<p>seth blue,</p>
<p>because it is perennially the greatest story ever told by many different authors…Shakespeare’s was simply the last great retelling of love’s great battle against the powers that be in this material world…I think.</p>
<p>however, I agree it is not even close to HIS best.</p>
<p>I am so glad we have a lot of Dickens fans. I have never read Our Mutual Friend. That gives me something to look forward to. </p>
<p>And yes, I always loved Greek mythology. The pantheon felt like personal friends.</p>
<p>And if you don’t know what the point is of Romeo and Juliet, go see the play or the movie. Watch the part where she tells him it is not the lark it is the nightingale and if you are middle-aged you can remember teenage love. If you are a teenager, you can see the old language come to life. Everybody knows what it is to want something so much you tell yourself against all contradictory evidence that it is true.</p>
<p>I actually do know the meaning of life and appreciates Shakespeares’s use of language. however, if you have ever read Othello or merchant of venice, romeo and juliet will pale in comparison. btw i’ve watched the movie, good, rather moving, but miised the “point of Romeo and Juliet”. Shakespeare intended to make romeo naive, unrealistic, self-deiving as he kept thinking “fate” dictated his life. The film made Romeo and juliet’s love more realistic than it was in the story. it wasn’t love, it was a crush. Romoeo was head over heels in love with Rosalind one minute, and the next minute it was Rosalind. This is a typical high-school love story, except written with by someone with a masterful stroke of the pen. </p>
<p>Also, i’m teenager.</p>
<p>Best book ever read: All The King’s Men. I cringe every time I tell someone about it and they say, “Ick, it’s about politics, right?” Uh, yeah, kind of. As well as love, Truth, memory, identity, history, ambition, wealth, poverty, power, fatherhood, passion, murder, betrayal, loyalty…<br>
And for all you Catch-22 lovers who posted, my <em>other</em> favorite: Joseph Heller’s Something Happened. I walked around in a daze for a week after reading it.</p>
<p>sorry, made an embarrasing number of mistakes in my previous post. Didn’t bother to check, just typed away. That’s what i get for not proofreading…LOL</p>
<p>Seth Blue,</p>
<p>Hi. I have seen Othello. I have read Merchant of Venice. I have taken Shakespeare in college. I have worked in the theater - if I had thought about it I would have put that I read William Hurt his lines as he memorized Hamlet as my “hook” in that thread. </p>
<p>Of course, these things in and of themselves don’t make me an expert. I just put them there thinking one of them might catch your attention because I am going to tell you something important.</p>
<p>The single most overwhelming reason that Shakespeare is Shakespeare is because there is no one meaning to any of his works. There is no one meaning to any of his works. No one meaning. The meanings are multi-faceted, nuanced, subtle, evolving. If Romeo and Juliet could be so reduced to one meaning, no one would ever have cried at their deaths. That’s what makes it great art - the meanings you cannot put your finger on and write in a topic sentence.</p>
<p>I promise what I am telling you is true.</p>
<p>William Hurt! Be still my heart. You certainly hooked my attention with that one.</p>
<p>I am a hopeless romantic, and loved Kristin Lavransdatter, too, Voronwe. But my all time favorite classic is Jane Eyre. (I noticed that’s a name chosen by one of our student posters, and my heart always goes out to her.) I think I have read the book about 20 times. Used to read it about twice a year when I was younger. My initials and hers were the same prior to my marrying, if that’s any excuse. </p>
<p>Of my favorite contemporary novels I would mention Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the sharing here . . .Spring Break will soon FINALLY arrive and I have been wondering what to read!</p>
<p>Seth Blue - I think R&J is the most famous because every 8th-9th grader in the US since Thomas Jefferson’s day had to read it (expurgated, in my time, of course) in class ;). I think the idea is that it is the most accessible to the early high school audience.</p>
<p>Dickens fans, will have to try Our Mutual Friend.
Momof3 - I’m reading Pigs in Heaven this month, glad to see it on the list.</p>
<p>Cangel,</p>
<p>Have you read Beantrees by Kingsolver? You may know already that it is the first of two books about the characters in Pigs in Heaven. I read them in reverse order and it didn’t hurt anything. I really love both of them.</p>
<p>to all the posters, thanks for the r+j reponses. My favorite is still Of Mice and Men, now there’s a story with multiple themes.</p>
<p>Momofthree and cangel - my absolutely FAVORITE book by Kingsolver was “Prodigal Summer.” In my very, very humble opinion, it is by far her best. I did not care for “Poisonwood Bible” at all, and for her nonfiction, I loved “Small Wonder” and “High Tide in Tucson.”</p>
<p>Voronwe, I agree that Prodigal Summer was wonderful and I was very disappointed by Poisonwood, which I found depressing. It is hard for me to choose a favorite among them all; she is a very special writer.</p>
<p>Ditto “Prodigal Summer”–loved it, favorite Kingsolver too-- but I also enjoyed Poisonwood Bible. It was an excellent book IMHO and enjoyed knowing more about the Congo, the Colonial history, etc.</p>
<p>Has anyone enjoyed TC Boyle as I have, books like “Drop City”?</p>
<p>Yes, I finally read “The Bean Trees” after an offspring read it for school, that is what lead me to Pigs. Prodigal Summer goes on the list.
What’s “Drop City” - genrewise? Off to Amazon.</p>
<p>TC Boyle is his own genre. Drop City is about a commune of hippies who get kicked off their land and go to Alaska, thinking it’s going to be utopian; it is of course man vs. nature, blunted by drugs… Interesting story. </p>
<p>My acid test on a book is: am I compelled to keep reading? Will I wilingly miss badly-needed sleep to read one more chapter?</p>
<p>Lately really enjoyed “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”</p>
<p>I adore T.C. Boyle. Also, Sherman Alexie (American Indian stories) for his easy style of writing although some are too much about sexual encounters which I find predictable and boring. I love magical realism such as The Tin Drum (Gunter Grass), One Hundred Years of Solitude (Garcia Marquez) and I was totally lost in happiness while reading The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov). Also, am crazy about Rick Bass.</p>
<p>If you like magic realism (I love it too) try Alice Hoffman: Turtle Moon, Second Nature, etc… I have not liked the last couple as well as the earlier ones but I loved the early ones…</p>
<p>I’m a huge Kingsolver fan,too. and my favorite is also Prodigal Summer. Second favorite would be Bean Trees. Also didn’t like PB as much as I was supposed to.</p>
<p>For sheer fun, anyone ever read Handling Sin by MIchael Malone? Other obscure favorites: Louisiania Power and LIght and Deep in the Shade of Paridise, both by John Dufresne.</p>