for a zoo, that keeping animals in a cage is actually quite humane (or at least not as bad as many suppose). Have no idea how zoologically correct the argument is.

The second part is what defines the book; Pi and the tiger outwitting one another. It's actually as good as you've been told. When I first heard the plot, I imagine, sure this is going to be some sort of spiritual allegory or surreal mambo-jambo? But no, It's a straight story of a boy surviving the Atlantic Ocean and the Bengal.

The third part is somewhat different, Pi's adventure on a mysterious island. So, here we have allegory and mambo-jambo. This part weakens the book. Understandable though, since how much yarn can one spin about a boy and a tiger on a lifeboat. Eventually he has to get out somewhere, and a desert island is as good as any. Not to mention this one seems to be alive and carnivorous!

The epilogue is this sort of Eco-like ending in which there is a soft hint everything is just a fabrication and of how the actual story goes. Quite unnecessary. Yet I personally know Apichartpong considers it the best part of the book. *Shrug*

All in all, I like the novel as an extreme zoological problem. Think of it as a Moby-Dick for youngsters. Full of scientific facts and fun adventures. With the Levithan replaced by the most fearsome predator on land, and instead of the monster being underneath, it's within the boat!

lovejuice
10-16-2009, 01:29 PM
14. The Blithedale Romance

http://images.indiebound.com/204/757/9780375757204.jpg

Whenever I seem to slack off, it’s mostly that I have some problem with the entry. The Blithedale Romance is perhaps the oldest books in this list, in term of when I read it, and unfortunately a few important plot points have already lost on me.

The story happens in a small 19th century community, not unlike one portrayed in a film by match-cut’s love-to-hate director. (In fact, thanks to The Blithedale Romance, I actually guess the ending of that film well before the revelation. :)) In essence, it’s a love triangle between Hollingsworth, a stranger who approaches this community with an agenda; Zenobia, a queen figure; and Priscilla, a shy, young girl.

The love triangle, itself, is a tragedy, but what makes this book stand out is its narrator. Coverdale is a Nick Carraway type of narrator. His role in the story is peripheral, but unlike Fitzgerald, Hawthorne invests enough to make him a tragic figure of his own. Not only can’t he do anything to thwart what’s unfolding before his eyes, but Hawthorne creates a character so powerless and yet so longing to be a part of something. A figure of pure loneliness and detachment. I believe, it’s The Scarlet Letter that has my favorite quotation, “Men with keen eyes have cold passion,” but these sad words are equally well applied to Coverdale.

As usual of Hawthorne, there is a supernatural element. Nearby to this community is a freak show exhibiting “the veiled lady,” and the gentleman who owns the establishment is perhaps none other than Goodman Brown’s traveling companion. This is a setting for one very romantic “rescuing scene.” Almost as romantic as another famous "rescuing scene" in a novel yet mentioned.

lovejuice
10-17-2009, 07:24 AM
13. The Nice and the Good

http://server40136.uk2net.com/~wpower/images/product_images/9780099285267.jpg

Not that it’s always the case, but when Murdoch is at the top of her game, she’s magnificent. Like a brewing witch or a Nobel Laureate Chemist, she knows exactly what kind of characters to populate her book and make it an endless fun to read about the lives of such individuals.

The protagonist of The Nice and the Good is a scientist working in a government project. When one of his colleagues commits suicide, he’s charged with digging the secret, perhaps to find if there is a leak to an outside agent. His investigation leads him to an underground passage and a dark rite.

Sure enough that sounds interesting, but the highlight of the book is in the protagonist’s “family.” They lives in this seaside resource, being a bunch of dysfunctional but highly intellectual. There are a flirtatious wife, an old flame, a widow desperated for a new husband, a boy hopelessly in love with his cousin, an animal of unidentified species and a reclusive homosexual bending on committing suicide. The investigation brings in a few more cast members, and together they are the perfect blend.

As the name suggests, this novel is Murdoch’s most optimistic. Those people actually love one another, and in their ways, they help and support their family. Smart people tend to be mean-spirited or screwed up in novels – especially in Murdoch’s – so it's an extra joy to see how the sophisticated comfort one another.

Perhaps the book’s strength is also its weakness. I read it only last year, and truth be told, I already forget actual details of the story. Not to say that the dark rite and the underground passage are merely red herrings. Irrelevant super-natural elements are part of her styles. The Nice and the Good is a book you don’t really care what happen, but just want to spend time with these people. As much and as long as possible. Only novel I can say in confident I don’t want it to end.

That it is not better known or more widely read surprises me. Granted there are two more Murdoch’s novels in this list, both are insufferably misanthropic. The Nice and the Good might be the best introduction to Murdoch.

lovejuice
10-18-2009, 12:24 PM
12. To the Lighthouse

http://img2.allposters.com/images/BOOK/BD012.jpg

Gah! Another tough entry. I won't procrastinate though since we are so close to the end. The best way is perhaps to do this stream-of-consciousnessly to keep up with the spirit of the book. To the Lighthouse is about a family, somewhat middle-class, spending a holiday at a seaside resource, watched over by a lighthouse, farther away but within eyesight. No one in the family is a character of particular importance or memorability. The main protagonist itself is the ever presenting, ever absenting Father Time.

The first half is quite tedious. We are served scene after scene of non-sequential: the picnic, the swimming, the sun-bathing, the fishing, the attempt to reach the lighthouse. Then, comes the intermission and something magical suddenly happens. Woolf narrates the passage of time. I am not sure how she does it, but right before my eyes, within the space of six to seven pages, she successfully captures the abstract, the most underlying, hidden nature of our existence, the immortality. And it is beautiful. Second half is similar to the fist, another picnic by the seaside. 10 years though has passed. There was the War. People dying, gone. Innocent lost. The same mundane action takes on different meanings, while the lighthouse stands aloof and unreachable still.

This novel is pure magic. A puzzle. I don't understand how it works, but it hits me hard in a way no other book does. If the first part is less banal, can it still produce the same effect? My filmmaker friend believes that banality produces yet another emotion, and one that artists need to manipulate and employ as much as anything. To the Lighthouse remains an example of how writing works in a sub-conscious level, deeper than what can be captured and understood by mere reason.

Duncan
10-19-2009, 02:38 AM
Can't say I like the book very much, but that interlude you speak of is indeed exceptionally beautiful.

lovejuice
10-19-2009, 02:43 PM
11. The Tenth Man

http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Tenth_Man_crop_small_(2).jpg/200px-Tenth_Man_crop_small_(2).jpg

Greene is on his way to becoming my favorite author. Thus far I have read five novels. Only one is disappointingly mediocre. The rest varies from great to good. The Tenth Man is the best. What set Greene apart from most snotty writers on my list is his strong background in film. Greene's novel is, if nothing else, exciting. When you combine that quality to his sharp observation of human nature, you have a spy pulp for thinking men. (Hate this expression. With the right mood, all thinking men should enjoy pulp from time to time.)

