Literature anyone?

[DE]

i read a lot, though not necessary 'literature.' though Wordsworth's Prelude is a really good epic poem, written in milton's style. very good. i'm not a romantic (in the classical sense that wordsworth and blake were romantics) but i find them to be incredible reads. I like blake a lot, almost he pictures more than the poems. also a fan of Stephen kings dark tower(the gunslinger) series. that's about all i read from him, i mean i've read others, but i like that the best. not a tolkien fan. i'll just read norse mythology instead. i read a lot of philosophy...dewey and rorty especially.

patrick
np: katatonia : teargas ep: sulphur

THE DARK TOWERS SERIES > YOU



Was it you I was talking to a while back about them? I finished the fourth one about 3 weeks ago

 

[Beth]

Originally posted by Orchid
do you usually listen to music while reading?

When I read magazines or newspapers I usually listen to music, but I can´t manage to read a book when the music is on. The essence of reading is ( in the best case) the complete absorption of your conscience by the words in your book. The result is a feeling like being melted and mixed up with the emotions/ expressed thoughts of the poet. This process is similar to intense listening sessions of music. Managing both at the same time overbends my capacities. By the way, I found the dragonlance scenarios rather boring, what really affected me was "Earthsea" from Ursula K. LeGuin ( very romantic, decent style, wonderful characters, less battle) and Michael Moorcocks "Eternal Champion"- series (especially the "Elric"-books -psychedelic, a really dark, cynic character). Moorcock has also participated on a few releases of 70´s space-rock dinosaurs Hawkwind.

I agree with you about the listening-to-music-while-reading thing, but I'm replying because....it's funny you mentioned Ursula LeGuin....in case anyone remembers my asking if I should read The Left Hand of Darkness or Catcher in the Rye....well, I chose the former, simply because about 5 other people in my class are reading Catcher, and I figured they'd all want to collaborate on the project, so I wanted to read a book on my own....I have 2/3 of it read. It has some petty similarities with 1984 (I'm making this comparison because they're both dystopias), but it's not near as good. And LeGuin is a feminist (hate feminists ) Okay, that is all

 

[Spod2508]

Some of the best reading I've had would have to be by David Eddings, though two 5 book series of his are appreciated better the younger you read them (the first time).

I would agree, I really enjoyed reading his stuff but I must say that I didn't enjoy the books that he wrote with his wife...the flowery bits got a bit too flowery for my liking

Other than that, band biographies. The Iron Maiden bio is excellent if anyone is looking for something to read.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

kafka, hesse, nietzsche, some tolkien now and then, goethe (including poetry) i enjoy....have read much other stuff as well but these remain my faves...

 

[soma]

i love reading and have for as long as i can remember, not only literature but also popular novels. dracula is the first novel i remember reading, and i like the anne rice vampire chronicles. i like poppy brite's and joanne harris's novels too. i like to read john keats mostly for the beautiful imagery(my favourite artist is j.w.waterhouse and keats works are illustrated many times in his paintings) and also byron and shelley. i did a university subject which looked at beowulf and piers plowman, of which i enjoyed both, but found it particularly interesting to learn to read middle english, so that i enjoy chaucer also, as well as other interesting middle english texts. in the same way i liked reading a clockwork orange for the style of writing. and on the topic of tolkien, who i think is not at all overrated, i do often find that his books are slightly dry or uninteresting to read, but it IS worth it a hundred times to read them, to get to the end and have this magnificent tale in your head. the man is amazing, for what he created as well as the large amounts of knoweledge that have gone into the hobbit an LoTR. the uni subject on beowulf helped me to understand this even further. to talk about what i've enjoyed reading in any depth would take up so much space- so just a bit more, i like the hannibal lecter story, i like reading dani davey's lyrics apart from the music, and i always have music playing, regardless of what i'm doing, but yes it would be hard to concentrate on the book if the music was just as interesting- so i would play something less distracting while i read. i have also recently read gabrielle garcia marquez, love in the time of cholera, which i enjoyed. i like to read anything that is beautiful or interesting, or sometimes i read something for the context and knoweledge that it gives me to read other things. and i might lastly mention lewis carroll, whose style and wonderland is so absolutely intriguing.
but here is another thought:
music, words and art are three different forms of expression, but there are people with similar fire creating in each form, so that for any feelings found in one of them the same feelings could be complemented somewhere in the other two(eg.keats and waterhouse). does anyone agree? better yet, what would you say were the complements of opeth in words and in art? i believe i'm yet to find them.

