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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Oct 23, 2009 - 04:54pm PT
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Reading this thread after offering my own post, reliving good memories of reading some and yearnings to read others.
Life is too short. I find it hard to embrace that I can't absorb it all, that I must make choices and be at peace with the little slices of our world and knowledge that I can experience. But I think deeper happiness lies in accepting this reality, just another dimension of enjoying the half-full part of the glass.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 23, 2009 - 07:44pm PT
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I've read both the Overcoat and the Nose, by Gogol, and Notes from the Underground, Krokodil, and White nights by Dostoyevskii; all the in original Russian. A lifetime's worth of material from any of them. But my money's on Fyodor!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 23, 2009 - 08:29pm PT
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Roger,
I remember a couple years back you were looking for a book, or info, to help you evaluate what authors were trying to do. I think you had just read a book and were wondering what the guy was trying to say, or you had a question about how he was trying to say it. I can't remember which. Did you find a book or books that addressed your questions? If so what where they, both the book(s) and your questions?
Zander
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fosburg
climber
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Oct 23, 2009 - 08:56pm PT
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I didn't wade through this whole thread carefully so I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. This is one of the greatest novels I've ever read and also contemporary and extremely funny.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 23, 2009 - 09:07pm PT
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Kevin F, did you make it all the way through, 'The infinite Jest'? You may be the only one. Do you know of any others?. Have you read that trilogy that Neal Stephanson had to write, after he should have retired after, 'Snaowcrash'? Was that worthwhile? What have I missed? I need the Clif notes. No way I have enough life minutes left to slog through those....
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Oct 23, 2009 - 09:09pm PT
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Pratt's dream job was for someone to pay him $5.00 per hour to read the books of his choice.
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fosburg
climber
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Oct 23, 2009 - 09:13pm PT
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IJ is worth the trouble Jay. I read it twice this year. It's like a Ulysses for our time and place.
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jiimmy
Boulder climber
san diego
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Oct 23, 2009 - 10:04pm PT
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Lolita merits a position.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Oct 23, 2009 - 10:20pm PT
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Hey Nutjob. . .
I've still got my copy of The Sea Around Us
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Oct 23, 2009 - 10:29pm PT
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I'm too lazy to read books . . . .
Full Metal Jacket
Le Mans
Dawn of the Dead (1978 version)
True Grit
The French Connection
New York Stories
Citizen Kane
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Barry Lyndon
But, if I must list +/- 10 good books that have changed my mind for the better:
Fountainhead / Atlas Shrugged / Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology - Rand
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail - Thompson
The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway
On the Trail of the Assassins - Garrison
Steal This Book - Hoffman
Chaos: Making a New Science - Gleik
Emerging Form in Architecture: Conversations with Lev Zetlin - Wilson
Elementary Statics of Shells - Pfluger
Art Through The Ages - Gardner
The Prince- Machiavelli
Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica - Newton
The Meaning of Relativity - Einstein
Brave New World - Huxley
The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary - Seuss
A book can have good influence, even way, way, way back then.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Oct 23, 2009 - 11:51pm PT
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Great mentions so far, but I would also include:
1) The Holy Bible (Authorized King James Version)
2) The Book of Enoch
3) George Orwell's 1984
4) Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
5) Crossing the Rubicon by Michael Ruppert
6) The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush
Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin and Richard Falk (and
any of the other many great scholarly books he has written on 9-11
being an inside job)
7) Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA
By Richard Hoagland and Mike Bara
8) The Yosemite by John Muir (or any of Muir's original classic books)
9) The Ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whimper
10) High and Wild by Galen Rowell
11) (my list goes to eleven!, one number more, and just that much more loud, lol) Not to mention thousands and thousands of other great reads . . .
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 24, 2009 - 05:01am PT
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Thanks, Fosburg, I will give it another go.
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zip
Trad climber
pacific beach, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 24, 2009 - 11:33am PT
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A Climber's Guide To Joshua Tree National Monument
John Wolfe And Bob Dominick
This is a must read for anyone that plans on spending any amount of time there.
This was my second guide book i purchased for this area. The first one was the yellow book, which i can't find. Anyone remember that one?
Good pictures, and route descriptions. First ascent info, and great stories too.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Oct 26, 2009 - 02:03pm PT
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Zander, I did find the answer to my question that you rose up thread. That thread Way off topic question on literature April 2008 had lots of good posts. Many along the same lines as this thread.
