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| Labyrinth of the Mind |
Good idea gone wrongSometimes you get an idea, that you think at first will be a good idea, but you don't really think too far ahead, and than when you acutally go to do it, it turns out to be not such a good idea. And by than it is usually too late to go back.
Well I had come acorss this list called 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. And I love book lists so I thought it could be interesting, and I was looking through the list noting all the books upon the list I already read, or many books that I had wanted to read anyway.
So at first I think it will be fun to print this list out. Because I have an obcession with having lists, and well I love checking things off of lists. Though I was not nesscairly planning on trying to acutally read all of the books on the list, I thought it would be fun to check off the ones I have read, and see which ones I wish to read and check those off as I do, and such.
I go to print out the list not really thinking about it, and well as it truns out. 1001 books, makes for a lot of paper and printing, I do not know what to exepct, but I hadn't thought of that, but I did not want to stop after I was already in the middle of printing and waste what I just printed, so I printed the whole thing out but well it turned out to be a very fat list. Because on the website there were a total of 21 pages, which was not so bad, so I thought when I printed it out it would print like it was on the site.
But I did not think, that it there would be more books on a page on the website than could fit on a peice of paper, so for each one of those 21 pages on the website it printed 5 pages. But I have it now. 9:08 PM - 8/23/2008 - comments {0} - post commentWhat is the world coming too?I have recently joined up with this new book related website called Goodreads. A place where you can keep track of your books, read and write book reviews and join book discussion groups.
So I was bored and skimming through the different message board groups, and there are a ton of them for Twiligyt, and Stephenie Myers, I do not know how many of you have heard of her, but it is all the rage now. And they are books aimed at a teenage audiance.
And than I came across a book called Daylight, and it was a collection of pople that do not apporve of the Twilight series, and well I had mixed feelings about the group, becasue I agreed with them, but not for the same reasons.
What I mean is, well the Twilight books are all about vampires and this mortal woman who is in love with a vampire. So most the people in this group seemed very Christiny and not liking the books becasue of its dark aspects.
Now it goes without saying, that obviously that part of the books I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is when I was a teenager and in highschool I was reading Anne Rice.
Though I have not read any of Meyers books, from what I have heard of them, well I can say with good confidence that the writing of those books is no where near up to par with the writing of Anne Rice. Whatever you might think of her books and her, she was a good quality, talented skilled writer.
So I am against the popularity of the Twilight books becasue they are cheeseball crap. Becasue they are not good writing. I would say that her skill level of wirting is probably something I would have read in like middle school. But not up to the level of the things I read in highschool.
If I were to attempt to read her books, it would be like my attemtps to read Harry Potter, and I know a lot of older people enjoy the Potter books and I do not mean to put them down, only that you have to admit that the writing level is a bit simplistic becasue the books were written for younger people.
So I am against the populartiy of the Twilight books becasue I think teenagers should be reading things of a higher quality of writing. 4:04 PM - 8/20/2008 - comments {0} - post commentCatch-22I have recently finished reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it to be a very witty, clever, humorous and gritty book. One of the things which had caught my eye about this book was the style in which it was written reminds me of one of my favorite authors Tom Robbins. Heller's writing in Catch-22 is like a milder and saner version of Tom Robbins, but they have the same sense of humor. A sharp wit, with a dash of the random thrown in, to make you say huh? I also love the satire which they both offer up ruthlessly.
