Great Books Thread (page 3)

liquidsky

The Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Snowflower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

nvrgnbk

Nvr:
What did you like about The Heart of the Sea?

It's actually the true story that was recounted as Moby Dick.

Here's a bit of a review:

"With its huge scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship... With a tremendous cracking and splintering of oak, the whale struck the ship just beneath the anchor... The force of the collision caused the whalemen's heads to jounce...as the ship lurched to a halt on the slablike forehead of the whale. The creature's tail continued to work up and down, pushing the 238-ton ship backward until...water surged up over the transom... No longer going backward, the Essex was now going down."

If this brings to mind that wonderful high seas adventure, MOBY DICK, there's good reason. The tragic story of the whaleship Essex and her crew is the real life event that inspired Herman Melville to write his renowned 19th century classic.

In 1820, when the Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine whale hunt, the crew of 20 men had no idea that 15 months later they would find themselves adrift in the vast Pacific at the mercy of the elements and their own human failings. Able to salvage only 3 small harpoon boats and a few meager supplies, they made the fateful choice to sail back east to South America rather than west to any of several Pacific islands. With an innate fear of cannibalism rumored to exist among native tribes, they preferred to brave the familiarity of the ocean. For the next 93 days they would come to question the wisdom of that decision as the trade winds and storms blew them farther and farther from their destination. The sad irony is that many times during their 3,000 mile ordeal of hunger, thirst and death they would have been within reach of a lifesaving island, if they had only turned west.

In 1840, a short 20 years after this legendary shipwreck, Melville, himself, was working aboard a whaling ship in the Pacific when he had a chance encounter with one of the survivor's sons. After receiving a copy of the father's narration of the disastrous voyage, Melville became so moved by the crew's life and death struggle, he wrote an epic story reflecting their perilous experience. His fictional novel contains many references to the actual account of the Essex.

nvrgnbk

I also enjoyed Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America by John Charles Chasteen

It's history written with heart and humor.

No one can possibly see the immigration issue in North America the same after reading it.

Illyrian

1 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by I. Newton

2 The art of War by Lao Tzu

3 Paradigms Lost by John L. Casti

4 The Bourgeois Gentleman by Moliere

5 Candide by Voltaire

uninformed

My two favorite novels of all time were:

The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk

Fascinating account of the War in all its theaters, Pacific, Europe. Great read.

Recently read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton--Liked it a lot.

Also, read the entire Louis L'amour series,--"the Hacketts". Real easy and relaxing.

Just finished "Enders Game" and Enders Shadow" for a little Sci Fi by Orson Scott Card

Read and enjoyed all of John Steinbecks books, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, East of Eden, Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, etc. Loved his writing.

Hate Hemingway. All of em.

Lord of the Flies--William Golding--Very good book

Animal Farm--George Orwell-- a must read

To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee--good book

Count of Monte Cristo--Like Loruhammah I really like Dumas

Intensity--Coontz--Very scary

Dune--Best Sci Fi ever.

All of Dickens is good, but you have to get into them. Sometimes hard to start.

Painted House--OK---Grisham

The Testament--OK--Grisham

Rainmaker--Real good--""

A time to Kill--Excellent--""

I read both of Franz's books--Liked them both very much

I am now reading two religious based books, "The Myth of Certainty" Good so far, but still early to say

Also--A Metaphysical Interpretation of the Bible by Steven Hairfield--First 60 pages very good, from 60 to 80, I want to run and hide rather than read.

Good luck on finding something you like.

Brant

Open mind

Well uninformed, I'm disappointed. Sort of. Ok, not really.

Your list has the most books I've already read so far.

We may be "kindred spirits".

I'd just like to comment on some you mentioned.

Dean Koontz's, "Intensity". I'm not a big Koontz fan in general. Same reason as Steven King. (supernatural ghost stuff doesn't really blow my dress up) But this book was REALLY SCARY. As in psychopath murderer scary. On top of that, I didn't "read" it. I got it as an audiobook from the library. If any of you haven't read it and want a really scary listen, see if you can get it from your library. It will have you checking under your car seats for "bogey men". Oh, did I mention, it's REALLY SCARY.

Your Sci-Fi picks were spot on! I'm not a big Sci-Fi fan, but Ender's Game is a great recommendation for trying to hook anyone on Sci-Fi.

As for Dune by Frank Herbert, well it's a classic. If anybody saw the movie, try to forget it and just read the book. It was great.

As for Steinbeck, did you ever read "Valley of the Moon"? If you've ever lived in Nor Cal, it's pretty interesting since it follows a young couple all around Northern California up to Oregon around the turn of the (20th) century.

For those that have posted, thank you.

For those that haven't, make your mark!

I've only got 40 years left and I don't want to waste it on (non-Scottish) Crap! (that's an obscure Mike Myers, SNL reference. It's late.)

Open Mind

eclipse

Intensity was one of the only books by koontz that I enjoyed reading, it is REALLY SCARY! Strangers is a cool story by koontz, but its about 500-600 pages long.

TheSilence

To Kill a Mockingbird - because you have to love and admire Atticus Finch

Snowflower and the Secret Fan - because it was a glimpse into another culture

Memoirs of a Geisha - for the same reason as above

The Earth Children Series comprised of The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of the Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, and The Shelters of Stone - because when I read them as a teenager I identified with a girl being brought up in a male dominated environment with ideals that were completely against my nature, and because Jean Auel based a lot of her stories around actual archealogical (sp?) sites and I found that very interesting

The Lord of the Flies - because it's a look into what human nature can be

Of Mice and Men - simply because it's touching

The Secret History - because even though you know what happens from the beginning you need to find out what leads to it

The Alchemist - because there were a few simple lines and truths that resonated with me

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - because the other side of the story is always a fascinating thought, and of MacGuire's books that I've read I enjoyed this one the most

Many of Poe's short stories including Silence--A Fable

...off the top of my head

Jackie

TheSilence

Also, The Red Tent which is the story of Delilah as imagined by the author.

keyser soze

The first book I ever read that really affected me was Native Son by Richard Wright. Also, Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1984 by George Orwell, and anything from Kurt Vonnegut.

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