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| Books & Authors Recommended and not so recommended reading. |
10-10-2005, 06:20 PM
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#1
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Posts: 913
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Kafka's Metamorphasis
I just read this book and . . . wow. I never thought I would actually LIKE a piece of classic literature -- I read classic lit with a feeling of inevitability -- but I LOVED this. It taps into something that's still felt today. This book could IMHO live forever.
I think everybody should read this. It should be compulsory that everyone who calls themself a writer should read this.
I'm off now, to find more work by this author.
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10-18-2005, 10:17 AM
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#2
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Gender: Male
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His shorter works rock and The Trial is dreamy. If you can find the complete short stories by Schocken, treat yourself to them. Most large chains carry it.
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His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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01-10-2006, 01:04 AM
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#4
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: New Delhi
Gender: Male
Posts: 7
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Kafka and Imaginary Animals
Don't you think that there is a close connection between Kafka and Imaginary animals. Imaginary animals appear very prominently in his other stories too, like: Cares of a Family Man, Blumfeld: An elderly Bachelor etc. More to read on this Click here 
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01-10-2006, 04:22 AM
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#5
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Wordsmith
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,038
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It's funny how 'the classics' can put people off, as if they were one homogenous mass of impenetrable wordiness.
If you want to read accessible classics, I'd recommend The short stories of De Maupassant (if you write short stories, you HAVE to read them - he helped to define the modern short story and all his themes are totally relevant to today) and Candide by Voltaire. It was the first book to be simultanously published in every country in Europe, and the first to be simultaneously banned in every country except Britain. It's easy to read and fun, and a wonderfully biting satire that everyone can relate to.
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01-10-2006, 10:08 AM
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#6
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland
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Maupassant? Did he write the masque of the red death? Or was that Lovecraft?
Anyway, it's not the wordiness that turns me off, it's just that a lot of classic fiction is just that stuffy. But I have read a lot of Lovecraft's shorts, and Arthur Conan Doyle (not the Sherlock Holmes stuff).
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01-10-2006, 11:24 AM
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#7
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Moderator
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Guy contracted syphillus and his work took a decidedly nightmarish turn, with insanity being an obvious motif. thank you.
- bill nye the science guy
__________________
His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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01-10-2006, 12:29 PM
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#8
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Best Seller
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North Eastern England UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 682
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Yeah I agree they can be stuffy. Maybe they date with the language of the time?
I got completely worn down by first Tess of the D'Urbervilles (which I finished) and then Middlemarch during which I almost lost the will to live.
Having said that, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men; Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea; Heller's Catch 22 I loved - even if it was convoluted; Orwell's 1984; and Seb Fawlkes' Birdsong... well I loved them all.
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01-10-2006, 03:40 PM
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#9
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Quote:
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Having said that, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men; Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea; Heller's Catch 22 I loved - even if it was convoluted; Orwell's 1984; and Seb Fawlkes' Birdsong... well I loved them all.
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I'll second that. But they're not what I define as classics -- for no other reason than they're not old enough. They would be in the "depression era" or "post/pre war" category |
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01-10-2006, 04:01 PM
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#10
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Best Seller
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North Eastern England UK
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Yeah I see your point. Maybe it's a language thing. Some of the phrasing really does date.
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01-15-2006, 04:57 PM
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#11
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Wordsmith
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,038
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Masque of the red wossname was Poe, if I remember rightly.
De Maupassant is not at all stuffy. Read him! If nothing else find 'Boule de Suiffe' online and read it. It'll take you 20 minutes.
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01-15-2006, 07:06 PM
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#12
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland
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I will. I've already got quite a backlog of classic fiction on my hard drive (halfway through HeartOf Darkness; just read G.G's The Destructors today), I'll check it out and tell you what think.
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01-17-2006, 08:38 PM
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#13
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 14
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Kafka fans might be interested in The Diaries of Franz Kafka, an online project located here:
http://www.metameat.net/kafka/index.php?en
Also, contemporary composer Max Richter has an album called The Blue Notebooks that's inspired by Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks. It's a great listen; very moody. Actress Tilda Swinton does the narration. |
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