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Thread: What is your favorite book?

  1. #1
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    What is your favorite book?

    I think all of the users of this forum have favorite books. I want you to share your favorite book and why it is your favorite??

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    Registered User monkeyboy7's Avatar
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    It's a tough choice, but I'm going to have to say Mrs. Dalloway.

    First off, Woolf's prose is elegant and evocative without being too flowery. Superficially, it makes the novel a pleasure to read while making you want to come back later for close readings.

    Second, I think it's awesome that the novel takes place during one day. Woolf's decision to include such a small time frame helps celebrate the mundane, and it also raises the importance of moments as opposed to events. You can see how really isolated and fleeting moments like Septimus and hat-making can improve the lives of characters. Woolf's distinction between inner and outer time is also brilliant, for more reasons than I want to go into.

    Third, Woolf deals with the idea of shared and communal experiences, and dares to ask questions about what it means to be part of a community. The Marxist notion that humans are merely part of a larger system of production planning doesn't apply here. Rather, can certain events (like a party or a conspicuous skywriting plane) really unify us for a few moments of shared understanding? Is there such a thing as a communal conscience? Just how individualistic are we (and should we be)?

    If my thoughts seem poorly-formed, it's because the novel continues to make me think about these issues. That's the hallmark of a great novel, after all--something that stays with you after you've read it and causes you to endlessly ask questions. As Mark Twain said, "The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you."

    Anywway, what's your favourite work?
    Last edited by monkeyboy7; 10-17-2011 at 12:45 PM.

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    Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Naked Lunch isnt far behind however.

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    Registered User Desolation's Avatar
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    Mmmm...Depends which side of me you're asking.

    The philosophic side of me is drawn to The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
    The poor side of me prefers Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.
    The tough side likes A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
    My inner contemplative romantic is fond of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    And then, of course, my misanthropic side likes sharpening his world-hating teeth on Louis-Ferdinand Celine's Journey to the End of the Night.

    If I'd have actually finished either of them, my overall picks would probably be Ulysses or In Search of Lost Time...But I haven't, so I can't say with any certainty. I've read enough of both to get that feeling from them, though.

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    My favorite book is purpose driven by rick warren..because this book teach me what life is all about..and why it is happening to you??it is really cool you can read it also if you did not read it yet..

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    Registered User Chris 73's Avatar
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    Toss up between Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock, and Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell.

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    Lately it's been The Recognitions by William Gaddis. One thing I love about it is that there is a labyrinthine web of connections and subtle allusions among various scenes that is nearly impossible to grasp on a first reading, so that the work gains great depth when reread. Another thing is that nearly everything we learn about the characters comes through dialogue so that it often seems like we have unmediated and objective access to them; and the dialogue is pitch perfect. Also, it is often hilarious, the descriptive passages are beautiful and fresh, and the thinking on the nature of art and aesthetic authenticity is profound. It is especially wonderful for anyone with an interest in the painting of the Dutch and Flemish masters.

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    Postmodern Geek. TheChilly's Avatar
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    In terms of 'most rewarding'...

    "Against the Day", by Thomas Pynchon.

    That is all.
    "We look at the world, at governments, across the spectrum, some with more freedom, some with less. And we observe that the more repressive the State is, the closer life under it resembles Death. If dying is deliverance into a condition of total non-freedom, then the State tends, in the limit, to Death. The only way to address the problem of the State is with counter-Death, also known as Chemistry." -- Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day

  9. #9
    Well, it's different from time to time. But "The Catcher in the Rye", "Crime and Punishment", "The Stranger" and "Of Mice and Men" always has a special place in my heart. "The Catcher in the Rye" especially when I was younger, and don’t now have brilliant I think it would be today.
    There is hope, but not for us.

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    The one I'm reading at the moment, if it's a good book, so "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" would be it....

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    For years it was To Kill A Mockinbird but I'm currently reading Jane Eyre and am completely blown away...

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    My favarite is Improbable by Adam Faver. At the beginning it wasn't excellent, but then it become the best book I have ever read
    Last edited by Can; 10-26-2011 at 12:55 PM.

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    I have two book I love most. The first is The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, and the second one is Cassandra's Brand by Chinghiz Aitmatov. After reading Cassandra's Brand, I regret I wasn't the one to write such a novel, but I am glad he made it.

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    Registered User ForrestJG's Avatar
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    I've just finished Dante's Inferno now. Well, it's now my favourite book.
    ''The meaning of life is that it ends'' - Franz Kafka

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    Quote Originally Posted by ForrestJG View Post
    I've just finished Dante's Inferno now. Well, it's now my favourite book.
    You can't stop there--that's only a third of the book. There's still Purgatorio and Paradiso. Some (maybe even many) are of the opinion that Purgatorio is better than Inferno, and that Paradiso is better than Purgatorio. I'm the exact opposite . . . but I'm more of a "hell" guy.

    My favorite book is Moby Dick. I've never read anything so dense (or, I've never read anything where I've explored the density so much--I wouldn't dispute that Dante's Comedia is more dense, though I think MD comes close). It's at times philosophical, terrifying, and very funny. It's still the most beautifully written prose I've ever encountered. It's a hard read, but that's part of the appeal--conquering the White Whale is a rewarding experience.

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