A book for a lifetime

[tuxscholar]

Which book you think as the finest literature you've ever read so far and will consider reading incessantly. A book which no matter how many times you read still seems to be very intellectually rewarding. It can be of any genre or subject.

 

[Bystander]

Moby Dick, Herman Melville.

 

[PeroK]

Moby Dick, Herman Melville.

I thought it was great, but once was enough!

 

[PeroK]

Which book you think as the finest literature you've ever read so far and will consider reading incessantly. A book which no matter how many times you read still seems to be very intellectually rewarding. It can be of any genre or subject.

The book I've read most often, perhaps 20 times, is Dubliners by James Joyce.

 

[Bystander]

These threads always turn into "matters of personal tastes."

 

[PeroK]

These threads always turn into "matters of personal tastes."

Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beast and fowls.

 

[Bystander]

Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beast and fowls.

"Damn your bloody eyes, Claggart(sp?)."---Billy Budd, another Melville, or, at least, the movie.

 

[Bystander]

Robert Graves, I Clavdivs, & Clavdivs the God.

 

[phinds]

catch 22, among others

 

[DaveC426913]

Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas

"Major themes ... include self-reference in memes, language, art and logic; discussions of philosophical issues important in cognitive science/AI; analogies and what makes something similar to something else (specifically what makes, for example, an uppercase letter 'A' recognizable as such); and lengthy discussions of the work of Robert Axelrod on the prisoner's dilemma, as well as the idea of superrationality."

 

[Klystron]

Not just taste in literature, this thread also depends on age of the respondent. I can a list a few novels I enjoyed as a child, read again as an adult, and can recommend to other readers.

"Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). I genuinely like and admire old Huck, his loyalty to Jim, his willingness to listen and become involved with others. Never liked Tom Sawyer, mealy-mouthed fake, a rich (compared to Huck) kid who gets others in trouble nearly getting Huck killed.

"The Rolling Stones" by Robert Heinlein. Castor and Pollux Stone, brilliant but mischievous red-headed identical twins, study mathematics and build rocket engines. Mom practices medicine and free-fall surgery. Dad, retired rocket pilot, is former mayor of Luna City. Sis square dances while Grandma Hazel (a continuing character in later novels) plays chess with little brother Lowell. Adventures ensue.

"Number of the Beast" also by Robert Heinlein but written for adults. Argue if you will whether SF can be literature -- Heinlein discusses this issue at length via writer characters -- this novel may be the most influential though least read American fiction in print. Heinlein's alter ego Jubal Harshaw, the wise doctor/author from "Stranger in a Strange Land", discovers an original alternate reality, a 'universal truth' now actually practiced by millions of F&SF fans who likely never read this book but read or watch series written by authors who have.

Every great writer creates not just a fictional environment but also a real world peopled by readers and favorite characters.

Sounds absurd but this idea permeates modern literature. I read two threads in PF science forums just this week that invoke Heinlein to some degree including a Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) post asking if human ideas create or exist in some MWI universe. Heinlein brags about borrowing themes from other authors, many included as characters in "Number of the Beast", but this concept belongs to him. RAH.

 

[Bystander]

catch 22, among others

High school? Yes. Since "Nam," clueless/inane/drivel....

 

[Mayhem]

East of Eden by Steinbeck. I liked it more than Grapes of Wrath. I have moderate to severe adhd and usually struggle to read more than 10 pages in a sitting but I went through East of Eden in less than week.

 

[Hornbein]

I very seldom read books twice. My memory is too good or something. Don't watch movies twice. But music? It never gets old.

The only books I ever read twice were Lord of the Rings and Catch 22. And that was at least thirty years between readings.

 

[DaveC426913]

...Lord of the Rings...

Well, yeah.

 

[tuxscholar]

Thank you very much fellow intellectuals for becoming a part of this thread, your literary tastes is invaluable. I mostly read ebooks but considering of investing in physical book to get full feel of it. So these books will be worthwhile to have a physical copy of and will help me to choose a decent literature to delight my intellect.
And indeed this thread seems to be dealing with what is just a matter of taste but still someone who not much of a reader but want to be a voracious reader can be of significant help when someone else is sharing their literary tastes.

 

[phinds]

High school? Yes. Since "Nam," clueless/inane/drivel....

Well, to each his own. No need to be rude about my particular choice.

 

[pinball1970]

Lord of the Rings for me still.

Books I was very underwhelmed with were, Slaughterhouse 5, Catcher in the Rye, everything by D.H. Lawrence and Wuthering Heights.

 

[Klystron]

Lord of the Rings for me still.

I thoroughly liked reading "The Hobbit" when I was 12 years old. I found the rest of Tolkien oeuvre disappointing, too derivative, though the film series are entertaining. Sorry.

Books I was very underwhelmed with were, Slaughterhouse 5, Catcher in the Rye, everything by D.H. Lawrence and Wutheri.ng Heights.

Dude, as we exclaim in NorCal, no argument. Vonnegut reads like a whiny child, an overrated untalented drunk. IMO "Slaughterhouse 5" was his best novel by far where he admits to being a drunken hack out for a buck.

Ditto for Salinger. "Catcher" is particularly egregious twaddle. Pale eviscerated imitation of author William Faulkner without the guts. Quentin, are you home yet? Salinger reminds me of the Kardashians, little actual talent but famous for being famous. "Raise High the Roofbeam" but learn how to write (joke).

Never actually read Lawrence or the Brontës though one imagines both might be required reading in Great Britian. Good films from the novels. D.H. Lawrence appears as a character in some existential movies and SF series as does American writer Edgar Allen Poe.

For great Goth literature read Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein or Prometheus Unbound" or see the myriad films and series derived from her work. For a truly talented drunk, read Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and watch the (literally) hundreds of derivative stories and series.

 

[sbrothy]

Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas

"Major themes ... include self-reference in memes, language, art and logic; discussions of philosophical issues important in cognitive science/AI; analogies and what makes something similar to something else (specifically what makes, for example, an uppercase letter 'A' recognizable as such); and lengthy discussions of the work of Robert Axelrod on the prisoner's dilemma, as well as the idea of superrationality."

View attachment 360564

Gödel, Escher, Bach is pretty good too.

 

[sbrothy]

The Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson is a classic (I've never read Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow which I'm told is similar).

When I was younger I was a big fan of Julian May's Galactic Milleu Series but I suspect I'd find it somewhat juvenile after so many years. I remember it fondly though.