Spy pulp is actually a good description of his novels. Greene's protagonists are ever in search of missing identity, either because he's among strangers, loses his faith, lacks a father figure, or as in The Tenth Man hides it in shame. The hero is captured by the Nazi. One night during his moment of weakness, he exchanges for his life every treasure that he has. Only after the War, however, is when his real payment begins.

The process of retrieving one's identity, for Greene, is twofold. It's as much subtracting as acquiring. One becomes oneself by giving up being just that. A classic Freudian Death Drive with his own espionage spin. Perhaps it's the cold War and the World War 2 setting, but his novels seem to suggest that the world always forces us to become what we are not.

The Tenth Man is also about that very curious thin line that separates love and hate. Especially true, I think, for a woman. The hero of the novel must face the ironic dilemma that by denying his true loathsome self, he's also building the wall between himself and the lady. The ironic is push even further in a wonderful twist which I won't disclose here.

I almost feel bad the novel doesn't make the top ten. It's such a perfect little book. And that might actually be its own undoing. It is too short. Brevity is the formost quality I cherish in books and films, so this is an exceptionally rare case. The book is not among Greene's well-known, and the fact that The Third Man is an ever popular movie doesn't help either. According to Wiki though, Greene himself prefers this novel "in many ways to The Third Man."

Kurosawa Fan
10-19-2009, 03:24 PM
You. Are. Awesome.

lovejuice
10-19-2009, 06:42 PM
You. Are. Awesome.
just so you know. i finally give brighton rock another chance, and it is indeed very good. only novel of his that i think ain't so hot is the captain and the enemy. it's still very greenish and worth reading if you are a fan.

Kurosawa Fan
10-19-2009, 07:51 PM
just so you know. i finally give brighton rock another chance, and it is indeed very good. only novel of his that i think ain't so hot is the captain and the enemy. it's still very greenish and worth reading if you are a fan.

I've never read The Captain and the Enemy, but my least favorite Greene novel is The Heart of the Matter.

lovejuice
10-25-2009, 12:51 PM
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n54/n273641.jpg

I love a play. If it were not such a dying artform, I might even prefer it to novels. And when I say "play," I am not even talking about the theatre experience. Reading the thing itself already gives me much pleasure. Only because this list is for novels, other set of my favorite authors like Williams, Chekov, Albee or Havel does not make appearance.

Puig is lucky because his Kiss of the Spider Woman exists in both formats. He pens the play himself, adapting his own novel, although its more famous musical version is booked by Terrence McNelly. (The music is written by other favorite kind of writers, John Kander and Fred Ebb.) Weirdly enough I have never seen it in any visual format, including the famous 1985 Julia and Hurt film.

Molina and Valentin are cell mates in a south American prison. Valentin is there for some revolutionary stunt, while Molina is for being gay. The plot is simplicity itself. The two just talks their ears off. The topic varies from Molina's favorite movies to Valentin's politics.

The novel is even simpler than its plot. No description of the scene. It's all talk, talk and talk. Not even quotation marks. Puig goes to another line and puts a dash to indicate that it's now different person who's speaking. Kiss of the Spider Woman is hence the most claustric book I've ever read, and I love it for that. For a strange reason, those dashes make it feel like all conversations are in whisper. (My one copy of Ulysses is like that too. Hate it though. Have to buy another one.)

And what beautiful conversations those are! Molina's taste in films is, well, trashy; Nazi, Zombi and panther girl, which makes it all the more enchanting when they are the only distraction from cruel reality. At some point, they even play a big role in the powerplay between characters. Kiss of the Spider Woman is hitchcockian in its battle between sexes. The setting is almost too perfect. Like in a joke: what do a south American revolutionist says to a queen in prison?

A sentimentalist within me can't ask for more. The book's heartbreaking without straying into the melodrama. Simple and honest. The play is not bad either, but I really suggest the novel for full effect. I did read Puig's other plays, and they are very good. He's, with no doubt, my favorite South American author.

thefourthwall
10-27-2009, 05:42 PM
Yay! We're in the top ten...

lovejuice
10-28-2009, 12:35 PM
9. Crime and Punishment

http://download.akniga.ru/Pics/29/P12_29743.jpg

In Stranger than Fiction, Dustin Hoffman tells the dying and desperate Will Ferrell how to spend his last living moments: "You could use it to have an adventure. You know, invent something, or just finish reading Crime and Punishment." An exaggerated comment by a Literature Professor? Maybe, but it's funny because it's true.

Who here is not familiar with Rodya and his theoretically sound murder? Rodya is too enamoured by Napoleon, so he fancies himself a superhero of some sort, trying to rid St. Petersberg of a blood thirsting moneylender. The result is his taking stairway down to a personal hell.

Most curious is that while the novel itself is timeless, not quite the same thing can be said about its underlying philosophy. (It's hardly ever "remade.") Is there anyone beside Camus who takes existentialism seriously or to that extreme? Bruce Wayne? Vigilantism, I don't think, is quite the same thing. As depicted in popular culture, it is best described by the famous "with great power comes great responsibility." Showing off to the world how special you are. It's an expression of vanity, albeit a good one.

Regardless of Nietzsche's "overman", an existential hero is just every Joe. Rodya does not live in a cave full of super gadgets. He lives in a poor student quarter. His action does not give him a convenient ticket to a constable's office. He's hunted down like any petty criminal. More Rorschach than Batman perhaps, and even that is a big stretch.

So why on earth am I wasting time talking about superhero? Well, how can one add anything about this immense book which has never been said before? Crime and Punishment is disputably the best written book, and a lot of people well regard that. It's my favorite, but not a personal favorite. One thing which distinguishes me from other admirers is that my favorite character is neither Rodya nor Sonya, but a dark, shadowy Svidrigaylov. Villainous, smart, crazy, and long to be loved. His last appearance is most tragic and bittersweet.

ledfloyd
10-28-2009, 01:53 PM
such an amazing book. it exceeded it's reputation for me. i need to revisit it one of these days.

Kurosawa Fan
10-28-2009, 02:01 PM
I still consider C&P the best book I've ever read.

ledfloyd
10-28-2009, 02:15 PM
I still consider C&P the best book I've ever read.
it's very easily in the top five for me. possibly top 3.

lovejuice
10-28-2009, 03:21 PM
like the little prince, C&P is a novel that can't be overrated.
* waiting for someone to show up and say he/she ain't think it's the shit *

Qrazy
10-28-2009, 07:19 PM
I still consider C&P the best book I've ever read.

Yeah I think I might have to agree.