One of the things I loved about Catch-22, is that behind the humor I think you can still find truth, and in spite of the ludicrous that he salts upon the pages, Heller does not shy away from the cold hard truth and brings a sharp realism to the story. The book is about WW2 and normally I am not into war stories, but the great thing about this book, is that it was not so much about the war itself, it was not about some great heroic mission, or some historical event. It was about the people, it made the soldiers into real flesh and blood. It told the stories of their lives, featuring the unlikely hero Yossarian. It also reflect in humorous fashion both the incompetence and corruption of the military leaders. But as I have said, there is a true to life aspect to this book, so Heller does not stray away from the realty of death in the war, so towards the end particularly it does begin to get sad. But the characters are outrageous, and outlandish, yet vividly alive. Some you will love, some you will hate and some you will love and hate. 6:23 PM - 8/10/2008 - comments {0} - post comment100 Greatest Books ~ UpdateI came acros this list of what are considered to be the 100 greatest books of the 20th century, I decided that I would reach each of these books, here is the list of books I have read. The numbders in front of the title is the order they appear on the list. The * are a sort of 5 star rating system for how well I liked the book. I will also list if any the books I am in the progress of reading. TBA = To Be Announced
2.The Great Gastby * * * *
10. The Grapes of Wrath * * *
41. Lord of the Flies * * * *
45. The Sun Alos Rises * * * *
48. The Rainbow * * * *
64. The Catcher in the Rye * * * * *
78. Kim * * *
88.The Call of the Wild * * * * *
93. The Maugs * * * * *
21. Henderson the Rain King * * * *
69. The House of Mirth* * * * *
13. 1984 * * *
20. Native Son * * *
9. Sons and Lovers * * * *
31. Animal Farm * * *
3. A Portrait of the Artist As A Yong Man * *
58. The Age of Innocence * * *
15. To The Lighthouse * * *
25. A Passage To India * * * *
65. A Clockwork Orange * * * *
34. A Handful of Dust * * * *
84. The Death of the Heart * * * *
7. Catch-22 * * * *
Books in Progress:
The Ambassadors 6:45 PM - 8/9/2008 - comments {0} - post commentPersonal Reading List ~ Update*New books added
I have rather recently decided that I wanted to read more Non-English/American Liteature, so I asked for suggestions on the Lit. Forum I post at, and have complied a list of the books I want to look into. Some of which I have previously heard of before but never really gave a thought to or considered reading, but I have heard so much discussions and buzz about them, I thought I would look into it. Others I never heard of before, and just sounded really interesting. Though the list is lible to grow, here it is as it stands now:
Russian
War and Peace Fathers and Sons
Crime and Punishment The Brothers Karamazov The Master and Margarita Dead Souls
French
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Lover The Songs of Maldoror The Man in the Iron Mask The Three Musketeers
German
Beneath the Wheel
Kannitverstan An Episode in the Life of the Marshal De Bassompierre Lukardis Krambambuli Cardiac Suture The Message That Failed
The Bacherlor's Death Unexpected Reunion
The Picnic of Mores the Cat Zerline, The Old Servant Girl The Friend in the Closet A Little Legend of the Dance The Hussar The Glass Bead Game
Italian
The Baron in the Trees
Indian
One Night at the Call Center Five Point Someone The God of Small Things
Asian
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea Karka on the Shore Noweigian Wood The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle The Tale of the Genji The Peony of Love
Canadian
Not Wanted on the Voyage
Spanish
The Club Dumas
Portuguese
The Stone Raft
Austrian
The Damned Yard
Austrilian
The Republic of Trees
African
Two Thousand Seasons The Healers The Man Died Nervous Conditions Petals of Blood 12:18 PM - 8/8/2008 - comments {0} - post commentThe FountainheadI just finished The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and I loved it. I found the book to be truly fascinating, and I am obsessed with Howard Roark. This book easily now has found a place among my favorites. I never would have thought that I could find a book about architecture to be interesting, as such just is not a subject of interest to me, at least it never has been in the past, but The Fountainhead was amazing, and has now given me a new interest in architecture. Though I cannot expect anything else written about the subject, to come anywhere near this book.Because of this book I have also grown an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright, as it can be easily seen how Roark's theories of building very much parallel that of Wright, it was also said that Wright did not like to deal with people, Roark's personality seems to reflect Wright's. I know a lot of people disagree with the philosophy of Rand, but I myself do not find anything disagreeable about it, nor do I see why so many others have such an adverse reaction to it. Personally I agree with many of her ideas. I envy Roark, and aspire to have what he has. There were a few speaches within the book that I just thought were brillaint. 9:40 PM - 8/5/2008 - comments {1} - post commentReading List ~ UpdateHere is a list of books I am currently reading. I will keep it updated as I finnish books and start new books.
