My top ten books of all time (in order)

At the moment my list would look like (not in particular order - just the ten I'd recommend to anybody...) 1. King of Elfland's Daughter 2. The Dispossessed 3. Flowers for Algernon 4. Lord of the Rings (what did you expect? The Spanish inquisition?) 5. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy 6. Master and Margarita 7. Dead Souls (not sure about the English name - Gogol's classic) 8. Dracula 9. Winnie the Pooh 10. Player of Games (AND Consider Phlebas) Hmm... quite a sf-fantasy - heavy selection, I must admit... personally, I prefer short stories and poetry.

1) Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon -- Ten years ago I was on a 36 hour bus trip and picked this book up to read on the way. I've read it 6 times since. Now that I think about it, maybe it's time to read it again. 2) Intelligent Agents by Timothy Leary -- I was 14 when I found this book. Opened my mind to the idea that science fiction was now. And that people could shape their own destinies and spin lives of wild fun, brilliant thinking and playful pranksterism. Also introduced me to the SMI(2)LE acronym. Space Migration, Intelligence Increase, Life Extension. The founding slogan of my current philosphies 3) Alice in Wonderland (and the rest of Lewis Carroll's works) - set the standard for imaginative heights. 4) Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson - Read it in one night and felt like I was tripping when I was through. Resonated through my mind and put into focus many half-formed ideas already percolating in my head. 5) Ham on Rye (and the rest of Bukowski's works) - brought me back to earth. 6) Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick -- Led me to the rest of Dick's works. The greatest fantasist of the 20th century. Way ahead of Baudrillard and Dennet. 7) 777 by Aleister Crowley -- See Intelligence Agents above. 8) Various essays by William Burroughs -- pragmatic linguistic shamanism 9) Collected short stories of Robert Sheckley -- Underrated SF author. Check out his short stories from the fifties. Now writing 'novelizations.' 10) Huckleberry Finn -- ...Well, then. . . I reckon I'd rather go to Hell. Since that's where all my friends are going to be. Books I wish I'd read Korzybski's Science and Sanity Joyce's Finnegans Wake Dante's Inferno Blake's Heaven and Hell Madame Ovary etc., etc., 100000x etc.

If you like Bukowski, be sure to check out Jan Hoiberg's website. He's nuts about Bukowski and he runs his site for the Band here on the Spring. You can get to his home page from the Band site we'll be putting up here in a few days: http://www.theband.com Maybe you can encourage him to pump up Bukowski coverage and we could do a special site for that.

Yes, some books to recommend: The Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson - the Finnish equivalent to Winnie the Pooh. Really great stories. Check the home page at: http://www.exit109.com/~fazia/Moomin.html

Well, I don't know if I'll get to ten, or if I can give them in order, but here are some favorites: 1. Plato's Republic (yes, this is, in my opinion, the best book ever written). 2. Spinoza's Ethics (close to number 1O. 3. King Lear (I could save space by inserting the collected works of Shakespeare). 4. Stendahl's The Charterhouse of Parma 5. George Eliot's Daniel Deronda 6. Pride and Prejudice 7. The Green Kingdom by Rachel Maddux (yes, I know that Maddux is an unknown, but this really is a remarkable book). 8. The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt (should be higher on the list). 9. The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs 10. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville 11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 12. "As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams" by Lady Sarashina (stories and poems by a woman of Heian Japan). 13. The Root and the Flower by L.H. Myers 14. The Duino Elegies by Rilke

Why is the Republic the best book ever written in your opinion?

OK, here goes: 1. Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset. 2. Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton. 3. Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust. 4. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen. 5. Death Comes for the Archbishop (or anything else by Willa Cather). 6. Mme. Bovary, Gustave Flaubert. 7. Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald. 8. Delta Wedding, Eudora Welty. 9. Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenter; JD Salinger. 10. The Awakening, Kate Chopin. Whew! I didn't know if I was going to make it to 10. I almost panicked there for a minute...

Why not? 1. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) 2. The Winding Stair, and Other Poems (Yeats) 3. You Can't Go Home Again (Wolfe) 4. Letters from the Earth (Twain) 5. A Pen Warmed Up in Hell (Twain) 6. Farewell, My Lovely (Chandler) 7. On the Road (Kerouac) 8. Walden (Thoreau) 9. Ulysses (Joyce) 10.The Tower (Yeats)

1. Joyce, Ulysses 2. Proust, A La Recherche de Temps Perdu 3. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales 4. Cervantes, Quixote 5. Sterne, Tristram Shandy 6. Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre 7. Austen, Emma 8. Flaubert, Bovary 9. Dickens, Bleak House 10. Tolstoy, War and Peace Honorable Mention Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov Faulkner, Light in August tied with East of Eden Fowles, A Maggot Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Austen, Mansfield Park Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Wow! Terry -- this is quite a topic! Here is my list: 1) The First Circle - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn 2) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 3) Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen 4) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 5) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo 6) The Morte D'Arthur - Thomas Mallory (Middle English version) 7) Rabbit At Rest - John Updike 8) Rabbit Is Rich - John Updike 9) Persuasion - Jane Austen 10) Cancer Ward - Solzhenitsyn ===

Um, sort of kinda (for now) 1. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (ok, always this one, always no. 1) 2. The Last Unicorn - Peter S Beagle 3. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson 4. The Divine Comedy - Dante 5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 6. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M R James 7. The French Lietenant's Woman - John Fowles 8. The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara 9. Immortality - Milan Kundera 10. Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay Ten is not enough - I could do 10 favourite collections of poetry.