Spaceman Spiff
10-28-2009, 08:24 PM
Great, great book but I think I prefer Karamazov and possibly Notes from Underground to it.

thefourthwall
10-28-2009, 11:23 PM
An excellent choice. And as far as it getting "remade"--I'll say I thought Crime and Punishment in Suburbia an interesting take, who better than teenagers to think themselves above the rest of the population?

kuehnepips
10-30-2009, 06:04 PM
I still consider C&P the best book I've ever read.

My fav. book of all time.

Benny Profane
10-30-2009, 06:21 PM
Yeah, same here, at least top 3. Though it's been over 10 years since I read it, should probably re-read at some point.

lovejuice
10-31-2009, 01:21 PM
8. A Fairly Honourable Defeat

http://silverbaybooksinc.com/4/nook105.jpg

From the Fall to The Dark knight, we all love clever, manipulative bad guys. It's fun to watch those bastards making hell out of the lives of our protagonists. Understandably. In real life, we are hardly strong enough against hero-type characters, but are vain enough to think we should be able to trick them. (Isn't that basically what the concept of Satan is all about? Outsmarting the biggest fish in the pond.) Shakespeare realizes that, and disputably most of his bad guys are tricksters. Iago is the most well-known. Another example is Don John from Much Ado About Nothing.

I mention these two plays because both are building blocks for A Fairly Honourable Defeat. Julius King is a combination of Iago and Don John. He is annoyed by Rupert, who's writing a book on how to live morally, along with other members of Rupert's extended family, so he decides to fuck with them. The result is a prank that puts everyone's live in jeopardy. More important, it exposes, for readers, some basic values most cherished in modern society.

Outside detective genre, Julius King is the cleverest fictional character I've ever met. His plan is ingenious. Albeit some degree of suspension of disbelief -- what's in the real world is "sheer luck" -- I can totally see it work, and what a wonderful and cruel prank it would be. There too is something chilling about his motive. He looks down on Rupert's morality. The world, he sees as a void full of stupid people, and he wants to teach them a lesson out of annoyance.

Despite all these, King is actually a fairly realistic character, possibly surprised and even abhorred by how well his plan works and to which uncontrollable end it leads everyone. A puppetter all through the novel, near the end, he himself has to participate in the drama. He does not learn any lesson nor change his way though, and eventually Murdoch let him off the hook.

I have been talking about Julius King, but the novel is actually much more than him. Just like in The Nice and the Good, here Murdoch perfects her formula and creates a cast of characters who are endlessly fascinating to read. While The Nice and the Good is her most optimistic novel, with its nihilistic tone A Fairly Honourable Defeat is the vilest.

Mad genius, along with a weak gay man, is a constant presence in Murdoch's universe. King is her most satanic, but in her next novel, which is also her last on this list, I will talk about the most interesting one.

lovejuice
11-11-2009, 06:05 PM
7. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

http://www.genre-x.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/kundera3.gif

There is some confusion over what exactly The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is. A few reviewers, publishers and websites refer to it as a collection of short stories. On the other hand, some call it a novel. I read this one interview in which Kundera claims it's "a new type of novel." At that moment I thought to myself, "Sure, dude. It's a collection of short stories with some connecting themes, but you just don't like to admit that, huh?"

Then I read the book, and the man is right. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is indeed "a new type of novel." Among the most successful literature experiments ever, up there with Ulysses and Pale Fire. It is a textual equivalent of Tema con Variazioni in which each chapter replays the same theme over and over again with different characters. The narrative increases in complexity, from the most obvious, "man versus history," added a few syncopated notes of "man as an erotic animal," then a fugue-ish bassline of fourth wall breaking, until we reach the last story which is a surreal nightmare of a naked girl lost among the island of children.

Kundera is a curious character. To me he's a critic first, a musicologist second, and then a novelist last. His understanding of classical music is unlike no others, and the way he "composes" his text based on its mathematical model, on the idea of symmetry and asymmetry, is ingenious. His critic of "the east" -- meaning Soviet communism -- is spot on. A trickster that he is, Kundera loves playing a contrarian, and yet he invests enough into his argument to persuade readers to adopt or at least consider his topsy-turvyism.

He's not much a novelist though; his work is never really about plot or characters. Mainly it's the philosophy, so if you disagree with him, it's very easy to get annoyed. I simply see the guy eye to eye most of the time. Perhaps it's because of my background. Where I come from, there is no "the man," no Reaganism -- try as I might, I'll never understand George Clooney and his politics -- just a bunch of communist wannabes preaching ideology second removed from Marx's. It's refreshing as hell when someone told me the evil is not always big guys in power but headless, faceless and most of the time brainless mob of small ones.

lovejuice
11-13-2009, 06:55 PM
6. The Idiot

http://img.infibeam.com/img/afadc467/926/3/9780375413926.jpg

So why this one over the best book ever written? If I have to choose what matters most to me in a novel, a character always triumphs over a plot. Not to say anything against Rodya or Sonya, but Prince Myshkin is hand down my favorite fictional character. Nastasya and Rogozhin ain't so bad themselves either.

I have this problem with the traditional depiction of the prince on bookcovers. I'm fine with making him look like Christ -- that's part of Dostoevsky's intention anyway. But why does it have to be a dirty, dying Christ lying in a tomb? Worse yet, some depict Myshkin as...well...an idiot. I imagine him a rather fetching, young gentleman, with heartbreaking eyes and a smile that will melt a cold cold heart.

The Idiot is without any clear plot. As a child, Prince Myshkin suffers from epilepsy and some illness that leaves him a simpleton. Later on he's cured and comes to Saint Petersburg as "a perfectly beautiful man." Dostoevsky wants to write about an innocent man who is not ridiculous or illusioned like Don Quixote. In fact just like in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly where no one is particularly that good or that ugly, even though Rogozhin is always recognized as the main antagonist, no character's the embodiment of an angel or a demon. Which makes it hard to read their motivations and the plot even murkier.

But that also makes the ending more tragic. Finishing the book, you feel like you want to invite everyone: Myshkin, Rogozhin, Nastasya and Aglaia, over a cup of tea (or more likely a bottle of vodka), and try to have them sort things out. Surely this should work. There's no Iago, Edmund, Claudius or Macbeth among us. Everyone is rational and no one wants to hurt anyone in particular. But the problem of human hearts can never be solved this way. Some tragic affair just can't be talked over, and that's actually the most tragic part. :sad:

While plot might not be the novel's strongest point, Dostoevsky makes up with scenes. The Idiot features three...four...or even five most memorable scenes. "The guilt game" is fun. I totally rip that off for my novel. So is "the suicide speech" and "the breakable vase." (I am naming episodes as if it's a DVD or something. :P) Topping all these is an immensely powerful climax, the prince's wedding. It brings tear to my eyes just thinking about it.

(As a sidenote, I have yet read Brother Karamazov, so don't hold your breath. Another novel of his I've read is The Possessed which is good too, but not on this same level.)

kuehnepips
11-13-2009, 07:08 PM
6. The Idiot

... Prince Myshkin suffers from epilepsy ..

The heavy D. did all his life.

Kurosawa Fan
11-13-2009, 07:15 PM
Wow. Really? Better than C&P? I guess I need to get off my ass and read this soon. It's been collecting dust on my shelf.

lovejuice
11-13-2009, 07:22 PM
The heavy D. did all his life.
poor guy. :sad:

Wow. Really? Better than C&P?
actually that's very debatable. kinda like fidgeting over which is better, rear window, vertigo or Topaz :P

just curious which translation of C&P you guys have read? I've been experimenting with a few and I find the Pevear & Volokhonsky's to be the best. I read The Idiot and Anna Karenina in their version too.

Kurosawa Fan
11-13-2009, 07:25 PM
poor guy. :sad:

actually that's very debatable. kinda like fidgeting over which is better, rear window, vertigo or Topaz :P

just curious which translation of C&P you guys have read? I've been experimenting with a few and I find the Pevear & Volokhonsky's to be the best. I read The Idiot and Anna Karenina in their version too.

I own and read this one:

http://interactivequill.files.wordpre ss.com/2009/01/514qh1qcdel.jpg

So according to you, I went with the best! Nice.

kuehnepips
11-13-2009, 07:48 PM
Wow. Really? Better than C&P? I guess I need to get off my ass and read this soon. It's been collecting dust on my shelf.

Heavy D. collecting dust on your shelf Mike!?!?

*Mad as hell*

Where is the ignore list here?

No Birthday thread from me Sunday.

BTW It is not better than C&P. No book ever will be.

kuehnepips
11-13-2009, 07:52 PM
... just curious which translation of C&P you guys have read? ...

I tried once to read this in English and couldn't stop laughing.

Don't remember the translator.

I'm from Serbia.

Kurosawa Fan
11-13-2009, 08:02 PM
Heavy D. collecting dust on your shelf Mike!?!?

*Mad as hell*

Where is the ignore list here?

No Birthday thread from me Sunday.

BTW It is not better than C&P. No book ever will be.

Whoa. Simmer down. I've just been expanding my horizons by reading a little bit from a large collection of authors. After I finished C&P and BK, I decided I'd wait a bit before reading more Dostoevsky. There are so many authors I've never experienced. But I bought The Idiot knowing full well that it would only be a matter of time before I picked it up.

Milky Joe
11-13-2009, 08:43 PM
just curious which translation of C&P you guys have read? I've been experimenting with a few and I find the Pevear & Volokhonsky's to be the best. I read The Idiot and Anna Karenina in their version too.

My favorite translation is by Jesse Coulson, who sadly hasn't translated any of the other novels.

lovejuice
11-15-2009, 10:21 AM
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman

http://img.infibeam.com/img/ce8f37cc/197/5/9780140235197.jpg

Compared to other novels, the best thing about The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman is that it's by Angela Carter, but compared to other Carter's, the best thing about it is how un-carter-like the novel is. Recently I've just finished Shadow Dance and already gone through all but one of her novels. She is very good at symbolic and metaphor. Her novels share this macabre campy quality. It's in the traditional sense of novels, characters and plot, that they are lacking. They are, in a nutshell, series of surreal-erotic images connected by the flimsiest of plot.

With an exception of MACHINES. Still episodic in structure, the novel follows a classic battle between good versus evil. A city is at war with the powerful magician/inventor, Dr. Hoffman. Desiderio who works for the ministry is assigned to infiltrate the other camp. This is done by his being branded a traitor. Just before Desiderio is thrown into a torture chamber, he's rescued by Albertina, Dr. Hoffman's daughter and generalissimo.

This description makes it sound like an espionage novel, and that's because I fail to mention a gangbang by a group of Arabian contortionists, a gangbang by an eminence of Centaurs (Thanks, Wondermark (http://wondermark.com/566/)!), a caravan own by a mad criminal, a dark wizard/murderer, a whorehouse where you can literally fuck everything, and of course the infernal machines themselves, the doomday devices that can forever shatter the fabric of reality. Quite cool and unexpected, even in a sci-fi sense, is when the machines are revealed, and we know what they are and how they work.

I introduce the plot by calling it a battle between good versus evil, but more precise is between reality versus unreality, and it's not very clear which side our protagonist is working for. In a true Logan's Run fashion, there are moments when Desiderio seems to be about to crack up and say "This assignment sucks. The ministry gives me nothing but shit, while the good doctor sends his own daughter to seduce me! To hell with reality!" The relationship between Desiderio and the Femme Fatale, Albertina, is endearing, and has a bitter-sweet but very satisfying conclusion.

I love, love, love Albertina's parting words. Totally rip that off for one of my short stories.
That's all I'll say about the book. I'm more curious about the opinion of some of you. Meg, I believe you read and like this novel. Since you are an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi, I really want to know your take on the book. How do you think of it compared to other genre work?

thefourthwall
11-16-2009, 12:22 PM
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman


I've been wanting to read this for some time and the high placement on your list increases my desire.

Benny Profane
11-16-2009, 12:44 PM
I'm reading it right now and having a lot of trouble maintaining interest. Sorry.

lovejuice
11-16-2009, 12:52 PM
I'm reading it right now and having a lot of trouble maintaining interest. Sorry.
no sweat, man. ;)

kuehnepips
11-16-2009, 04:20 PM
I've never read anything by this Carter-lady.



Whoa. Simmer down. ...

:lol:

*passes bottle*

Kurosawa Fan
11-16-2009, 04:49 PM
:lol:

*passes bottle*

*gladly accepts*

Benny Profane
11-16-2009, 09:06 PM
no sweat, man. ;)

I didn't read your whole review because I'm not finished the book yet, but on the whole reality vs. non-reality angle, did you know that Albert Hoffman was the (accidental) inventor of LSD? Can't be a coincidence, esp since in the book Dr. Hoffman's daughter's name is Albertina. Just wondering if you knew whether Carter had a background with the drug or not.

By the way, so far the book does an extremely poor job of establishing this father-daughter relationship.

lovejuice
11-16-2009, 09:32 PM
Just wondering if you knew whether Carter had a background with the drug or not.
she wrote a trilogy about the life of london hippies during the 60s, so yes, i believe, she may have some background.


By the way, so far the book does an extremely poor job of establishing this father-daughter relationship.
it's not getting better, although one can argue their relationship is not that essential.

Melville
12-01-2009, 03:40 PM
Only four to go. Don't leave us hanging, man.

