Today, something occurred to me. Here on Afterdawn, we've had many threads that speak loudly for the personalities, interests, etc. of our members. We've had threads for your favorite movie, video game, sig....the list goes on. However, to the furthest extent of my knowledge, we've never had a thread for members' favorite literature. Thinking about psychology, that seems to press the idea that we're becoming a thoughtless, memory-free society with no grasp of its past or pleasure beyond the instant-gratification of visual stimulation. It would lead one to believe that the countless hours of work that go into our arts are becoming less appreciated by the audience as those that starve for their work press on, if only to bring a new level of beauty to our senses. Irony doesn't fail: on a site that can only be used with a decent grasp of written lanuage, we're becoming illiterate. And so, I introdude the Your Favorite Book Thread. The following are my leading 20 favorite books off the top of my head. In my very humble opinion, everyone should read them, as they very much assist in the process of developing a logical thought process and push one to question absolutely everything, as this is the path to truth. 1. The Catcher in the Rye 2. The Stranger 3. The Call of the Wild 4. The Picture of Dorian Gray 5. The Art of War 6. Tao Te Ching 7. The Sound and the Fury 8. The Heart of Darkness 9. Animal Farm 10. Hatchet 11. The Face 12. The Shining 13. Insomnia 14. The Invisible Man 15. Of Mice and Men 16. A Wrinkle in Time 17. To Kill a Mockinbird 18. The Works of Henry David Thoreau 19. The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne 20. Dracula *edit* fixed a few grammatical errors.
One book that has always stuck with me is empty world by John Christopher, I read it in high school and it totally captured my imagination
i remember you recommending that book before. as soon as i get the chance, i'm going to hit up the library here and try to track it down.
@Auslander...It would take me a bit of time to produce such a list; your's and mine would share much in common though. You wrote that many of those books listed help develop a logical thought process and while I certainly cannot disagree with that observation, I would like to point out that the weight of their message(s), is communicated through a "learnt" logical thought process. What do I mean by a "learnt" logical process? I'm talking about "logic" as a true academic discipline rather than a mere inference of sensibility which is what it has, unfortunately, come to mean. Every now and again, I'll hear a phrase that echoes the rigors of "the science of reasoning" as it was until not long ago; idioms such as "it just doesn't add up" or "he really minds his Ps and Qs" allude to a disciplne of thought which has all but vanished. Until the 1950s or so (depending on one's country and when that country changed its philosophies on education) ALL educational pursuits were subject to first honing to a fine edge the demands, constraints and rules of reasoning through which ALL learning occurs; indeed, learning can occur through no other means. They use to call it a "classical education". All learning comes through reason, therefore, learn to reason sharply and flawlessly and you will learn anything else far more thoroughly as EVERYTHING that can be learnt is subject to the dictates of logic and reason. Not all that long ago, one studied philosophy and logic before anything else...whether you were a writer, a teacher, a mathematician, a musician....the result of your efforts were always far better understood by you and far better communicated to those for whom it had some importance. Literature has suffered enormously since this approach to education has been abandoned in the name of expidiance. In another thread, you wrote that you were taking philosophy and logic courses; I was glad to hear it. Learn to think, reason and communicate in a strict and disciplined manner and not only will you're understanding of subjects be better but so too will the understanding and experience of those fortunate enough to listen to what you have to say. So, let me list a couple of books anyway: 1. The Confessions of Saint Augustine 2. Dialog between a priest and a dying man ...Marquis de Sade 3. Letters from the Earth - Mark Twain 4. Gulliver's Travels 5. The Importance of being Ernest 6. I. Claudius 7. Egyptian Book of the Dead 8. A Road Less Traveled 9. Narcissus and Goldman 10. Various Novels by Wilbur Smith 11. THe Scarlet Letter 12. Lord of the Flies 13. Frankenstein 14. Dracula 15. Various Sherlock Holmes novels 16. THe Devil Rides Out ...Dennis Wheatly (this is occult for real and can make your blood run cold) 17 Swiss Family Robinson 18. Various Dumas Novels 19. Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican 20 A cry to heaven LOL...guess it wasn't that hard to come up with a list afterall!
i completely forgot about several on that list, gerry. the others i'm going to have to check out. ^.^ *edit* i appreciate all that you had to say, as well. i wish there were more people like yourself around during my ...developmental years.