Please do, I'd love to hear this list! Specialized top ten lists are welcome, eg. top ten romance novels, etc.

I love Immortality by Kundera! I also forgot to mention IVANHOE by Scott!!

Amy, I'd noticed that ommission! Okay, top ten poetry books - forgetting The Divine Comedy which I should have included here, but lets not get pedantic. 1. Emily Bronte, tied with 2. A Shropshire Lad/Last Poems/More Poems, A E Housman 3. Emily Dickinson 4. Christina Rossetti 5. Thomas Hardy 6. WB Yeats 7. Swinburne 8. Percy Bysshe Shelly 9. Sonnets, Shakespeare (whoops, almost forgot) 10. Thomas Wyatt Yeah, I cheated. Assume these are collected works unless otherwise specified.

Assuming, too, that these are collected works: 1. W.B. Yeats 2. Emily Dickinson 3. Robert Burns 4. John Keats 5. W.H. Auden 6. Walt Whitman 7. John Donne 8. Algernon Swinburne 9. T.S. Eliot 10.Percy Shelley Hon. Mention to Tennyson, Byron, Housman, Pound, Wordsworth, (Dante) Rossetti, Dowson, and Wallace Stevens. Oh, and Charles Baudelaire, and Arthur Rimbaud... Oh, hell, and Thomas Hardy, too ("A Broken Appointment" kills me)... I obviously lack self-discipline... (sorry)

Terry, I was glad to see you enjoyed Proust too--and obviously not in translation. So how about a French conference where we can sharpen our language skills? I bet I'm not the only one who's rusty around here.

I also nominate A.S. Byatt's POSSESSION; Saul Bellow's HUMBOLDT'S GIFT; Alexander Dumas' THREE MUSKETEERS for sheer fun value; Thackeray's VANITY FAIR; the collected short stories of Harlan Ellison & Ray Bradbury; Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS; MACBETH; LEAR; CANTERBURY TALES; PARADISE LOST.

Picnic at Hanging Rock? Wow, quite a book and, according to my enthusiastic Mom, quite an Australian film, too (never seen it myself...)! Wish I could see it... OK, here�s my list (but I�m only 18, I�m inclined to think that this is VERY temporary): 1.The Portrait of a Lady (Henry James)-I had a hard time accepting the ending, but it made me grow up a little. I love it for that. Ralph Touchett, the consumptive cousin, is someone I could fall in love with. 2.Jane Eyre...-I�ve been more in love with this book than I am currently, but it�s a helluva great novel and Rochester a helluva great man. ;-) 3.Fahrenheit (dear Lord, I can`t remember the number in the title, I always say just Fahrenheit---751?) by Ray Bradbury--very impressive writing. Loneliness is a theme that has always interested me. Books too. 4.Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)---can`t really explain. It helped me through a lot in my teenage years. Finally, a teenager I could identify with! 5.Victory (Joseph Conrad)--Alma and Heyst are two of my favourite lovers in Literature. Love almost without words... 6.The Hidden Flower (this is a direct translation of the Portuguese title, I don�t think it`s the right one) by Pearl Buck--culture clash, tender love story, sad ending. Great writing. 7.Villette-Charlotte Bronte. Lucy Snowe is wonderful. 8.Circle of Friends-Maeve Binchy. Simple writing, great human nature story. 9. Like Water for Chocolate-Laura Esquivel. Poetic, sad and happy at the same time. Interesting recipes. Magical quality to it. 10. Exodus-Leon Uris. Gave me a lot of inspiration and strength to face life. I read all of Jane Austen`s novels and the one that most impressed me was Sense and Sensibility, though it�s not generally regarded as one of her best. I don�t care, I still loved it. It�s not an essential book for me, though. None of her novels are (IMHO...).

Ooops. Forgot Dante Gabriele Rossetti. I'd chuck in Wilfred Owen too, I guess, and Cowper's "The Castaway" contains some of my most muttered lines. Forgot "Possession" by Byatt as well! Weird, weird theory - bearing in mind I've read none of the reviews and know nothing Byatt has said about it - but... did anyone think Browning when they read about Ash, and Christina Rossetti when they read about La Motte? I know you shouldn't read a book like that as a disguised bio-fiction, and obviously there are a lot of generic victorian traits in the characters, but it just struck me like that...

I'll work on an area here where we can "parlons francais", as you can see I need a lot of practice. Should it be a whole conference or just a topic somewhere, like in say "cultures" or "travel", existing underutilized conferences. Wow, I like these choices of top tens and they're giving me ideas for books to read. Keep these top ten lists comin'!

A propos le francais: I think incorporating it as a topic under "cultures" or "travel" is terrific. The thrust would just be conversational anyway, so either conference would suit. I know what you mean about these book lists, I feel totally illiterate reading them--they are sending me scurrying to the library!

What should we call the topic, toss out a French phrase for me to use and pick one of those conferences.

