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Fancy Book Learnin'
Wash
Sweet ChristmasRegistered User regular
Sweet ChristmasRegistered User regular
I realized a few days ago that while I used to pride myself on how well read I am, these days I'd be lying if I made that claim. The trouble is, though I'm eager to start reading as much -- though hopefully more -- than I used to, I don't know what to read. In the past I've been mainly interested in the genres of fantasy and science fiction, but I'd like to get into other genres and books that you can't really categorize. Some books that I'd love to check out would be ones people have labeled "classics" like Catch 22 or Nineteen Eighty-Four (that one I've read), but I've had bad experiences in the past where such classics have failed to keep my interest. For instance, I didn't think much of the Odyssey. Which classics are "must reads" and which books outside of the classics are also "must reads"?
Another thing I'd like to do is check out more non-fiction. I'm ashamed to say that with the exception of school related subjects, I haven't actively sought out non-fiction. Subjects I'd like to read about are feminism, Rome, Film, Spain, and western philosophy. My main interest in these subjects is that I know absolutely nothing about them and would like to change that.
Any book recommendations based on this criteria, or even books that don't match what I'm looking for but are so great they should be mentioned anyway, would be great.
Another thing I'd like to do is check out more non-fiction. I'm ashamed to say that with the exception of school related subjects, I haven't actively sought out non-fiction. Subjects I'd like to read about are feminism, Rome, Film, Spain, and western philosophy. My main interest in these subjects is that I know absolutely nothing about them and would like to change that.
Any book recommendations based on this criteria, or even books that don't match what I'm looking for but are so great they should be mentioned anyway, would be great.
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And if you haven't read it yet, the James Clavell version of Sun Tzu's Art of War is pretty damn good.
If you have read it, liked it a lot and wanted some more, pickup the Denma Translation which includes additional essays and commentaries on the same. Bit more advanced, but I thought it added a lot to the original, more mainstream work.
Fiction:
•"Pygmalion", George Bernard Shaw
•"The Bean Trees", Barbara Kingsolver
•"The Left Hand of Darkness", Ursula K. Leguin
•"A Streetcar Named Desire", Tennessee Williams
•"The Once and Future King", T.H. White
•"The Bell Jar", Sylvia Plath
•"Ishmael", Daniel Quinn
•"The Time Traveler's Wife", Audrey Niffeneger
•"The Lovely Bones", Alice Sebold
•"The Killer Angels", Michael Shaara
•"The Last Temptation of Christ", Nicos Kazantzakis
•"Watership Down", Richard Adams
•"The Handmaid's Tale", Margaret Atwood
•"Brave New World", Aldous Huxley
Non-fiction:
•"Genome", Matt Ridley
•"The Hot Zone", Richard Preston
•"The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark", Carl Sagan
•"Me Talk Pretty One Day", David Sedaris
•"A Short History of Nearly Everything", Bill Bryson
•"The Selfish Gene" and "The Ancestor's Tale", Richard Dawkins
•"The Second Sex", Simone de Beauvoir
For fantasy, Neil Gaiman has produced some excellent modern fantasy titles. Stardust is one of his more recent books and is a joy to read. It recently came out in theatres. His American Gods is another great read that is hard to classify as pure fantasy (ie. not all swords and sorcery like stereotype fantasy).
Just remember, reading books does not make you "well read". Understanding is the key. People are forced to read books in school and many remain unchanged simply because they just read the book without caring or understanding what it is they read. Read the books you want to read because they interest you. Dont take a list of "classics", read them because you think you have to to appear intelligent to impress other people and expect to enjoy them.
As for Catch-22, it is a long book; over 500 pages if Im not mistaken. Not a 1000 page monster by any means, but some people enjoy shorter 300 or less page books, like 1984, where they wont lose interest or feel overwhelmed by how little progress they are making in the book. Something to think about when you pick up a couple books and wonder which one you might want to read first.
This book is amazing. Start here.
As for scifi/fantasy, you might try the first few Xanth novels by Piers Anthony, The Princess Bride by David Goldman (I think), anything by Terry Pratchett and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller. (For reference, my favorite book is Fahrenheit 451.)
'The Chalice and the Blade' Riane Eisler - Feminist debunking of bad but commonly referenced archeology
'The Language Instinct' Steven Pinker - very accessible & funny book that presents the human brain and evolution of language.
'How to write a selling screenplay' Christopher Keane - Great book for anyone who wants to understand the structure of Hollywood storytelling.
Fiction
'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' Robert M. Pirsig - Not my favorite, but a semi-classic themed to modern existentialism in America. (DO NOT READ THE FORWARD BY THIS AUTHOR)
'Mists of Avalon' Marion Zimmer Bradley - Feminist reconstruction of Arthurian legend.
'Childhood's End' Arthur C. Clark - short, easy to read classic and a great Jungian psychology sci-fi novel.
