Books!

[Funyarinpa]

For future reference: I created another thread which was then merged into this one.

 

Anyway, I'm now more resolute on buying Brave New World instead of Foundation & Empire, as the school librarian recommended me that I read BNW first.

[Stray Cat]

Personally I wasn't too fond of Brave New World but Sci-Fi is usually my least favorite genre. 

 

Honestly can't say I read much aside from scholarly articles these days.

 

For the bit of free-reading I do have, I tend to read Shakespeare and books on mythology, culture, and evolution.

 

This is the last thing I read: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81788.Why_We_Get_Sick

[Yeah Way]

Finally got my hands on "Paradise Lost"! Just started reading, and it's every bit as great as I'd hoped. Not quite as 'poetic' as "The Divine Comedy": it's more novellistic I suppose. Still has the 'old-fashioned' style of writing that I just adore.

[Funyarinpa]

I just finished Fahrenheit 451.

 

The most interesting fact about the book is that, according to my copy's afterword, Fahrenheit 451 was initially published on the very first issues (issues 2,3 and 4) of Playboy.

 

EDIT

Apparently; Arthur C. Clarke, Roald Dahl,  Haruki Murakami and a few other famous writers also have stories that were published on Playboy...

[Rilarion]

I mostly read Fantasy novels; Harry Potter was the first one I ever read, Lord of the Rings is also a must to read for any fantasy lover.

some of the other series I read are:

 

Wheel of Time saga(Amazing series I recommend it to every fantasy lover)

Night Angel Trilogy (This one's also awesome)

I've read the Drizzt saga from Forgotten Realms.

Song of Ice and Fire is also one of the oldest ones I've read.

There are other's too but these are the ones that came to mind right now.

[phersu]

I mostly read Fantasy novels; Harry Potter was the first one I ever read, Lord of the Rings is also a must to read for any fantasy lover.

some of the other series I read are:

 

Wheel of Time saga(Amazing series I recommend it to every fantasy lover)

Night Angel Trilogy (This one's also awesome)

I've read the Drizzt saga from Forgotten Realms.

Song of Ice and Fire is also one of the oldest ones I've read.

There are other's too but these are the ones that came to mind right now.

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Fahrenheit 451 last night. I give it a 7/10, I kind of liked how abstract it felt but it just isn't too enjoyable overall.

[edwd2]

Favorites:

 

Dubliners (James Joyce)

Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)

The New World of Mr. Tompkins (George Gamow)

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Yukio Mishima)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong)

The True Story of Ah Q (Lu Xun)

Civilization and Its Discontents (Sigmund Freud)

Cosmicomics (Italo Calvino)

Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)

[crunchytaco]

I cannot decide to pick whether Foundation & Empire or Brave New World when I go to the bookstore the next time. I guess I'll go with F&E.

 

 

 

I HIGHLY recommend Aldous Huxley's works in general. Brave New World was one of the most influential books in my life. Sure it starts off super slow, but it needed to establish a background for you to understand the rest of the book. At the half-way mark is when the book gets quite interesting and by the end you'll be taken on a ride you can't forget.

 

Another book that really hits home with me is JD Salnger's the Catcher in the Rye. That book got me hooked right from the start. Holden Caufield is the original Chuunibyou in my book; a tragic one at that. It's something about his narration and the sardonic tone from the 50's Classic American style in the way he speaks that makes me laugh in pain for him. When the book was at its height in popularity, it created imitators (ironically) and blamed for many of the young male suicides around the country, showcasing the influence it had. I read this book in the early 2000s around the same time I had watched Neon Genesis Evangelion. I was pretty messed up in the head for awhile. 

[Clephas]

I don't really like Brave New World, because too often its themes are used as a brainwashing tool for neo-Luddites. 

[crunchytaco]

Aldous Huxley is anything but anti-technology and science. They need to read Island if they seriously think Brave New World is advancing the idea of neo-luddism. 

 

This has been around for awhile so I'm surprised it's still up 

 

edit: Link to full article is dead unfortunately

 

Jeffrey Kripal on Aldous Huxley:

I find it strange, and more than a little depressing, that, despite all of this well-known biographical and metaphysical material, Aldous Huxley is best known today for his dystopian novel, Brave New World. Why is a man who had so much to say about the synthesis of science and spirituality and the deeper dimensions of human consciousness known primarily for a novel about the authoritarian horrors and technological dead-ends of the modern consumer state? Why is this consummate individualist, intrigued by the potential for spiritual ecstasy, still mostly identified with a story of moral despair and fascist political control? Obviously, part of the answer is because Brave New World was so incredibly accurate. But Huxley did more than diagnose the disease; he also provided what he thought of as a realistic treatment in Island.

I interviewed Laura Huxley about Island a few years ago (she died last year at the age of 96). She described the novel to me as "the last will and testament" of her late husband. Island, she suggested, is where he left his most sincere convictions and deepest thoughts about what human beings are capable of at their best. He was very careful, she pointed out, not to include anything in the novel that was not possible, that had not been practiced somewhere before and found useful. So he was quite upset when Island was received as a piece of fantasy rather than a practical program for translating his abstract philosophy of consciousness and existential mysticism into effective social, educational, and contemplative experiments. Island was no fantasy for Aldous Huxley. It was, as Laura said, his "ultimate legacy."

