Literature - Ressurected (Fair warning of spoilers)

[ThaBenMan]

Never really been able to get into gothic novels. Tried Frankenstein, thought it was ok, but preferred Northanger Abbey which is a much more mundane satire of gothic novels. Well, it only satirised the bestsellers of the time, which were viewed as trashy entertainment for woman to pass the time between housework and squeezing out another member of the family. And yes, you just heard a man confess his liking for a Jane Austen book.

You would probably like a short story by Neil Gaiman, it's called "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire". It makes fun of all the tropes of Gothic literature. Pretty funny stuff.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

You would probably like a short story by Neil Gaiman, it's called "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire". It makes fun of all the tropes of Gothic literature. Pretty funny stuff.

I'm sure he could pull a Gothic satire off well, but I'm quite cautious of his novels. I adore his comics, but I didn't like American Gods too much. One of my main issues was with the length of it (which didn't seem sustainable to me) so I suppose that shouldn't be a concern with the story you suggested. I doubt it'll be as plain bitchy as Northanger Abbey, and it sounds more supernatural, but I'll look into it as it sounds interesting.

Re-reading Catch 22 is one hell of a ride.

And reading it for the first time isn't? I'm not a fan though (much prefer Slaughterhouse 5 for my disorientating WW2 literature). It's an impressive piece of acerbic writing, and I quite liked the final third of it, but it's so muddled and borderline repetitive that, for all it's artistic merits, I never really enjoyed it.

Also, graphic novels.

Much as I love some of the pulpier stuff, Maus is still the best one I've read so far. While it defies categorisation (although I like my tag of a post-modern, semi-autobiographical WW2 memoir)its a very moving tale, but with a much more accessible intellectual side than those of most comics. No obscure Golden Age superhero references here, there's a lot of depth to it but it's all self contained. Very personal, the fact that all the characters are represented by animals only makes them more emphatic.

Jimmy Corrigan's another good experimental comic. Another existential angst story, it's still unique enough in presentation and plot to warrant reading. Jimmy's a very pathetic, frustrating figure, but the comic shows how he is the way he is through flashbacks to his ancestors. Neither of the comics I've mentioned have great art, (Maus being quite rough sketches, JC having a very sterile, minimalist look) but they more than make up for it in other ways.

Everyone should read The Road by cormac macarthy

Quoting this, just because the point is worth restating until everyone has. Although my list of MUST READS is obscenely long.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

Also, graphic novels.

I've never actually read any. Considered it once or twice.

In that case, I'd strongly recommend V for Vendetta. A lot of people will say Watchmen, but I actually prefered V, mainly because I thought the story was much more interesting and believable. Also, V himself is just such a brilliant character it's hard not to like him; he's better than any of the characters in Watchmen.

Oh, and the graphic novel is better than the film, unsurprisingly.

The film was basically anti-Republican whereas the graphic novel was anarchy up the ass.

We3 is another one I recommend strongly. It's kinda like one of those "incredible journey" things, but with cyborg animal soldiers. I think it's a stand-out example of the medium specifically because the story's very visual rather than dialogue-oriented.

-- Alex

We3 is awesome, love it. And it's great for being short, too (just 1 volume).

If you're looking for some longer reads (and have the cash to burn), I'd recommend a couple multi-volume series' -

Y: The Last Man - A mysterious plague kills every male mammal on Earth, except for a wisecracking English major named Yorick and his pet monkey. They travel the world with a kickass government agent and a brilliant biologist to find the source of the plague and perhaps a way to restore the male population. But be prepared for cliffhangers and the desire to buy all 10 volumes at once.

Fables - All of the characters populating fairy tales and folk stories have been driven from their magical homelands by The Adversary, forced to live in modern day New York city (and a farm upstate, for the more inhuman ones unable to appear as normal people). Snow White serves as administrator of the Fable government, and The Big Bad Wolf is their sheriff and security officer. I've only read the first volume, but I can already see this becoming a big investment of my time and money (this one's 12 volumes, I believe).

Sorry if I inadvertently turned this into a "graphic novel" discussion, but I would consider these series to be as substantial as any work of literature.

Y: The Last Man is fantastic. I've been reading The Walking Dead as well, and I'm currently making my way through Preacher and Hellblazer, both of which are fantastic.

 

[Caitiff]

Also, graphic novels.