Cats Eye
The Initiate Brother
The Name of the Rose
The Tommyknockers
The Stone of Tears
People of the Earth
Caravan To Xanadu
The Fire of Heaven
The Ambassadors
Water for Elephants
The Jungle 9:34 PM - 8/5/2008 - comments {0} - post commentInternational Liteature ~ UpdateA while back I posted a list of books called My Personal Reading List, which was a collection of books gathered from the recomendations of others on Non-American/English liteature. So I thought I would post ratings and prehaps breif reviews about each of the books I have read from that list.
Anna Karnine ~ Tolstoy
Rating: * * * *
I found this to be a rather charming, though not nessciarly happy, and interesting book upon love and relationships, it is the story that looks at several different relationships, and how each individual previces there loves, and thier ideas about relationships, from the devoted faithful young couple struggling through marraige, to the adultress, and a devoted loving wife, with the womanizing husband. This book is very passionate and moving, but it also gives a rather realistic glimpse into life and love.
Madame Bovary ~ Flaubert
Rating: * * *
It starts out a bit slow and kind of dry, in the begining I did not find that the main characters really grabbed my attention. But the second part of the book it does begin to get intersting and the story picks up more. You are introduced to a new set of characters that I find to be all rather entertaining in someways even comical. It is a tragic love story of a young woman Emma who is discontent with her husband, a not very ambitious doctor who is content where he is, and spends most his time away working leaving his wife alone to day dream of a more exciting life.
The Metamorphosis ~ Kafka
Rating: * * * *
This is a bazzar story that is touched by both humur and sadness. It starts out in a rather comical fashion but as the story progresses it becomes more emotional, and yet still a thread of comody prevades throughout. The story is about a pool family who is being supported by thier son, Gregor. When one day Gregor wakes up to discover he had over night metamorphed into a giant insect. Not knowing what to do about him his family at first keeps him locked within his room and with his condition they begin to gradullay decline.
Death in Venice ~ Mann
Rating: * * *
The story is a bit tedious to read, particularly at the beginning, though it does pick up more as it goes along. It is a fairly slow moving story of a more physiological nature. The majority of the story revolves around the mind/thoughts/philosophies of Gustave, the main character. There is not a lot that actually happens in the story as far as physical movement goes. Gustave, who seems to be a man coming to his middle ages, is suddenly struck with the desire and need to travel, and so he goes to Venice, while there staying at his hotel is a Polish family, with a young lad with whom Gustave falls in love. Though he never actually directly approaches the boy, but becomes obsessed and fascinated with the lad and spends his days watching the boy from a distance. I thought that the ending of the story was very beautiful though sad.
The Stranger ~ Camus
Rating: * * * *
I thought this book was excellent. I could really relate to the main character who was the narrator of the story. He stood outside of the normal bounds of socity, and tended to go through life with a rather apathetic feeling. And tended to be emtionally distant. He ended up getting mixed up in some trouble because of a frined of his, and had to go to trial and during the course of the trail he was crucificed becasue he did not experince things in the way that was considered to be proper and normal, and socially acceptiable. As well the fact that he was an anthiest shocked and horrified others, and he was painted to look like some sort of inhuman monster. The book was marvelouslly written, and very provocative.