A suggestion from the peanut gallery... Lassiez buon temps roulez! Nope I don't know French, just enjoyed my stay in N.O. My top ten lists change every few weeks so I don't recall if I've contributed. Not to play the spoiler but I couldn't get through Possession. I thought it dry and contrived. I do love Coehlo and Allende (unfortunately in translation only) "BY the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept" really affected me. I am affected! Luisa, your list was quite reminicent of mine at your age... that's what English Lit will do to you! *smile* And, although I too have read just about every J. Austen book published, consider few of her works "necessary" to my happy existance.

Check out the austenarchive topic sometime stacey!

You could stick it in "cultures" and call it simply "Parlez-vous francais?" That's pretty open-ended. Stacey, have you ever been to the new Jane Austen site, pemberley.com? Just curious--they will chew you up and spit you out with an attitude like that! :)

I go to Pemberley EVERYDAY and I`m proud to say: I�M STILL HERE! (He, he, he) :D

Stacey, I understand what you mean about "Possession" being a bit contrived. It's probably one of the reasons why it wouldn't make my top ten. If you can suspend your disbelief to that degree, however, it is quite delightful. The evocation of an age I found fascinating, although not as good as Fowles's "The French Lietenant's Woman". What really struck a chord with me, probably because I was doing my honours in English Lit at the time, was its portrayal of the academic world. Its manueverings, in-fighting, treatment by some of knowledge as a comodity, and depiction of the conflicts between different schools of literary criticism was spot on.

I agree. I throughly enjoyed TFLW and I think state of mind as you begin a book plays a great part into what you get out of it. Gabriel Garcia Marquez I had to read twice before I was hooked. The surreal nature of his works offended me initially and eventually it is what I have come to enjoy most about his writing.

I kinda forgot about one book that I`ve read more than once and that I still love: The Diary of Anne Frank. I�m glad we can return here as much as we want and correct our mistakes... ;-)

Absolutely, we're in constant flux and revision here.

Does that open it up to non-fic? Another top ten coming on: "Emily Bronte: Heretic" Stevie Davis "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln" "Vita Nuova" Dante "The Death of Forever" "The Diary of Anne Frank" "Lincoln at Gettysburg" "The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal" "The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn" "Jerusalems Lost" Bob Ellis "Abraham Lincoln" Carl Sanburg How slack am I that I cant even remeber half the authors when I'm away from the bookshelves? Can I do plays too, or are you all thouroughly sick of me? "The Civil War" Shelby Foote

Not at all, Elena, keep those lists coming!

One of my favorite plays... "Burn This" by (uh oh) tell you tomorrow.

Samuel Beckett?

Ooh, I loved "Waiting for Godot" but don't know his "Burn This." Anything by Moliere would top my list (The Would-Be Invalid, The Misanthrope, etc. etc.), as well as Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" and "The King is Dying". Sartre's "No exit" and "The Flies" are up there, too.

Bravo to "No Exit" and the Lincoln writings!!! I haven't yet figured out how to remember the authors myself long enough to do this, which is why I haven't posted lately. But plays I can remember! "Moon for the Misbegotten" by Eugene O'Neill; "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard; "The Time of Your Life" by Saroyan. Oh, I'm probably a little lowbrow for this esteemed group, but let's add "A Thousand Clowns" and "Romantic Comedy" to the list (though the author's names escape me at the moment). I enjoy seeing everyone's favorites and being shamed into reading more.

Forgot to include anything by Virginia Woolf! Am I being just too conventional if I say I enjoyed "The Voyage Out" as much as "The Lighthouse"?

Nonfiction: 1. Abraham Lincoln (Carl Sandburg) 2. Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (Plutarch) 3. Robert the Bruce (Ronald McNair Scott) 4. Robert Kennedy and His Times (Arthur Schlesinger) 5. A Thousand Days (Arthur Schlesinger) 6. Personal Memoirs (U.S.Grant, as told to Mark Twain- probably) 7. Gallic Wars (Julius Caesar) 8. Plain Speaking (Harry Truman, as told to Merle Miller) 9. Miracle in Philadelphia (Eliz. Drinker Bowen) 10.King Arthur (Norma Lorre Goodrich) Hon. Ment. to: Clarence Darrow (Irving Stone); Adversary in the House (Irving Stone); Annals of Imperial Rome (Tacitus); The Making of the President 1960 (Teddy White); Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye (Dave Powers/ Ken O'Donnell)

I went through the six volumes of Sandburg's Lincoln bio in under a week - I lived those books when I was reading them! Like some reviewer once said, it's hardly biography - to read those books is to walk with Lincoln. Trust a poet to get it right. Huge, huge mistake - I didn't include Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen's) "Out of Africa" and "Shadows on the Grass"

Sandburg's Lincoln may very well have been my most enjoyable read- and read it in much the same way, a book a day- and was terribly depressed and disappointed when it came to an end. In fact, when I saw the category listed "the book you couldn't put down", this is the book which came instantly to my mind. Have read just about everything written about Lincoln, but none were nearly as fine (did enjoy Gore Vidal's "Lincoln" immensely, but it's really not nonfiction, is it?). It was, indeed, like walking wi h the man himself...

Aaagghh. Can't believe I forgot Vidal's "Lincoln"! You're absolutely right - that book is so close to reality (far more so than the dozens of purported bios I've read) that it almost classifies as non-fiction.

