top 5 favorite books

[dreaming neon darkspot]

In random order-
*Interveiw with the Vampire-Anne Rice
*The Dream Cycle of H.P.Lovecraft/some other collection of his stories that I got for Christmas
*My Sweet Audrina/Flowers in the Attic-V.C.Andrews
*Wuthering Hights-Emily Bronte

*collection of stories by yours truly*shameless self promotion*

Seriously,I don't do much reading lately,I do more writing.I just fininsh this one story that's about 26 pgs long and when I fininsh big stories like that,I don't do much else creativley for a while,until I get another idea for a story then I work nonstop on that.I used to read a lot,though.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Originally posted by speed
I'll never understand why Ayn Rand is popular in america, I suppose it is the fact that she is such a primitive and simplistic write. If you want to be a individualistic Superman- or a godman- why not just read nietzsche, or better yet read some dostoevsky- the man who proposed and then refuted the idea of the superman, years before nietzsche. Sorry for my rant, but I really do not understand after reading ayn rand, how anyone believes she is a great writer. So Black Winter Day will you please explain why her book is so special to you?

first off - the woman has a way with words. she is a great WRITER. not just a philosophist. can the same be said for nietzsche?

second - her book INSPIRED ME. it wasn't just ranting against collectivism, or just preaching to me about objectivism. she told a story that exemplified what her philosophy holds. the last 30 pages of that book or so were so inspiring that not only does her point get across, but the read FEELS what she is trying to say, not just LEARNS.

third - i felt what she was saying, it is something i've believed in all my life, but NO ONE could express how i feel like rand did in THE FOUNTAINHEAD. maybe it is just personal choice, speed, because this is by far the most inspirational revelation i have ever read, and i've read a lot (including philosophy and religion)

 

[Black Winter Day]

Originally posted by WarHead
clock work orange any good?

VERY GOOD BOOK. even better than the movie!

however, it is a bit difficult to read at first. the whole book is written in NADSAT slang, a fucked up twist on slavic language. it makes the book seem like gibberish at times. but you get used to it. here is an excerpt from the books first page

:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=lib_dp_TT01/104-2418427-4432729#reader-link

 

[Black Winter Day]

Originally posted by dreaming neon darkspot
In random order-
*Interveiw with the Vampire-Anne Rice
*The Dream Cycle of H.P.Lovecraft/some other collection of his stories that I got for Christmas
*Wuthering Hights-Emily Bronte

VERY NICE.

lovecraft owns all! hahaha

 

[Black Winter Day]

Originally posted by Rusted_in_peace50
damn dude you liked fountianhead didnt you!

for me:

East of Eden
the Bible (non-fiction )
Candide
1984
Brave new world

also a nice list (even if you are not religious, the Bible is still an interesting read, hahaha)

 

[Chromatose]

Oops, just realized I left one important book off my list of favs...


James Joyce - Finnegans Wake


best book ever

 

[lizard]

Black Hawk Down.
The Bible. contains more tawdry sex and violence than you can shake a staff at.
Whatever David Gemmell novel I'm currently reading. One can never read too much gratuitous violence.
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Shakey, the Biography of Neil Young

 

[Dragonlord]

Originally posted by Chromatose


Have you read any of his other stuff, Dragonlord?

I recently finished up Tom Robbin's "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates," and am currently reading "Jitterbug Perfume." They're both incredible!! I think I have a new favorite author...

yeah,the guy's insane
i've read a few,i think cowgirls is his best with second best his woodpecker...i've also read half-asleep... and maybe one more,cant remember.havent read the two you mention yet

 

[Dragonlord]

Originally posted by Chromatose
Oops, just realized I left one important book off my list of favs...


James Joyce - Finnegans Wake


best book ever

i'm reading my first james joyce book these days...the artist's portret or sth like that

 

[dreaming neon darkspot]

Originally posted by Black Winter Day


VERY NICE.

lovecraft owns all! hahaha

Notice how diverse my list is-Anne Rice, V.C.Andrews, H.P.Lovecraft,Emily Bronte,me.Of course I only listed 4 of my favorite authous seeing as how only 4 of them are actual published authors...though lots of ppl have read my work.Most all of you have when I posted several of my stories here.And I've sent some of my other works to ct thrash and Famous Amos.So you could say that I am a "known author"just not a published one.

