A serious discussion about books and such - Lounge

albummaster
Janitor

Gender: Male
Location: Spain
Site Admin

Patman360 wrote:

Generally I'm stubborn when it comes to things so if I start it, I'll finish it out of principle even if I hate it

ditto here (99% of the time), but have to confess I did give up on Love in the Time of Cholera a few months ago ... just couldn't get into it Speak to the hand

Spyglass
Resident Metalhead

Gender: Male
Location: The red dot on the map

I'm that way with movies and music, but not books.
_________________
Do it yourself and let me play my music: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=61802

albummaster
Janitor

Gender: Male
Location: Spain
Site Admin

honestly, have persevered with some absolute bombs over the years (Vanity Fair springs to mind as one that I stuck with but didn't enjoy), but most probably haven't got as much patience as I used to have

Patman360
Serenity Now

Gender: Male
Age: 31
Location: Cork, Ireland

Moderator

Rhyner wrote:

How was it? I'm a big fan of the movie, and this is near the top of my to-read list. Should I bump it up or down the queue?

If you're a big fan of the movie you'll definitely get something out the manga, bear in mind that the bulk of the manga actually came out after the movie, I really enjoyed it nonetheless, gives it a lot of room for expansion, I recommend jumping in on the first volume and seeing how you feel (7 reasonably long volumes in total).
_________________

2023
2022

CharlieBarley

Gender: Male
Age: 48
Location: Mount Olympus

I started reading Dracula last year at Hallowe'en but only got 4 chapters in. I enjoyed it but it just got lost in a big pile of books. Now would be a perfect time to finish it.

I also started listening to The Iliad as an audiobook. I've always wanted to read it - and The Odyssey - but found the idea of the books a bit daunting. So I'm going to listen to them then hopefully read the books later once I know the story. I also want to read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but in translation. I haven't got the patience to try to read the Old English version, although I studied The Prologue in Old English at school (A-Levels) and it was a rewarding experience. But I couldn't do it on my own.

I also want to read Don Quixote this year. I was in the musical Man of La Mancha back in the 90's - an Am-Dram production - amateur drama - and I loved the story.

I also like popular fiction. There are a couple of Stephen Kings I want to read. The Institute and 11-22-63, (the one about JFK and time travel). I See You by Clare Mackintosh. The Brief, Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I heard about that one by reading Bowie's Books by John O'Connell (also known as Bowie's Bookshelf). It was a list of books that David Bowie had read and enjoyed. Not necessarily his favourite books but books he considered to be the most important.

I also want to read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. And Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

In terms of books I've read recently I enjoyed The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. About a middle-aged couple in England who lose their house and they go walking this coastal path with a tent on their backs, effectively homeless. It was well written.

And I read The Bible last year. It was a Bible In A Year book, NIV translation. I always wanted to read it and now I have, one daily reading at a time.

Plus I read the books A Poem For Every Day Of The Year and A Poem For Every Night of The Year, both by Allie Esiri. I started in April last year and finished them a week ago.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

I was a German Lit. major and this was more or less the reading list.

There are English translations online for free if interested: Those in bold were my favorite

Early German:
Rothmann – Kleine Geschichte der deutschen Literatur
Gedichte including Carmina Burana (especially Fortuna) and Threanen des Vaterlands
Hildebrandslied
Walter von der Vogelweide: Select Minnesang (Under der linden)
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival
Johannes von Tepl: Der Ackermann
Martin Luther: Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen & Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen
Grimmelshausen: Simplicissimus

Rothmann – Kleine Geschichte der deutschen Literatur
Lessing: Emilia Galotti
Lessing: Brief an Nicolai Lessing Texte
Lessing: Hamburgische Dramaturgie Nr. 14 Lessing
Lessing: Hamburgische Dramaturgie, Nr. 46 Lessing
Lessing: Nathan der Weise
Schiller: Die Schaubühne als moralische Anstalt
Schiller: Briefe über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen, Briefe 1 – 6
Schiller: Über das Patherische
Schiller: Maria Stuart
Goethe: Das Märchen
Goethe: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
Goethe: Faust I und II
Schubert – Winterreise
Mozart and Schikaneder: Die Zauberflöte

Stuff from East Germany:
Loest: Nikolaikirche
Sparschuh: Der Zimmerspringbrunnen
Braun: Der Wendehals oder Trozdestonichts: Eine Unterhaltung