How interesting that there are so many Lincoln fans out there. Terry, is it time for a new conference? Has anyone heard of a book (or read) "The Shadows Rise: Abraham Lincoln & the Anne Rutledge Legends"? I asked for it for about three Christmases in a row, but no one could find it. I think it was from a small university press (probably in Illinois).

Is this a scholarly book? What is the substance of it? And some different history conferences would be cool, if there's any interest...

Favorite 10 books in no particular order Plutarchs Lives Alexander by Arrian Vanity Fair by Thackery Three Musketeers by Dumas Persuasion by Austen Jane Eyre by Bronte Wuthering Heights by Bronte Prince and the Pauper by Twain Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Bachman (King) All the Vampire Chronicles by Rice These are 10 I will read again and again so I guess that makes them favorites. I also love Poe and will read him over and over again. This was tough. Should be your top 100.(totally impractical but easier) :-)

There is certainly - ABSOLUTELY - interest in a Lincoln conference from this particular quarter...and I'm an Australian!

We could start one. More details, Elena the Aussie!

History conferences? with threads for different time periods? Or historical personalities? For Lincoln, at least, we could have threads on a number of topics. But it seems to me that perhaps he should be part of a U.S. Civil war conference, and that could bring in other topics of interest. But I'm open to what works and brings in other interested and interesting posters. Anyone else?

Let me know when you all finally decide and I'll create it for you.

Yep, history conferences. The Civil War sounds like as good a place to start as any! That's my vote cast.

Mine: 1) Catcher in The Rye :JD Salinger. Just love the ramblings of a mad man as much as the next person. 2) The Color Purple : Alice Walker. The film does it no justice. 3) To Kill a Mocking Bird : Can't remember author. Top bloke though. 4) Hamlet : Bill Shakespeare. Not a book as such but action packed and going for it!! What did anyone think of Kenneth Brannagh's adaptation? 5) Hooligan Summer: ?. Great teen-read. 6) Of mice and men:Steinbeck. Forced to read this at school and was actually physically moved by the end (won't ruin it.) 7) The Scarecrows:Robert Westall. 8) Great Expectations:Charles Dickens 9) Beginners guide to Freud. Much needy text for degree level psychology. 10) The Lady of Shalott:Tennyson. Strictly speaking not a book but why bind ourselves to certain areas of literary. Its actually really hard to do this but makes you realise that you haven't read enough. Guilt setting in.

Here's mine. I'm not entirely sure about the order, but here we go... 1) Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov. Great adventure story and an excellent intro to the wonderful Foundation series itself. 2) Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold. A seminal book, and a must-read for all net-heads! 3) I have a complaint to make, Guy Bellamy. A great book about a neurotic twenty-something in England. Quote: "Well, any fool can go to work! Surviving without it is a much more subtle manoeuvre." *grin* 4) Green Mars, K.S. Robinson. A great study of martian life and society. Read it for the "scenery", read it for the sci-fi, or read it for the cultural message - three books in one! 5) Blue Mars, K.S. Robinson - as above! 6) The Nudists, Guy Bellamy. Sex, relationships and intrigue - and extremely funny! 7) 2010, Arthur C. Clarke. Butchered by the Hollywood film makers, the book is wonderful! 8) 2001, Arthur C. Clarke. Read the book, then use it to decipher the film :) 9) Immediate Action, Andy McNab. The story of one cockney chap's life in the British Special Forces. 10) Goodbye doesn't mean forever. Probably one of the most moving books I've ever read. One teenage girl's struggle against cancer, and how she and her closest friend cope with it. I was moved to tears repeatedly.

Re "To Kill a Mockingbird" - it was Harper Lee, wasn't it? And I might be completely off-base, but wasn't Lee a woman? Re "Blue Mars" - I made my little brother's day by waiting around half a day at a s/f bookshop to get a copy of "Red Mars" signed by Robinson for him (we don't get that many s/f writers visiting here in Sydney). Then I managed to "accidently" pick up and purchase a media release copy of "Blue Mars" that had been left on a counter a month before the general release date...that went down remarkable well...

Harper Lee is indeed a woman, and if my memory serves me right, she was in her early twenties when she wrote "Mockingbird" (first novel too).

I can't say that I enjoyed Red Mars as much as I did Green/Blue. All three together make an interesting set though!!! I've never read Mockingbird, but maybe I should...

No order on mine, they're all equal, and tomorrow they could very well all be different. I would, or have, reread them all and would recommend them. So the first ten to come to mind are: Black Elk Speaks The Scarlet Letter Othello Johnny Got His Gun The Red Badge of Courage Journey to the Center of the Earth Brave New World Stranger in a Strange Land Cry to Heaven Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the unfortunate Dr. Kassler, j.s.p.s.

Definitely Othello! I saw a movie version of it a few years ago, which really opened my eyes to Shakespeare. I can't actually *read* Shakespeare any more - I have to see it, something which I don't get much time for :( I'm desperately trying to find a copy of Brave New World. Nowhere in Brighton seems to want to sell me a second-hand copy (people must be holding on to it!), so I guess I'll have to buy a new one.