I've never actually read any. Considered it once or twice.

Re-reading Catch 22 is one hell of a ride. As a book it is hysterically funny, gut-wrenching, emotive, political, psychological, scathing, confusing and wonderful with one of the most enigmatic endings I've ever read.

Enormously critical of war and violence, I recommend it to everyone, though be warned that you'll need to pay attention to what you're reading as in places it cuts between what's happening and flash backs (re-occuring ones, you'll get it later) with just a line break, if that.

If you like Catch22 that much, I'd suggest Transmetropolition as a good graphic novel. It starts out as just pure unfocused rage, but once it gets going...so good.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Oh sure, you like Herodotus now, but you haven't had to read the Histories in the original Greek.

To be fair to the guy, the stories he has to tell are pretty entertaining, but the problem I now have with him is the same as I have with the Iliad: I associate it with work. Having to study Herodotus just about sucked all the joy out of it, which is a pity, because I would probably have quite enjoyed it otherwise.

Another sufferer of Greek literature as work. Good to meet you. *sigh* I can't read half of Plato without wincing and thinking of that stupid professor.

And it's even worse with the stuff I read in the originals Greek. Greek is a bastard to read I think and it's even worse if it's the epics. Or Ionic Greek. Stupid Herodotus. The easiest I've read in Greek was the Bible, but that's because of Koiné being so simple.

 

[Labyrinth]

If you like Catch22 that much, I'd suggest Transmetropolition as a good graphic novel. It starts out as just pure unfocused rage, but once it gets going...so good.

Rage is good. I like rage so I'll have to find this one.

Pertaining to 1984 I'm studying a book for English called The Handmaid's Tale. It's similar to 1984 but from the perspective of a 'Handmaid' who is someone living with a married couple for the sole purpose of bearing children. Enjoyable book despite some of the most convoluted sentences I've seen since Joyce.

 

[Whiskyjakk]

gotta train yourself away from bite-sized wisdom

Slogging through Hume and Machiavelli proves that I can. Christ they're slow.

Amen to Hume, I always struggle to get through his philosophy, but Machiavelli is up there with Sun Tzu for bite sized wisdom. The Prince is concisely divided into short, self contained chapters with a clear message for each! Discourses on Livy less so but probably a better read if you're patient with it.

 

[Xhumed]

Day of the Triffids- I'm currently re-reading it for the 4th time in 5 years- it is one of my very favourite books. In fact I recommend any of John Wyndham's books- Midwich Cuckoos and The Crysalid in particular, and The Kraken Awakes is pretty good too. He does an eerie, uneasy sense of menace and horror very well. DotT is my favourite though (and far superior to the film, which is fun bit of b-movie fluff.)

 

[Anachronism]

Another sufferer of Greek literature as work. Good to meet you. *sigh* I can't read half of Plato without wincing and thinking of that stupid professor.

And it's even worse with the stuff I read in the originals Greek. Greek is a bastard to read I think and it's even worse if it's the epics. Or Ionic Greek. Stupid Herodotus. The easiest I've read in Greek was the Bible, but that's because of Koiné being so simple.

I've not actually read any Plato, but do not get me started on Homer. His stuff was tedious enough to read in the English, let alone having to read the Greek text. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the Iliad as a great work of literature, but it's really not the sort of thing that I'd choose to read for its own sake.

 

[Galletea]

So I'm still making my way through my 100 classic literature collection on the DS.
I'd avoid The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thomas Hardy seems to spend far too much time describing insignificant detail and then spins an utterly depressing narrative. Not much fun to read.
Currently I'm reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. The book deals with the tale of this woman, taking the viewpoint of whichever character is best suited to divulge detail as a witness at the time. This makes for a fascinating read, maintaining interest in the narrative while giving various viewpoints upon each of the characters as the drama unfolds. Particularly interesting is the behaviour of the various women, and their relationships with the men.

 

[GPScorpio]

I recently acquired a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I haven't read it yet but would like to know your thoughts about it. I've gotten mixed reviews about it. Some of which say Ayn Rand wrote 1100 pages what could have been done in 100. Is this true?