 

[no country for old wainds]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant > Lord of the Rings

Stephen Donaldson = Best Fantasy Author

Period.

(LOTR is brilliant though)

 

[mindflesh]

I used to read more than I do now (but I'll change that).
When I was about 13 or 14 I started to read Stephen King and a lot of fantasy. I loved that kind of stuff for quite a while. The last fantasy novels I read were LOTR and the Otherland books by Tad Williams. After that I started to read more "serious" literature: Sartre, Camus, Kafka, Hesse,... And I had to read Goethe, Schiller & co. for school.
The last book I read was "Morbus Kitahara" by the Austrian author Christoph Ransmayr, a really recommendable novel.

Regarding poetry: I usually don't read poems by certain authors, yet I definitely appreciate good poetry when I come across it (Poe's poetry, for example - I actually like it much better than his prose).

I think reading is both important and rewarding, and everyone who can spare some time should read a good book every now and then.
I'll try to compare it to music and movies, the other popular forms of "consumable" art:
When you read a book you are less of a consumer than when you watch a movie, and even less than when you listen to music. It requires, of course, active attention. Watching movies requires only passive attention, which makes them much easier to consume (which can, of course, be a good thing when you want to relax). When you listen to (good) music, you can put as much attention to it as you want: You can use it as mere background music or concentrate more on it; you can try to imagine a story to it or dissect the instrumental layers. That's why I listen to music much more than I read or watch TV. But there should be time for each of these forms of art. The problem is that too many people miss out on the literature because it requires the most time and concentration...

 

[illbeleavinnow]

Narrot, who's Nietzsche? I'm asking because in Sigh's Imaginary Sonicscape, a song is called Nietzschean Conspiracy, and I'm wondering if there's a reason for it. Very nice song btw, one of Sigh's best.

I read a lot of books. I've read everything from satire to Keillor to War and Peace. I'm not much into the drama type of stories, they do'nt interest me.

As far as poetry goes, I like stuff with real power. Saul Williams is my favorite poet. You can check him out on Def Poetry Jam. He's just amazing. Download 5 Senses by him, it'll blow your mind away.

 

[Azogue]

Right now I'm reading an awesome Latin american novel called "Los Pasos Perdidos" (The Lost Steps) by Alejo Carpentier.

I've been looking for "The Open Veins of Latin America" for quite sometime now, but to no success. It's the Martins' favorite book

Also, I'd reccomend the following books:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (my favorite book by far)
The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel G. Marquez

Though you probably won't be interested if you're not latin american.

 

[illbeleavinnow]

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (my favorite book by far)

EXCELLENT BOOK! Though at times it's hard to keep track of all the family members, it's one of the best books ever written. Just one of those that you have to read.

 

[Mudas]

Lovecraft is my favorite author by far, the man knew how to frighten his readers, just read his quote in my sig (the opening line of his superb essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature"....read it if you want to find out about other great horror stories) His work has actually had an influence on a number of metal bands, as the dark atmosphere goes hand in hand with the music. Poe naturally is also a favorite, whether it be his prose or poetry. I also likeother various multitudes of books, but not specifically authors, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[AndICried]

Greg Egan, Steve Aylett, Phillip K. Dick and Ursula Le Guin.

In other words, Science Fiction.

Dickens books can be great.

