04-27-2008, 10:42 AM | #16 |
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I didn't like it. I thought I would, when I read it, it seemed the kind of thing I'd like, but something about it seemed stale and formulaic.
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04-27-2008, 11:05 AM | #17 | |
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04-27-2008, 08:36 PM | #18 |
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I was remiss when I posted my books in discussing the "why" aspect. For the Rinker Buck and Oliver Sacks books, they both manage to recapture the childhood state, which is simultaneously magical, mythical, and vividly, directly "real". I think it is extremely important for adults, as cliché as it may be to say it, to see the world through child's eyes.
The "Pre-Astronauts" books not only documents some amazing men and achievements, it also provides a profound warning about the "not invented here" syndrome that affects so many institutions. It can literally be fatal to ignore what others fought so hard to discover. For Bright Earth, there is nothing life-changing. It is simply a fascinating book, and anyone interested in art, language, and literature (which describes our membership, I think), it should prove an enjoyable read. |
04-27-2008, 08:56 PM | #19 | |
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I think that people make a mistake when they say that the adult popularity is because "she is writing for adults too". Rather, I think that she is seeing an alternate "world through a child's eyes" and that adults are either unnecessarily defending their reading of a "kids' book" or not realising that they still always retain the ability to see through the eyes of their own childhood. That's a Good Thing. As for Oliver Sacks...I'll shamefacedly offer that he has been a writer on my TBR-list for many years, and yet I have managed to not get to him at all so far. I'll be sure to amend that, my surety emphasised by your comments. Cheers, Marc |
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04-27-2008, 09:08 PM | #20 |
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I haven't read any of the HP books, so don't know if the comparison is apt. But if you read Uncle Tungsten, for example, you can let me know if they indeed have this commonality.
I recommended Kipling's "The Brushwood Boy" to another member wanting recommendations for non-stereotypical love stories, and I realize it appeals to me for much the same reason. In the early stages it is an astonishingly clear-eyed depiction of a child's world view. "A child of six was telling himself stories as he lay in bed. It was a new power, and he kept it a secret. A month before it had occurred to him to carry on a nursery tale left unfinished by his mother, and he was delighted to find the tale as it came out of his own head just as surprising as though he were listening to it 'all new from the beginning.'" I still feel a half-joyful, half-panicked frisson when I read that; there really is such power and I want it. |
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04-27-2008, 09:26 PM | #21 |
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Comte de Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror
http://www.kisa.ca/maldoror/english.html http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maldoror-Poe...9345615&sr=8-2 One of the earliest and the strongest influences on the Surrealist writers, Lautreamont (real name Isidore Ducasse) wrote little and died very young. His enigmatic short life is intriguing like his mysterious 'prose-poem' about a deranged character 'Maldoror' who is against the Creator, is evil, horrible and sadistic. During his journey of destruction he comes across many things. He destroys the good and makes evil and beastly look saintly in comparison, until he finally comes face to face with the Creator... John Cowper Powys's A Glastonbury Romance http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glastonbury-...9345756&sr=8-9 This one is about Glastonbury and the surrounding country-side. The imagery is extremely vivid and many complex themes intermingle. A huge book, it is a rewarding read nevertheless. Sadeq Hussain's The Blind Owl http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri.../blindowl.html (Download and read on your ereader.) This little novella is a real nightmare depicting decadence, desperation and depravity. No wonder the French loved its Iranian author and showered all kinds of honours at him. Very predictably, he ended his own life. If you like decadent, surrealistic, really SICK books, this one would fit the bill. Last edited by Razi; 04-27-2008 at 09:52 PM. |
04-28-2008, 02:26 AM | #22 | |
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It's charming and enlightening. |
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04-28-2008, 02:28 AM | #23 | |
Now you lishen here...
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A young man and woman are sitting on a bench under a moonlit sky. The young man asks the young woman "Do you like Kipling?" The woman turns in a huff and replies "I will have you know I have never kippled in my life!" I apologize again for the distraction. Last edited by Donnageddon; 04-28-2008 at 02:32 AM. |
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04-28-2008, 02:58 AM | #24 |
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I'm going to take an easier target, and recommend some children's literature:
The Good Master by Kate Seredy. Written about World War I in central-eastern Europe (Hungary, I believe, but I may be mis-remembering), this is a story about moving to a farm, and then growing up (at least a little). This is one of the books I learned to read with, first having my mother read to me, then jointly turning pages, then finally saying "hurry up, I'm already done!". The Open Gate by Kate Seredy. A similar theme, but set in the US. (I think Seredy was an American writer, but may have been a recent immigrant at the time of writing) A family ends up buying a farm, and how to deal with it. Another read-with-Mom book. Both of these books are from Viking Press, at least in the editions we have. And last, a work of non-fiction: Three Against the Wilderness by Eric Collier. In 1920, Eric Collier rode through a section of wilderness in British Columbia that had been over-trapped for fur-bearing Beaver. A forest fire swept through the area, and a flood ripped through un-maintained beaver dams. Shortly thereafter, Eric and his new wife homesteaded in the area, and after several years started manually rebuilding the beaver dams. After another couple of years, the B.C. government sent out two pair of beaver to help re-seed the area. By 1942, the area had been completely refilled with beaver, and there was a major flood in the Fraser River valley. The Riske Creek watershed, where Eric was working/living, did not contribute any excess water to that flood, since the beaver dams retained all the extra. My parents met the Colliers while on vacation in B.C. the summer I was two (I got left with Grandparents that year). In this time of greater attention to environmental details, this book is still an inspiration. |
04-28-2008, 03:09 AM | #25 |
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Yes, apparently GMTA.
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04-28-2008, 10:14 AM | #26 |
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Well the Book hhat comes to mind that most people have not usually heard of is not that obscure, but was somthing that opened my eyes to a whole different way of thinking. The Book you Say?
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman & Ralph Leighton. It cronicles parts of the life of the Nobel Prize winning physicist. When I recieved it as a gift on my birthday, I first refused to read it becsuase I Thought it would be a dull read (D'uh! The minds of 10yr olds) However once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Up until then Scientist's to me were just boring old men in lab coats that came up with things I had to learn by rote. Reading this book bought them to life for me as human beings, as people not icons. But most of all, it made me laugh so hard that at times, my ribs hurt. The cheerfully irrelevent way in which Feynman went about doing things makes you appriciate his genious even more. And as you go back and reread parts of it, it can really make you think. and so by virtue of being on my Third Copy (Worn out, and Lost The previous 2) I would heartly recommand this to anyone as a great read, and a good introduction to some of feynmans concepts for non scientists. I'm Don't this one is available as a E-book, But this is one I would say is worth having in hard copy just for the rereadability factor. |
04-28-2008, 10:16 AM | #27 | |
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04-28-2008, 10:27 AM | #28 | |
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Nobody likes Thrills either, yet I do. Maybe ... for once, I am not a mere follower of masses. Oh wait, that's twice already ! |
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04-28-2008, 10:43 AM | #29 |
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Throwing my hat in the ring, too, for the Feynman book(s). "Surely You're Joking" was just one of them. You should definitely read his biography, Genius, by James Gleick.
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04-28-2008, 11:11 AM | #30 | |
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