Author Topic: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread  (Read 29141 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #40 on: August 26, 2012, 12:53:44 PM »
I was very tempted to quote something from Ron. :)

I've got a Ron quote under my avatar. ;)

When I first saw it I wondered what the connection to your raccoon was... until I saw the bigger picture. :)

Devil

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #41 on: August 26, 2012, 07:23:10 PM »
Ten down.... now onto the other forty  :P

1 - I,Lucifer Glen Duncan: "Kneecaps only exist to get hit with claw-hammers; grace only exists to be fallen from."

2 - The Road Cormac McCarthy: “Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”

3 - Long walk to freedom Nelson Mandela: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

4 - Lamb: The gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal Christopher Moore: “Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him....”

5 - Starship Troopers Robert Heinlein: "In a mixed ship [men and women] the last thing a trooper hears before a drop (maybe the last word he ever hears) is a woman's voice, wishing him luck. If you don't think this is important you've probably resigned from the human race.”

6 - 1984 George Orwell: “The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.”

7 - Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury: “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

8 - Nevermind the Pollacks Neal Pollack: From the 'Suggested Discussion questions' at the back of the book " Aren't you tired of every goddamn New York band naming Gang of Four as one of their influences? Have you head a Gang of Four song? What does it sound like? Because honestly I don't know. Also please explain the Joy Division revival. Joy Division? God. And now Morrissey is all hot shit again. Whine. Whine, whine, whine. Make your own music, pussies."

9 - The Shining Stephen King: Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.

10 - The real Frank Zappa book Frank Zappa: The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin'; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty. The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of _____ (fill in the blank), have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like.”
~You never say, "I'm gonna fight you, Steve." You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch him~

AAAutin

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #42 on: August 26, 2012, 08:01:25 PM »
8 - Nevermind the Pollacks Neal Pollack: From the 'Suggested Discussion questions' at the back of the book " Aren't you tired of every goddamn New York band naming Gang of Four as one of their influences? Have you head a Gang of Four song? What does it sound like? Because honestly I don't know. Also please explain the Joy Division revival. Joy Division? God. And now Morrissey is all hot shit again. Whine. Whine, whine, whine. Make your own music, pussies."

I'm in.

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #43 on: August 26, 2012, 08:53:25 PM »
From Sandy's list, I've read:

4) Harry Potter series
6) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy   J.R.R. Tolkien (Can I add The Hobbit to this?)
7) A Wrinkle in Time   Madeleine L'Engle
10) Ribsy  Beverly Cleary

...and the first of the Earthsea books.


From Devil's list:

Ten down.... now onto the other forty  :P
6 - 1984 George Orwell
7 - Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
9 - The Shining Stephen King
10 - The real Frank Zappa book Frank Zappa

The first two I own, and I also consider 1984 among my favorites.  Zappa's book was entertaining and enlightening, but rather arrogant.  I keep meaning to read The Road.

Devil

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #44 on: August 26, 2012, 11:04:19 PM »
8 - Nevermind the Pollacks Neal Pollack: From the 'Suggested Discussion questions' at the back of the book " Aren't you tired of every goddamn New York band naming Gang of Four as one of their influences? Have you head a Gang of Four song? What does it sound like? Because honestly I don't know. Also please explain the Joy Division revival. Joy Division? God. And now Morrissey is all hot shit again. Whine. Whine, whine, whine. Make your own music, pussies."

I'm in.

I read this back when I was working in the music industry dealing with bands, managers, critics, etc. So it was particularly poignant but I think it holds up still and is a brilliant critique/"alternate" history of the rock music from it's inception to the modern day.


From Sandy's list, I've read:

From Devil's list:

Ten down.... now onto the other forty  :P
6 - 1984 George Orwell
7 - Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
9 - The Shining Stephen King
10 - The real Frank Zappa book Frank Zappa

The first two I own, and I also consider 1984 among my favorites.  Zappa's book was entertaining and enlightening, but rather arrogant.  I keep meaning to read The Road.