Fezzik
12-01-2009, 10:23 PM
I still consider C&P the best book I've ever read.

Hard to argue this. It's gotta be in my top 5. The first interrogation scene is why I started writing dialogue.

I need to re-read it. Its been a whiiile.

lovejuice
12-02-2009, 08:47 AM
4. The Name of the Rose

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0099466031.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

The Name of the Rose has been known as a hard book. Eco himself purposely wrote the first 200 pages to be ultra-dense. Since the subject and setting are monastic, Eco wants his readers to experience the hardship of the initiation phase, so like a novice, we can decide to take it or leave it. Once that's over, the National Lampoon's Murder Mystery in the Cloister begins.

To be honest, I've never considered any part of the book that difficult. Sure, Eco oftentimes leaves his readers hanging, while he takes a tangential historical trip around the 14th century. But that's also what Melville does. If you believe an author must decide between writing a novel and historical anecdotes, The Name of the Rose is not for you. (And neither is Moby-Dick, I'll say.)

Eco's detective hero is William of Baskerville. (Wink. Wink.) He comes to an unnamed cloister in an Italian rural for a political mission, to be a moderator in a debate between a sect of the Avignon Pope and the Bavarian Emperor. A corpse's waiting for him there, and since William is renowned as a man of science, a prodigee to Roger Bacon, he is asked to solve the murder which may or may not have anything to do with the upcoming debate that will shave the spiritual face of Europe.

Aside from being known as a hard book, The Name of the Rose also garners reputation as postmodern. I don't get that, really. Eco's Semiotics might be a kissing cousin to some of the idea in postmodern school, but narrative-wise the book is as aristotelian as the Greek Philosopher can be. Even more annoying is a claim that Eco revives the insipid, dying detective genre by injecting postmodern into it. Screw that. If Eco is a postmodernist, so is Christie. In fact Eco is her biggest fan. (He dedicates one of his Harvard lectures to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.) The Name of the Rose is rather his paying homage to the queen of mystery.

One thing new that he does, I'll say, is Eco writes a historical novel like no one before. Even more so than Ivanhoe, Georg Lukacs's historical novel par excellence. While the genre has previously existed, it's safe to say the book becomes a standard for such work. His insight into the 14th century is immense -- it's not even his pet period as an academic (that'll be the 12th and 13th). The historical conflict is fun to read and integrated seamlessly into the narrative. (My favorite example is whether Jesus is capable of laughing.) Reading this novel, one understands why with all its emphasis on blind faith, Christianity becomes the religion of scientific cultures. (And for all its professing love of reason, Buddism historically has failed in this same respect, or at least does not reach its full potential.)

lovejuice
12-02-2009, 02:22 PM
3. The Sea, the Sea

http://img.infibeam.com/img/213eb973/160/6/9780141186160.jpg

I have harbored an idea for another small project. To list fictional characters who best carry certain aspects of me. Charles Arrowby, the protagonist of The Sea, the Sea surely would have made an appearance. Arrowby is a playwright and director, a Bob Fosse sort of figure, immensely famous and successful in his days. He's now retired and planning his way into the grave. He buys a house by a lonely seacoast of England, arming himself with a lot of cook books and an ambition to finish a memoir. Perhaps seduce a dumb actress to become a lover and nurse for the comfort of his last, dying days.

By the time Murdoch wrote The Sea, the Sea, she has already peopled her novels with a bunch of geniuses, some evil, some benevolent, all mystified almost to a point of being a force of nature. The Sea, the Sea is the only time Murdochian drama is unfolded through the eyes of the magician himself.

With some degree of hubris, it's not too hard to imagine my life ending up like Arrowby's. Our first love turned into a big mess. Whose didn't? But that it did in an inexplicable way and the girl disappeared has always haunted us. The return of Hartley, along with her neurosis husband and estranged son, is for Arrowby nothing short of Armageddon. A big wake up call that no matter how fast we run, the past will always catch up with us. Hard.

Make no mistake, Arrowby is still a genius. His power of manipulation is amazing, the way he enlists those around him, friends and enemies, in his little quest to win back his first love. That it does not pan out has little to do with misstepping or that he's embraced a losing campaign. Human tragedy is not because we fall in love. It's because we were born. That falling in love bit comes naturally.

Murdoch is always an acute observer of human nature. The Sea, the Sea is her first book I've read -- recommended by none other than Roger Ebert -- and until these days, it still features my favorite scene ever. When a tragedy strikes, readers expect characters to behave in a melodramatic, literature-ly way. Their reactions, however, are unexpected and even more logical than the conventional. Murdoch makes us realize how little we understand of human motive and moral.

To contest on how good her writing is in this book, when Arrowby realizes he's going to lose the war, he mentions how he's experiencing the worst day of his life. We feel that. The sentence is almost as if Murdoch read our mind and wrote that down in advance.

thefourthwall
12-03-2009, 05:21 PM
The Sea, The Sea has been in my pile of mooched to be read books--this helps move it to the top of the queue!

Can't wait to see the next two!

lovejuice
12-04-2009, 07:23 AM
2. Lolita

http://bluepyramid.org/ia/lvn.jpg

There's little doubt that Crime and Punishment is the best ever written novel, but Lolita gives it a good run for money. In fact, it's safe to say Crime and Punishment is the best novel of the 19th century, Lolita of the 20th, and Don Quixote the 16-17th.

This is the book that starts it all for me. Before Lolita, I had no idea what to do with my life. Something "artistic" perhaps. I like movies. I like comics. But I can't draw, and working with filmcrew seems too much pain in the ass. One day walking around B&N, I notice from four or five aisles away an image that will change my life. Two Skinny legs under pubescent skirt with cute sneakers and socks. (And they say don't judge a book by its cover.) I recognized the title. Heard about it. Why not try reading something "literature-ly" for a change.

I finished the book in 3 days. Almost can't put it down. The experience is agonizing. You don't like the protagonist. You don't sympathize with his cause. And yet something mysterious sucks you into Humbert Humbert's quest for happiness. Is it because the story is so ridiculous and quixotic we can't avert our eyes? Tell me, who is more self-delusion? A man who mistakes a windmill for a dragon, or a man who believes he can win the heart of an under-aged girl -- and get into her pant -- right after she loses her mother (and suspects him the killer to boost)?

Or perhaps we are drawn to Humbert Humbert because his desire is so crass and bass we recognize that in ourselves. It frightens and yet allures us. Is there any straight, male admirer of the book who doesn't lust over Little Lo? I don't think I have yearned over any fictional textual character as I do her. Nabokov's biggest achievement is, no doubt, to anatomize obsession so vivid that it releases in us what is despicable and allow readers to become a sad monster that is Humbert Humbert.