 

[Labyrinth]

My +20 cloak of Nerdishness (woven from skins of defeated Half-Orc barbarians too) has been further validated by my recent acquisition of Starcraft Graphic novels. It's a step in a different direction for me, one who has never read a graphic novel before, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The art was excellent, with several different styles in each volume just as the storytelling was more compelling than I first expected. I didn't imagine I'd care for the characters, but in the end I did. Some of that may spring from my love of the game itself.

One particular theme was that of personal rights against the possibility of an overlord state/person/science/whatever. Many of the stories showed disillusioned characters fighting against this estrangement and taking a different approach to the whole "good vs evil" rigmarole which, frankly, dulls fast.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I recently acquired a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I haven't read it yet but would like to know your thoughts about it. I've gotten mixed reviews about it. Some of which say Ayn Rand wrote 1100 pages what could have been done in 100. Is this true?

Reading it was like having someone slowly removing his skin with a flensing knife. Rand is nothing more than an obssessive, right-wing hack who stole the philosophies of half a dozen other philosophers (Kant, Smith*, Voltaire, and some I fail to recall), stripped them of their humanity and set them up against a strawman whom was at once Stalin, Hitler and Captain Darling, and called it (the strawman) socialism.

In other news, it also includes some of the most pretensious monologues in the history of monologues, where the conveniently heroic characters spout Rand's philosophy, convenient voodoo technology comes to life in service of said conveniently heroic characters. Seriously, I think one of the monologues runs to well over one hundred pages at the end. I just skipped past that. The books are, frankly, inelegant, and their popular acclaim derived from the fact that Rand's philosophies are one's we are all (unconsciously) familiar with, and are stripped of anything or everything that might confuse, befuddle or require thought of the reader. In short, Rand takes philosophy, and turns it into pulp fiction and demagoguery.

Read it, keep an open mind, but don't automatically accept it as the truth. Healthy scepticism saves lives.




*Actually, Smith is both philosopher and economist, but she takes from both his works.




At the moment, I'm reading Goethe's Faust. Good times. I'd reccomend the following:

War/Sci-Fi: Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. An excellent look at future warfare from within. Extraordinarily bleak, violent and, quite frankly, numbing at times, but with a wonderful ending.

I am Legend: Having been one of the few people to read this book before the movie, I must reccomend the original. It has a great to say about man, and monster, and the temporary nature of life itself. I can't say more without spoiling it, but rest assured - the movie has nothing on this.

Macbeth/King Lear: Lust, Vengeance, Fury, Betrayal and Death. What more do you want?

Gulliver's Travels: Satire in perfection, an elegant look at the problems of both his times, and, at first implicitly and then more and more openly, an examination of the nature of mankind as a whole. Misanthropic ending.

 

[SamuelT]

I've heard that Dune and its sequal are good books, and A Song of Fire and Ice too. I've been meaning to pick it up, but my country won't supply me with it...

 

[Anachronism]

I'd avoid The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thomas Hardy seems to spend far too much time describing insignificant detail and then spins an utterly depressing narrative. Not much fun to read.

I felt much the same way about Tess of the d'Urbervilles. To be fair, it was well written, and did have a good, albeit depressing, story, but my main problem was that I could hardly sympathise with any of the characters. The only one I can sympathise with is Tess, and that's because her life gets ruined three times over the course of the novel.

The whole "all men are scum" angle did get to me a bit, as well. Angel is a hypocritical b*stard, and Alec... well. He raped her, and then convinced her to go back to him, even though she was married to Angel. So yeah, not a great guy overall.

That being said, I probably would have enjoyed it more if my copy hadn't had the entire plot printed on the back of the bloody book.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Well, since I JUST finished this book maybe I should write a mini-review. *clears throat*
open the Spoiler to read, too long

Spoiler

SPIRIT GATE by Kate Elliot

The story opens with a female eagle-riding agent of justice in search of answers. She discovers that the Guardians, immortal agents of justice and law, are gone and her fictional kingdom of The Hundred is now poised the edge of destruction. She, unfortunately, is captured by an evil lord and when he attempts to escape, is killed.
Her lover and fellow Eagle Reeve, Joss, mourns her death and takes the loss hard. He turns to drinking to cover his pain. Joss is one of the few Reeves left who is still incorruptible so he is sent on a mission to uncover the fate of a few Eagle Halls that have not reported in lately. Discovering an army moving through The Hundred he fears that the world is falling apart around him.

