<p>“On the Road”</p>
<p>Always makes me want to quit my job, get on a motorcycle, and drive cross the country.</p>
<p>Joyce’s Ulysses. I know lots of people give it a bad rap, but jeez, the book is really FUNNY! What can be more fun than wit and word play?</p>
<p>SBMom, I’m going to hear Anita Diamant being interviewed tomorrow evening on how she writes historical fiction.</p>
<p>Thanks, Woodwork. KL is not quite Dostoyevsky (but then, nothing is!). Some, shall we say…“lesser” readers…might say it is nothing more than a soap opera set in the 14th century. But no. It’s an astonishingly rich and beautiful portrayal of life in all its joy, sorrow, suffering, glory, doubt, despair, hope, etc. </p>
<p>However, if you don’t like it I won’t be offended! :)</p>
<p>okay, i know i said novels, but does anyone fell passionately about shakespear’s twelth night, and the merchant of venice? I like othello too, but those two are my favorites so far, even if they aren’t completely original…if ya know what i mean…</p>
<p>searchingavalon, that sounds so fun!</p>
<p>voronwe & woodwork,</p>
<p>If you enjoyed The Brothers Karamazov, you might also like “The Brothers K” by David James Duncan. Contemporary American novel. Similar themes; obvious parallels; about Vietnam & baseball.</p>
<p>anyone read anne perry novels? Hyde park heads man, withechapel consiracy? Those aren’t at the classic level, but they sure are entertaining.</p>
<p>I love to read. </p>
<p>Classic novel: Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Long, so you don’t run out while you’re still into it:) Meaning created by so many many small things, like life. Emotions revealed slowly, slowly until even the most cynical of us cannot resist. Killer puzzle.</p>
<p>Contemporary novel: Disgrace by Coetze. I am not sure that any other contemporary novels even compare. It is a very short, spare story. When I finished I actually cried out “How does he do it?”. The story of a professor disgraced on charges of sexual harassment and his daughter raped when she goes to live in the outcounty of South Africa. And about taking care of dogs. And brings about in the reader a pure sorrowful outrage and completely unreasoning hope.</p>
<p>seth blue: I personally have a thing for Lear.</p>
<p>king lear?</p>
<p>I agree about ‘Disgrace’ (Coetze).</p>
<p>Kitkattail: Lear is my favorite Shakespeare.</p>
<p>Alumother: Bleak House is my favorite Dickens.</p>
<p>re Shakespeare,</p>
<p>for me, I love As You Like It and, of course, Hamlet.</p>
<p>On a related note, </p>
<p>Recently, HBO has been running the Mel Gibson Hamlet (it’s amazingly well donefar better IMO than K. Branaugh’s). My six year old son, Tristan, cannot get enough of it, and for very peculiar reasons. He’s deeply into the whole dead-father-uncle-mother-son-revenge-afterlife-redemption thing, not the action.
He questions us about it sincerely and often.
We were bemused and concerned. It made us stop to consider the appeal of the old stories by the Grimm Brother’s, The Death of Arthur etc., and some other stories from my wife’s culture, The Shah Nameh (the Book of Kings, 10th centmy sons middle name comes from these stories–Sohrab–as his first comes from Tristan & Isolde of King Arthur-Wagner fame).
These stories tend to deal with the giant-sized issues of life that apparently were considered digestible and nutritious for children-past but that differ greatly from the psychological-social affirmation childrens stories of today. For us, the verdict is still out but we dont want to chase him away from his fascination with Hamlet either. </p>
<p>Do any of you have similar experiences and how did you deal with it?</p>
<p>Alumother, Garland - Wow! Bleak House is my favorite Dickens novel, too. In fact it is the only one I’ve ever been able to really get into except Oliver Twist.</p>
<p>Cangel: have you tried “Our Mutual Friend”? It’s my second favorite.</p>
<p>cangel, i love oliver twist too.</p>
<p>Years ago, as students in London, we were assigned Our Mutual Friend. Promptly dubbed "Our Mutual Twit:, it was roundly despised by us all…for about the first 400 pages. After that no one could put it down!</p>
<p>question for everyone: why is shakespeare’s romeo and juliet so famous even though it pales in comparison to most of his other plays, which are far superior. I mean all it is, is a story about a lovesick puppy named Romeo and how he seduced a clever girl named Juliet. And how they died in the name of love. Excuse my ignorance if anyone finds my uber brief summary inaccurate and offensive to the play or to you if you’re a fan of Romeo and Juliet. Just asking why it’s so famous when Shakespeare wrote far superior plays. Like the merchant of venice for example(personal favorite)</p>
<p>oh and btw, does anyone simply adore greek mythology? I know i do. (insert happy face)</p>