'The Red Tent' Anita Diamant - Best book I read this year, easily. Another female perspective on an old story, this one is about early biblical figures.
'To Kill a Mockingbird' Harper Lee - One of those classics I read recently and was boggled as to why I hadn't read it earlier.
I'd like to add:
* Animal Farm - Orwell
* Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse Five - Vonnegut
* Dune - Frank Herbert
* Mark Twain - anything, really
Neal Stephenson is great (see sig), but his stuff is more on the pop side. Yes, I'd recommend any of his books, but I wouldn't place him in with any "classic" works, if that's what you're looking for. Snow Crash is a great one to start with. If you're up for a massive epic, the Baroque Cycle trilogy is one hell of a yarn.
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Why not, exactly? I wish my copy wasn't in storage, because whenever someone tells me specifically NOT to read anything, I can hardly resist the urge to do the opposite.
Here's the thing with classics: first off, try to forget any experiences you may have had in high school English class. High school English is a conspiracy to make people hate reading. Read closely and intelligently - savor the taste and rhythm of the words, or lose yourself in a world described in perfect, fine-grained detail - but you don't need to read like you're studying for a quiz. Almost everyone gets that stuff, the themes and symbolism and whatever, on the second time through, rather than the first. In fact, that's one of the distinguishing marks of literature, that it's both more fun and more rewarding on the re-read.
But secondly, yeah: a classic is not always going to be a page-turner. That doesn't mean its status is fake or unearned, it just means that it requires a reader willing to work a bit to get at the rewards lying within. And like so many other intense, draining experiences - climbing a mountain, running a 10K, whatever - when it's over you'll find that the effort you put into it comes back out several-fold as pleasure at your achievement. A difficult book is like a trip to the gym. It's a whetstone on which you can sharpen yourself, and help bring out and define the better-looking, cooler, more alive person within.
But if you don't have the time or energy for that - and I know it's hard to find those things sometimes - then that doesn't make you a bad person or anything, just like we don't all have time to take up running or rock climbing or whatever. And the good news: despite everything I've just said, a lot of classics (like, a lot) are actually very compelling, entertaining reads and don't feel like work at all.
So all that said, here's a list of ones I've personally read and enjoyed - all on my own time, too, not for English class or anything. Some are new, some are old, all are awesome. These books are the real deal.
The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
Life on the Mississippi and Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain
The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Babbitt and Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
L.A. Confidential and American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
So maybe he means "Do not read the forward by this author before reading the book itself", or maybe he really does just mean "don't read the forward".
edit: I can't believe someone suggested Wonder Boys. I swear, I spent every page of that book hoping all of the characters would die so that I could stop reading about them.
If no one else has suggested it, OP, read Austen. All of her novels are fantastic, but Mansfield Park and Pride and Predjudice are both pretty damn kickass. Some of the best books ever written.
Readers should always skip a forward--it plants things in the reader's head before the reader starts the story itself. Discover the story and form your thoughts on your own before the author, or another person, tells you, "this is how it is."
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On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Also works such as:
On the Road
A ClockWork Orange
fahrenheit 451
In cold blood
Harlan Ellison
Frank Herbert - Dune series
A ClockWork Orange
As others have suggested, this forward will cause you to read the book very differently than if you had skipped it (both in specific and general ways). I wouldn't say "never read it". I should have said, read it after you finish the narrative. I feel similarly about Aldous Huxley's forward to "Brave New World", not because of any specific information, but just because it made me think of the author as an egotistical wanker instead of judging his work independently.
May as well add a recommendation while i'd typing:
Non-fiction: "All Souls" Michael Patrick McDonald (I wonder if he's Irish...)
Fiction: I second the recomendation of the 6 original "Dune" books by Frank Herbert. They get extremely bizarre by the end... Its like hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy, except not humurous, if you can wrap your brain around that.
"Slaughter-House 5"; "Breakfast of Champions"; "Cat's Cradle"
And, although you may have read it in High School, "Lord of the Flies"
Snow Crash and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius are two titles I recommend frequently that get great response. And for non-fiction, nice to see somebody mention my favorite Demon-Haunted World. Thumbs up, fellas!
A classic that hasn't been mentioned is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
EDIT: As a side note! Book titles don't go in quotes, but in italics. Plays in italics. Short stories and poems in quotes. Not that I'm the grammar police, but if you're taking the time to put up the quotes, I figure you're the sorts that would want to do it proper.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
It's, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
It's a series of opinions, interviews, stories and the like from those involved (on both sides) from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 in east-central Africa.
It's a wonderful book that I haven't stopped reading since picking it up. It's not written like a typical book on history but rather written in a narrative style for the most part.