Auslander, you seem to be progressing quite nicely. I had 7 on your list but only 4 on Gerry's list which seem excellent reading also "Book of the Dead" sounds interesting. My favorite readings back when I actually read more. Were non-fiction works by Isaac Asimov. He could explain any and everything. He died too young. He would have had a field day today. My favorite two were his History of the Bible-Old Testament and History of the Bible-New Testament. Very well done.
I have not read many novels lately, being raised in a private catholic school surrounding, I have read most of the books listed. Now I rely on 3 different newspapers and crossword puzzles for stimulation while not online. When I travel however, I always have a good book ready for the flight/ride and the same guy who was the origin of the Hellraiser movies [bold]Clive Barker[/bold] writes the best modern horror/philosophical/makes you question life through the faults of others stories that keep your book open till complete. The cheap movie theatrics of all the Hellraiser sequels give no respect to the written word.
okay, now i might as well fire up an office program and make a list of stuff to get from the library. keep it coming, all!
I haven't read a lot of Clive Barker but he certainly writes well as does another Brit horror author I really like named Brian Lumley who writes the best and most unusual vampire novels I've ever read. I know where not talking about spiritual, soul moving material...but entertaining anyway. @garmoon ... the Egyptian book of the dead is the oldest known religious literature in existance. Many scholars believe that Moses borrowed a great deal from the book of the dead ...the ten commandments, a great deal of levitical law etc.etc. As for me, I first got a taste for it in the seminary many years ago but I don't read it as an exercise in comparative religion but rather for its own sake ... its quite beautiful in itself (havne't read it in a long time though).
Asimov was a rather prolific author: http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/asimov_titles.html He was also a seriously dirty old man LOL! Somewhere around 1971 or 1972, my best friend's sister was on some lecture series committee and they'd secured Asimov as a speaker (he was extremely popular at the time) and they'd sold a huge number of tickets. He kept making passes at her and wouldn't take no for an answer. ...I'm not talking some sort of assault here but just very aggressive attempts at getting what he wanted. Aus, what is "Ihr Lieblingsbuch". Just a suggestion: stay away from Augustine's Confessions ... some of the most beautiful stuff ever written but you have to work for it...some heavy mental masturbation in that one so its a lot of work to read. If you've never read "Letters from the Earth" by Twain, I'd take out that one. The first fifty pages or so are hysterical. Satan was kicked out of heaven and stops by earth ... he is just so baffeled by the foolishness and senselessness of god's creation that he writes these comical letters back to his friends in heaven describing this huge, divine error. It really is hysterical. If memory serves, the book was actually illegal for a very long time because of the blasphemy in its pages. I think they only started publishing it in the 1950s but it's been a long time, I could be wrong. I've never read "The Art of War" but I understand that it too, is one of the world's timeless classics studied by many disciplines.
/me laughs hard. that's great, ger! "Ihr Lieblingsbuch" is a rough translation of "your favorite book" in german. i figured it might attract curiosity and more serious attention than the english version would from the typical fecktards around here.
for sheer comic relief, i now add Bush-Whacked...about our lovely president. i can't discuss it further, due to the ban on political debate, but you all should definitely give it a read...it's all of his "famous quotes."
aus what you fail to realize is that while your thread title may catch attention, unfortunately i doubt most of the people on hear read books, at least in some of the threads ive seen. any way a list of my favorite books would be too long, so ill break it down into authorsand a few titles: Tom Clancy Stephen King (one of the greatest authors of the day imho.) Christopher Paolini Angels and Demons Harry Potter books (yes laugh all you want) There are a few more authors that i cant remeber the names of at the mo Guests of the Ayatollah On the Beach To kill a Mocking Bird There are a few others too.
Well since you've broken the ice, I will admit to reading them all as well...they are very entertaining. My list is short and includes some of the books already listed in the thread already. Lord of the Flies Wonderland Avenue - Danny Sugerman Tale of Two Cities - Dickens Great Expectations - Dickens Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry I love Dickens and want to read some more of his books in the future, but don't do a whole lot of reading outside the forums as it is. Some other books in the above lists look interesting as well.
Ah yes a great book, as i said one of the best authors imho Here ya go aus here is "Your Favorite Book" in russian: Ваша Любимая книга
my favorite book atm would be The Art Of Deception by Kevin D. Mitnick. I'll make a list of my favorites and add them to this thread later.
