Meme - Get Bookish!

[indira14]

Gacked from hungrytiger11

BOLD the books you have read.ITALICIZE the ones you’ve heard of/only read part of. The BBC says if you've read more than seven, you've read more than the average person.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Ring s- JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird

Comments

[maekala]

Either of the books by Orwell would be good, quick reads. I read each in a single sitting. But, as you might expect with the subject matter, they are kind of dark. A good friend of mine could only read a chapter at a time of 1984 and then had to listen to The Messiah just because it disturbed her that much. Personally, I think that was a bit overboard, but I really like dark, penetrating books like that. Lord of the Flies is the same way. That one took me a bit longer, but is worth it. All three will definitely make you look at your fellow man a bit warily for a day or so.

[indira14]

Yes, I've heard of 1984 often enough know it's a dark book, but was very skeptical about Animal Farm. The title really doesn't radiate that "dark" feeling, if you know what I mean.

I really like dark, penetrating books like that - that makes two of us then. The problem is, books like that aren't exactly the most common, and while some authors do promise to put themselves in the "shoes of a monster" *hinhint*, not all of them sincerely follow through. -.-

Funny, how I've never heard of Lord of the Flies seeing as I am a self-proclaimed connoisseur of psychologically stimulating books. :/

Anyway, thank you for your input - both of George Orwell's books have made it to my "Must read" list! :D

[000_hester_000]

The His Dark Materials series is pretty good... or at least, the first two are. The third book gets sort of stupid and is more about the author's opinions on religion than the actual story. Imho.

Also from that list: Lord of the Flies. I loved that book.

Also, I am so stealing this meme.

[syrraki]

The His Dark Materials series is pretty good... or at least, the first two are. The third book gets sort of stupid and is more about the author's opinions on religion than the actual story. Imho.

XDD so glad i'm not the only one that feels this way.

Lolita is a pretty interesting book. I'd highly recommend it.

I couldn't get through Anna Karenina myself, but I couldn't get through Far From the Madding Crowd or Wuthering Heights either, so you might like it!

[hungrytiger11]

I love the first two books of His Dark Materials. The third book does get clunky though it is still a good read.

[dazelnut]

Well I kinda agree. The third may be my least favourite, but in a sense it's also the most interesting. I think it's less conventional and deeper.

[araine]

1. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
... is OK, in my opinion. If you like the Bronte sisters style, which is pretty perfectly summed up in this Hark, A Vagrant

[indira14]

Hey you~! Why haven't you posted anything in so long? D:

I prefer Miss Austen's style over the Bronte sisters', actually.And I just came back from that link you gave me, and god, that's just so hilarious! And I don't know about Charlotte Bronte, but yes, Emily Bronte did romanticize a lot of Heathcliff's dark cruelties (Just in case you don't know, Heathcliff is the main male protagonist of Wuthering Heights) and I never did figure out why my female friends found him so appealing... or why my guy friends found him so awesome. -.-

(I'll refrain from commenting on Jane eyre's character, since I haven't read her for myself yet. I'm going to, today.)

And yup, I've already decided to buy 1984 and Animal Farm by next week!

Lolita - Oh yes! I'll be reading this book as soon as I get my hands on it. I'm looking forward to it, actually - I do adore KakaSaku, so I shouldn't have any problems reading this

[margotheangel]

I'm here from your request on bookish.

I won't bother with the titles you've bolded, since it looks like that means you've read them already.

I like everything by Tolkein. Jane Eyre is pretty similar to Austen (and to Wuthering Heights, which I didn't like as much) - if you like her books, you should give it a try. (I love all of Jane Austen's books.) To Kill a Mockingbird is pretty good. 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World are good, but there are only so many dystopian novels one person needs to read. The Pullman books are good - they're fantasy, and you probably actually have heard of them - the first one (The Golden Compass) was made into a movie a year or two ago. I liked Little Women, but I really enjoyed March, by Geraldine Brooks - it's a companion novel (published very recently) of the same story, from the father's point of view. I quit reading Catcher in the Rye, and I very rarely put books down. The Time Traveler's Wife was good, and is the first book on this list that's really recent lit. Gone with the Wind was okay

[indira14]

Ah, thank you~! It's always nice to know that people are willing to help!

And WOW. I'm impressed - as in, really, really impressed! *_* You seem to have read a lot!

I'd agree to all of your views about the books you've mentioned, except for maybe Lolita. I'm guessing this book is a bit dark, bit unconventional and I have a oencnat for those sort of books. I wouldn't condne paedphilia, but I've been in fandom long enough to read some amazing psychological fanfictions from carious authors, centering on the subject of paedophilia itself, so I'm not too concerned. Paedophilia is not romantic, I agree, but then again, I don't care much for romance anyway.

Anyway, I was wondering if Ulysses was longer than Gone with the wind,since you say it's supposedly impossible to get through. Length, you see, is a big factor when I choose to read a book because I fail spectacularly a time management! -__-

[margotheangel]

Yeah, I was always a reader, but I went a little nuts with reading last year. My grandmother was an avid reader, and she died last February. When we were cleaning out her apartment, I found a list of all of the books she'd read since 1970, so I started reading some of the books she liked, and somehow I ended up reading 124 books last year.

I guess my frustration with Lolita was that it had always been billed as a romantic love story, and it really seemed to be this rambling story about a guy who was sort of obsessed with a girl (who, yes, did happen to be quite young). So although I didn't like the pedophilia, I also disliked the story in general - the one-sided obsessive love story was just as unromantic as the fact that it involved a twelve-year old. But for every book I love or hate, I'm sure I could find someone who completely disagreed - you should read it and decide for yourself. I'd be interested to know what you think of it.

I haven't actually read Ulysses, but Amazon lists it at 556 pages, whereas GWTW is almost twice that

[tanglewoodscrt]

Wow! I've actually read 30 of those - cool :)

Anyway, with regards to your question, I would go for 1984. It's comparatively short, it's easy to read but still packs a punch and the others I know from that list are far more of a slog.

Of the books from that list that you don't know, I've loved 9, 16-19 and 37.

[indira14]

Cool, indeed. :) It's rare that I can talk to a person who's even more of a book fanatic than I am, no offense.

And yup, 1984 has already made it to my "Must read" list - I'll be going out to but it as soon as I receive my tutoring salary for this month. *is excited*

His Dark Materials sounds like it's an interesting read, but I'm not sure whether the local bookstores have it in stock. :/ I've heard of JRR Tolkein and Khaled Hosseini, of course, but I've never eard of any of their books (TLoTR being an exception).

[tanglewoodscrt]

I wouldn't get too excited about Tolkien. I love the hobbit because it was one of the first "real" books I read as a kid, and it's better than LOTR but it's still quite a slog. The rest of Tolkien is just as dry and slow paced, but without nearly so good a story behind it, so I'd stay clear of the Children of Hurin / The Silmarillion and the like. If you fancy some Hosseini then I would say A Thousand Spelendid Suns outstrips his debut novel.

[indira14]

I think I'm starting to get what you mean. I spent the last two days off reading Jane Eyre and The Lord of the Rings (which I borrowed from the friend who's reading Anna Karenina). And you're right - the pace is unbearably slow but I'm still hoping the plot and characters will make up for it. I'm still trying to find Mr. Hosseini's works at my local bookstores, unfortunately, they seem to be quite rare (that's an understatement - all I see in bookstores these days are HP, Dan Browm and *shudders* Twilight).