What are you reading?

[spb_lady]

Originally Posted by swaggerisaliability

A few pages into:

i was greately impressed by this book!

what is your opinion?

 

[swaggerisaliability]

Originally Posted by spb_lady

i was greately impressed by this book!

what is your opinion?

I'll definitely let you know when I finish. Looks like it'll take a while though.

 

[Makeshift_Robot]

Originally Posted by spb_lady

I'm reading Jorge Luis Borges The garden of forking paths and The book of sand

Garden of Forking Paths is really good, not my favorite Borges (that would probably be Death and the Compass), but a really cool story. He's one of my main writing influences right now.

 

[jaeger]

The Heart of a Dog - Bulgakov. So far, so good.

 

[Hombre Secreto]

 

[mikeman]

I really need to start reading more, what are some must read books?

 

[ektaylor]

Originally Posted by Working Stiff

I'm currently reading The Windup Bird Chronicles. Just 80 pages in. Murakami seems to write well.

Seems that way doesn't it?

 

[why]

Originally Posted by mikeman

I really need to start reading more, what are some must read books?
Start with Shakespeare, otherwise you might read stuff posted in this thread and think it's good. You might as well start with the start to avoid deluding and distracting yourself. I'd suggest Spenser, but he's not as accessible without knowledge of other subjects and forms.

 

[Wodin]

Originally Posted by mikeman

I really need to start reading more, what are some must read books?

I am rereading Orwell's 1984. It's a favorite of mine.

 

[kakemono]

Originally Posted by mikeman

I really need to start reading more, what are some must read books?

I, having cliff-noted my way through high school, grabbed a high school summer reading list and picked out some classics off that list when I made my first push into reading again. They usually do a good job laying a foundation.

Frankenstein
Dorian Gray
Heart of Darkness

They are a high school reading level which allows you to plow through them pretty quickly.


/shrug
It depends what you are looking for...

 

[Treen]

Currently rereading Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh. Makes me want to speak in a Scottish accent.

 

[Makeshift_Robot]

Originally Posted by mikeman

I really need to start reading more, what are some must read books?

Do you want to read stuff you like, or do you want a cultural background?

If you want to read purely for pleasure, I would say that there is no "must read". Trawl used bookstores, take chances, accept and read (or at least preview) everything anyone recommends to you.

If you want to read for cultural background, you might do best starting with short stories. You'll get a sense of what Hemingway, Chandler, Garcia Marquez, etc. are about, but without the lengthy trawl of a novel. Don Barthelme recommended that his writing students read all philosophy and all literature before beginning their work, but also said that they could settle for reading Chekhov's oeuvre. For sheer knock-your-socks-off virtuosity, I'm partial to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated, the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, the poems of Byron, and the plays of Tom Stoppard.

 

[Aaargh]

Originally Posted by Makeshift_Robot

Do you want to read stuff you like, or do you want a cultural background? If you want to read purely for pleasure, I would say that there is no "must read". Trawl used bookstores, take chances, accept and read (or at least preview) everything anyone recommends to you. If you want to read for cultural background, you might do best starting with short stories. You'll get a sense of what Hemingway, Chandler, Garcia Marquez, etc. are about, but without the lengthy trawl of a novel. Don Barthelme recommended that his writing students read all philosophy and all literature before beginning their work, but also said that they could settle for reading Chekhov's oeuvre. For sheer knock-your-socks-off virtuosity, I'm partial to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated, the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, the poems of Byron, and the plays of Tom Stoppard.
Such lists could be made almost infinite but here are some of my suggestions: Maybe some of the classics, I'd consider The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius and stuff like that good things to read if you want to educate yourself. Kafka is another, more modern ,author that springs to mind.

 

[Rambo]

Just finished this:

Starting this:

 

[Jekyll]