This seems like the right time to entertain the possibility that Aldous Huxley is more relevant now than he ever was, that Island is as important as Brave New World, and that the two novels should be read together. I am particularly struck by Huxley's vibrant critique of religious literalism and the whole psychology of belief in Island. "In religion all words are dirty words," the Old Raja's little green book declared. Hence the novel's ideal of the "Tantrik agnostic" (Aldous's grandfather returns) and its scorn for that "Old Nobodaddy" in the sky (the expression is pure William Blake). Hence the humorous prayer of Pala: "Give us this day our daily Faith, but deliver us, dear God, from Belief." The scarecrows in the fields were even made to look like a God the Father, so that the children who manipulated them with strings to scare off the birds could learn that "all gods are homemade, and that it's we who pull their strings and so give them the power to pull ours."

Link: Brave New Worldview: The Return of Aldous Huxley (Chronicle of Higher Education)

[Funyarinpa]

Going to the mall with a friend today. Going to buy Dune(Frank Herbert), Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clarke) and 2001: A Space Odyssey(Arthur C. Clarke). If I can't find any of the three, I'll buy Brave New World instead.

 

Also, who else has read Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck? My school made me read it as the summer reading assignment between 5th-6th grades, and the book -unlike most other novels the school made us read- resonated with the whole grade and most of my friends fell in love with it. It's my favorite "classic" novel to date, as I fell in love with the characters and the story.

[babiker]

I've been reading a Turkish Historical novel called "My Name is Red", very interesting book, though it sure took quite a bit of research to understand everything, including Khosrow and Shirin. The book requires the reader to have a good background of the Ottoman empire, and of art in general. And some chapters within the book can be so awesome, even if they have no connection what so ever with main plot, my favorite being "I am the devil"  ]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Red

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. It was alright, but the characters felt like they were from a normal Turkish soap opera, which is never a good thing.

 

6/10 overall.

 

Started reading Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Some concepts the novel's introduced so far(and by that, I mean the first 30 pages or so) are pretty interesting. My favorite thing about it right now is the writing style, I like how ...Dick (Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face) uses the language.

[Ariurotl]

My all-time favorite novel is A Brief Life by Juan Carlos Onetti, but I don't recommend it to anyone. I used to, but every single person I lent the book to pretty much hated it. So don't read it.

 

Main reasons why this novel is shit according to my friends:

- It's too depressing.

- The characters are too miserable.

- There's nothing happening.

- It gets incomprehensible towards the end.

[Down]

 Main reasons why this novel is shit according to my friends:

- It's too depressing.

- The characters are too miserable.

- There's nothing happening.

- It gets incomprehensible towards the end.

Picked up.

[caiooa]

the book that i end up re-reading numerous times was bernard cornwell"s "the warlord chronicles". Specially "the winter king", since Nimue godness have more presence there. In light novel realm, it's probably Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru .

There's a huge pile of things that i expect to read soon, but i have tol prioritize Hyperion cantos now ¯◡◡¯·

[Funyarinpa]

I'm nearly done with Larry Niven's Ringworld (weird as hell) and after that I might start reading Hyperion, Dune or Foundation & Empire, I'm not sure. 

[Ram_Ram_A]

I'm re-reading One flew the Cuckoo's Next and  reading Amy My daughter. I'm not even a fan of Amy Winehouse but my mother bought it for me for Christmas so might as well. 

[Totodile]

I'm re-reading the Eragon trilogy+1, seriously Christiphor Poalini's best work 

[LinovaA]

When I bring up this series I always find that I sound a bit desperate when I try to convince others to read it as well, as I have only ever met TWO people who have ever heard of it, and only ONE who has ever read it.

 

The Riftwar Cycle, or more specifically... The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. This is a book series I greatly enjoyed and I feel there is something for everyone who enjoys fantasy novels in these ones. I really love how Feist writes his characters, and the world he has shown over the course of the entirety of the Cycle (which includes about thirty-one books if I recall correctly) is just absolutely beautiful and filled to the brim with interesting lore.

 

Definitely my favorite author. 

 

*breathes out* Annnnd done. You may go about your day now.

[B0X0R]

Finished Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. It was alright, but the characters felt like they were from a normal Turkish soap opera, which is never a good thing.

6/10 overall.

Started reading Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Some concepts the novel's introduced so far(and by that, I mean the first 30 pages or so) are pretty interesting. My favorite thing about it right now is the writing style, I like how ...Dick (Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face) uses the language.

[Funyarinpa]

When I bring up this series I always find that I sound a bit desperate when I try to convince others to read it as well, as I have only ever met TWO people who have ever heard of it, and only ONE who has ever read it.

 

The Riftwar Cycle, or more specifically... The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. This is a book series I greatly enjoyed and I feel there is something for everyone who enjoys fantasy novels in these ones. I really love how Feist writes his characters, and the world he has shown over the course of the entirety of the Cycle (which includes about thirty-one books if I recall correctly) is just absolutely beautiful and filled to the brim with interesting lore.

 

Definitely my favorite author. 

 

*breathes out* Annnnd done. You may go about your day now.

[Yeah Way]

Finally got my Haruhi novels! Starting "Wavering" right now. It's so damn good! ^^

[Down]

I wondered if anyone had read some Hemingway around here.

 

I picked up one of his books, Fiesta: The Sun also Rises, because I had never read anything by him before and wanted to try.

And... It's boring >_>

I just don't know what to say about this book. A stream of events happen but it completely fails to hook me. It's only 220 pages long but I'm halfway through it and don't even want to keep going now. I'll just probably drop it.

 

That being said, it's not his most famous book, so I was wondering if I should try his best-sellers later (like For Whom the Bells Tolls and cie).

 

(Now I'm probably gonna tackle that huge E.A. Poe Collected Works that's sitting on my shelves)