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Great Literature

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

I am a great reader and thought that I had read pretty much all the great works of fiction, until rummaging around in a charity shop recently I came across "Hunger" by Knut Hamsen. I'd never heard of it before, but noted the publisher was one I respected so took it home.

It seems that "Hunger", a Norwegian existential novel, was felt to be one of the greats - up there with "Crime and Punishment" or "L'etrange", but Hamsen threw his lot in with the Nazis in the second world war and his reputation sank.

"Hunger" was written way before then though and it's such an incredible work. I've read it three times in a week and it has moved me in ways few novels can. It's certainky seen me through the torrential last few days we've had

Which works of liteature have resonated most with you?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I was actually thinking about this the other day. When I was younger I read a lot and quite often I would find books that made a real difference to the way I thought about and viewed the world. However, in the past few years I've tried to read books of this nature but they keep falling flat.

I'm beginning to think that there is something wrong with me - that I've lost a bit of my idealism and openness to new ideas. It's a sobering thought.

A really good book that I read a few years ago, though, was Humanity's Law by Ruti Teitel. It's well worth a read if international law is your thing and you want a different perspective.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Probably Anna Karenina for me but I think that's because I read it at a particular time in my life and I could identify with the main character.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by David Eggers had quite an impact on me when I read it a few years ago.

Essays in Love by Alain De Button also had a strange impact as it also happened to coincide with me falling in love for the first time.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"I was actually thinking about this the other day. When I was younger I read a lot and quite often I would find books that made a real difference to the way I thought about and viewed the world. However, in the past few years I've tried to read books of this nature but they keep falling flat.

I'm beginning to think that there is something wrong with me - that I've lost a bit of my idealism and openness to new ideas. It's a sobering thought.

A really good book that I read a few years ago, though, was Humanity's Law by Ruti Teitel. It's well worth a read if international law is your thing and you want a different perspective. "

It happens to us all to some degree Courtney. Perhaps this is why I've been delighted to find a book that has so moved me.

It's also fascinating, and a touch scary, how someome who can write something so beautiful, so compassionate and appear to have such insight into human behaviour can turn to Fascism.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

[Removed by poster at 29/06/16 10:44:40]

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Probably Anna Karenina for me but I think that's because I read it at a particular time in my life and I could identify with the main character.

"

Identifying with a character certainly helps you along on the fictional journey. I like a good anti-hero

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by David Eggers had quite an impact on me when I read it a few years ago.

Essays in Love by Alain De Button also had a strange impact as it also happened to coincide with me falling in love for the first time."

Never really got on with "A Staggering Work....", although I do respect his jounalism.

I have a similar encounter with "The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

There's a YA book called Noughts & Crosses by Mallory Blackman that I first read when I was 13, and at that time I was encouraging everyone to read it - me, my mum, my mum's best friend and her daughter all got through it in quick succession!

Basically the world is split into Crosses - darker skinned people - and noughts, who are whiter skinned people who are treated as the lowest of the low. Sephy, a Cross, falls in love with the son of her old nanny, Callum, who's a nought. Absolutely amazing novel which deals with loads of issues. I think even when I was at that age I already knew not to judge people on superficial things but that novel really drove it home. I think it's the type of book that always stays with someone.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"There's a YA book called Noughts & Crosses by Mallory Blackman that I first read when I was 13, and at that time I was encouraging everyone to read it - me, my mum, my mum's best friend and her daughter all got through it in quick succession!

Basically the world is split into Crosses - darker skinned people - and noughts, who are whiter skinned people who are treated as the lowest of the low. Sephy, a Cross, falls in love with the son of her old nanny, Callum, who's a nought. Absolutely amazing novel which deals with loads of issues. I think even when I was at that age I already knew not to judge people on superficial things but that novel really drove it home. I think it's the type of book that always stays with someone. "

That was a book that was in the top 50 of the BBC's Big Read a few years ago. It's an excellently written book

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Ruby, you should read Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde, it's a great book that may share some theme with the book you mentiones.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by David Eggers had quite an impact on me when I read it a few years ago.

Essays in Love by Alain De Button also had a strange impact as it also happened to coincide with me falling in love for the first time.

Never really got on with "A Staggering Work....", although I do respect his jounalism.