"Classic" novels I'd thoroughly enjoyed also include (they all have a certain philosophical leaning):
Candide Voltaire
Metamorphosis Franz Kafka
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Stranger Albert Camus
All of the novels above with the exception of Dostoevsky's are very short and come in around 100 pages. However, don't underestimate them based on their length because they pack a lot of punch for their weight.
You also stated that you are interested in Western Philosophy so I'll list some of the texts I think are staples in that field (with a heavy emphasis in Ethics but with some Metaphysics and Epistemology thrown in the mix).
Apology and Phaedo Plato
The Republic Plato
The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle
Discourse on the Methods Descartes
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke
Ethics Spinoza
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding David Hume
Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant
Phenomenology of Spirit Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
On the Genealogy of Morals Friedrich Nietzsche
I kind of glossed over the Medieval period but if you are interested you may want to check out texts by Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, and Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy
Looking for a Hardcore Fantasy Extraction Shooter? - Dark and Darker
- Anything by Asimov, but particularly the original Foundation trilogy. Those would be Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, in that order. He wrote more books after those, but I think it was more because of pressure from the fans.
- Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Just those two books, not any of the sequels. Well, I can't really say much for the Ender's Game sequels since I've only read the first couple pages of Speaker for the Dead and lost interest, but I've read the other 3 books in the Ender's Shadow series, and they're pretty crappy.
- Anything by Robert Asprin. They're very short novellas, mostly about 200 pages, and very very funny. They may not be great literature, but they're fun, well-written stories.
- Brave New World. I think someone already suggested it? Anyway, I second that suggestion. It's sort of sci fi, but not in a spaceship and phasers way. It's more a social commentary than a futurefest.
Fantasy:
- Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah yeah, they're considered children's books, but they're pretty well-written, and yes it's a parable of the Bible, but it's not Bible-thumping.
- Anything by Lloyd Alexander, but particularly the Prydain Chronicles.
- The Silmarillion. Another one you might have read already, but if you haven't, you must. Well, ok, not must per se, but must if you liked Lord of the Rings, which I assume you've read.
"Classics" --
- I second the recommendation for Pride and Prejudice, but I must respectfully disagree with the recommendation for Mansfield Park. Persuation is, I think, her best literary work.
- Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations. People say that Dickens was paid by the word like it's a bad thing.
- Jane Eyre. And any other work by the Bronte sisters, pretty much.
- Cold Comfort Farm. More light reading. It's a very very funny book, sort of a send-up of the gothic melodrama.
- The Man Without Values(?). I read this book in a college lit class and liked it very much. I think this is the title, but I'm not sure. For one thing, it was written in German so the title may be translated differently for different editions. I think the author's name was Broch.
- As I Lay Dying is a good book, but read that book first before attempting any other Faulkner. He likes to brainfuck his readers. No, seriously. If you've ever read The Sound and the Fury, you know what I'm talking about. I really don't know why people praise that book to the skies, it's seriously a case of the emperor has no clothes. Anyway, don't start any Faulkner books until after you've read As I Lay Dying, because they might turn you off of him, and then you would miss the one good book he wrote.
- Anything by P.G. Wodehouse. Classic dry British wit but with a dash of surreal slapstick. His best work is probably Code of the Woosters, but I enjoy all of his Bertie and Jeeves stories.
Philosophy --
I personally don't go in too much for philosophy, but here are a couple books to add to the "classic works of philosophy" list:
- The Prince, by Machiavelli
- Confessions, by St. Augustine.
I think I've seen this, only it was called The Man Without Qualities. It was humongous, like two 500-page volumes in a slipcase cover. Does that sound familiar?
YES! Wow, thanks, that was bugging me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_Qualities
I'm still also very interested in non-fiction books, specifically history books. My problem with non-fiction has always been that there are many books for any one subject, and while I'd love to read them all, doing so isn't realistic. So while the subject doesn't matter, the quality of the book does. I'm open to reading about anything and everything.
For Rome, I say you really can't do better than the guys who were actually there: Tacitus and Titus Livy are, in my estimation, the most essential. Caesar on his war in Gaul is good, and Suetonius' "Twelve Caesars" is also good, but I wouldn't rank either of them as quite the same caliber of writing (even in translation) and importance of analysis.
If you're really into Rome and you're brave and have a lot of free time, you can't do better (in any kind of historical writing, really) than Edward Gibbon's three-volume "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." If you can quote freely from that, you will be reputed far and wide as the most erudite, well-read motherfucker anybody knows. And once you get used to the language and his wacky footnotes, it's actually a really entertaining read...it covers everything from about 180 AD all the way through the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Byzantine Empire and ends somewhere around 1560. It's daunting, but worth it.
pretty much all of Thomas Pynchon's books will rock your world.