1984 is one of those 'before it's time' books, disturbingly prophetic. As is Fahrenheit 451 which I just started rereading the other day, I hated it in high school but grew to love it. I don't think it is necessarily the best written book but it's themes, like 1984, were ahead of it's time and remarkably relevant.

I'll agree Zappa's book was somewhat arrogant but I also found it incredibly funny, informative and given the nature of his music surprisingly lucid. I guess it also helps i'm a huge fan.

The Road was one of the few books where "No....my eyes are just watering..... it's dusty in here" happened more than a few times.
~You never say, "I'm gonna fight you, Steve." You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch him~

verbALs

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #45 on: August 27, 2012, 04:05:46 AM »
Quote
10 - The real Frank Zappa book Frank Zappa: The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin'; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty. The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of _____ (fill in the blank), have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like.”

Very apt, the same applies to film or books.

Took me the last two years to feel I had watched enough films, and a wide enough range, to even start to have an opinion about what I really liked, and why I liked it.

Of those I have read, my ranking would be;

- Starship Troopers ( only read it recently. A revelation. My one question- they are fighting just because they have organised society, so that they have to fight?)

- Fahrenheit 451 (as to Bradbury's writing style, I have tried some of his others where the lyricism really works well (Martian Chronicles) and not so well (Dandelion Wine, I abandoned; Illustrated Man, irritating at times.) F451 is the one where it really works)

- The Shining (Alan Moore did an American Gothic cycle in a comic called Swamp Thing, where he reinterpretted classic horror themes in modern American terms like relating the Werewolf/Moon cycle thing to an old American Indian tradition of locking women away during their period. I think of King's early books as doing something similar- The Shining being the ghost story)

- 1984 (read it at school, which is basically another way of saying "need to read again, to remove the "forced march" memory of it")

- The Road; fell at the first fence, horse lame ("No Country" is pretty stunning though)

I haven't read any of Sandy's. Sandy did you read-along-a-Harry Potter with your kids? The abiding memory of the Olympics ceremony was the NHS section with Voldemort/ The Childcatcher/ Hook appearing as villains from British kids books. That was fantastic and subversively leftist given how the Tories always dismantle the NHS every chance they get. What any not in the UK made of all that I have no idea, which personalised the whole thing, endearingly.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2012, 04:21:16 AM by verbALs »
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michael x

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #46 on: August 27, 2012, 08:45:49 AM »
Looking at my 2010 list, I'm pretty happy with it. The two books I've read this summer, A Game of Thrones and Snow Crash, are possible candidates to sneak onto the list, but I haven't revisited a lot of the list to move it around a ton.

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #47 on: August 27, 2012, 09:09:00 AM »
Of Devil's list I've read 1984 and The Shining-- both excellent books.  Verbals, 1984 is worth re-reading.  I loved the Shining so much as a teen that when I watched Kubrick's film after, all I could see is the depth that he had left out.  Hated the film (I've made my peace with it since).  A great horror book.
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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #48 on: August 27, 2012, 10:02:41 AM »
Fahrenheit 451 would definitely go in my top 50.

Sandy did you read-along-a-Harry Potter with your kids?

It depended on the kid. For my reluctant readers I read to them til they were good and hooked and then they were on their own. :) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out right as we were going on a long trip, so we listened to the audio--loved it! And, it saved my voice.

Quote
The abiding memory of the Olympics ceremony was the NHS section with Voldemort/ The Childcatcher/ Hook appearing as villains from British kids books. That was fantastic and subversively leftist given how the Tories always dismantle the NHS every chance they get. What any not in the UK made of all that I have no idea, which personalised the whole thing, endearingly.

Yeah, that was lost on me. :D

verbALs

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Re: Top 100 Books 2012 discussion thread
« Reply #49 on: August 27, 2012, 10:05:15 AM »
We used to read Thomas The Tank Engine to ours. My son's first word was "momas" (ie Thomas).
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

 

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