Youth, Beautiful Youth ~ Hermann Hesse
Rating: * * * *
The prose of Hermann Hesse is stunning and beautiful and it moves so fluidly. I love his work, and I always feel a connection with his writing, as if I truly understand where he is coming from, and as if his works speak to me. This was a wonderful story filled with rich flowing verses. The story is about a young man who was something of a misfit as a child, and as he began to enter manhood, set off on his own in the world. Now on Holiday he returns home a successful business man and has a breif moment to relive some of the moments of his childhood, as well as have some new expeirncess before he must set back out into the world again.
Mona Lisa ~ Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Rating: * * *
It starts out a bit slow, but than it picks up more into an interesting story, upon a subject that is often the topic of discussion, and wonder. Mona Lisa's smile. The story is set in the Renisance, in Florence which is occupied by the French. Becasue the King of France was a lover of art a troup of soiliders by a visit to Leanardo da Vinic, when one of the young Frenchman sees the Mona Lisa he falls in love instantly and demands to know the woman behind the painting. When he discovers the model was the wife of a Nobleman, who has been dead for 2 years, in his love he refuses to beleive she can be dead, and convinces himself of a conspiracy in which the beautiful woman is being held prisoner, and he must resuce her.
Rock Crystal ~ Adalbert Stifter
Rating: * * *
This story has a very fairy tale like aspect of it. In some ways it reminds me of Hanzel and Gretal, but there also seems to be a bit of Lovecraft in some elements of the story as well. Though it is not a horror story, it is more of a story of the sublime. It tells the adventure of two children who on thier way home from visiting with thier grandparents get caught up within a snow storm. It does read a bit slow particuarly at the beginning of the story.
Books in Progress:
TBA 1:41 PM - 7/27/2008 - comments {0} - post commentYouth, Beautiful YouthI think Hermann Hesse is a beautiful writer, and his passages are pure poetry upon the page. He also speaks to me on succh a deep emotional and spiritual level. I feel a connection to him through his words. I will never forget my experince of reading Siddhartha, and how deeply that book affected me, how much I was moved by it. I have recently been reading another story by Hesse, Youth, Beautiful Youth, and this passage really spoke to me. I think it is beautiful.
To be up and about outdoors at night, beneath the silent sky and beside quietly flowing water, is always mysterious and stirs the soul to its very depths. At such times we are close to our origins; we feel a kinship with animals and plants, feel dim memories of a primeval life before houses and town were built, when man, the homeless wanderer, could regard the woods, streams, mountains, wolves, and hawks as his equals and could love them as friends or hate them as deadly foes. Night also removes our customary sense of community life, when lights are no longer heard, one who is still awake feels solitary and sees himself parted from others and thrown upon his own resources.
2:29 PM - 7/23/2008 - comments {0} - post commentThe Short StoryI was bored so I decided to put together a list of short stories I have read, and than becasue I have nothing better to do at the moment, I decided to post it up here.
Edgar Allan Poe The Black Cat A Tell-tale Heart The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Gold-Bug Ligeia A Decent into the Maelstrom The Purloined Letter MS. Found in a Bottle William Wilson The Fall of the House of Usher The Cask Amontillado The Pit and the Pendulum The Masque of the Red Death The Premature Burial The Imp of the Perverse The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Hop-Frog The Angel of the Odd The Devil in the Belfy Loss of Breath Morella Shadow-a Parable Chekhov Anton Sleepy The Black Monk Gooseberries The Man in the Case About Love The Student Rothchild´s Fiddle D.H. Lawrence Sun The Man Who Loved Two Bluebirds The Shadow in the Rose Garden The Blind Man Witch A la Mode The Old Adam
Stephen Crane Maggie: A Girl of the Streets The Blue Hotel Bride Comes to Yellow Sky The Open Boat The Monster Henry James The Altar of the Dead The Beast of the Jungle The Jolly Corner An International Episode Daisy Miller The Turn of the Screw The Aspern Papers Herman Melville Bartleby The Piazza The Encantadas The Bell-Tower Benito Cereno The Billy Budd
Franz Kafka The Metamorphosis H.P Lovecraft Dagon Polaris Beyond the Wall of Sleep The Doom that Came to Sarnath From Beyond The Temple Thomas Mann
Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Mona Lisa 10:56 PM - 6/30/2008 - comments {0} - post commentMadame BovaryI just loved this passage from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
"I have a religion, my religion, and I even have more than all those others with thier mummeries and their juggling. I adore God, on the contrary. I believe in the Surpreme Being; in a Creator, whatever he may be. I care little who has placed use here below to fulfil our duties as citizens and fathers of families; but I don't need to go to chruch to kiss silver plates and fatten out of my pocket a lot of good-for-nothings who live better than we do. For one I know him as well in a wood, in a field, or even comtemplating the eternal vault like the ancients. My God! mine is the God of Socrates, of Franklin, of Voltaire, and Beranger! I am for the profression of faith of the Sayvoyard Vicar, and the immoratal principles of '89! And I can't admit of an old boy of a God who takes walks in his garden withy a cane in his hand, who lodges his friends in the belly of whales, dies uttering a cry, and rises again at the end of three days; things absurd in themselves and completly opposed moreover, to all physcial laws, which proves to us, by the way, that priests have always wallowed in torpid ignorance, in which they would fain engulf the people with them" 9:30 AM - 5/27/2008 - comments {0} - post commentThe Death of the HeartI loved this quote from a book I am currently reading, The Death of the Heart
Girls make a mistake in trying to be attractive in ways that simply lose them a man's resepct. 4:19 PM - 5/24/2008 - comments {0} - post commentSide NotesI like to do most of my book shopping in little mom and pop type bookstores that deal in the trading, buying, selling, of used and old books. For one thing I prefer giving my business to such places over big commercial stores, and they are good places to get classics, as well a lot of the books I read, are not like brand new books, but older books that have been around awhile, and plus, they are cheaper. It costs me the same to get like 3 or 4 books at one of these stores as it cost me to get one single book at a big chain bookstore. 6:39 PM - 5/11/2008 - comments {0} - post commentA Passage To IndiaIn A Passage To India there was this rather lovely description of a Hindu festival, and this particular passage had struck my interest and I quite liked it: 2:13 PM - 5/11/2008 - comments {0} - post commentWierdnessI am reading this book right now The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, it was also made into a movie, and for those whom are not familiar with the book or the moive, it takes place in this monostary in the Middle Ages, and it is a sort of murder mystery, it is really quite intriguing and interesting, but there are all these strange events happening. And these two monks, have been asked to investigate what has been going on, and find the answer. And there is all this dark mystery, and all the monks seem to have some hidden secerets, and sinster acts happening, and talk of the antichrist and other such things lurking about, ghots and demons and such.
Well often when I am reading a book, if it is an older book just out of currisitoy I went to check the copywright date of the book, and I acutally orginally thought the book was older, but than as I was looking, I discovered near the bottom of the page, the address of the publishing house was:
666 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10301
And well that is just one of those things that is quite odd 8:50 AM - 3/16/2008 - comments {0} - post commentLiterary Potty HumurThere is something kind of funny that I have noticed. I am an avid reader of historical fiction, as it might already be known, and there is one thing in which I have noticed through reading from a varity of different time periods, from a varity of different authors, and that is the fact, that there is a tendency for writers of Historical fiction to incoprate farting into thier works. Though it sounds like a joke, there are several instances of the mention of the word and chars preforming the act within HF books.
I posted something about this on the Historical Fic. Forum that I belong to, currious to see if others have encountered or noticed this tendency as I have, and there is one thing I have discovered which I find amusing.
In the same way that many people seem to be bothered by the mention of sex in novels, which does not phase me in the least, even if it is a bit grpahic, for some reason the occurance and mention of farting in my books I find quite unappealing and I do not see where it really adds anything to the story and I just as soon not read about it.
While many of the pople whom posted on the forum do not seem bothered by its mention, and in many cases find amusment in such.