Don't they have it at your library? In our system, it's kept in the "young adult reading list" section--it's a classic! I'm afraid I wasn't familiar with most of your picks, wer, but I have to say I found Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" a big snooze.

Our library? I doubt it, although I'll admit I haven't looked. It's such a hassle just to try and find a book, and generally they're not on the shelves anyway....such is the state of our college :/

WER, You might try http://www.amazon.com. I find their prices consistently lower than bookstores, and you cannot beat the convenience.

Well, rather the point was that I don't want to spend the ridiculous price that new books cost - I'd like to read Brave New World, but I don't intend to pay 8 or 9 pounds (erm...$1.6 = �1.00 - you do the math :) for the priviledge, especially as there's a good chance I'll hate it :) But thanks for the suggestion anyway :)

This topic is too good to pass up, but immediately induces a crisis. Here goes... 1. Tom Jones -- Fielding is so funny and Tom is such a mess. 2. War & Peace -- Because of Pierre, especially when Moscow burns 3. Little Dorrit -- Standing in for all of Dickens. This is my favorite ... so gloomy yet so funny. 4. The Brothers Karamazov -- Take turns sympathizing with all of the characters, even the bad ones! 5. Pride & Prejudice -- Standing in for all of Austen. Hard to choose between this one & Emma 6. Moll Flanders -- Standing in for all of Defoe. Remember: Be very careful when trying to steal a feather bed from a burning house. 7. Evelina (Fanny Burney) -- Okay I'm stuck on the 18th century, but I don't know anyone who can put this down once started 8. Three Lives (Gertrude Stein) -- I think Stein is screamingly funny, too, if you have the patience for her. The Good Anna in 3 Lives talks just like my Grandmother did. 9. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (LaClos) -- Irresistible. 10. Gemini (or Les Meteores) by Michel Tournier. I'm forgetting tons, but I needed to put in something contemporary. O.K. I'm done, even though I feel disloyal to countless others. Wah!

On your #9, bet the book was much better than the movie and those attempts to duplicate it (i.e., Valmont, and The End of Innocence-think that's the name- had Winona Ryder in it)

Yeah, I never bought Winona as May Archer in "Age of Innocence" (which is in my top 10, by the way), though Michele Pfeiffer as Ellen seemed appropriate. I need to revise my list--I left out my beloved "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy O'Toole. Guess I'll have to bump Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."

No, Chopin's Awakening was soooo good (although I didn't like the ending). Have to add Mark Twain's Diary of Adam and Eve and just about everything Charles Dickens wrote. And Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. But please don't make me put 'em in order!

I haven't seen any of the movies of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, just read the Penguin English translation. It's wildly good. I can imagine it making a good movie, but I can't imagine a movie being as twisted and scintillating as the book, which is entirely in letters between the characters. Check it out!

oh, I bet that's good........

Another one for the must-read list! Since I've seen the film, I'll just read the letters whilst picturing Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz and John Malchovic (firth! firth!)

Ooh, John Malcovich (sorry david, but john's right up there). I don't care what type of character he plays, that guy's sexy...........(firth, oh god, am making a mess!)

here I go with my list: 10) Dragonlance Legends trilogy -- memorable quotes abound in here 9) Jane Eyre 8) The Moon and Sixpence 7) Anna Karenina 6) Wuthering Heights 5) The Time Machine 4) Spring Torrents 3) Ender's Game (although it got weird at the end. =) 2) Beloved 1) The Westing Game (a very fast read) Well, that's about it!

What's Spring Torrents? Who's the author? What's it about?

Ditto for selections 1-3.

In no particular order: Moby Dick The Three Musketeers Les Miserables Parting the Waters (a history of the Civil Rights Movement) A Canticle for Leibowitz Shakespeare's Collected Works (is that cheating?) Shatterday The Chronicles of Narnia Fahrenheit 451 Ender's Game

I think we've said before that anthologies are OK to count as one. What is "Shatterday" about and who wrote it, Adam?

Shatterday is a collection of short stories and essays by Harlan Ellison. They range from the humorous to the marrow chilling, all of them incredibly rich in language and meaning. Ellison is perhaps my favorite author, and I like his essays even more than his fiction. Ellison started his career writing SF and screenplays, but has gained more critical acceptance (for what that's worth), and I would recommend his work to anyone that loves to read. His fiction style is very much like that of Borges or Ma quez - I think the term is "magic realism". His essays are kind of like an intellectual kick in the crotch with a splash of spice - they really challenge your preconceptions and force you to think.

BTW, there was a discussion earlier in this thread of "Les Liasons Dangerouses" (sp?) Have any of you seen "Valmont"? It came out at about the same time as "Dangerous Liasons". It was directed by Milos Forman, and it also does _not_ have Keanu Reeves in it, two points in its favor.

I remember reading "I have no mouth and I must scream" where the last man on earth is kept alive by a computer as payback to the human race. I forget which anthology it was in, though.

Ok to enter this response? y Warning: a comment slipped in ahead of yours at 75! This has happened to me twice tonight, I don't know if I can handle to shock!

"I have no mouth..." is in the anthology of the same name. That story gives me the heebie-jeebies, priamrily due to some of the creepy images Ellison gives us. I bought the CD-rom game of the story - it's a very disturbing "game" - there is, quite simply, no way to win.

