This week's Saturday question is pretty generic, which doesn't mean it's boring. Once a month, generic subjects should have their own turn, too; just as often as the total WTFs.
What are your favourite books? Share your stories on them, explain why they're your favourites, provide links to them, quick reviews if you like. Recommend what you like to everyone else.
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My favourite books are the drenai series by david gemmell i love them so much. The charecters are reall and and aspirational my favourite charecter is waylander who is an assassain who is in conflict constantly with his past and the evil deeds he did and his strife to be good.
I love the images i have in my head of these charecters and triumps and tradgedies they suffered just beautiful.
Btw i would also like to share that last night i was listening to nidranda lades by john and during the untitled songs about half way though i saw dumbo the elephant from the disney film and he fell in a cocktail glass and broke it. I saw lots of other things aswell but can’t really remember them. i don’t take drugs or anything but the music was so intense it was awesome and i cried twice listening to the album.
also first comment whooo!
My favourite book is “The master and Margarita” (sorry if I didn’t write the title correctly).
I really love it because it has a wierd sense to it… It is interesting and amusing. And thought-provoking. Bulgakov is a genius.
“Veronica Decides to Die” is my second favourite book.
It’s hard to choose between these three books by my favorite author Arthur Japin (Dutch): (I’ll give the translated English title, so that those who want can look them up more easily) “In Lucia’s Eyes”, “The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi” and “The Surrender” (I don’t think this last one has been translated yet though). Why? I love his writing style, his precision and his ability to bring a character to life and these stories are beautiful too. I’m not such a fan of psychological novels in general, with the story mainly consisting of the character’s thoughts and no or few real events. I think Japin combines everything just perfectly, these three I mentioned are historical novels (which I in general love) but the main character’s feelings and thoughts are described a lot and precisely. They actually are a huge or the biggest part in the story. As I said, I love how he just seems to bring a character to life so easily. All three main characters of these three books couldn’t be more different from each other and yet he manages to make them so real, which I’m still amazed by.
I guess I won’t be able to really explain it, you’ll just have to read it yourself. Oh, and all three books got one or more Dutch literature prizes, for those who care.
Anyway, this is the English page on his official website: http://www.arthurjapin.nl/boekboek/show/id=71313 . I really recommend to at least take a look at the descriptions.
1984, animal farm (George Orwell), studies in pessimism, counsels and maxims(Arthur Schupenhaur), Capital I,II, and III (Karl Marx), Thus spoke Zarathustra, beyond good and evil(Freidrich Nietzche), the holy family (Marks and Engels), the little prince (antoine de saint exupery), Ludwig Fuerbach and german ideology (Marks and Engels)…and most of the atheistic books.
Two that came immediately up:
Like Water For Hot Chocolate by Laura Esquivel Culture, food and emotion all blended in a lovely read. Simple but so meaningful.
Don Quijote De La Mancha by Miguel De Cervantes. Many interpretations, infinite possibilities although there is specific meanings I still enjoy others’ views. Greatly addictive once you get the hang of it.
For me, the most enjoyable book in English literature is Wuthering Heights mainly because I fell in love with Heathcliff the novel’s antihero when I was very young. The sheer obsessional passion he has for Catherine Earnshaw is possibly the most romantic ever written, and considering it was written by the daughter of a Victorian curate who never married and died young makes it all the more remarkable. It’s not sentimental, it’s about violence, obsession, vengeance and no tv or film adaptation ever does it justice.
Completely different is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, definitely one of the most enduring novels of the last 50 or so years. I’d defy anyone to read the trial scene without emotion. Similar is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Also love David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green, the second one particularly reminds me of my childhood. Owen Sheer’s Resistance is also well worth checking out.
Favourite drama text (Shakespeare apart) is Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Mephistophilis, Lucifer’s right hand devil is probably the coolest demon ever created. I always imagine him to have really godlike long hair and he’s so clever!!
I could go on and on but I won’t. Spent most of my life around books, they’re like old friends.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace –
A book written about drug addicts, terrorists, tennis stars, and well, a number of things. It reminded of John Frusciante because it touches a lot upon the themes of withdrawal (both drug withdrawal and emotional withdrawal), depression, redemption, hope, and sadness. David Foster Wallace was a brilliant man, may he rest in peace, and the book is written beautifully. Like Frusciante’s music I couldn’t help but feel immensely connected to something real.
i love “Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson
Well, I love the Dexter series (Dearly Devoted Dexter, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark). I got into the TV series before I read the books. It’s pretty interesting rooting for a serial killer. I read the books to hold me off until the next season started, but I was finished with them in less than a month. It didn’t work. The fourth one, Dexter by Design, is out. I’ll have to wait a bit before buying it. Even though the books are different than the TV show, I think it’s great because it’s two different stories for a character. I’d love to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) books since I enjoy the show. I like anything that’s Sci Fi, mystery, thriller, and generally interesting.