board77

The Last Homely Site on the Web

MY 100 English Language Books

Post Reply   Page 2 of 2  [ 35 posts ]
Jump to page « 1 2
Author Message
Alatar
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 1:53 pm
of Vinyamar
Offline
 
Posts: 8273
Joined: Mon 28 Feb , 2005 4:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact: ICQ
 
Must be my approaching Midlife Crisis making me crotchety!

_________________

[ img ]
These are my friends, see how they glisten...


Top
Profile Quote
Axordil
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 3:16 pm
Not so deep as a well
Offline
 
Posts: 7360
Joined: Tue 11 Jan , 2005 3:02 am
Location: In your wildest dreams
 
Speaking as someone who went through one, the crotchety part sticks with you. In fact, one could argue it's what prompted my response to the list in the first place. ;)

I can see that if I posted something on a lark and someone took it too seriously, it could be annoying. But I really do blame message boards--if you or anyone else had posted that list here originally, would it not be expected that people would comment, dissect, and otherwise take it and run? Perhaps I don't get the different culture at FB regarding such things. If so, I have to say I prefer that of the boards.

Please accept my apology for coming off rudely--and my assurance that if I ever meant to be rude, I would be rather more obvious and direct about it. But I reserve that, as a rule, for people I dislike.

_________________

Destiny is a rhythm track on which we must improvise.

In some cases, firing the drummer helps.


Top
Profile Quote
Alatar
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 3:38 pm
of Vinyamar
Offline
 
Posts: 8273
Joined: Mon 28 Feb , 2005 4:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact: ICQ
 
:) :) :)

_________________

[ img ]
These are my friends, see how they glisten...


Top
Profile Quote
vison
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 7:49 pm
Best friends forever
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6546
Joined: Fri 04 Feb , 2005 4:49 am
 
Axordil wrote:
Speaking as someone who went through one, the crotchety part sticks with you. In fact, one could argue it's what prompted my response to the list in the first place. ;)

I can see that if I posted something on a lark and someone took it too seriously, it could be annoying. But I really do blame message boards--if you or anyone else had posted that list here originally, would it not be expected that people would comment, dissect, and otherwise take it and run? Perhaps I don't get the different culture at FB regarding such things. If so, I have to say I prefer that of the boards.

Please accept my apology for coming off rudely--and my assurance that if I ever meant to be rude, I would be rather more obvious and direct about it. But I reserve that, as a rule, for people I dislike.
Hah.

_________________

Living on Earth is expensive,
but it does include a free trip
around the sun every year.


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 7:55 pm
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
I liked it better when you were snarking at each other. :P

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
vison
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 8:05 pm
Best friends forever
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6546
Joined: Fri 04 Feb , 2005 4:49 am
 
Cut it out, Holbytla. :salmon:

_________________

Living on Earth is expensive,
but it does include a free trip
around the sun every year.


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 8:07 pm
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
No. :P

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Eruname
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 11:24 pm
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 8748
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 6:24 pm
Location: UK
Contact: Website
 
I've only read 11 on Ax's list. I believe only two of them I actually read by choice and the rest were required by school. :P Honestly I have no desire to read any of the rest of the books. I have very different tastes obviously. I'll stick to author's like Guy Gavriel Kay or Neil Gaiman.

_________________

Abandon this fleeting world
abandon yourself.
Then the moon and flowers
will guide you along the way.

-Ryokan

http://wanderingthroughmiddleearth.blogspot.com/


Top
Profile Quote
Amrunelen
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Wed 25 Feb , 2009 11:46 pm
wencherific
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 4401
Joined: Sun 27 Mar , 2005 4:26 pm
Location: been here before, going in circles!
 
Aaaah Kay. :D Have Tigana sitting on my shelf here waiting to go back to Ags in Holland. Thus far Lions of Al-Rassan has remained my favorite, though.

_________________

[ img ]

"Morning has broken and I have felt a presence that disturbs
me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of
something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the
light of setting suns, and the round ocean and the living air,
and the blue sky, and in the mind of man; a motion and a
spirit, that impels." -Wordsworth


Top
Profile Quote
Pippin4242
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Thu 26 Feb , 2009 3:12 am
Hasta la victoria, siempre
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 3978
Joined: Sun 13 Mar , 2005 7:49 pm
Location: Outer Heaven
 
Ax's list: 13
BBC list: 40
Fake BBC list: 31

This does not bode well for my attempted degree in English Literature. :P
I only counted the ones I actually finished, though...

-Pips-

_________________

Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.


