Books are love. :)

[elisi]

I am currently working my way through the latest Harry Potter (half a year after everyone else...) and its funny how the film has or hasn't impacted on how I see the characters. Most of them are still how I always saw them in my head - except for Snape who *is* Snape from the films. Even the voice. Alan Rickman is a god amongst actors! Oh and Harry/Draco shippers are delusional to the point of insanity. Spike is more likely to declare his undying love to Jonathan Willow is more likely to marry Warren, than those two ever getting beyond seething hatered. ::shakes head::

Anyway, after having a look at this meme (and realising that I'd actually read quite a few), I decided to do it:

The Museum, Libraries and Arts Council's list of 30 Books Every Adult Should Have Read. Bold the ones you have read. Italicize the ones you would like to read. Strike out the ones you never plan to read, or started but couldn't finish:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Just excellent.
The Bible. Well good chunks of it... and I do know a lot about it generally, like f.ex. why there are two creation stories.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien. ::profound love::
1984 by George Orwell. Very good, but horribly bleak.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Love it! And I cry when Tiny Tim dies...
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Very good.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Mmmmm, Darcy...
All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque. Depressing. But good.
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Read an interview with him once where he explained his views and felt like shaking him very hard. I have no problems with atheists (all hail Joss!), but I really don't like faulty preachiness. I might give the books a shot, but I guess I'll just get cross (like when I read 'Dream Life of Angels'). Hate it when all I want to do is explain to the author why they're wrong. (If you want to argue against something at least use *good* arguments! *grumble*)
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Creepy.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy. harmonyfb warned me off it!
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne. ::profound love::
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Wonderful.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. I *know* my mother read it to me, but I have no recollections of it...
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Died of boredom after 2 chapters. Might try again.
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Haven't heard of it.
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Another one my mother read to me. Can't remember all *that* much...
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. "It's The Little Prince for grown-ups who didn't understand The Little Prince" according to dtissagirl. So it shall remain un-read!
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Haven't heard of it.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Middlemarch by George Eliot Tried. Vaguely recall hearing of it.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Not sure I'd like to read it...
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn. Any good?

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Hope you are feeling better today. Poisonwood Bible is a great novel and Wind in the Willows is meant to be read aloud to children so you might want to try that at bedtime.
I'm sending you virtual flowers - points to icon.

[elisi]

I look forward to having more time for reading (whenever that'll be...) - Harry Potter is an exception. But it's nice to have a list to keep handy. And I'll have to get hold of 'Wind in the Willows' as I have thought of reading it to the children, but just never got round to it.

And thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful. :)

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy.

Don't even bother. This is the suckiest book, ever. It has no place at all on this list. :P Clunky writing, poor plotting, and the premise of the book is so offensive that it still pisses me off 20 years after I read it.

[elisi]

This is the suckiest book, ever.
Really? ::happily strikes it off list:: I very much dislike stupid books!

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

A-fucking-Men.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

I HATED Tess of the d'Urbevilles. It was the most aggravating book with the most stupid, insipid heroine imaginable. Don't bother reading this book.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I am currently working my way through the latest Harry Potter (half a year after everyone else...)

Well, my copy has been sitting on the bookshelf since publication, so I'm even further behind than you.

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

I read this on holiday last year, and have passed it round all my friends as I enjoyed it so much (against all my expectations, not my sort of book at all from the blurb).

[elisi]

so I'm even further behind than you.
Yay! *g*

have passed it round all my friends as I enjoyed it so much
Must get hold of it some day...

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh and Harry/Draco shippers are delusional to the point of insanity

HEY!

You know, the same could have been said about Spuffy's if they were spouting their OTP long about the beginning of S2...Just sayin'.

The Eldest (age 10) is reading "His Dark Materials" right now. I bought him Pullman for Christmas (HAHAHA! The irony...) and The Chronicles of Narnia for his New Year's Eve Birthday. It's sparked A LOT of conversation, but of the good kind, such as comparing and contrasting the two author's philosophies. We've also discussed how people *in* the church can make the organization corrupt and evil, and have done so throughout history, but they are twisting the message to suit their own ambitions.