Elsewhere, far away from the Hundred is a small village in the desert. Here, Mai, a young girl almost a woman sells fruit on the street for her poor merchant family. She meets a young, dashing army commander and is swept off her feet by him and off on an adventure before she really knows whats going on. It is hard for her at first to come to grips with her feeling and what this journey entails. Soon, they are traveling secretly through the Sirinikan Empire. A religious empire where all others who do not worship their vengeful god and killed. Barely making it out, they arrive in the Hundred. Mai's husband now a traitor of the Empire he is forced to stay in the Hundred indefinitely.

Changing viewpoints yet again, it shows a young slave fleeing his master's estate to look for his young sister who was kidnapped at a young age by the priests of the Devourer, the goddess of pleasure, and trained to be a Hierodule one of this goddess's priestesses. The slave find his sister in the large town of Oloosi and together they plan to flee but not before her mission is complete. She was tasked by her temple to kill Reeve Joss for the corrupt Reeves of Argent Hall. She has a moral battle going no in her head between loyalty to duty and what she knows to be right. When Joss arrives in Oloosi after being chased away from Argent Hall, he is tricked and captured by the Town's guards and thrown into prison. Accused for killing a man he has not killed, Joss rots in prison while the girl ad her brother slip away. Halfway to freedom she turns back, with the aid of one of the most vile Reeves of Argent Hall, to "fulfill her duty". Instead she frees Joss from his prison, makes amends then reveals the merchant lord of the town to be conspiring with their enemy, the invading army, for his own personal gain. The girl then goes to "deal" with the corrupted Reeve she flew to town with to keep information from spreading.

Mai and her uncle Shai arrive in Oloosi and meet with Joss, deciding that the invading army needs to be stopped but Argent Hall needs to be removed first. Working out a plan, the loyal Reeves from "Clan Hall" (eagle reeve headquarters) attack the evil Argent Hall reeves and defeat them but only just. In the night, Shai and Mai's husband along with his troops invade Argent Hall and set up inside. At dawn when the Eagles return they are shot down from their own Hall. In Oloosi, Mai is in hiding with one of the wealthy merchant lords' houses as a guest. Where she makes friends with one of the girls and helps with her work during the day. She is taken there to protect her from the coming battles. She watches, from the distance, the oncoming army and also watches their defeat at the hands of the good guys. In the end, Mai discovers she is pregnant with her husband's child.

The Epilogue reveals what is going to happen in the next book, the Immortal Guardians still exist but they are divided, some good and some evil. And they are fighting for the salvation of not just the Hundred but the entire world.

It is a good book, I recommend it if you like fantasy.

 

[scotth266]

Garth Nix is my literature-based god. Shade's Children is just perfection in paper.

I also enjoy his Keys to the Kingdom series, though it gets a bit tough to remember the various terms from previous books after a while.

I've also enjoyed the Pendragon series, though it got quite slow and uninteresting in the middle books. Haven't read the last one yet, but I'll be grabbing it for sure to see how it all turns out.

If you're looking for a modern interpretation of Greek mythos, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is pretty decent, though you'll be pained by how oblivious the protagonist can be at times.

My +20 cloak of Nerdishness (woven from skins of defeated Half-Orc barbarians too) has been further validated by my recent acquisition of Starcraft Graphic novels. It's a step in a different direction for me, one who has never read a graphic novel before, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

If you're interested in more graphic novels, I can share some recommendations. 30 Days of Night is a VERY dark vampire story, and is visually slick. If zombies are more your style, there's The Walking Dead: a group of novels about life in the undead apocalypse done in a black-and-white art style.

If your tastes are more towards something else, let me know: odds are I've read something you'll enjoy.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

I didn't know people were still surprised by how depressing Thomas Hardy is.

The whole "all men are scum" angle did get to me a bit, as well.

Don't ever read Tehanu then. A feminist re imagining of an iron age fantasy world gives any indignant modern woman a lot a fuel.

I am Legend: Having been one of the few people to read this book before the movie, I must reccomend the original. It has a great to say about man, and monster, and the temporary nature of life itself. I can't say more without spoiling it, but rest assured - the movie has nothing on this.

Macbeth/King Lear: Lust, Vengeance, Fury, Betrayal and Death. What more do you want?

