Can anyone recommend (with reasons) any really good books to read. I know there are loads and I just don't know where to begin. Anything relating to Dante's Inferno which I am just about to start might be good.
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Can anyone recommend (with reasons) any really good books to read. I know there are loads and I just don't know where to begin. Anything relating to Dante's Inferno which I am just about to start might be good.
A friend who has read Dante's "The Divine Comedy" has also been reading "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. I'm not sure how closely related they are, but he has been getting a lot of inspiration from both. Milton is quite difficult reading. I imagine it's suitable if you liked "Inferno", or the Bible.
I've never read any of them though (but I will)
I don't know too much about this inferno book, but if you like a good laugh and a little philosophy, I suggest the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy a trilogy in five parts by Douglass Adams. It is an amazing book that deals with Life the Universe and Everything (pun intended). Also I would suggest picking up a Stanislaw Lem book if your into Sci Fi, or even an Isaac Asimov book, specifically the history of Ibotics. I would also suggest the wars by timothy findley, not a bad wwi novel, kinda depressing though.
Boccaccio'sDecameron, was written around the same time as The Divine Comedy. I heard somewhere that they were friends, or Dante was Boccaccio's mentor; or something like that.
I'll second Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The fight between God and Satan is wonderful.
Chauncer's Canterbury Tales.
Dante had a big influence on James Joyce, and he is amazing in his own right.
I loved reading thr Hitchhikers Guide. It really is one of the funniest books i ever read. thanks for the other hints. Can you recommend a good Canterbury Tales, I can never find an unabridged version.
The Riverside Edition is good.
Try El Aleph, by Jorge Luis Borges. It's a great book, and two of the tales contain references to Dante's Comedy: La Espera (The Waiting or something like that, if you get the english version), y El Aleph.
Cassandra,
The Bridge by Iain Banks, Lanark by Alasdair Gray, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker, Wide Open by Nicola Barker, Last Orders by Graham Swift (also Waterland by him), Atonement by Iain McEwan, Spies by Michael Frayn: all great contemporary literature.
Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Sterne (centuries ahead of its time),
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Don Quixote
Tom Jones
Caleb Williams by William Godwin
all great lit from an earlier age.
Well Cas, how do you define "really good books"? I read some books which I think really good like Sartre's trilogy (Age of Reason, The Reprieve, and Troubled Sleep)
For a lovely book about books and reading I would suggest Helen Hanff´s "Letters to a bookstore" - a genuin collection of her letters to an owner of a bookstore selling rare books. The friendship that grows between them while they write is fascinating. The book also gave me alot of tips on literature.
Cassandra, I'd second the reccomendations for Paradise Lost (Not for Paradise Regained, though), the Decameron, Certainly Tristram Shandy and Don Quixote. If you are interested in the laughter with philosophy category, i personally haven't found anything to beat Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanance and Lila
Oh dear I'm surely an amateur in literature. I mean I read all posts and there are some books which sounds very interesting, yet I never even heard about :(
I've never heard of a few either. Thanks for the tips. I guess I've got my work cut out for me.
I usually have to fight for this opinion of mine but I think the Decameron is one of the biggest pieces of crap ever written in this side of the world...
I'm not sure about Dante and Boccaccio being friends, I have vague memories of them and I believe they might have met or anyway heard of each other, but the friends bit...uhm I'll check.
Now that you get me started on the Italian 1300s, let me tell you about Francesco Petrarca...he's mainly a poet and I love his works, not sure he's famous in translation but he influenced poetry for the next 5 centuries at least, not only in Italy.
The thing with the Decameron is that after you've read some of it, you feel that you've read it all. After the fifth or sixth day, all the stories are the same.
I've only read random bits...and I'm not impressed.
Anyway I checked cos I had the suspicion Boccaccio was born after Dante's death... Which is not true, but he was too much younger anyway cos he was born in 1313, and Dante died in 1321. He probably read the Comedy sometime, but I couldnt find anything about that in the short biography thing I quickly browsed through this morning.
I'm not going to argue its merits, I agree it's smut.