I have a similar encounter with "The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm "

The art of loving has been recommended to me before.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"There's a YA book called Noughts & Crosses by Mallory Blackman that I first read when I was 13, and at that time I was encouraging everyone to read it - me, my mum, my mum's best friend and her daughter all got through it in quick succession!

Basically the world is split into Crosses - darker skinned people - and noughts, who are whiter skinned people who are treated as the lowest of the low. Sephy, a Cross, falls in love with the son of her old nanny, Callum, who's a nought. Absolutely amazing novel which deals with loads of issues. I think even when I was at that age I already knew not to judge people on superficial things but that novel really drove it home. I think it's the type of book that always stays with someone.

That was a book that was in the top 50 of the BBC's Big Read a few years ago. It's an excellently written book "

It is brilliant

And probably all so much more important in the world today.

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By *oachman 9CoolMan
over a year ago

derby

Of late I,ve started reading again and I,m slowly makeing my way through paperbacks and hardbacks presently second World war themed I,m only a slow reader but that suits me as I enjoy it more presently just started a new paperback titled SAVAGE CONTINENT by keith lowe first published in 2012 by viking and published again in 2013 by penguin.. It is about Europe after the second world war It was a top ten sunday times bestseller and also won a history prize.. A true Insight into Events during the war and after for many a war that seemed to carry on for years after Adolf Hitler may have been a saviour to some before hostilities started but he destroyed germany and wiped many places off the map and changed europe forever not for the light hearted reader thou I must say.

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Try:

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Or:

Perfume, by Patrick Siskund

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I read so much and i often struggle to find a good serial. Its incredibly rare for books to resonate with me. But thats probably becaise i mainly read fantasy, murders and thrillers.

Im reading a polygamy series thats not the best writing but one of my favourites.

Robert j crane sanctuary series is one of my all time favourites and my usernames from a character in it

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Or:

Factotum, by Charles Bukowski

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Flanimals by Ricky Gervase. Literary genius.

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Maybe:

Starmaker, by Olaf Stapledon (heavy-going, far-reaching history of the universe in 500? pages. Couldn't put it down)

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Definitely:

From Hell, by Alan Moore (so good I got my mum a copy)

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

But I mostly read non-fiction

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Try:

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez"

If we're going for Marquez , I prefer One Hundred Years of Solitude - but Magical Realism is better done by Allende imo and Jorge Luis Borges is the best Latin American writer - I love "A Universal History of Infamy" and used to carry it around permanently in my jacket pocket when a student - great for whipping out in coffee houses That book definitely got me a few fucks back in the day

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Janet and John by Ladybird

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

And also:

The Name of The Rose, by Umberto Eco

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire."

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury


"Try:

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez

If we're going for Marquez , I prefer One Hundred Years of Solitude - but Magical Realism is better done by Allende imo and Jorge Luis Borges is the best Latin American writer - I love "A Universal History of Infamy" and used to carry it around permanently in my jacket pocket when a student - great for whipping out in coffee houses That book definitely got me a few fucks back in the day "

Love in a Time of Cholera *isn't* magical realism (which Márquez's signature)... it's a 50-year love story contrasting the chaste boundaries of marriage with anarchic and romantic love.

It's tender, touching, sexy, funny and beautifully translated

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Janet and John by Ladybird "

Old Hat - their replacements, Biff, Chip and Kipper were 30 years old the other day

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in "

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Try:

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez

If we're going for Marquez , I prefer One Hundred Years of Solitude - but Magical Realism is better done by Allende imo and Jorge Luis Borges is the best Latin American writer - I love "A Universal History of Infamy" and used to carry it around permanently in my jacket pocket when a student - great for whipping out in coffee houses That book definitely got me a few fucks back in the day

Love in a Time of Cholera *isn't* magical realism (which Márquez's signature)... it's a 50-year love story contrasting the chaste boundaries of marriage with anarchic and romantic love.

It's tender, touching, sexy, funny and beautifully translated"

Ah - well, it sits at the top of The Guardian's "Best Magical Realism Books" list so argue with them, not me

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda "

You have seen "Il Postino" haven't you?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda

You have seen "Il Postino" haven't you?"

I have not.

Have you seen Howl?

