A recommendation please

[Mike.W]

Hi there!

I am itching to read a good novel, but am at a loss at what to choose. Its probably because of my ignorance of the great literature out there. Because of this ignorance, i am asking you if you could help me in my endevour to find a book that i will enjoy.

Maybe if i tell you a little about myself it would make the job easier. I am 21, currently in my 4th year at university studying a double major of physics and philosophy. In the past few years the course i've chosen for myself has left me reading/learning things that are very logical / reasonable / falsifiable / testable / mathematical etc... Not that these things haven't aren't important(to me), but i need a little more beauty in my life. Don't get me wrong though, when i study big bang cosmology or philosophy of mind i am filled with an indescribable awe, but i'd really like to read something that i could appreciate simply for its beauty and emotional impact.

Thanks in advance.

- Mike

[Capnplank]

Welps, let's see...

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley could bring out the aesthete in you.
Any of Edgar Allan Poe's stories are full of beauty, if'n you're one of those people that can find beauty in dead trees and such.
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller and "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison both have some of the most beautiful characters I've come across, which is of course somewhat relative to also having some of the ugliest.
Then again your inner philosopher might dig some Albert Camus stuff like "The Stranger".


Or a back issue of TV Guide could always be a winner. Who knows!

[Mike.W]

I've read Brave New World, love Huxley and Orwell, but they are a tad gloomy for what i'm looking for(although i love their stuff).

I've heard good things about Catch-22, so i might give that a shot. I was thinking of maybe reading something my Stanislav Lem - i loved the themes in Solaris.

Thanks

[simon]

How about A Midnight Clear, I cannot remember the author though. It's a war novel where peace is attempted and failed, and provides a little jaunt into the psyche of a man at war and it's confines and constraints. But it's different from other war novels, maybe not the best, but certainly unique. But hten again if you aren't looking for gloomy maybe you should try some Douglas Coupland for laughs.

[Juanito]

I read the Earth Children series when I was in University. They're great books. There are five in the series now I think. I have read the first four: "The Clan of the Cave Bear", "Valley of Horses", "The Mammoth Hunters", and "Plains of Passage". The fifth book is "Shelter of Stone"

These books are fabulous if you're into prehistoric peoples or if you just like a good adventure.

[IWilKikU]

Thats funny capn, I was going to suggest Catch-22 and The Stranger. If you want a good Lem book, ask Stanislaw (the user on this forum, not the author himself) for a recomendation. He's a big fan. I would also recomend something by Trollope.

[Sancho]

Howdy Mike, I’m a bit of an empiricist myself (studied Mech Engr). Only years after graduation did I realize I’d gotten more of a “trade-school” education than an honest liberal arts education. Here’s a list of humanistic novels I’ve enjoyed:

“A Confederacy of Dunces” John Kennedy Toole; A satire/farce/comedy set in New Orleans great character development

“Cannery Row” John Steinbeck; nothing too deep here just a good book loosely based on his good friend, Marine Biologist Ed Ricketts. Also a good movie w/Nick Nolte and Debra Winger

“The Good Soldier Schweik” Jaroslav Hasek; translated from Czech; an early anti-war novel; also a satire. Schweik is simpleton and a bit of a “Falstaff” bumbling his way through WWI. (I read "Schweik" and "Catch 22" in close succession)

Which reminds me of my favorite Hemingway novel, “A Farwell to Arms.”

[Koa]

I would be banal and recommend Crime & Punishment, but I guess you're looking for something that doesnt bring you to philosophize much...so I'll shut up :D

[Mike.W]

As much as i'd like to read something thats unlike what i study - i'm a real sucker for philosophy and have already thought about reading Crime and Punishment/Dostoyevsky.

Does anyone have any thoughts on The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho? I think i'll start with that and see how it goes.

[simon]

The Alchemist is good, I would also recomend The Solitaire Mystery, it's written by the guy who wrote sophie's world, it's philosophical, and it's very entertaining and fictional, try it if you haven't already it sounds up your alley.

[Dick Diver]

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal

[dhm]

I loved "The Solitare Mystery" but couldn't get into Kim even after a good friend highly recommended it.

One a more personal note Elliot Perlman's "Seven Types of Ambiguity" is very good at seeing human events from different perspectives. Apparently Perlman (an Australian author) is frequently likened to Franzen but I don't see the similarity myself.