(I would love to hear a feminist or plain female perspective on Lolita. Can you still like the novel without lusting over its title character? I have a gay friend who is super intelligent and yet seems hesitant to jump into the book. It's only after he reverses Nabokov's description into a young boy that the book starts to make sense to him.)

One last thing, back then I was not a big fan of Kubrick. Watched a few of his movies and unimpressed. His style seemed cold and distant in a way that I was uncomfortable with. Finishing this book, I said to myself, "This should make a good movie adaptation directed by Kubrick!" I had no idea back then, honestly.

ledfloyd
12-04-2009, 08:14 AM
lolita would quite easily be in my top five novels. i think nabokov might be the finest writer of prose there is.

Melville
12-04-2009, 02:08 PM
In fact, it's safe to say Crime and Punishment is the best novel of the 19th century, Lolita of the 20th, and Don Quixote the 16-17th.
:lol: Strong Words. Can't say I agree with them.


Or perhaps we are drawn to Humbert Humbert because his desire is so crass and bass we recognize that in ourselves. It frightens and yet allures us. Is there any straight, male admirer of the book who doesn't lust over Little Lo? I don't think I have yearned over any fictional textual character as I do her. Nabokov's biggest achievement is, no doubt, to anatomize obsession so vivid that it releases in us what is despicable and allow readers to become a sad monster that is Humbert Humbert.

(I would love to hear a feminist or plain female perspective on Lolita. Can you still like the novel without lusting over its title character?)
Hm...I'm straight and male, but I didn't lust after Lolita. It didn't even occur to me. I love the book mostly because of how well it uses its beautiful prose to create the singular character of the narrator. It makes me pity Humbert and understand his obsession. But it seemed so singularly his obsession that he was trying to so floridly justify; it wasn't an obsession that I could relate to on a gut level.

Milky Joe
12-06-2009, 10:34 PM
I too lusted after her. It's hard not to when H.H.'s desire is rendered so magnificently, so voluptuously (particularly if you're as sad and lonely as I am). Mimesis is in full effect in this novel, even between it and the reader. I just read this book for the first time this term under a badass professor and it totally blew me away. Nabokov is a formidable.

Melville
12-06-2009, 11:19 PM
I too lusted after her. It's hard not to when H.H.'s desire is rendered so magnificently, so voluptuously (particularly if you're as sad and lonely as I am). Mimesis is in full effect in this novel, even between it and the reader. I just read this book for the first time this term under a badass professor and it totally blew me away. Nabokov is a formidable.
I don't know...I remember Nabokov reminding me frequently enough of Lolita's childhood to distance me from Humbert's desire. Specific things like Lolita picking her nose and reading comic strips during sex definitely seemed to serve that purpose. Or do you think those things are meant to remind you of how awful Humbert's desire is only after the prose has lulled you into sharing it? Maybe I was just too young to appreciate that aspect of the novel when I read it, since lusting after youth doesn't really make much sense for a teenager. (I was 16 or 17, as I recall.)

Qrazy
12-07-2009, 12:57 AM
Out of curiosity, for those of you who lusted after the literary character, did you lust after the cinematic character as well (either or both versions)?

lovejuice
12-07-2009, 05:28 AM
Out of curiosity, for those of you who lusted after the literary character, did you lust after the cinematic character as well (either or both versions)?
i've only watched kubrick's version, and my answer is 'no'. as said, it's the desire itself that matters not the object.


Specific things like Lolita picking her nose and reading comic strips during sex definitely seemed to serve that purpose.
um....that's actually the hot part. :twisted:

among the most erotic tales i've read is this middle-aged guy taking a poor, homeless girl to a hotel resort. after having sex with her, he takes the girl to the beach, and she says, "Mister, I've heard before that sea water is salty. It actually does!"

Melville
12-07-2009, 02:55 PM
um....that's actually the hot part. :twisted:
:lol:


among the most erotic tales i've read is this middle-aged guy taking a poor, homeless girl to a hotel resort. after having sex with her, he takes the girl to the beach, and she says, "Mister, I've heard before that sea water is salty. It actually does!"
I'm afraid the meaning of that story is lost on me. I'm slow.

lovejuice
12-07-2009, 05:01 PM
I'm afraid the meaning of that story is lost on me. I'm slow.
no. i just tell it very badly. it's like the scene that you mention: how lo reads her comic during sex. it's the mixture of the innocent -- the girl's never came to the sea or tasted sea water before -- and the sexual. i find that amusingly titillating.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 06:27 AM
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

http://a5.vox.com/6a00c2252b54078e1d0110162d6d9d 860c-500pi

So here it’s.

For a while, I have regarded this and Lolita as my two favorite books. That Nabokov hasn’t been impressed me by anything else, while I have ploughed through the whole of Kundera’s oeuvre lead to their present ranking. By themselves I like them almost equally, and together they well represent my personal outlook and philosophy. Aside from both being erotic novels, few pair can be so different as these two; Lolita is hypnotic and passionate; The Unbearable Lightness of Being is cold and intellectual. More important, Lolita is a heart-breaking farce, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being a laughable tragedy.

While its placement is rather a contest to how much I admire its author, this is not to say the book has nothing going for it. Widely regarded as Kundera’s masterpiece, the story revolves around two pairs of lovers; Tomas, a womanizer doctor; Teresa, his wife and child of destiny; Sabina, his mistress and only woman who understands him; and Franz, her lover with whom she is struggle to communicate. It’s set against the backdrop of Prague Spring and Communist intervention into Czechoslovak.

The book is quintessentially Kunderian in that Characters are secondary to the landscape of his idea, capsulated in two words; “Communism sucks.” When I first read the book, it knock me profoundly. Naïve as I was, that was the first time I heard what was so against all that were taught in schools and yet rang true as if it were my own voice. (Granted Kundera’s not the sole voice on this subject. Later I discovered Czeslaw Milosz, a polish, Nobel laureate, whose objection to the regime is equally compelling.)

That the book’s regarded as a masterpiece is quite unfortunate. It’s not one for an uninitiated. It’s preachy, so only if you agree with the author is there a chance you'll like it. It also features Kundera’s own brand of Postmodernism: fourth wall breaking, the author appearing as a character, the jump cut, the blend between fiction and non-fiction. All these aim not to tell a story or even to show the absurdity of existence. The book is rather an acrobatic dance of idea; Kundera’s favorite trick is to put an idea on its head: Nietzsche’s, Parmenides’s, and make sense out of it. (The title is a prime example. It comes from Parmenides’s polarization between positive lightness and negative weight.)

Did I mention it’s also an erotic novel? Kundera introduces readers to another face of Eros, different from the one Nabokov does. Humbert Humbert’s desire is private and personal, and we resonate with that. Kundera chops Eros into hundred pieces, scatters him through out the novel, and hangs pieces on various themes and events. Here desire is hardly private, and when two naked people are locked together in one room, History with a capitol “H” is an uninvited guest. Strangely enough we also resonate with that.