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
The Prose and Poetic Edda
Das Nibelungenlied
Williamson: The Longing for Myth in Germany

Kant: Kritik der Urteilskraft
Hölderlin: Hyperion
Novalis: Die Lehrlinge zu Sais
Fichte: Einege Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten

All Goethe: (sorry for the repeats)
Die Leiden des jungen Werther
Hermann und Dorothea
Faust I
Götz von Berlichingen
Iphigenia auf Tauris
Gedichte
Böhrer: Goethe

Brecht: Die Dreigroschenoper
Christa Wolf: Was belibt
Baldinger: Lebesbeschreibung
Frisch: Geschichte von Isidor
Brecht: Der gute Mensch von Seszuan
Kleist:Erdbebeb in Chili
Brecht: Die unwürdige Greisin
Handke: Die Linkshändige Frau
Reuter: Aphrodite und ihr Dichter
Barthes: Death of the Author
Freud: The Uncanny
M. v. Ebner-Eschenbach: Das Gemeindekind
May Ayim: Nacht Gesang
Bettine von Arnim and Gisela von Arnim Grimm: Das Leben der Hochgräfin Gritta von Rattenzuhausbeiuns
Wolfgang Borchert: Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch
Heinrich Böll: Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral

Also this was a decent overview of literary theory if you are interested in looking at the world through multiple lenses:
https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Experience-Literary-Criticism-Paperback/dp/B004D80JZG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Critical+Experience%3A+Literary+Reading%2C+Writing%2C+And+Criticism&qid=1588399742&sr=8-1

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Stover75 wrote:

And I read The Bible last year. It was a Bible In A Year book, NIV translation. I always wanted to read it and now I have, one daily reading at a time.

Back when I was religious, I also made this a goal and gone dun did it. King James version though. Along with some other religious texts. Some of the Old Testament was rough... so much counting... hehe. Or the story of Lot's daughters... well ok then.

Oh also, maybe this is just everyone does this/not worth mentioning, but Silmarillion, Hobbit, and the three Lord of the Rings books. As well as HP.

Also if you are a 15 year old male (or still act like one), you must read the catcher in the rye.

CharlieBarley

Gender: Male
Age: 48
Location: Mount Olympus

RoundTheBend wrote:

Stover75 wrote:

And I read The Bible last year. It was a Bible In A Year book, NIV translation. I always wanted to read it and now I have, one daily reading at a time.

Back when I was religious, I also made this a goal and gone dun did it. King James version though. Along with some other religious texts. Some of the Old Testament was rough... so much counting... hehe. Or the story of Lot's daughters... well ok then.

Oh also, maybe this is just everyone does this/not worth mentioning, but Silmarillion, Hobbit, and the three Lord of the Rings books. As well as HP.

Also if you are a 15 year old male (or still act like one), you must read the catcher in the rye.

I know, man! The Old Testament has a lot of lists of names and it's more violent than a Tarantino movie. I like scenes like David killing Goliath and Samson with his donkey jawbone. But the New Testament is my favourite. That's pretty ace.

Btw I love The Catcher In The Rye and, at 44 years old, am still in touch with my inner adolescent lol.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Stover75 wrote:

RoundTheBend wrote:

Stover75 wrote:

And I read The Bible last year. It was a Bible In A Year book, NIV translation. I always wanted to read it and now I have, one daily reading at a time.

Back when I was religious, I also made this a goal and gone dun did it. King James version though. Along with some other religious texts. Some of the Old Testament was rough... so much counting... hehe. Or the story of Lot's daughters... well ok then.

Oh also, maybe this is just everyone does this/not worth mentioning, but Silmarillion, Hobbit, and the three Lord of the Rings books. As well as HP.

Also if you are a 15 year old male (or still act like one), you must read the catcher in the rye.

I know, man! The Old Testament has a lot of lists of names and it's more violent than a Tarantino movie. I like scenes like David killing Goliath and Samson with his donkey jawbone. But the New Testament is my favourite. That's pretty ace.

Btw I love The Catcher In The Rye and, at 44 years old, am still in touch with my inner adolescent lol.

Yup.

Spyglass
Resident Metalhead

Gender: Male
Location: The red dot on the map

I like how King Saul said he would give his wife to anyone who gave his 100 Philistine foreskins, and David gave him 400. I do believe in a God (for a very different reason from the norm), but even if the Bible wasn't made up of true stories, it's still a great book to read.
_________________
Do it yourself and let me play my music: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=61802