Kind of like life sometimes?

Sometimes?...

for some people!

Have not read "Valmont"--same author as "Liaisons"?

think valmont was a spin off of liasons. at least the storyline is the same. valmont has the now infamous (at least here) colin firth, hence all the firthing...

Are you joshing me??

would i do that? *grin*

Hmmm...guess I'll have to rent it and see for myself (firth, firth)!

dunno, i prefer john malkovich as the viscount.....droooling!

or the marques de valmont, or whatever the title was *grin*

Marquis, viscount, whatever! Am picturing it too....mmmm....

Uh oh, wolf is drooling...

slipage!

Yes, both "Valmont" and "Dangerous Liasons" are based on the same book. "Dangerous Liasons" is an attempt to present an adaptation of the play on the big screen, while "Valmont" is direct from the novel to the screen. I preferred "Valmont", but I don't have a thing for John Malkovich, although I can't wait to see him in "The Man in the Iron Mask" w/ Gerard Depardieu.

Can't wait to read your review in the movie conference!

I can't wait to see that one either, Adam. Thanks for clearing of the liasons/ valmont connection. don't really know which one of them i liked the best. would prefer to read the book, although haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm with Autumn, can't wait to read your review. A lot of good actors in that one, too.....and I adore Gerard Depardieu (but only saw him in Green Card)...

Ooooh. Green Card. That could have been an excellent movie, if it didn't star the nauseatingly bad female Keanu Reeves, Andie McDowell. For Depardieu fans, I highly recommend "Cyrano de Bergerac" - especially if you like swashbuckling and poetry. Back to books, however, my wife and I are currently reading "Les Miserables" aloud to each other. I think the abridged version might have been a better idea... so far, we're about 100 pages into it, and all we know is that the Bishop of Digne is a really, really nice guy... I had forgotten all the exposition since I read it several years ago.

that's great that you share reading. don't think i could ever convince my hubby to do that. of course, his interests art a little different from mine. speaking of keanu, i liked him in a walk among the clouds, his voice wasn't so monotonous. he's nice to look at if he keeps his mouth closed *laugh*

Now, now, I kind of like Andie, though she does border on saccharine sometimes.

My all-time favorite Depardieu film is "Jean de Fleurette"--get this in the foreign section of your video store, Wolf! You won't be sorry! Adam, I hope you and your wife save the passages about the glass industry from "Les Mis" for bedtime. I can't think of a better sedative! (By the way, I am insanely jealous of you two!)

We started this while my wife was pregnant with our son, as a way to relax us both before bedtime and wind down the day. Our first book was _The Hobbit_, followed by _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_. I'm pushing for _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ next, but we'll have to see about that.

Not _Time Enough For Love_?

You know, I didn't dig that one as much as some others he wrote. I think some of my favorite RAH novels are his "juveniles" - _Have Spacesuit...._, _Starship Troopers_, etc, but for some reason, I really love TMIAHM. Most of Heinlein's later stuff suffered from the same problem Stephen King's more recent works do - they are too cluttered.

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Doug, quit. This topic is about the top ten books of all time. We have a shameless self promotion topic in the porch conference.

It's topic 27 in porch.

sorry

This is probably the most difficult topic somebody has come up here! I'll have to have a go too, though I cannot remember all the names of the authors that wrote the books that most impressed me. Hope they'll forgive me. 1. Wuthering Heights (E. Bront�), together with Jane Eyre (C. Bront�): reasons will be obvious to anyone who has read these books. 2. Poor things: can't remember who wrote it, but I found it weird and wonderful, especially the bits where the doctor sews black bunny heads onto white bunny bodies, and vice versa! 3. The picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde): because it scared the hell out of me!! 4. Jeeves and Wooster books (P.G. Woodhouse): because they're great fun! 5. Dracula (B. Stoker): because I ADORE scary books. 6. The Prince (N. Machiavelli): another scary one. 7. Confessions of a justified sinner (James Hogg): SCARY! 8. Jekyll and Hyde . . . OF COURSE!!!! 9. The name of the Rose (Umberto Eco): gripping stuff. 10. Of mice and men. I have a confession to make: I don't like Shakesspeare.

This is probably the most difficult topic somebody has come up here! I'll have to have a go too, though I cannot remember all the names of the authors that wrote the books that most impressed me. Hope they'll forgive me. 1. Wuthering Heights (E. Bront�), together with Jane Eyre (C. Bront�): reasons will be obvious to anyone who has read these books. 2. Poor things: can't remember who wrote it, but I found it weird and wonderful, especially the bits where the doctor sews black bunny heads onto white bunny bodies, and vice versa! 3. The picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde): because it scared the hell out of me!! 4. Jeeves and Wooster books (P.G. Woodhouse): because they're great fun! 5. Dracula (B. Stoker): because I ADORE scary books. 6. The Prince (N. Machiavelli): another scary one. 7. Confessions of a justified sinner (James Hogg): SCARY! 8. Jekyll and Hyde . . . OF COURSE!!!! 9. The name of the Rose (Umberto Eco): gripping stuff. 10. Of mice and men. 11. LOLITA!! Wonderfully perverse, and the first paragraph is the best beginning I have ever read in a book. I have a confession to make: I don't like Shakesspeare.