While I know the book is hardly popular around here, should I be more apologetic? Of course, not! Looking through the list, I realize that unlike a movie list, the work tends to cluster around specific authors. (I don’t recall a top ten movie list which has more than one films by the same director.) Is that common for a book list? Maybe. Perhaps, this is how we read and judge. More fundamentally, reading is an inter-textual experience. The more we read into one author, the more we see something there. I have read all Kundera’s books: fiction, non-fiction, even the hard-to-find play which I serendipitously found at a second-hand bookstore in Bangkok, so perhaps I see something.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 06:38 AM
that's it, folks. thank for all support. here's again the whole list in case someone want to rate or bitch. (i also updated the first post in this thread.) i'll be back soon with some titles that are unfortunately missing either because i forgot or just read the book recently.

100. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)
99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
97. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
95. The Hearing Trumpet (Leonora Carrington)
94. The French Lieutenant's Woman (John Fowles)
93. The Angel Maker (Stefan Brijs)
92. The Magic Toyshop (Angela Carter)
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe)

90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe)
89. More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon)
88. Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
85. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde)
84. The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
82. Taken at the Flood (Agatha Christie)
81. A Word Child (Iris Murdoch)

80. Waterland (Graham Swift)
79. Guerrillas (V.S. Naipaul)
78. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
76. Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
74. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
73. Doctor Faustus (Thomas Mann)
72. Surfacing (Margaret Atwood)
71. Henry and Cato (Iris Murdoch)

70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James)
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies)
68. Little Green Men (Christopher Buckley)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
66. Under the Net (Iris Murdoch)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
62. The Melancholy of Resistance (Laszlo Krasznahorkai)
61. Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco)

60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
58. Two Serious Ladies (Jane Bowles)
57. Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
55. Of Human Bondage (W. Somerset Maugham)
54. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (Iris Murdoch)
53. The Reivers (William Faulkner)
52. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Umberto Eco)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

50. The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
48. Wise Children (Angela Carter)
47. The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino)
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler)
42. Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)
41. The Bell (Iris Murdoch)

40. Dangerous Liaisons (Choderlos De Laclos)
39. Flatland (Edwin A. Abbott)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
36. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Philip K. Dick)
33. Ubik (Philip K. Dick)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

30. Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)
29. Immortality (Milan Kundera)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
26. Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow)
25. The Good Apprentice (Iris Murdoch)
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)
23. Return to Laughter (Elenore Smith Bowen)
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
21. I, Claudius (Robert Graves)

20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)
19. Life is Elsewhere (Milan Kundera)
18. The Joke (Milan Kundera)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
16. Baudolino (Umberto Eco)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
13. The Nice and the Good (Iris Murdoch)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene)

10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
8. A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Iris Murdoch)
7. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Milan Kundera)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman (Angela Carter)
4. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
3. The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

Melville
12-08-2009, 06:46 AM
Kudos on finishing this thing.


Looking through the list, I realize that unlike a movie list, the work tends to cluster around specific authors. (I don’t recall a top ten movie list which has more than one films by the same director.) Is that common for a book list? Maybe. Perhaps, this is how we read and judge. More fundamentally, reading is an inter-textual experience. The more we read of one author, the more we see something there.
I think that's equally true of movies. (I've got three Tarkovsky films and two Bergman films in my top 10.)


99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys) - 8.5
90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe) - 7.5
86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card) - 5
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) - 5
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) - 5
70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James) - 5
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies) - 4
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - 3
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) - 5.5
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) - 4.5
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago) - 4
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro) - 4.5
49. The Plague (Albert Camus) - 8.5
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies) - 6
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino) - 5.5
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) - 8
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) - 9
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) - 3.5
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - 4.5
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) - 7
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - 5.5
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - 9
21. I, Claudius (Robert Graves) - 8.5
20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) - 9
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse) - 4
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - 9
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) - 4
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) - 10
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky) - 9
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) - 9.5

Qrazy
12-08-2009, 06:58 AM
I didn't really know much about I, Claudius until recently, but now my interest has been peaked, both for the book and the supposedly good TV miniseries.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 07:13 AM
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - 4.5
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - 9

care to elaborate? this is such a pleasant surprise. i know only a few who have read ROMANCE, let's alone preferring it to LETTER.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 09:03 AM
as promised, the unmentioned. i'm too lazy to comment on them though. just give you their possible ranking.

http://www.nadamucho.com/images/stories/perfume-novel-cover.jpg
possible ranking: 60~70

http://area4history.files.wordpress.c om/2008/04/brighton-rock-by-graham-greene-posters.jpg
possible ranking: 50~60

http://a5.vox.com/6a00cd9784d590f9cc00e398b8fc75 0005-320pi
possible ranking: 40~50

http://www.epubbooks.com/img-book-covers/scott-ivanhoe-bookcover.jpg
possible ranking: 40~50

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/LeavenofMalice.png/180px-LeavenofMalice.png
possible ranking: 30~40

http://openlettersmonthly.com/issue/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/moby-dick.jpg
possible ranking: 20~30

ledfloyd
12-08-2009, 12:32 PM
98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) - 8
97. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King) - 7
74. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) - 7
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino) - 9
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) - 9
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - 5
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) - 8
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - 8
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - 9
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole) - 10
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) - 8
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) - 10
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) - 10

i clearly need to read more.

Melville
12-08-2009, 02:21 PM
care to elaborate? this is such a pleasant surprise. i know only a few who have read ROMANCE, let's alone preferring it to LETTER.
I thought The Blithedale Romance was a great romance and a subtle study of the failure of idealized societies in the face of real human problems. But I especially liked its very clever narrative structure, which starts out focusing on the ideals of the miniature society, but which transforms into melodramatic romance just as the society itself collapses under the weight of that melodrama.

The Scarlet Letter had a lot of good elements, and I like its darkness and symbolism, but it hammered them home far too often and too bluntly (did it need to constantly remind us that her child was the Letter?).

Sven
12-08-2009, 06:27 PM
Amazing thread. Crime: no Rushdie. I can't believe it. Other than that, I have no major beef. None beefs.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 06:42 PM
Amazing thread. Crime: no Rushdie. I can't believe it. Other than that, I have no major beef. None beefs.
while i'm not much a fan of midnight's children, i like the satanic verse. they both suffer from their offensive length, if you ask me. (in VERSE, for example, do we really need five pages on a life of one elevator girl and her cheating boyfriend?) i might try my hand on shorter rushdie's, and expect myself to like it.

