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Post by tzarine on Jun 29, 2020 15:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 29, 2020 17:51:25 GMT -5
Well THAT's an interesting list.
1) I'm really surprised at how many Surrealist books/plays are in there, titles I haven't thought of since my big Surrealist literature binge in the 80s.
2) "Gone with the Wind"? wtaf. Do they like it because it's exotic or something? Yuck.
3) I remember reading "Our Lady of the Flowers" on the bus long ago and this guy across the aisle from me asked what it was about, and all I can remember is that the chapter I was on was just remarkably obscene, so I ended up telling the guy how Genet wrote it in prison on paper bags, which I think I remembered correctly at the time.
4) Now would be a good time to finally get around to reading Proust, wouldn't it, since I wouldn't have to schlep it on the bus. (My copy is a giant hardcover brick.) I bought it at some used bookstore decades ago and have just carried it around ever since. Maybe after I finish "Message from the Eocene." Maybe NOT, though. Just seems like too much work.
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Post by Oweena on Jun 29, 2020 21:34:19 GMT -5
That survey/list is from 1999, so not exactly up to date, and compiled from readers of Le Monde (so likely French speakers). I like this list: thegreatestbooks.org/ |
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 30, 2020 5:20:15 GMT -5
Dunno, I loved that there was all that Surrealist poetry in the French one. And again they trot out "Gone With the Wind," which needs to be Gone With the Old Book Lists. And this one has "Catcher in the Rye," which I hate violently, so that's negative ten points. But it has "Orlando," so that redeems it, but how can they rate Catcher in the Freaking Rye above Orlando??! Feh. And Ayn Rand is on there, so uggggggghhhhhhh
I have Opinions about books, I could go on a rant here (both pro and con) about both lists.
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Post by tucano on Jun 30, 2020 5:23:40 GMT -5
One Hundred Years of Solitude is my least favourite Marquez book. Give me Love in the Time of Cholera any day.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 30, 2020 5:26:26 GMT -5
One Hundred Years of Solitude is my least favourite Marquez book. Give me Love in the Time of Cholera any day. I agree with that opinion! |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 30, 2020 5:29:02 GMT -5
I’ve read ten, seen a couple more as movies, but have never heard of about a third of those.
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Post by tucano on Jun 30, 2020 5:29:41 GMT -5
Also, from the 2nd list, I had to read Gargantua in French for a uni course and well, I guess it taught me a lot of French insults.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 30, 2020 5:35:56 GMT -5
I think a lot of those lists are of Important Books - but I think Important is different from Great books. Important books are technically complex, pushing the boundary of what literature can do, but not always something that you come out of transformed or elated (criteria I use for Great books).
I've read a number of those things because I went through periods of thinking I wanted to be an Intellectual so that meant reading Difficult Books on the bus... but I don't think it benefited my thinking or well-being, it just means that I can read a list like this and say "ah yes, Céline, I've read that" and then tick it off.
But then some difficult books are also great (like Orlando) so I won't argue with that.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 30, 2020 5:38:16 GMT -5
And 29 of the first hundred on the second list, which seems much more relevant to English speakers.
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Post by Oweena on Jun 30, 2020 16:49:29 GMT -5
'Reading Difficult Books on the Bus' would make a great Twitter handle.
And then you post your reviews.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 30, 2020 17:00:06 GMT -5
What a great idea! Whenever I manage to go on a bus again....
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Post by tzarine on Jul 15, 2020 21:32:57 GMT -5
love love love orlando
have given so many copies as gifts
also catcher in the rye
holden's ny adventures really made this la kid want to come out
loved duras' the ravishing of lol stein
but the lover is something else
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Post by weeg on Jul 17, 2020 4:47:27 GMT -5
I don't really like long books, so I've barely read any of the great russians. I also have no time for Dickens or the awful Brontes, having suffered them enough in school.
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Post by Liiisa on Jul 17, 2020 5:36:02 GMT -5
I HATED the Dickens I read in school. But then I hated nearly all the books we read in school... only time I ever liked the books I had to read in English class was in senior year when I was able to do an elective segment on science fiction. Well ok, I think I liked "The Great Gatsby."
I only became interested in reading "difficult books" when I was in my 20s and was hanging out in an arty crowd and feeling ashamed for never reading any of the important works of modernism, at which point I went overboard, of course, since that's how I roll.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jul 17, 2020 7:04:40 GMT -5
I don't really like long books, so I've barely read any of the great russians. I also have no time for Dickens or the awful Brontes, having suffered them enough in school. Exactly. I tried several times before I got through Wuthering Heights. I might move to longer books when I retire. I’ve found some I really want to read are great as audiobooks, but then I have several ten hour road trips each year. |
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Post by tzarine on Jul 17, 2020 16:03:50 GMT -5
i always liked tender is the night more than gatsby
love love love wuthering heights
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