Wow, you really like scary stuff! "Lolita" was the scariest of them all, I thought...BTW I hate Shakespeare.

Othello and Hamlet were my favorites of Shakespeare...

You also don't like Shakespeare, Autumn? Thank God, I thought I was a Philistyne! I don't like him, 'cos he's such an old put-on! Nobody talks like that, no way!! Not even back then. Not unless you want your tongue tied in hundreds of little akward knots. I mean, the blood and gore simply don't make up for it!

My thoughts exactly! But I think we're alone on this...maybe we should form a support group!

To think I'm probably going to have to study the old bugger during the next few years!

To thine own self be true; and it must follow, as the night follows the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. Almost an exact quote. I find that it flows better with the extra word in there. You think shakespeare is rough. wait until you get to "The Canterbury Tales" in Middle English.

The "Canterbury Tales" were at least amusing. There is a French equivalent which is quite entertaining.

I just had to read that in Middle French and did. But for some reason in the middle of the stories everybody'd be eating popcorn and talking about "Catcher in the Rye". Middle French, on a scale of 1 to 10, is probably a 5 (right in the middle) when it comes to comparing it to Middle English, far as reading difficulty goes.

Tell me about it! I took an entire class on that, and my head was swimming the whole semester. There were 8 of us in this lit class and we had to speak in Middle French as well as read/write in it.

oh so it was one of those swimming classes, eh, Autumn? Towson (sp.?) State had a very advanced Physical Education Dept., I'd say. They could combine swimming with something the French dept. was willing to collaborate with them on. I mean, I now know why you went there. I'm signing up, too, if they have a swimming class that my whole body can swim in and not just my head.....and if the Film dept. collaborates on the design of the class.

Come to think of it, for my gym credit I took aerobic swimming! In French! And the Film dept. at TSU does offer a class on French swimming film stars. :-)

lol!!!!

What!!!! you mean they don't offer underwater basket weaving???

Hi all My top ten books would have to be: 1)Volcano cowboys - Dick Thompson 2)Rommel, Desert Fox - Desmond Young 3)Quake - Albert J. Alletzhauser 4)Star Wars, Rogue Squadron (No.1 of 8)- Michael A. Stackpole 5)Nimitz Class - Patrick Robinson 6)USS Seawolf - Patrick Robinson 7)Kilo Class - Patrick Robinson 8)The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer 9)Inside the Third Reich - Albert Speer 10)Isards Revenge (No.8 of 8)- Michael A. Stackpole Rob

Hi all Here is why I like those books. Volcano cowboys: The true story of the United States Geological Survey at Mount St Helens, Nevado Del Ruiz (Colombia)and Pinatubo. It shows the problems they confronted dealing with their first real explosive volcano, Mount St Helens. With Nevado del Ruiz the shocking true story of Armero which was obliterated by the volcano and the loss of 23000 people. Finally at Pinatubo a story of triumph dealing with the second biggest of last century. Rommel, Desert Fox: The biography of one of Germanys best field commanders in World War 2, the charismatic and cunning Erwin Rommel. Quake: A very realistic and very SCARY account of a big earthquake hitting Tokyo. It is real because Tokyo is expecting a severe earthquake, and scary because the dark side of Japanese society is exposed. A reality test of the individual chapters, at the end confirms the facts. Star Wars, Rogue Squadron: The first science fiction novel in a series of 8 about the Rebellions best fighter squadron. This one deals with the rebirth of the most feared fighter squadron in the Star Wars galaxy. Nimitz Class: A US supercarrier vanishes in a nuclear explosion taking all on board with it. A Kilo Class submarine commanded by a fanatic is responsible. As political tensions mount a deadly chase to destroy the rogue sub begins. Kilo Class: China has ordered 10 of these submarines to block the Taiwan Strait, of which 3 have been delivered but the United States will not allow the rest to arrive. USS Seawolf: A special US submarine is hijacked in Chinese waters and the crew taken prisoner. On board is the Presidents son. When the crew is rescued, someone must take the blame for the sub being captured in this devastating tale of corruption. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: The story of the Third Reich and the role of the individuals who created something better remembered for its role in 12 of 20th Century's darkest years. Inside the Third Reich: The autobiography of Hitlers armaments minister who for a time was the most powerful man in Germany after Hitler himself. Isards Revenge: The final novel in the 8 piece saga that starts of with the rebirth of Rogue Squadron, the capture of Coruscant (heart of the Empire), a treachery trial, and ends when Ysanne Isard, a tyrant of unspeakable evil, dies. Rob