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By *radleywigginsMan
over a year ago

northwest

Three men in a boat - Jerome K Jerome

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Old man and the sea - Ernest Hemmingway

The da vinci code - (joke)

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury

Something I picked up yesterday...

Daniil Kharms (1905-1942) is one of Russia's great lost absurdists - a writer whose world still alarms, shocks and bewitches more than half a century after he died in prison during the siege of Leningrad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniil_Kharms

Google his (very) short stories.

Mental, and in fact he was imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital (where he starved to death) because of his "public displays of decadent and illogical behavior".

Fascinating.

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury


"Three men in a boat - Jerome K Jerome

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Old man and the sea - Ernest Hemmingway

The da vinci code - (joke)

"

Three Men in a Boat is charming.

I really enjoyed Catch-22 until the end, which I thought was a bit of a cop out.

You can use the Da Vinci Code as kindling

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"And also:

The Name of The Rose, by Umberto Eco "

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By *rtemisiaWoman
over a year ago

Norwich


"Or:

Perfume, by Patrick Siskund"

My daughter is reading this at the moment. She is loving it. It is pure storytelling and an incredible assault on the senses. The main protagonist has almost literally no dialogue. Suskind has the only voice. But what a voice.

I've always loved Possession by A S Byatt. The end made me cry.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda

You have seen "Il Postino" haven't you?

I have not.

Have you seen Howl?"

No, what is it??

Il Postino is a beautiful Italian film based around Pablo Neruda's exile on a small, poor Italian island in the 1950's. It's such a beautiful film and Phillipe Noiret plays Neruda wonderfully.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

For fantasy lovers

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Something I picked up yesterday...

Daniil Kharms (1905-1942) is one of Russia's great lost absurdists - a writer whose world still alarms, shocks and bewitches more than half a century after he died in prison during the siege of Leningrad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniil_Kharms

Google his (very) short stories.

Mental, and in fact he was imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital (where he starved to death) because of his "public displays of decadent and illogical behavior".

Fascinating. "

Thanks for this - will definitely look him up

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda

You have seen "Il Postino" haven't you?

I have not.

Have you seen Howl?

No, what is it??

Il Postino is a beautiful Italian film based around Pablo Neruda's exile on a small, poor Italian island in the 1950's. It's such a beautiful film and Phillipe Noiret plays Neruda wonderfully."

I may have to check that out.

It's a film based on the life and works of Allen Ginsberg. It's really rather good.

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By *carlet_heavenWoman
over a year ago

somewhere in the sticks

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro…the last line is amazing…for me it sums up life in a nutshell-whether we realise that's whats happening or not.

I'm not a great fan of modern authors but I found out that this book has become a modern classic-amazingly poignant throughout

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Acid house by Irvine Welsh is some read I've bought it twice and given it out twice to friends. They then have given it to other friends saying you must read this book x

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By *iamondjoeMan
over a year ago

Glastonbury


"Acid house by Irvine Welsh is some read I've bought it twice and given it out twice to friends. They then have given it to other friends saying you must read this book x"

If you give something away multiple times it's a good sign

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


""Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro…the last line is amazing…for me it sums up life in a nutshell-whether we realise that's whats happening or not.

I'm not a great fan of modern authors but I found out that this book has become a modern classic-amazingly poignant throughout "

Great book.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Can I throw in some poetry and say

Les fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire.

You definitely can throw some in - off to read now!

I'll throw in "Babi Yar" by Yvgeny Yevtushenko - very apt for the times we live in

Also just anything by Pablo Neruda

You have seen "Il Postino" haven't you?

I have not.

Have you seen Howl?

No, what is it??

Il Postino is a beautiful Italian film based around Pablo Neruda's exile on a small, poor Italian island in the 1950's. It's such a beautiful film and Phillipe Noiret plays Neruda wonderfully.

I may have to check that out.

It's a film based on the life and works of Allen Ginsberg. It's really rather good."

Ah thanks. I never quite "got" the Beat Poets" - I used to beat myself up because I just couldn't make much sense of Burroughs and found Kerouac dull.

It's so difficult being a literary effette sometimes

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Currently munching,through:

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Interesting, mock bio, written for her lover bi writer Vita Sackville West.

gallops through centuries, evolving changes of sensuality and identity!!

(I can spend hours in random, book shops)

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