| Most Recent Messages of Each Discussion |
Created by |
Re:Good Books and etc.
By the way--have you seen where they're comeing out with a movie of Hitchhiker's guide? It looks like it should be pretty good.
Cheers,
Mark
|
Language pair: English; French
|
|
Mark S.
April 23, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: April 23, 2005
|
Re:Good Books and etc.
Yahoo! Cheers for Harry Potter and Douglas Adams.
I have to say that I wished I'd stopped after the second or third book of the Hitchhikers Guide books -- it g to be too much of a good thing and wasn't really entertaining me after that. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, too. It was a shame, because Adams really had something special going there. I've rarely had such great fun in my life as I did reading the Hitchhiker's guide books.
As a reader who has gotten through The Sound and the Fury, I would argue that it is well worth the trip. Yes, it is outrageously difficult, but it is because Faulkner is doing a remarkable experiment with language -- in section one, putting us inside the head of an "idiot", in section 2 into the head of a profoundly sensitive and disturbed young man, part 3 into the head of a very angry, bitter man, and in part 4 into a more objective mind which has a little bit of distance from the Compson family.
There are a number of resources available to help: "trots", or books published which explain what is going on as you read through the novel, taking a course with this novel on the syllabus (as I did), or even searching for web sites on the Internet that offer guidance. One that many readers have found invaluable takes the first section and color codes each passage to show the time-relationships of the various events.
Don't give up too easy. You'll be glad you hung in there.
Best,
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA USA
Reply to message # 50300
Good Books and etc. Morgan Collins
Hey-lo! I'm currently reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. So far the books have been pretty good. Because there really isn't a conclusion at the end, you have to keep reading to figure out the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. One warning: If you ever decide to read any American writers, do not read the Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. The story is good, but his writing style may give you a headache! Much love to Harry Potter!
Language pair: English; French
Category: Books/Literature
|
Language pair: English; All
|
|
Mark S.
April 23, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: April 23, 2005
|
books
was that advice for me Lithium2 Toxicity ?if so thank you very much
and i will make it a point to go through it
|
Language pair: English; English
|
|
barun m.
March 30, 2005
# Msgs: 1
|
Laerning Turkish
Please can some one recommend a "TEACH YOURSEL TURKISH". I am a beginner, fluent in English and Urdu.
|
Language pair: English; Turkish
|
|
Momtaaz J.
March 25, 2005
# Msgs: 1
|
german books for begineers
hi, i am a non gold member and am new to this site.i would be very thankful if somebody could suggest to me what to read in german literature.i have learnt the language but am not being able to practice it as i do not find anyone near me knowing the language.
also it would be nice to talk to someone who could help me with the language.i could help with english as i am very good at it
|
Language pair: English; German
|
|
barun m.
March 11, 2005
# Msgs: 1
|
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
Part II
I love Shakespeare a lot (My favorite play is Hamlet--it's very intense, but it has a lot of really dark humor in it), and really, just about everything I’ve seen on “Great books” lists have really great things to offer. Dwyn, have you ever seen Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics? It may seem a little dry when you start to read it, but I also think you would really enjoy it, because Aristotle’s values are a lot like your own in many ways. You might find it kind of affirming and rewarding reading. There is some controversy around what exactly it was. Nichomachus was Aristotle’s son, so some scholars think it was a legacy for Nichomachus. Others argue that Aristotle didn’t exactly write it, that his students put it together out of their lecture notes after Aristotle died. But anyway, it’s Aristotle’s view of how to live a successful, happy life. He’s got a lot of great ideas, too. You might enjoy it.
We’ve finished studying "Gawain and the Green Knight," in my class, which was a lot of fun. Next week, we’re starting on "Phantastes," by George MacDonald. He’s a very interesting character, a 19th century writer whose reputation was that he wasn’t the greatest writer, but was an outstanding myth writer. His famous short-story, “the Golden Key” is easy to find on-line with a search engine. His mythic insights were evidently so profound, that he inspired people like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, to whom he was a personal friend. In fact, after reading “Phantastes” the first time, I was able to see certain ways in which his ideas had appeared in various places in “The Chronicles of Narnia” or “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Great fun.