_Gravity's Rainbow_ if you're into deviant sex, world war 2, or organic chemistry
_Vineland_ if you're from the west coast and got no love for the Reagan era
_The Crying of Lot 49_ if you wanna read something reasonably sized before committing to a giant epic
or
_Against The Day_ if you're into turn of the (20th) century sci-fi, anarchism, theoretical math, or westerns
As far as fiction though, lately i've been re-reading all the Conan books. The main series is pretty sweet, as are Robert E. Howard's other books, such as Kull: The Fabulous Warrior King. Also i've been really into Elmore Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale, and Phillip K. Dick recently. I recommend pretty much anything by any of those authors, personally.
The works of James Burke. No need to be picky. He's an English science historian. His works, both on screen and on papers are random strolls through history, starting with odd subjects like Irish Whiskey and ending up with the Space Shuttle. Wonderfully English with a dry wit that holds up well today. He's done a number of multi-part documentaries for the BBC that have aired in the US.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman. He won the Nobel Prize for some of his work in Quantum Physics. The book is a loose collection of anecdotes that is almost an autobiography. He was a most interesting man, who once was a surprise witness in a court case against a strip club. He also wrote some introductory texts for college level physics that are some of the best you will find. Or perhaps his story about figuring out the formula used for combination locks and testing his theory on the Colonel in charge of the Manhattan project.
Be prepared for some ridiculous reading, but, totally worth it. I'm reading "Mason and Dixon" right now, and I'm absolutely loving it.
I'm a big fan of Philip K. Dick, but his books aren't for everyone. "Ubik" is very good, but "Valis" is probably my favorite due to the really obscure religious references and the crazy cameos. I'd recommend reading it along with "Radio Free Albemuth", though, since it uses a lot of the same themes and ideas, but is a lot easier to read.
This, but also for a history of Rome broader than Tacitus and more rigorous than Livy (his work treads a line between history and propaganda), and not as daunting as Gibbons, you should definitely check out Michael Grant's History of Rome. It's pretty standard, found in a lot of introductory courses on Rome or Greco-Roman history, and it's a fun, fast-moving read. His love of Rome really comes through in his writing, and it gets you excited about the subject.
It's about 700 pages, but it feels like quite a bit less because of his pace and style, and that's hardly long at all considering that he's giving you a good overview of Rome from the Etruscan monarchs all the way through to the collapse of the Western Empire.
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft by Thor Heyerdahl
It is the true tale of a handful of guys in the 1950s that, against all odds, decided to try and travel from Peru across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian islands on a hand-built bamboo raft in an attempt to prove a theory that those islands were originally populated in such a way.
Papillon by Henri Charriere
It is by far the best prison break story ever told, written by the guy that made the escape himself. Hopefully, you've not seen the movie, which still very good, is nothing compared to the book. The manner in which it is written is great. It was pretty much copied down verbatum from an interview, making it read like Charriere is sitting in the room with you, telling you the story.
If you're up for some non-fiction, both of these should give you a good read.
-now i'm excited, in looking up the amazon link, i find that there is a sequel to papillion written about his life after the escape. am ordering it as i type, actually.
Other classics? DiscGrace's list has some very good suggestions. I like The 39 Steps as a short and satisfying read.
"Shogun" by James Clavell (he has several other masterpieces of Asian culture, from feudal Japan to 1960's Hong Kong).
"The Fountainhead" "Atlas Shrugged" or "We the People" by Ayn Rand for some feminine viewpoint (if not feminism exactly) and a touch of Western political and economic philosophy tied up in fiction novels.
"The Fool's Tale" by Nicole Galland, a different presentation of Arthurian Britain from Whales' view.
For non-fiction, I second the nomination of the book "Genome" by Matt Ridley, it is an extremely well-written and insightful book. May I also suggest
"Ideas and Opinions" a collection of essays by Albert Einstein.
And "Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War" by Gary E. Weir and Walter J. Boyne.
and for non-fiction, if you're from te US I VERY strongly suggest reading The Federalist Papers. They are what gave us our constitution, and you don't often think of that as being something to be argued about anymore, which i feel is important.
Of course that is fairly dry reading. and by fairly I mean VERY. For other non fiction, I would look up
"Founding Brothers" i believe it's called. It's absolutely awesome! Really exciting stories of all our founding fathers
assembled from bits and pices of historical evidence. I would suggest this even if You aren't American.
PS: "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" is the exact title. It's by Joseph J. Ellis and I couldnt recommend it more.
Errr ... no. Not feminism at all. In fact her protagonists' absolute desire/need for a male to dominate (and, in The Fountainhead, actually RAPE) them is pretty glaringly anti-feminist. Plus her books (less so in "We the Living", but still) are full of batshit-crazy, although useful in understanding the mentality that influences the way a lot of Americans currently act toward policies like universal health care.
Another fun non-fiction book that I just read is "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", which is a hilarious little book about grammar written by a lady who could give Thanatos a run for his money as far as grammar-nazi-ness goes.