The question I asked was about any sources on literary criticism for Roth's novels. I had just finished "American Pastoral" and was very put off by what I considered sloppy writing and placid storytelling. What got my goat were Roth’s whole paragraphs of essentially the same sentence with different endings. I found a short section in "How Novels Work" by John Mullen on Roth's technique of amplification, which apparently links back to renaissance writing methods. I found it very tiresome and skimmed to the bottom on any paragraph in which he couldn't get what he wanted to say out without repeating it ten times. I think that this probably works fine for a reader who just loves the way all those letters form little groups of and pass time until they are needed in another little group of letters somewhere later, and they sound so sensuous as they roll down with the spittle and drool. More seriously, I think it works okay if the reader cares about the character, or if the writer has a real rant going with momentum. I didn't feel any of those things about "American Pastoral," so the amplification just seemed like ballast.
That said, there is a good interview in last Friday's WSJ ‘Weekend Journal’ with a list of five of Roth's 'indispensable' books to read by Ross Miller, the general editor of his compelte works for the Library of America. The list includes "The Ghost Writer," "The Counterlife," "The Facts," "Sabbath's Theater," and "The Human Stain." I will read these over time. I figure if I don't like a major writer, I should at least fire live.
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Fogarty
climber
Back in time..
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Oct 26, 2009 - 02:48pm PT
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This is a great book my mom would reed it to me in 1965 I loved reeding it to my kids, I just took them to see the new motion picture, what a blast!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 26, 2009 - 11:28pm PT
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Hey Roger,
I’ve never read Roth. I asked around after your thread from last year and got kind of luke warm responses. I guess I’ll try one of the five you mentioned.
I enjoyed reading your “top” ten list. About ten years ago my younger son was in 7th grade and at one of his school functions a couple of the parents were talking and one said, “I wish I had read that.” They decided to start a book club where you only read books where you say, “I wish I’d read that”. We call ourselves the Odyssians because we started with The Odyssey. We've read a bunch of the books from your list. The Illiad, War and Peace, The first five chapters of the Koran, Greek plays, every year we read and then go see a Shakespeare play, The Devine Comedy and even Ulysses. On your suggestion, I will now read Blood Meridian. Thanks for the tip. Our book group is pretty relaxed. Last night we met to discuss the first half of the Aeneid. A third of the group hadn’t done the reading. The potluck was good so all was well. I’m enjoying the book, though. As you said, it is good to push yourself out of our comfort zone with your reading. I find as I get older I’m a less flexible reader. I get ticked at books and authors. Your response to Roth was very familiar in feeling if not detail.
I’m kind of a fan of Karen Armstrong. I own five or six of her books.
Anyway, thanks for your response,
Zander
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 26, 2009 - 11:53pm PT
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I think maybe it should be a list of a hundred, or a thousand so I can include Geek Love.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Oct 27, 2009 - 08:00am PT
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Zander, I am very impressed with your book group. The one I belong to won't read old classics. They call my personal reading, "reading for pain." I remind myself of all the payback I got when I was pushing myself to be a better climber-great routes at higher standards; same for books.
I am reading Herodotus' "The Histories." I am hoping the context will bring more to the Greek and Roman literature
I read the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" for the same reasons. It was interesting, but I don't think it provides much backgroud for our world; we really start as a people with Homer. It is amazing that the first literature out of the box was so big and fine. Like Lynne Hill climbing the Nose all free in 1956 before Royal and Warren were ready to go. .
I suggest that reading a short introduction to "Blood Meridian" is worth it. It is based on a true story which helps with all the blood and gore. It also helps to focus on the brief note McCarthy places in the front and the strange postscript at the end. I didn't begin to understand the postscript until I had read more classics. The novel is not hard to read-it is a good story and beautifully written. It ended up on the list of the best five American novels, along with Updyke's "Rabbit" series, Roth's "American Pastoral," Morrision's "Beloved," and (I think) DeLillo's "Underground."
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 27, 2009 - 11:02am PT
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Hi Roger, We read Herodotus' "The Histories. There is a lot of interesting stuff in there. I agree it is not in the same category as the Odyssey. It was fun reading about the Amazons and some of the other stories we’ve all heard about.
Have you read the Three Kingdoms? It is the great Chinese Ancestral myth, like the Homer is for the west. It’s a great sprawling book. The version we read is highly abridged and it’s still huge. It is a pretty good read too. I’d never heard of it before we read it. Wendy got kudos from the asians at her work so I suspect a third of the world knows the stories well.
I haven’t read any of the five greatest novels in your post. I better get busy.
Take care,
Zander
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Barto
climber
Minneapolis, MN
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EIGHT GREAT
1. The Road: heartbreaking; horrific; Blood Meridian with the full ache of humanity.
2. Blood Meridian: Savageness without relent. Who IS the Judge?
3. Sutree: a litmus test for the impulse for solitude: I related to S. when I was in my bad marriage; now he is so much less appealing. Astounding writing.
4. Ironweed
5. Downward Bound
6. A Day in the Live of Ivan Denisovich
7. Goodnight Moon
8. How Footbal [soccer] Explains the World
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