Books i'm into

[Jellopanda]

Is there anyone else here who's into classical or what is traditionally considered to be "heavier" literature?

Like Kafka, Dostojevskij, Victor Hugo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hamsun, Ibsen, Paul Auster and the like?

A lot of these authors aren't as heavy reading as their reputations suggest. I believe there's this misconception that classical literature is very heavy reading and that isn't necessarily the case (Paul Auster isn't exactly classical literature, but i put him in there cause he's going to be)

Les Miserable by Victor Hugo for instance is a roller-coaster of a novel and impossible to put down once you've started reading, and One Hundred Years of Solitude, despite the title is quite frankly hilarious.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a few weeks ago and i told him i had put off reading Proust because i was afraid it would be somewhat of a hardship because of his reputation. My friend assured me though that he was one of those authors that if you just started reading you wouldn't be able to stop. So i'm gonna give him a try.

Please submit your thoughts whatever they may be

 

[dotcomkot]

alleister crowley at min but i love a good conspiracy book or a factual one that puts the history we have been taught to shame. auto biographies of slightly tapped people lol. 

i dont know what else really off hand. readings gone off my daily things i do at min tbh. i did study english lit for a year or so to make up courses when doing my block laying nvq

 

[Jellopanda]

Wow. Alleister Crowley. Haven't read him, but i associate that with heavy-duty sexual occultism. Sound kinda scary, but exciting

 

[dotcomkot]

Wow. Alleister Crowley. Haven't read him, but i associate that with heavy-duty sexual occultism. Sound kinda scary, but exciting

yeh he was a fully messed up guy! deffo scary but interesting reads. love to see how an what makes people do what they do. 

very interesting if but a bit hard to read

 

[ElectroNymph]

I like Will Self's Surrealism, but mainly read history books (Mary Beard, Tom Holland etc) and challenging graphic novels: Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Brian K Vaughan.

 

[ElectroNymph]

yeh he was a fully messed up guy! deffo scary but interesting reads. love to see how an what makes people do what they do. 

very interesting if but a bit hard to read

Bowie was a huge fan. Apparently, he made some very unusual television in the 60's.

 

[Hammerblow]

I'm currently rereading Ray Bradbury Farenhiet 451. Such a great book, short but powerful. Very Orwellian but without being a rip off. Also Jon Ronson Lost at Sea. I adore his wit and style of writing. 

 

[Toboso]

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of my favorites. I have almost all of his books. His biography and auto-biography are really interesting as well and they give insight into some of the themes and characters that he writes about.

I agree with you @Jellopanda about Les Miserables. My brother gave me a copy and it was like 1400 pages and I didn't want to deal with it. But a few years later I started it and couldn't put it down. A thoroughly enjoyable book. I didn't care for the latest movie, the musical, though.

 

[PB&Jelly]

Anyone looking for a tome that doesnt read like one...this one is provocative. 

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/10/robert-sapolsky-s-behave-tour-de-force-science-writing

On a side note, I don't think I have ever read anything I didnt like by Richard Feynman. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a short and fascinating read!

 

[PB&Jelly]

Haven't read this one yet but love the review. Here is a money quote: ""What I love almost best about fishing is another property it shares with reading and writing: it concentrates the mind, while at the same time liberating it. It is much less about catching a fish than releasing the fisherman."

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/nature/2018/01/water-based-religion-how-fishing-liberates-mind

Just finished Sapiens and I highly recommend it. In short it's an autobiographical tome of Planet Earth....and if you think we are destructive now; our ancestors were way more harmful to other species on this planet prior to the agricultural and industrial revolution (and the planet as a whole as hard as that is to believe). Fascinating read!

 

[Nitetrain]

David Oondantje, "The English Patient " author, is one of my favorite living writers. His other numerous books are beautifully written stories spanning the range of human emotions, also set in India, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and the area of Sub Sahara Africa.

 

[condor3316]

Just finished reading The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman now reading The Institute by Stephen King.

 

[condor3316]

I finished The Institute and really liked it.  This is the first S King novel I have read in a while.  It really kept me interested all the way to the end.  And I'm glad Sigsby got what she deserved.  I'm currently reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.  It was a Hugo best sci-fi book from the early 1970's and is good if you like sci-fi.  My current favorite author is Lee Child and his next in the Jack Reacher series is Blue Moon which is out today.  

 

[xplon_for_xplo]

If you haven't read anything by Camus, he's definitely worth checking out. 

 

[idan1120]

yeh he was a fully messed up guy! deffo scary but interesting reads. love to see how an what makes people do what they do. 

very interesting if but a bit hard to read

Crowley stuff is waaay out there. But delightful at the same time.