Top
Profile Quote
Axordil
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Thu 26 Feb , 2009 4:06 am
Not so deep as a well
Offline
 
Posts: 7360
Joined: Tue 11 Jan , 2005 3:02 am
Location: In your wildest dreams
 
Quote:
I'll stick to author's like Guy Gavriel Kay or Neil Gaiman.
I like Gaiman. A lot. But Gaiman's non-graphical stuff is all post-2000 (except for Good Omens, which was a tag team with Pratchett), which for me means it's just too new to put into perspective. I do think Gaiman has it in him to produce something that would slide into my 2000-2050 list. :D

My list of "most fun reads" is not identical to my "100 books," trust me. :) I write genre fiction after all, so it's not like I'm all snooty about it or anything. I like a ripping yarn as much as the next person.

BTW--I actually wouldn't hold up my list as a "Read These Or Die" standard anyway, not even for prospective lit majors. It's idiosyncratic and is there more to tell you about me than to suggest you should follow in my footsteps. In that light, I think it would be more useful for people to come up with their own lists.

_________________

Destiny is a rhythm track on which we must improvise.

In some cases, firing the drummer helps.


Top
Profile Quote
Nin
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Thu 26 Feb , 2009 9:22 pm
Per aspera ad astra
Offline
 
Posts: 3388
Joined: Thu 28 Oct , 2004 6:53 am
Location: Zu Hause
 
I have read 30 of the original BBC list, 31 of the modified and 15 of Ax list. I should list once something like 50 to 100 German books I have read only to see how many of you know some. Anyway I liked the original BBC list best - because it had at least one German book.... Perfume....


1984 was published in 1948 as far as I know, hence the title.

Any reason you listed it in 1900-1945?

_________________

Nichts Schöneres unter der Sonne als unter der Sonne zu sein.
(Ingeborg Bachmann)


Top
Profile Quote
Axordil
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Fri 27 Feb , 2009 3:15 pm
Not so deep as a well
Offline
 
Posts: 7360
Joined: Tue 11 Jan , 2005 3:02 am
Location: In your wildest dreams
 
I have Orwell listed as a pre-end-of-WWII author because Animal Farm made the cutoff and I didn't want to split authors across the already arbitrary divisions. Graham Greene is in much the same situation, on the other side. Either could have gone either way.

_________________

Destiny is a rhythm track on which we must improvise.

In some cases, firing the drummer helps.


Top
Profile Quote
enchantress
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Tue 10 Mar , 2009 3:41 am
Sorcery in Action
Offline
 
Posts: 1406
Joined: Mon 24 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: Ontario
 
Read 15 from Ax's list (most were pre 20th Century for me :P). I think it was 26 from the facebook meme list. I can't be arsed to go through the real BBC one at the moment sorry :P

*quick cheer for GGK :toast: :banana: :D Enjoy Tigana Runey!!!!... and I do love Lions as well....*

_________________

Falling into Autumn... :)


Top
Profile Quote
eärendil
Post subject: Re: MY 100 English Language Books
Posted: Mon 15 Feb , 2010 5:17 am
citoyenne du monde
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 395
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 9:14 pm
Location: Emerald City or Munchkinland, Oz
 
As far as the lists are concerned
Ax's: 22
BBC: 36 (I thought it'd be more lol)
faux: 47 as more are French and as such part of the curriculum in secondary school such as Madame Bovary (boring...), Germinal (fantastic was reading it in history classes bad eari!) and Les Miserables (read it twice :D :D).

I can't believe there are two Steinbeck's though; I studied and hated both Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men :roll: but I guess it's a question of taste.

Rune, I am a Kay's fan myself having read his entire works and I have pre-ordered the book that will come out in March/April Under Heaven (can't wait, so excited). I was hesitant about Ysabel because it takes place in Provence and it is a place close to my heart (I spend all my summers there so I know pretty much every place he could speak of well enough). I was under a spell and read it in less than 3 days.
I absolutely loved how he re-introduced me to that piece of magical land and how he wove some characters from a previous story into this one. Like in The Last Light of the Sun he just evokes the mosaic made by Crispin at the very end of the Lord of the Emperor book. I enjoy every word this man writes and I have a very hard time choosing which of the books I prefer. I think I have a very soft spot for Tigana because of the memory thread and the nostalgia... and the depth of each character.

I wish you to enjoy it as much as I did ;)

_________________

I Endure in order to Reflect
Transcending Order
I seal the Matrix of Endlessness
With the Cosmic tone of Presence
I am guided by the power of Spirit

Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but
Because I knew you,
I have been changed for good


Top
Profile Quote
Display: Sort by: Direction:
Post Reply   Page 2 of 2  [ 35 posts ]
Return to “Literary Rambles: There & Back Again...” | Jump to page « 1 2
Jump to: