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Post by callipygias on Aug 25, 2009 23:47:34 GMT -5
Well, not exactly thrilling, I guess, but why not? I'll probably have this moved to Magic Voice's when it's through and use it for my blog. The first novel-length book I read was 101 Dalmatians. I read it on a sick day when I was seven or eight, and for the next few years I nagged my mom every time we went to the store for any book I could find with an animal on the cover. Next came fantasy, a tiny bit of sci-fi, and plenty of horror, especially King, Straub, and Koontz. The only thing from that period to make my list is: #25 The Bachman Books (1977-1982) Stephen King I used to love just about anything King wrote, but the novellas he wrote as Richard Bachman were far and away my favorites. The Running Man is good, Roadwork is okay, I loved Rage, but the main reason this makes my list is The Long Walk. Set in an alternate, not-too-distant, dystopian(ish) America, one hundred teenage boys are chosen from thousands of applicants to participate in the country's biggest sporting event: a walk down the east coast. The catch is that if they fall below 4 miles-per-hour (no matter what the reason) they receive a warning, until the third time, when they are shot. The last one standing wins. It's like if Orwell wrote They Shoot Horses, Don't They?The characters' physical, emotional, and mental deterioration is brutal -- some break down and kill themselves -- and their different approaches and reactions are fascinating, especially when others among them start getting shot. And the pace of the story is relentless; I remember putting the book down one night feeling exhausted from it.
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Post by callipygias on Aug 28, 2009 10:32:00 GMT -5
#24
The Secret Sharer
(1910)
Joseph Conrad The story of a young ship captain full of self doubt two weeks into his first command among a crew that has served together for eighteen months, and his "other self" who has escaped imprisonment for murder on a nearby ship and swam most of the night to be rescued and hidden in the young captain's quarters, unknown to the rest of the crew. The captain's "secret sharer," the murderer Leggatt, is an almost exact physical duplicate of the captain, even sharing mannerisms and habits, "... and we, the two strangers in the ship, faced each other in identical attitudes." But when Leggatt is describing how he planned his escape, the captain apparently sees something in Leggatt he lacks, "... I could imagine perfectly the manner of his thinking out -- a stubborn if not a steadfast operation; something of which I should have been perfectly incapable." And then to further their disparities and similarities, " But there was nothing sickly in his expression. He was not a bit like me, really; yet, as we stood... with our dark heads together and our backs to the door, anybody bold enough to open it stealthily would have been treated to the uncanny sight of a double captain busy talking in whispers with his other self." The captain uses Leggatt to come to terms with parts of himself he feels are necessary to his command. Sounds a little warm and fuzzy but one of the traits they share is a belief that the upper class has the right to punish the lower class (even to the point of murder) if they believe it to be in society's best interests. There's a little Raskolnikov there. And in the end you're on your own to determine how much of Leggatt was real and how much imagined, and there's a LOT of Quilty there. It seems like there's a loneliness to the way Conrad writes. It's something I always like about him even if I'm not crazy about some of his books overall. I'd never seen a picture of him until searching for one for this thread, and this fits perfectly my idea of him: P.S. There's a white floppy hat, too. (In the story, not the picture.)
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Post by callipygias on Aug 28, 2009 20:38:44 GMT -5
#23 Jane Eyre (1847) Charlotte Bronte The only romance on my list, and easily the most straightforward, traditional novel overall. Gothic castles, tragic pasts, insanity, murder, suicide, and one of the strongest and most appealing women in literature. Two reasons Jane Eyre makes my list, though: Bronte's beautiful but strong and sometimes complex language (it is the best of its type, I think), and because it was a watershed novel for me in that it made me want to find great things to read specifically for the style, not worrying about the story. Charlotte Bronte
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Aug 29, 2009 13:49:15 GMT -5
I'll be following the thread with interest, although it's already made me feel bad for being more familiar with "Richard Bachman" than with Joseph Conrad.
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Post by callipygias on Aug 29, 2009 14:37:43 GMT -5
Pfft. My reading list at your age would probably pale next to yours, Captain. All I wanted was fantasy and horror. I loved it, and I'm glad I read as much of it as I did, because I doubt I'll return to it.
A couple honorable mentions from the early days, though, that didn't quite make my list are A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving (1989), and The Brothers K, by David James Duncan (1992).
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Post by callipygias on Aug 30, 2009 3:52:21 GMT -5
#22 The Golden Ass (180 A.D.ish) Lucius Apuleius Whoops, wrong picture... Through his desire to learn magic Apuleius accidentally turns himself into an ass and spends most of the book going from adventure to misadventure trying to become human again. There are several digressive tales within the main tale which occasionally get just the tiniest bit tiresome to me, but they aren't long, and it always comes back to poor Apuleius. Funny and phenomenally imaginative throughout, I'm amazed this was written almost 2,000 years ago. " A virgin triumphantly riding as ass." You don't get that from just any book. As an ass, Lucius is stolen, sold, beaten, almost eaten, sentenced to death, taken to bed (oh that's right), and more. At one point he is owned by a nasty boy who lies, " For he (Apuleius) espyeth any woman passing by the way, whether she be old or marryed, or if it be a young child, he will throw his burthen from his backe and runneth fiercely upon them. And after he hath thrown them down, he will stride over them to commit his buggery and beastly pleasure." But it isn't all comic. There's a fair share of tragedy, philosophy, and eventually spirituality as Apuleius travels through lives of every class. " Their wealed backs were crusted rather than clothed with their patchwork rags." And it's strange to see shots taken at Christianity when it was in its infancy. Apuleius about the baker's wife: " She scorned and spurned the gods of heaven; and in the place of true religion she professed some fantastic blasphemous creed of a God whom she named the One and Only God. But she used her deluded and ridiculous observances chiefly to deceive the onlooker and to diddle her wretched husband; for she spent the morning in boozing, and leased out her body in perpetual prostitution." There are tons of translations. The one I read, by William Adlington, is apparently available in its entirety online in case you ever want to try it: books.eserver.org/fiction/apuleius/ It's more than 400 years old itself, and pretty obviously not meant to be perfectly faithful. The man who wrote the introduction says, "Apuleius's Latin was excellent, Adlington's English is better." But if you don't like that kind of thing there are tons of modern options (I'm going to try one of those, next). When you've inspired the inspirers: Cervantes, Swift, Sterne, Shakespeare, etc., you deserve to be on any "greatest" list, but this book will make many "favorite" lists as well. Interesting note, it says on wikipedia that a copy of The Golden Ass was one of the few things T.E. Lawrence carried in his saddlebag throughout the Arab Revolt. Pretty cool.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 1, 2009 19:18:52 GMT -5
Honorable Mention The Road (2006) Cormac McCarthy Bleak as hell. The Village Voice calls it mccarthy's "purest fable." This didn't quite make my top 25 (#27), and since one of the editions at Amazon already has over 1,900 reviews I won't bother with that, but I did want to recommend that anyone who might see the movie read the book first. The movie's due out October 16th. As much as I loved the Coen brothers' adaptation of No Country For Old Men I wish I would have read McCarthy's novel first. Cormac McCarthy
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Post by solgroupie on Sept 1, 2009 20:03:45 GMT -5
excellent read. there were so many things mccarthy left up to us to ponder, and the relationship between the father and the son gets a hold of you from the very first page. after reading it, i'm not sure i want to see the movie.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Sept 1, 2009 20:39:43 GMT -5
As disturbing as it was, I loved that book. The first of McCarthy's that I'd read at the time, it's one of those books where the writing itself often drew me in even more than the story (as good as that is already).
As an aside, I actually haven't "read" any of McCarthy's books - I've gotten them in audiobook form, and this one has a perfect narrator. I'm not sure how I'd feel about McCarthy's distinctive writing style, but his books have been incredible to listen to.
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Post by Satchmo on Sept 2, 2009 19:13:40 GMT -5
The Road was amazing. And it has to be bleak, it's why it's so real.
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Post by Chuck on Sept 2, 2009 19:57:33 GMT -5
I wonder if Valley of the Dolls will be in the top ten. It is on MY list!
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Post by callipygias on Sept 3, 2009 0:50:23 GMT -5
#21 Slapstick or Lonesome No More (1976) Kurt Vonnegut Vonnegut called Slapstick grotesque, situational poetry. Like with many of his books, Slapstick manages to be both real and surreal, and to span a great period of time in relatively few pages, not only without leaving any sense of incompletion, but by somehow ending up a perfect whole. And like most of his novels it was as hopeful and as hopeless as anything I've ever read. The details are so wonderful and absurd I'll let you discover them on your own. I'm sure many of you already have -- there are lots of Vonnegut fans here (and everywhere). I can say a little without ruining it for anyone that hasn't yet read it: Dr. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, genius, King of Manhattan, last President of the U.S., decides to rename everyone in order to cure the crushing loneliness we all feel. It's a wonderful, beautiful, absurd book, and not only one of his best, but one of the best, if you ask me. Which you didn't. Hi-Ho
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Post by Chuck on Sept 3, 2009 19:36:33 GMT -5
I really like Slaughterhouse Five better.
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Post by callipygias on Sept 3, 2009 20:55:18 GMT -5
Well then stay tuned.
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Post by jkazoolien on Sept 6, 2009 2:35:51 GMT -5
Here I thought I was the only human being on the planet who loved "Slapstick"! Great Read!
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