 

[speed]

Ok well I still very much disagree with you Blackwinterdayo9n Ayn Ran, but we all are titled to our opnions. I do hate lists so i'll just write a few novels i really love, as it seems most are listing novels and not philosophy etc.
The Devils, Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers karamazov by Dostoevski, and really anything else he wrote.
War and Peace- Tolstoy
Candide- Voltaire
Fathers and Children - Turgenev
Bely- Petersburg, similar earlier and better than Joyce's Ulysses
I really read quite often, and have found that Russian literature is far more powerful than anything else, but that is an opinion.
Popular reading I really like stuart kaminsky, Elmore Leonard- and Robert Ludlum, yes his plots are unbelievable and all, but every book is a fun read.
Not much of a fan of any English or American literature outside of Conrad ,Dh Lawrence, and any play by Eugene Oneill.

 

[Black Winter Day]

"portrait of the artist as a young man"?

 

[Black Winter Day]

Originally posted by speed
Ok well I still very much disagree with you Blackwinterdayo9n Ayn Ran, but we all are titled to our opnions. I do hate lists so i'll just write a few novels i really love, as it seems most are listing novels and not philosophy etc.

philosophy is the most important subject possible for man, although i personally favor literature

btw, if we all agreed, there wouldn't be such a thing as "opinions" -- at least we can back our opinions up, hahaha

 

[speed]

I agree with you black winter day on your thoughts about opinions. I have read Portrait of an Artist as a young man, and I remember identifying with the Joyce's teenage experiences, and his clever use of words especially colors etc. is unbelievable, hell it makes one think that one will never live up to such a genius. I do like it better than ulysses, which is incomprehensible at times- Joyce at times can be the equivalent of Dream Theater- great technical and imaginative- yet somehow disjointed- sorry I am going off on this shit- I really wanted to go into lit- but one cannot make a living , unless one gets a phd. at a decent school.
I'll stop this rambling message by asking you BlackWInter Day, what are your favorite philosophical works? Maybe we can argue some more.

 

[Black Winter Day]

well, first off, the joyce thingy was referring to dragonlord's post (i haven't read it myself)

as for philosophy:

ayn rand
camus
kirkregaard
nietzsche
plato
and certain others

i'm only in high school, so i haven't been exposed to a lot of philosophy. i learded a lot at the summer program i went to and from reading any and all philosophy i get my hands on; i find i am very interested in it. i'm wondering why you dislike rand so much, though, even though what she has said HAS been said before. just interesting in what you think about objectivism, existentialism, and such

 

[krymson]

1. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
2. Sassinak - Anne McCaffrey
3. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
4. Disclosure - Michael Crichton
5. The Algalord Chronicles - Rhapsody (Yeah, I know it's not a book, but it's a damn good story.)

 

[speed]

Well I ve pretty much read all of those guys too, except camus. I really like Kirkegaard, and nietzsche is always a hoot. I am also very much into existentialism- I just read a wonderful book by Viktor Frankl called Mans Search For Meaning, he advocated logothereapy, a use of existentialism within the confines of psychology, that he devolped in the concentration camps.
Well it seems you are much farther ahead in reading than i ever was in high school, maybe that love of Ayn Rand will disappear in afew years, when you read better philosopehrs/ writers.
Interestingly, Ive just read a few of the Buddhist scriptures etc. Like the Dhammapadra- and another which i cant begin to spell.

 

[Black Winter Day]

well, even if i DO find rand sub-par later on in life, i will still see her as my introduction to the world of philosopy! i've been reading a kickass book that goes into a bunch of philosophical branches, their teachers, studies, theories, etc. the more i learn, the more i see how almost EVERY philosopher stole something from plato, hehehehe. nietzsche is by far the most interesting, though.

 

[lizard]

you are an interesting dude, BWD. I have nothing but respect for people who can do what I can't...I had to read Rouseau, Kant, Rand, Marx, Nietsche, etc in college but I'll be damned if I would ever do it for fun, heh heh. Nietsche did have some fascinating concepts tho.

the thing I always liked about Kant is he had his body embalmed and put in a glass case after his death.

 

[Black Winter Day]

yeah, there's his "transcendental locic" for ya, hahaha. kant was a pretty far-out dude. i agree with his attempts to resotore dignity to the idea of the human mind and his philosophy of subjectivity he tried to restore, but i don't see how religion and philosophy can be seperated (which he tried to do to a great extent), i think they will always be intertwined. you can't have religion without philosophy, am i right?