Top ten books of all time? Tough, but I'll try (I won't promise to put them in order): The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn - Sequel to The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer for which Twain was lambasted for using colloquial American language. As a reply to the critics, Twain took the roughest, dirtist, most low down character from Tom Sawyer and had him NARRATE the sequel! Huck Finn was superior to those he considered his superiors (he was a far better trickster than his idol Tom Sawyer, mainly because he was much more practical) and inferior to the only person in the book he considered to be his inferior, Jim. Chapter Fourteen ends with a paragraph which, if it were put to stand on its own, would be unconscionably racist; in the context of the chapter, however, it is the punch line of a massive joke and the joke is not on Jim but on Huck! From The Earth To The Moon and Round The Moon - These Jules Verne novels are best read one after the other. There are glaring inaccuracies, especially concerning the strucure of the Earth (this was before tectonic theory...) but Verne had most of the physics and a good part of the politics right. Verne could not have concieved of the Cold War, but he made the moon shot a symbol of American unity and greatness (in his version, a symbol of healing after the Civil War). Verne (and most Americans at the time) could not concieve of the U.S. Government putting up the massive amount of money required to go to the moon, so he had the planners raise funds throughout the world. Being French, and given to some national pride himself, Verne had a Frenchman suggest travel inside the cannonball. Verne predicted that there would be a battle between Texas and Florida for the launch site, that Florida would win (but not that the missions would be controlled from Texas; his flight was not controlled at all , and he put the cannon in the southernmost large town in Florida at the time: Tampa Town (right state, wrong coast...) Science fiction? To quote Huck Finn: "Not by a considerable stretch!" Animal Farm - Wonderful allegorical tale from George Orwell, his second-to-last novel shows him even gloomier than he was before the war when his outlook was already not a particularly rosy one. A children's story about the fultility of revolution in general and the death of the Socialist dream in particular. I knew I had to include either Animal Farm or Nineteen Eighty-Four here, but the latter was a bit too heavy-handed... A Tale Of Two Cities - A portrait of happiness in a bleak time. It is primarily the story of the Manette family, but the other characters, the deFarges, Jarvis Lorry, Jerry Cruncher and his family, Les Freres d'Evremonde, Barsard & Cly, and especially Sidney Carton paint a picture of the good and evil of the time. (I wish I could remember the name of Carton's employer...) All Quiet On The Western Front - NOT the Iliad by a long stretch! There are NO heroes here, just kids caught in a lethal situation with no way out for no real reason. Not John Wayne material, and beautiful for it. What Catch 22 should have been. Well, I can't think of any other real ones... I nearly came up with Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, but I couldn't justify any of them...

The Bible: particularly Mark, John, Jude, Ezekial, Isaiah, Song of Songs, Hebrews. Shakespeare: Lear, A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, Twelth Night Scarlet Letter and Twice Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, plus his journals. Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesin Henrik Ibsen: Peer Gynt, Enemy of the People, Hedda Gabler. The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis Bernard Shaw: Heartbreak House, and Pygmailion. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Westing Game by Ellen Raskin I had a tough time picking only ten, so I made a rule: it had to be something I had read at least twice, and once fairly recently. Also like Jane Eyre, Don Juan by Lord Byron, The Moomintroll books, Madeline L'Engle's Time Trilogy, Dune, If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, In Watermelon Sugar, Howard's End, A Movable Feast, Bellefleur. Favorite prose stylists (apart from content), in this order: Jane Austen, Oliver Sacks, Daniel Dafoe, Hemmingway, Harold Bloom. Oliver Sacks may write the most beautiful prose of any living author. Daniel Dafoe taight me it's okay to write really long sentences, so long as theuy are clear. His sentences are beautiful. If you haven't read the Bible yet start with Ezekial. It reads like a dark science fiction fable-- darker and more bitter than you might expect the Bible to be. Or Song of Songs, which is the best and most beautiful erotic poetry ever written. Isaiah is sophisticated, uncomprimising, and full of joy. Mark is the story of Christ written in breathless haste, John is the story of Christ written by a dreamer. Through the Looking Glass-- what a mixture of wit, absurdity, and startlingly beautiful imagery. People in the sixties said Lewis Carroll owed his surreal imagery to psychedelic drugs, I think it's more likely that his genius for surreal imagery was the motive power behind a lot of sixties psychedlia. Lewis Carroll wrote one of my favorite single sentences in all literature: "What kinds of insects do you rejoice in, where you come from?" Alice meets a wasp, who asks her that question in a chapter that didn't make it into the final version, because John Tenniel said it was impossible to illustrate. I'm one of maybe twelve people who actually like David Lynch's film of Dune. I still remember seeing the televised Heartbreak House with Rex Harrison as Captain Shotover. I love that guy. Tough to imagine any actor coming along so perfectly suited to play Shaw characters. I had absorbed up a sense of the Hemingway persona from the culture without actually having read any Hemingway, and was surprised to find A Movable Feast so funny. I always imagined him as this grim, humourless character. Sometimes as I read A Movable Feast, it seems to me he is a little cruel to his friends, like Gertrude Stein and Fitzgerald. I heard Joyce Carol Oates give a talk once. She was very modest, funny, quiet, and self-deprecating. Afterward she signed books. I told her how much I loved Bellefleur. She thanked me, and said "I want you to know that I worked very carefully on every sentence of that book."

Wow! That's quite a list, jeb. You are dead-on in your descriptions. We don't have a lot of the same favorites, but I follow your reasonings. What are you reading now?

Thanks. I'm reading quite a lot now, but I guess I should put that under the "What I'm reading right now" topic.

Aw, we don't stand on ceremony here.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: What's not to love? A dashing, brooding older man, a plain but intellectual young woman, a spooky old house and a crazy lady in the attic! All the elements you need to make this classic story of love and loss completely unforgettable. I only regret that I waited until college to read it--don't make the same mistake--check out this book and others by the Bronte sisters today! from http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/top10.htm