Sven
12-08-2009, 06:50 PM
while i'm not much a fan of midnight's children, i like the satanic verse. they both suffer from their offensive length, if you ask me. (in VERSE, for example, do we really need five pages on a life of one elevator girl and her cheating boyfriend?) i might try my hand on shorter rushdie's, and expect myself to like it.

I like his novels more than his short stuff precisely for his lengthy, florid prose. I find his writing extraordinarily vivid and his stories are always bizarre but never esoteric enough to lose my interest. You may like Fury, actually. It's shorter and more pointed than the two you mention.

thefourthwall
12-08-2009, 07:37 PM
Well, I've read about 20 of them

99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
94. The French Lieutenant's Woman (John Fowles)
90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe)
88. Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
85. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
74. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)


but I know I've got my eye on a number of them for my future reading

100. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)
47. The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
41. The Bell (Iris Murdoch)
30. Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)
26. Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow)
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)
20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene)
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman (Angela Carter)
4. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
3. The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)


Who was it that said he'd read your number one if you ever got to it? Time to get cracking.

Benny Profane
12-08-2009, 07:54 PM
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
68. Little Green Men (Christopher Buckley)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman (Angela Carter)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)


The ones in bold are those that I also love.

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 08:26 PM
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

dare i ask? :P:)

Benny Profane
12-08-2009, 08:56 PM
dare i ask? :P:)

ask me what?

lovejuice
12-08-2009, 09:00 PM
ask me what?
it's not a very popular book, at least not around here, so i'm a bit surprised.

Kurosawa Fan
12-08-2009, 09:09 PM
35. I'll go Benny's route. Bolded are the books I loved, italicized are the books I disliked:

96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
5. The Infernal Desire Machine of Doctor Hoffman (Angela Carter)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

Lucky
12-09-2009, 01:08 AM
Who was it that said he'd read your number one if you ever got to it? Time to get cracking.

That would be me. And I promise to keep my word. We have similar taste so I'm looking forward to it. I'm reading God: The Biography right now and depending on what I get for Christmas I'll read The Unbearable Lightness of Being next.

kuehnepips
12-09-2009, 10:25 AM
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

God, do I hate this book.

Adam
12-09-2009, 01:37 PM
This was a very good read

Outta curiosity, have most of you read at least 100 books you legitimately love? I don't think I could even make a top 40 without including some filler

dreamdead
12-09-2009, 01:41 PM
Have read (bolded the loved ones):
99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
97. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe)
90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe)
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
78. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
72. Surfacing (Margaret Atwood)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)

Want to read now:
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
47. The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
3. The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)

Great list for generating more texts to read. Surprised by the lack of Beckett, actually.

Melville
12-09-2009, 01:48 PM
This was a very good read

Outta curiosity, have most of you read at least 100 books you legitimately love? I don't think I could even make a top 40 without including some filler
According to a list on my computer, I could get to around 75. But lovejuice is some kind of superhuman being who reads 100 books per year, so getting to 100 favorites seems like a simple feat for him.

Benny Profane
12-09-2009, 02:07 PM
It's a fair question. I know that I could bust out an awesome top 50, but I don't know if I have 100 that I truly love.

I read about 25 - 30 books a year.

Kurosawa Fan
12-09-2009, 02:23 PM
According to my reading log, I've loved 40 books (I highlight any book I've loved). I could probably stretch that to 50 though, as some of them that aren't highlighted have settled quite well since reading them.

lovejuice
12-09-2009, 04:09 PM
i'm only confident that the top 30 well represent my taste. anything after 70 is quite shaky.

Mysterious Dude
12-10-2009, 06:33 AM
A top 30 would be the most I would risk. I'm not even sure about my top 10, though; I haven't read some of them since high school.

As for the list...

90. Things Fall Apart ****
88. Jude the Obscure ***
77. Ender's Game **½
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller ***½
44. A Clockwork Orange ***½
37. The Scarlet Letter ***
35. Fahrenheit 451 ****
32. To Kill a Mockingbird ***½
31. The Great Gatsby **½
2. Lolita ***½

Duncan
12-13-2009, 03:28 PM
86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

Love the bolded ones. Congrats on finishing. Impressive feat.

Llopin
12-21-2009, 12:31 PM
98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) **1/2
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) **
92. The Magic Toyshop (Angela Carter) ***
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe) ****
89. More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon) ***1/2
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski) ****
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene) ***
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) **1/2
76. Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino) ***
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) ***
70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James) ***
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) **1/2
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) ***
61. Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco) **1/2
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago) ***
57. Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui) **
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse) ****
50. The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow) ***
49. The Plague (Albert Camus) ***1/2
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino) ****
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) ***
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) ***1/2
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) ***
36. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino) ***1/2
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) ***
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Philip K. Dick) ****
33. Ubik (Philip K. Dick) ***1/2
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) ***
30. Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter) ***
29. Immortality (Milan Kundera) ***
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) ****
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse) ***
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton) ***
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole) ***
20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) ***
18. The Joke (Milan Kundera) ***1/2
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse) ***1/2
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) **1/2
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) ****
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene) ***1/2
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig) ***
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) **** (best novel ever, man)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky) ***1/2
4. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) ***
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) ****
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera) ***

Seems like, as I said before, our tastes differ. I like most of the novels mentioned, but love few of them. You seem infatuated with a handful of writers who have an omnious presence. I think the list is very traditional, yet consistent, and there's several books I haven't read that really peak my interest.

Cherish
03-20-2010, 02:29 AM
Wow, impressive list! I like quite a few on there, but these five would definitely make my top 100:

The Magic Toyshop
A Tale of Two Cities
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Crime and Punishment
Brighton Rock

thefourthwall
05-28-2010, 01:44 PM
24. The Man Who Was Thursday.

http://www.cafes.net/ditch/thursday.jpg
It’s without any doubt the happiest book in this list.

I just started reading this--I troll your list for suggestions when I need a new book--and it's superb. After rereading your review, I'm tempted to chuck work for the day and just read to get to that good end.

endingcredits
05-29-2010, 12:28 AM
this list is more a fun challenge to your truely rather than a representative of my taste. each entry'll be accompanied by a short paragraph or two. the higher the entry, the more well-thought out my comment is (or i hope).


have you read anything by isaac bashevis singer? definitely on my top 100.

lovejuice
05-29-2010, 12:38 AM
have you read anything by isaac bashevis singer? definitely on my top 100.
not yet but anything in your recommendation piques my interest. any one particular book?

Mysterious Dude
05-29-2010, 01:07 PM
God, do I hate this book.

What books about Eastern Europe do you recommend, Nada?

endingcredits
05-30-2010, 10:51 PM
not yet but anything in your recommendation piques my interest. any one particular book?

Sosha comes to mind for being particularly good. Shadows on the Hudson is also well worth the read. His short story collections are marvelous as well.