Talk to you soon!
Thanks for a great topic!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA, USA.
|
Language pair: English; All
|
|
Mark S.
February 26, 2005
# Msgs: 6
Latest: February 26, 2005
|
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
I love books too! I would be almost happy to spend the rest of my life curled up in a huge library, just reading everything I could get my hands on. I have bookshelves in every room in the house, and a huge collection of all kinds of books: Children’s books, school books, language books, books in various languages. Old books and new books, novels, and books of poetry and short stories, and spiritual philosophy.
I'm not sure I would call them a panacea, but there is definitely a good book for any possible occasion.
Of your favorites, I’m afraid I only know Lloyd Alexander. A friend of mine who I met when I was in high school recommended his Prydain books to me, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. At that time, I was reading a lot of Anne McCaffrey and Piers Anthony. I loved Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide” books, though he tended to lose his touch as the series went on. I ate up C.S. Lewis’s books, of course, and I enjoy Anne Rice a lot. She has an amazing insight into human nature, and uses her various unnatural creatures—the vampires, mummies, witches, ghosts, and so on, to magnify certain human traits, so as to kind of see them under a microscope. I think she’s brilliant. And she and I graduated from the same college!
I’m a big fan of a lot of Science Fiction (it has to be thoughtful and meaningful—not a “Starship Troopers” kind of story that’s just a big fight with a lot of bug-eyed monsters—Heinlein wrote so many wonderful novels. Why did they have to pick the very worst one to make a movie out of?).
(See next message)
|
Language pair: English; All
|
|
Mark S.
February 26, 2005
# Msgs: 6
Latest: February 26, 2005
|
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
It really is. Thought it's not so exotic, I think, as it may sound. You can get it pretty much in any bookstore. It's written in Middle English, but it's easy to get really good translations into the modern English. Marie Borroff's "new verse translation" is really popular, and really easy to read. Penguin Classics has a more academic version that comes with lots of commentary and background information that may be a lot of fun if you're a lit person like me, but a lot of overkill if you're just interested in a unique and exciting adventure story. I recommend either one highly.
Hmm. That's strange. They don't have Middle English down as a language available here. What do you think? Have we just found number 116?
Tell me something about the books you have enjoyed reading.
Mark
Sacramento, CA
|
Language pair: English; All
|
|
Mark S.
February 20, 2005
# Msgs: 6
Latest: February 26, 2005
|
Re:You're welcome any time
As a graduate Lit major, I can probably recommend books to you from here to the moon and back again.
Maybe if you told me something about what you enjoy, we could narrow the field down a bit.
This semester I'm studying mostly Contemporary American Literature, so I've been reading Joseph Heller, Don Delillo, Saul Bellow and many others. Enjoying them all tremendously in many different ways.
My other class is one of the most exciting I've had. We started with Carl Jung and Joseph Campell, and now we're surveying a cross section of literature from Sir Gawain and the Green Night to Byatt's Possessions, which you may have heard they made a movie out of not too long ago.
One of my all-time favorites is The Little Prince, which I've read in English and in French.
Cheers!
|
Language pair: English; Spanish
|
|
Mark S.
February 18, 2005
# Msgs: 6
Latest: February 26, 2005
|
Re:French Literature!
BONJOUR fIONA,
je m'appelle Paul, je suis pére de famille,marié, 53 ans, et j'ai 5 enfants dont certains ont ton âge.
Je vais te proposer bientôt, si tu le souhaites,quelques livres qui pourront t'intéresser , notamment sur le terroir ( la campagne) du sud ouest ou du sud est de la France, plein d'humanité, simples dans le style.
Au revoir et à bientôt.
Paul
|
Language pair: French; English
|
|
Paul
February 16, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: February 16, 2005
|