I said, 'or something like that.' Some say he studied under Cino da Pistoia. Which as we all know, was one of the founding memebers of the jurist-poet movement; with Dante, and Petrarch, being the others. Do you ever stop by your friends' houses, to visit? Neither of us were around at the time and it really doesn't matter.
Cassandra, I know its not a book but you may be interested in the "Princton Dante Project" Web site. You've gotta register but its free. WooHoo! I think the site is run by Dr. Hollander (who with his wife, Jean Hollander has so far translated Inferno and Purgatorio) I recently read the Hollander's translation of Inferno and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun to read a canto then click on it and listen to it in Italian. Hope this helps.
What have you guys got against the Divine Comedy?
I've got Canterbury Tales on one side and the Decameron on the other.
When I read the Inferno, I wanted to burn it. Then I read Purgatorio and that was painful. However Paradiso was a dream. The Divine Comedy.
Don't read anything by Hermann Hesse, hes a lier.
What a great signature. :DQuote:
Originally posted by Comrade_Ogilvy
Batman defeats Aquaman many times over.
Thanks Comrade_Ogilvy, the translation I have has english and italian and I would love to know what it sounds like, it looks really cool.
Wow I'm confused. Are you being sarcastic or is there a book called "Hermann Hesse" that I don't know about. I read an english translation of his book Siddhartha and while I liked it at the time I don't like how it has changed my thinking.
Is this for me? Wasn't trying to be fussy, I just looked it up as you knew exactly where to find the truth.Quote:
Originally posted by sloegin
I said, 'or something like that.' Some say he studied under Cino da Pistoia. Which as we all know, was one of the founding memebers of the jurist-poet movement; with Dante, and Petrarch, being the others. Do you ever stop by your friends' houses, to visit? Neither of us were around at the time and it really doesn't matter. [/B]
And because I feel like have to be the show-off when it's about these things, even if you all do love Dante and Boccaccio much more than I ever will (infact I can't say I do...).
Geez, I can't stand Siddharta either...:rolleyes: Maybe there's something wrong with me :eek:
Did you delete your previous message cus I can't find it and I'd like to look at that site?Quote:
Originally posted by Cassandra
Thanks Comrade_Ogilvy, the translation I have has english and italian and I would love to know what it sounds like, it looks really cool.
Cassandra, I may be able to help with mystery. I made a post earlier concerning the "Princeton Dante Project" Web sight. Its got a lot of neat tools for readers of the Divine Comedy. There's full text in English and Italian, Art work, audio in English and Italian and transcripts of lectures on the Comedia.
I had a great time with it and although you have to register; registration is free. Sorry I don't have the address but any search engine will take you there.
Have fun.
Thank you :D
Thank you :D
Try The Living End by Stanley Elkin... it's kinda funny
Don't know why mine posted twice, gues it wanted me to be doubly grateful :D
Uff...I'd like to have a look at that site but I don't wish to register...maybe it has many 'ghost members' like this one, who register to know what it's all about exactly....It looks very professional though.
To summon the great demons of apathy, sarcasm and cynicism, read the following: Catch-22, Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, Fight Club, All the Kings Men, The Great Gatsby, anything Hemmingway...
Having read some of those, I think you want me to be depressed for the rest of my life fool.
not depressed, just apathetic, sarcastic, and cynical :D.
I can be that all on my own if I have to. And reading 1984 and Brave New World is depressing. Look at how many of the things they warn against actually happen!
Cassandra... I don't mind if you are depressed... its overly-happy people that irritate and further depress me... :-(
Well in case you are looking for modern literature of good quality, try Paulo Coelho's works, especially "Veronika decides to die" and "Alchemist".
That's very sad Fool. I hope you won't mind if I say that I hope you get over this or are depressed a lot.Quote:
Originally posted by imthefoolonthehill
Cassandra... I don't mind if you are depressed... its overly-happy people that irritate and further depress me... :-(
:D Just for you.
I love you! It's exactly the same for me!!! Over-excited people make me wish I could explode...or that i could make them expolde! :DQuote:
Originally posted by imthefoolonthehill
Cassandra... I don't mind if you are depressed... its overly-happy people that irritate and further depress me... :-(