Agree completely, although I'd extend that to all Shakespeare. I've never seen the film of I am Legend, as from what I heard it completely misses the point of the novel. Fantastic book though doubly impressive considering it's short length. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person in the world with an interest in reading Faust too (although admittedly, I only became interested in it after hearing about the game based on it).

The Walking Dead: a group of novels about life in the undead apocalypse done in a black-and-white art style.

I didn't really think that much of the artwork after Moore left. I stopped reading it soon after. The artwork is still reasonably good, but I just much preferred it in the first six issues.


Ok, my contribution on something I recently read: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Probably one of the most bizarre books I have ever read. An Oedipal quest combined with a bizarrely metaphysical murder mystery with a post-modern love of trickery and referring to other literary works. It plays around with the traditional notions of metaphors, it becomes impossible to trust anything. Riddles are posed, but never answered. A mind warping, incredibly coy book. It's surprisingly unpredictable despite the inevitable fulfilment of Oedipus' prophecy. I can't really describe it adequately but it's a remarkable read.

 

[Syntax Error]

I'm not really into reading novels, but I borrowed my cousin's American Gods and Anansi Boys on her recommendation. I've read some of Sandman, and what I saw was particularly cool. Otherworldly and surreal, but does not really alienate you if your imagination can't keep up.

Anyway, I read American Gods first. While it's all good because of mostly the mythology parts (I've always had a thing for obscure gods and deities from cultures from all over the world), some of it was lost to me, just because of the setting: A tour of America starting from a Prison, all the way to the "Center of America", wherever that is. There are some instances where I just can't relate (if it isn't obvious by now, I'm not from America, and know very little by way of tourist spots there). I loved the characters, though, especially Mr. Wednesday's tendency to play Jedi mind tricks on most of the women he encounters. From the get-go you get the vibe that the protagonist, Shadow, is something more than he really is but it was never really revealed (read the Monarch of the Glen in Fragile Things to find out). After each chapter, there are also stories within the story: descriptions of how the Gods were introduced to America through her early inhabitants. These were easily as compelling as the main storyline, to say the least. One reminder though, immediately after the first chapter, there's a hooker named Bilquis.

Spoiler: You will wish for brain bleach if you click this

She ate a man through her rollerskates while doing the nasty. Said man was worshipping her all throughout, at her request.

Anansi Boys, on the other hand, starts out with a cheery old man dying while singing in some bar. Flash to London, where Fat Charlie (who isn't really fat, but because any name his father gives to something has a tendency to stick) receives a call from someone he knew while he was still living in America. From there, things quickly go to a downward spiral for him.

Spoiler: spoilarz

The brother he did not know of set up shop in his closet (more like a tropical paradise than a closet), cost him his job, and to add insult to injury, stole his fiancee. Needless to say, he felt he needed to evict his brother from his life.

I enjoyed this one more than American Gods, because of the plight of Fat Charlie and the measures he goes to in order to remedy them (usually resulting to more problems for him and everyone around him).

Never really been able to get into gothic novels. Tried Frankenstein, thought it was ok, but preferred Northanger Abbey which is a much more mundane satire of gothic novels. Well, it only satirised the bestsellers of the time, which were viewed as trashy entertainment for woman to pass the time between housework and squeezing out another member of the family. And yes, you just heard a man confess his liking for a Jane Austen book.

You would probably like a short story by Neil Gaiman, it's called "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire". It makes fun of all the tropes of Gothic literature. Pretty funny stuff.

And that one is also on Fragile Things, IIRC, it's a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman. Currently reading through it while waiting for my professor during consultation periods. Also, there's a short story there where the world of Sherlock Holmes crossed with Cthulhu mythos. Needless to say, that came as quite a surprise.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Also, graphic novels.

I've never actually read any. Considered it once or twice.

In that case, I'd strongly recommend V for Vendetta. A lot of people will say Watchmen, but I actually prefered V, mainly because I thought the story was much more interesting and believable. Also, V himself is just such a brilliant character it's hard not to like him; he's better than any of the characters in Watchmen.

Oh, and the graphic novel is better than the film, unsurprisingly.

I liked the film, but Alan Moore hated it so much he had his name taken off the credits for Watchmen.

Anyway, I'd advise MAUS, as that is an astonishingly good book, and is extremely truthful as well. Also, it is commonly thought of as the book to read if you want to get into graphic novels. However, it can be fairly gruesome at points and is about something very depressing.