[elisi]

HEY!
Heeeeeee! I did have you in mind when I wrote that... *g* Anyway, I also think Spander shippers are crazy, so maybe it's just me.

It's sparked A LOT of conversation, but of the good kind, such as comparing and contrasting the two author's philosophies.
I'll probably end up reading them in the end, I just don't like it when books make me want to argue with the author (in a bad way - I like books that are stimulating). But then reading *anything* at the moment is awkward, so it's going to be a future project anyway! And now I must get back to my neglected house...

[dtissagirl.livejournal.com]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

...WHAT?

Paulo Coelho is a charlatan. His books are so trite you wonder HOW they sell, and really, he writes self-help books disguised as fiction. My mother gave me the *perfect* description of The Alchemist when the book was released: "it's The Little Prince for grown-ups who didn't understand The Little Prince".

But for some reason, the international literary community thinks something of PC, while the Brazilian literary community points and laugh pretty hard at everything he says or does.

[elisi]

"it's The Little Prince for grown-ups who didn't understand The Little Prince".
Bwahahaha! Another one to strike from the list. :) And why is it always the weirdos that get famous?

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, the sudden popularity and overabundance of his books in Russia puzzles me. In Canada they are less visible, but in Russia - everywhere. I bought one out of curiousity, but couldn't read. Don't even remember now which one.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

It is actually quite strange choice of books - some are genuinely good, some are flukes, but I on principle resent the name of the list - 30 Books Every Adult Should Have Read - Why?! Why they are telling me what I should have read?

How did they choose the books?

[elisi]

How did they choose the books?
No idea. And I'm rather miffed that there are 3 books by Dickens and none by Kipling. I happen to adore Kipling...

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Weird list...so many masterpieces missing.

And not even a book from French literature!

[elisi]

There was a list of 100 books floating around somewhere, but I don't think it had any French books on either. I guess I'll just stick to fanfic! *g*

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I'm with you Harry/Drako. I don't get it; other than the fact that the actor who plays Drako is very pretty, and Harry is the hero! It's one of those 'ships that makes me wonder if I've been reading the same books.


I'm torn on Phillip Pullman. I really like the first two book in the series, but I got so irritated with the third I gave up on reading it. Then i read the interview you're talking about and wanted to smack the author. "Petty" was the adjective that came to my mind. Or maybe "threatened" :D

I highly recommend "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch". I can honestly say that it's one of the books that changed how I view the world. I read it as a teenager in the dying days of the Soviet Union, but I think that (like Orwell, whom I adore!) you can apply the same lessons to authoritarianism period. Not an easy read, but pretty quick.

And I liked (and would recommend) "Lovely Bones" But calling it (or actually several of the others) essential reading) seems like serious overkill! I'd have taken out some of those and added Crime and Punishment, Stendhal's "Red and Black", Huckleberry Finn, and maybe Candide. And The sorrows of young Werther, Anna Karenina... I need to stop sometime!

Huh; maybe i should make my own list!!

[elisi]

It's one of those 'ships that makes me wonder if I've been reading the same books.
Exactly. And also it's icky - they're only 16! (Says the woman who writes S/D, but at least that's *supposed* to be icky!)

Then i read the interview you're talking about and wanted to smack the author.
*So* glad it wasn't just me! Although having read stoney321's latest post Pullman suddenly seems less stupid.

it's one of the books that changed how I view the world
Really? Will look out for it then! And I'm with you on the shortcomings of the list - it seems silly to pretend that any such list could not be subjective. And I'd love to read your list - if I made one it'd have Kipling's 'Kim' on it for sure.

[earth-vexer.livejournal.com]

Spike is more likely to declare his undying love to Jonathan
I want to read that fic. It would be funny. *g*

Interesting meme. I don't usually do memes, but I like this one. ::ponders::

[elisi]

It *would* be funny. But someone else can write it. What I can do though, is rec spuffyduds's Harmony/Jonathan fic (set during 'Halloween). Brilliant!

