qpwoeiru Posted July 29, 2017 Report Share Posted July 29, 2017 I really enjoyed Leonard Peikoff's Eight Great Plays Lectures. I bought all the plays, read them and listened to his analysis. In a similar fashion, I'd like to know what the gems of literature are. If you had to list 10 or so classic novels or authors that you would not want to go through life without having read, what would they be? (Excluding Ayn Rand because I'm already well-familiar with her books and I assume the people here are too) I'm not necessarily looking for heroic, life-affirming books. If one book accurately portrays a man with bad philosophy or an author has a beautiful writing style regardless of his philosophy, I'm interested too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted July 29, 2017 Report Share Posted July 29, 2017 A few you could check out: Trustee from the Toolroom - Nevil Shute Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne Uncle Tom's Cabin Captain Blood - Rafael Sabatini The Deceivers - John Masters You probably won't like them all, but I hope you'll enjoy a few of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninth Doctor Posted July 29, 2017 Report Share Posted July 29, 2017 Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco Mason & Dixon - Thomas Pynchon Ulysses - James Joyce The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - Laurence Sterne The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie All the Jeeves novels (plus the short stories) of P.G. Wodehouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonAthos Posted July 30, 2017 Report Share Posted July 30, 2017 I'd like to echo some of the earlier choices, including Roger Ackroyd (though perhaps Mysterious Affair at Styles, first) and I think any/all of Hugo or Douglas Adams. I do wonder about the Good Doctor's selection of Ulysses, however; I've had surgeries I've enjoyed more. Well, at least he didn't drop Finnegans Wake on the thread, lol. To this a few I would add include: Any/all of Alexandre Dumas (if you're unwilling to invest into his longer novels, I found The Black Tulip to be quite charming). Watership Down by Richard Adams. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repairman Posted July 30, 2017 Report Share Posted July 30, 2017 I'll second the motion for Heinlein's, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and having recently finishing Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, I'll cast a vote for it. In addition, anyone interested in Objectivism ought to read the two great novels by George Orwell's, Animal Farm, and 1984. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Buddha Posted July 30, 2017 Report Share Posted July 30, 2017 The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. 8 books in total, but well worth the read. I'm rereading it for the 3rd time right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninth Doctor Posted July 31, 2017 Report Share Posted July 31, 2017 On 7/29/2017 at 9:26 PM, DonAthos said: I'd like to echo some of the earlier choices, including Roger Ackroyd (though perhaps Mysterious Affair at Styles, first) and I think any/all of Hugo or Douglas Adams. I do wonder about the Good Doctor's selection of Ulysses, however; I've had surgeries I've enjoyed more. Well, at least he didn't drop Finnegans Wake on the thread, lol. I agree Mysterious Affair at Styles ought to be read first (it being the first in the series), but Ackroyd is special. And it shouldn't be spoiled for anyone who hasn't read it. Please don't look it up on Wikipedia first, you only get one chance to read it the first time. I've never been able to get into Finnegans Wake. Even with Joseph Campbell's book length analysis laid side-by-side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonAthos Posted August 1, 2017 Report Share Posted August 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Ninth Doctor said: ...Ackroyd is special. And it shouldn't be spoiled for anyone who hasn't read it. Please don't look it up on Wikipedia first, you only get one chance to read it the first time. Absolutely. 1 hour ago, Ninth Doctor said: I've never been able to get into Finnegans Wake. Even with Joseph Campbell's book length analysis laid side-by-side. Heh, I didn't get into Wake either, but I did "read" it. By which I mean that I rolled my gaze over the words, one page a day, typically while sitting on the toilet (which I thought appropriate). I also read Campbell's exegesis alongside the thing, but, eh... The best thing about Wake for me is that it became a party game for a few years, where I would open to a page at random and challenge one of my learned friends to make sense of any part of it. Yeah, I'm great at parties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qpwoeiru Posted August 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2017 Thanks for the suggestions. I'm starting with the hunchback of Notre Dame. Boydstun and DonAthos 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninth Doctor Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 On 8/1/2017 at 9:33 PM, qpwoeiru said: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm starting with the hunchback of Notre Dame. When you're done pick up Rand's Art of Fiction. She talks about Hunchback there. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fiction-Guide-Writers-Readers/dp/0452281547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501850514&sr=8-1&keywords=rand+art+of+fiction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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