Book chat!

[NMMNG]

I'm always hard pressed to name any particular title as my absolute favorite, but as a fan of classics, and the utopian/dystopian genre in particular, George Orwell's 1984 has always been in my Top 10.

...
times 3.12.83 reporting bb dayorder doubleplusungood refs unpersons rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling

In Oldspeak (or standard English) this might be rendered:

The reporting of Big Brother's Order for the Day in The Times of December 3rd 1983 is extremely unsatisfactory and makes references to non-existent persons. Rewrite it in full and submit your draft to higher authority before filing.
...

Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate. Perhaps Withers or someone close to him had been suspected of heretical tendencies. Or perhaps -- what was likeliest of all -- the thing had simply happened because purges and vaporizations were a necessary part of the mechanics of government.
...

One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is written in his face.
.....

What is your favorite?

[bluedawg12]

1. Gulliver's Travels.

It is upon this account that the image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is more disposed to reward than to punish."
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part 1, Ch. 6

[NMMNG]

4. I haven't read that one yet

I probably should. :hi:

[roughsatori]

7. That was my Dad's favorite along with Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger

He talked about those 2 books my entire life. His favorite poem was The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson. The last year of his life we spent days talking about the historical facts of the Light Brigade and Tennyson's poem's inaccuracies. My Dad had only a 5th grade education, but was brilliant.

I have read almost every classic, but I have not read Gulliver's Travels; probably because my father and I did not get along until the last 6 years of his life. We became best friends at that point. I liked that he had read a book that I had not--and that I had to ask him about it. Then again, he talked so much about Gulliver's Travels that perhaps I thought I need not read it--I will now. Thanks for mentioning that book; it brought back good memories.

[bluedawg12]

11. Isn't it funny how books, music or a melody can be so evocative

of a time in our lives. Scents too.

I can relate to the dad thing, it wasn't until the last years of his life that we became friends and talked on the phone nightly about work and "adult" stuff like that. It was a special time and a treasured memory.

I'm glad it brought back something joyful.

[bluedawg12]

2. Winner of the Neo-Con : Fantasy Biography Award.

The Award was later reclassified in the category : Biography -Comedy

The book is currently awaiting another reclassification in the "Outstandingly Transparent Propaganda" category.

April 29, 2004: Midge Decter has written another winner. She has prevailed over the media that has said Rumsfeld is a 'warmonger.' Her book proves the exact opposite.

Rumsfeld: The Making of an American Icon
Author: Midge Dector

The sudden rise of Donald Rumsfeld to political stardom has been one of the most unexpected developments of the last few years. When he was appointed secretary of defense, no one foresaw that he would become the most prominent and influential member of President George W. Bush's cabinet. But as the main architect of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Rumsfeld moved into a central position as a policymaker. And through his televised briefings, he also moved into the spotlight, where he won the almost worshipful admiration of millions of Americans by the extraordinary directness, agility, and confident poise he showed in handling the press.

Paper boy, Eagle Scout, high school wrestling champ, Navy flier, Republican congressman, White House chief of staff, business executive, secretary of defense -- in this biography, the stages of Donald Rumsfeld's career fit together seamlessly, each offered to illustrate the same earnestness and energy. The book has a campaign biography's relentless pace and upbeat tone. — Allen D. Boyer

Glib, witty, prolific, aggressive and always "right," another comedic offering by Decter:



The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation
by Midge Decter, Lois Betterton

Turning her formidable intellligence on the Women's Movement, Midge Decter contends that in all the major areas of their lives, women's real difficulties stem from the availability of too many choices. 5 cassettes.

Midge Decter
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Midge_Decter

[NMMNG]

6. Oy vey

:rofl:

[bluedawg12]

9. Isn't she a laugh riot?

They peddled this stuff with such sincerity,too! :rofl:

I saw the Rummy book on a bargain bin table and thumbed through it, laughing and crying, my fingers tips still burn. Oh the evil. The evil and stupidity still burn.

[NMMNG]

12. It's amazing what lies they'll peddle with sincerity

All under the banner of "moral values".

[roughsatori]

3. Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer

Both of these books changed me fundamentally. I was a suicidal teenager and these books taught me to think, and laugh, and live. Another all time favorite, though it is a longer French poem, is Arthur Rimbaud's Une Saison En Enfer (A Season in Hell). That poem still excites me. All three books are relevant, to me, to this day. I know that Miller's reputation has taken a hit over the last decade, in part due to some sexist and racist passages, but I consider him a Religious and Philosophical writer with a Rabelaisian bent.

As for 1984, great book, of course. I love the line from the book, "We are the dead." And David Bowie's song "We are the Dead" off of Bowie's best album Diamond Dogs is a good listen.

The best written book I have ever read, in terms of sentence structure and technical virtuosity in delineating thought, is The Waves by Virginia Woolf. She is much better than the other touted modernists, Joyce, etc.

I don't know if William Burroughs' Naked Lunch is properly considered dystopian. It is really a unique dystopian comedy. Influenced me in the nastiest ways possible.

Here is a list from the Guardian UK from 2007: Top ten dystopian books for teenagers. I've read most of them, hope the list is of interest to you. I have a preference for the Guardian UK as they recently published a poem of mine.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/aug/29/bestbooks

[NMMNG]

5. I've read just over half the books on that list

I'll have to get the other four and read them. I'll try anything in the utopian/dystopian genre, even if it ends up being utter junk.

I've read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment but none of his other works and I've not read any Henry Miller.

"We are the dead". Yes, we are.

[roughsatori]

8. I didn't really enjoy Crime and Punishment. I loved Raw Youth

and The Devils very much. Henry Miller is not for everyone. My female friends hate him. I was best friends with a gay poet: Jim Cory. He hates me now, but he had a rather large collection of utopian novels, which he never failed to mention. Of that list I loved: A Clockwork Orange, The Diary of the Handmaid's Tale, and The Diary of Anne Frank. The other's did not move me as much. I really hate The Lord of the Flies.

A book that I threw against the wall was Gertrude Stein's How to Write. About an hour later I picked it up, started again, and loved it. So if I can change that much in an hour--who knows how much I might change in years. I think about Stein a lot. She is one of those people alive in my head.

[readmoreoften]

10. Love that book! /nt

[donco6]

13. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Believe it or not, it rescued me from fundamentalist Christianity.

[NMMNG]

14. I got partway through that some years ago

I'll have to finish it once I discover which box it's in.

[mitchtv]

15. A Tale of Two Cities

such adventure, I read a lot of novels back then. I am planning to reread Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Moon Maid and the John Carter series. Not much of an intellectual, I guess