I rarely do memes, but for once I'd actually read about half the stuff... ;)

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

Oh and Harry/Draco shippers are delusional to the point of insanity.

The best and most convincing HP story I've ever read is Draco/Neville. Never underestimate the power of the determined fan. *g*

[elisi]

Iiiiinteresting... but then I don't think Neville really hates Draco. Although it's still not a pairing I had ever imagined.

[frimfram.livejournal.com]

I love this meme; it gives me a chance to pimp Life of Pi. It's incredible. There aren't so many books that I both think are insanely clever and love to pieces; Life of Pi is one. It's sometimes pretty harrowing, and there are stretches in the third quarter that make you feel like you wish you were doing something other than reading it. But then, pages from the end, it does this thing that made my jaw drop. Should be required reading :)

[elisi]

But then, pages from the end, it does this thing that made my jaw drop.
You make me want to rush out to the nearest bookshop! :)

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised avrelia didn't mention A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn. An amazing book about living through/in one of Stalin's gulags. It's quite short and was written in the 1960s, so it might suffer from greater intellectual exploration since, but it's the little things that get to you, really. The struggle to survive in the gulag system in microcosm.

[elisi]

zanthinegirl talked about it! I will have to read it now! :)

[gillo]

I rather think you'd enjoy the Pullman. OK, "The Church" is a negative force, but it's so clearly based on pre-Coucil of Trent Catholicism (ie before the 1560s!) that it doesn't feel as if it has a lot to do with real religion. The world is so beautifully imagined and the characters are so compelling that it hooks you almost at once and draws you in.

"Clockwork Orange" is good, though bleak and with language that takes some getting used to, but is really powerful and addictive once you are used to it. It deals with a lot of deep moral issues, not a horror book at all.

"Middlemarch" is a huge book, but it, too, is a wholly convincing world - based on Coventry in the 1830s, but a completely convincing place in itself. Wonderful characters. (Damned fine BBC version done in the 80s(?) with the young Rufus Sewell in a key role. Yum.)

OK, so I'm a bookworm. Bite me.

[ringthebells]

Yes, I was going to say something similar about Pullman. I haven't read the interview that people keep referring to, but I've heard, um, rumours of people objecting to HDM on a religious basis (I phrase it like that because I haven't heard directly from anyone with such objections) and this honestly confuses me. As gillo said, the Church is bad in the books—but they're set in an alternate reality, and the "Church" of the books is quite patently not the Catholic or any other Church of the real world; it's quite different in both organization and doctrine.

Anyway, I enjoyed it!

[missy7280.livejournal.com]

Totally agree on your view of Harry/Draco. There are some hate relationships that are just about hate. Very interesting book list, but besides the one's I've already read I don't think I want to read any of the others.

[elisi]

There are some hate relationships that are just about hate.
Exactly. Poor J.K. - she obviously has a very different view of her verse than Joss. ::points to icon::

[buffyprof.livejournal.com]

I think Middlemarch is the most perfectly balanced novel ever written. It's a whole town. And elisi, I think you'd be very interested in George Eliot on religion.Maybe disagree, but in a good way.

I guess they don't think we should read any poetry? (except Gibran) Probably not everyone's cup of tea. But I, of course, need to put in a good word for The Flowers of Evil (author glares at you from my icon)

[elisi]

I think Middlemarch is the most perfectly balanced novel ever written.
Well I *must* read it then! :)

I think you'd be very interested in George Eliot on religion.Maybe disagree, but in a good way.
Something else to check out once I have time for reading deeper stuff again. Thank you!

The Flowers of Evil
::writes it down::

[kittyzams.livejournal.com]

Totally off topic, but remember that icon you were searching for awhile back? Look what lj user="eyesthatslay"> made! *g*

[elisi]

Squeeeeeeeee! ::bounces:: You have a wonderful memory dear! ::smooches::