It seems to be that the prupose of it, is to try and bring more reasilim into the stories. 3:58 PM - 3/6/2008 - comments {1} - post commentThe Fountainhead-DominiqueI just had to mention Dominique. In many ways she is like the female Roark I think, though there are also differences between the two. I cannot help but to like her in someways, and a part of me really does hope that she does not end up giving into to Peter's advances. I can really relate to Dominique's ideas, and feelings, that once she likes something she cannot bare the thought of it being a part of the world or of anyone else seeing it and being a part of it in anyway. Once she likes something she wants it only for herself. This is one of the reasons why she cannot or will not get married or get involved in someone, becasue if she found someone she really loved, she would not be able to stand it. She would just want to lock them away somewhere, becasue she could not tolerate knowing that the world had a part of them. I think she is destined to have an encounter with Howard Roark.8:26 PM - 3/4/2008 - comments {0} - post commentThe Fountainhead: Peter KeatingThough Peter Keating is without a doubt a bastard, I cannot say that I hate him, or even really dislike him, though I do not really like him either, in some ways my feelings toward him are neutral, if anything I think I feel pity or sympathy for him in some ways, but I still have the deep down desire to see Roark crush him. 9:28 AM - 2/28/2008 - comments {0} - post commentThe Fountainhead: Howard RoarkI have just recently started reading The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand and I have to say I have grown truly obcessed with this book. It is completely entrhalling and fascinating. Whenever I sit down to read, I just gobble it up. And can never stand to stop and pull myself away from reading it. I have just finnished Part 1: Peter Keeting, so I just had to share some of my thoughts on the book up to the point I have read thus far.
First of all I have to say I love Howard Roark, there is something about his whole manner, the way in which he is so disconnected with the world, and moves through it without giving a single thought to what others things, that is so highly appealing to me.
I do have some more I would like to say regaurding the character of Peter Keeting which I shall do at a later time. 5:01 PM - 2/26/2008 - comments {0} - post commentMy ObservationsThough my participation in Lit. Discussion forum, there is something I could not help but to notice. I do not know the reasons for it, or just what it means, if it really means anything at all, but I found it pesonally interesting, and it is what I have experinced.
It seems to me that people whom read different authors have very distinct personlaity traits. I read a wide range of different things so I have partkane in a vairty of different discussions of different books and authors on the forum, and this is what I happend to notice.
People whom read D.H. Lawrence tend to be very agreeable, they seem like a frinedly, and laid back group that are pleasent and ejoybale to hold discussions with. They are always very respectful, and beyond that they are quite nice and curtious. Though they do not always have the same opinons or persepctives, more then just resepcting the thoughts of others, they also encourage and welcome different ideas, even if those ideas may be different from thier own. They hold intelligent discussions that are a pleasure to partake in and have a very relaxed air, even when things can get quite philosophical.
Those that read George Orwell seem to be a tad more critical, but still very resepctful, and never really hostile. They may be a bit more forceful with thier own thoughts and opinions, they still allow others to disagree or provide a different persepctive without being personal or arugmentitive about it. And all in all it is still intresting and pleasent to partake in thier discussions and debates.
But those whom read Charlotte Bronte, and I should say Jane Eyre in paritcular, because that is the only thing of hers I have read thus far, so it is the only discussion of the author I have partook in, are very agressive. They are extrmely hostile to those that have differnet opinions, they are down right argumentitive and further more insulting to those that happen to have a different view point then they do. Thier debates seem to lack any real intelligence, becuase of the millitance in which they express thier views and seem to be just of the vien of I am right, and you are wrong, and anyone who disagrees with me is stupid, just using fancier words. I have made the decision to no longer attempt to partake in any of the Jane Eyre discussions even though I really enjoyed the book becasue it is just downright unpleasent. 3:35 PM - 1/25/2008 - comments {2} - post comment
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