Seamus Heaney and Gillian Clarke are two poets I regard highly.

 

[AndICried]

Oh, Arthur Miller deserves a mention also.

 

[fadingessence]

Narrot, who's Nietzsche? I'm asking because in Sigh's Imaginary Sonicscape, a song is called Nietzschean Conspiracy, and I'm wondering if there's a reason for it. Very nice song btw, one of Sigh's best.

I can't really begin to explain much about Nietzsche but i'll try. He was one of the first (and considered the first major) existential philospher. As such the most famous quote you've probably heard is "God Is Dead". He was a major influence on Sarte and other writers after him and is great to read if you can get into it enough. A lot of his work is pretty condemning to the human race, he found people to be two different groups...that masters and the slaves. The idea that those very few people who could stand alone would dominate and the rest of humanity are mearly sheep.

It's great stuff to read, likewise with Sarte...and if you want to get totally tripping out and confused read Descarte's stuff. The whole story behind The Matrix is the same idea, his analogy was a little different...but the same idea.

I read a lot...I read Pychon's Gravity's Rainbow last year as a junior in high school. Postmodernism is a trip in itself, and I could probably read it 10 more times without understanding everything. But a big theme is the ideal that only through chaos and war can change really occur. Heavy stuff. That and The Razor's Edge (another amazing book) really had a big impact on me. Also Camus, The Stranger is a great one as is The Fall. One called The Denial of Death that is almost TOO heavy reading, it mostly expands upon Freud and Jung for a very deep view of human psychology....and the main idea that the constant fear of death is the main motivation for the human race.


As for lighter stuff, Douglas Adams was brilliant...i've got the whole hitchhikers guide and have read it a few times. Tolkien...I think i've read all three LoTR about 15+ times each and I still love them. I've just started getting more into the english poets, who says school isn't good for anything? One of the biggest reasons I like Opeth is that their lyrics are so intelligent and poetic. Very..I don't know...out of touch with the typical human experience. It doesn't matter what Mikael is writing about it just seems to be above everyday experience. The nature themes are a big part of it I suppose.

 

[DE]

Being an oh so outstanding part of Opeth´s art, their lyrics are discussed on an othe place in tjis forum. I think Mikael has developed his style and improved in creating eerie scenarios in a poetic way. I´m veryinterested in books and literature, so I´d like to know: What books do you read? Is anyone interested in poetry? I love the works of Burroughs and Ginsberg, the poetry of William Blake, Gottfried Benn and Pablo Neruda and (of course) Tolkien.

Oh and by the way, you have to be the best new member we've had in months. Thank you for not being a complete (to use ian's word) "asshat".

 

[manuelgv]

I mostly read latin american and spanish authors for school.But out of school readings I love to read Proust,Dostoievski,Mann,Zola,some Goethe and other stuff like that.
I love the russians of the 19th century

 

[Beth]

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (my favorite book by far)

YES! We read this book this year in AP English, and it is awesome. It was the first year my teacher had taught it, and it isn't very well-known yet.....everyone, read this book!

 

[illbeleavinnow]

YES! We read this book this year in AP English, and it is awesome. It was the first year my teacher had taught it, and it isn't very well-known yet.....everyone, read this book!

On the contrary, Marquez won the Nobel Prize for LIterature in '82, so it's quite well known. ANd rightfully so. Man I love that book...

 

[Beth]

On the contrary, Marquez won the Nobel Prize for LIterature in '82, so it's quite well known. ANd rightfully so. Man I love that book...

Oh yeah, I knew that, hehehe, um what I meant....okay that's not what I meant
By "not well-known" I meant "not been studied and discussed extensively yet" hehe, forgive me.

It's not part of the great literature canon....YET...

 

[illbeleavinnow]

Ahh I see. Well then by all means yo'ure right.

The reason it's not so extensively studied is because it's at a very high reading level and is quite complex. The average high school kid wouldn't be able to get anything from it (sadly).