I like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Stephen King, Oscar Wilde, the Brontes... these are just a few.
What about you,veecla?

Okay people, let's just pick a font size and stick with it can we !

Shakespeare, Wodehouse, Milton, Waugh, Greene, Bill Bryson, Donne, Solzhenitsyn, John Mortimer, T.S.Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Milligan, Marvell, Simon Winchester, Orwell, Saki, J K Jerome, Conan Doyle...that's the A-List, anyway.

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Sanity is not statistical

I see two of the above authors are on the "Banned Books List."


peace out, >^,,^<

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The poor object to being governed badly, whilst the rich object to being governed at all. G.K. Chesterton

Am I a rebellion, then?

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Instead a list of favorites or of those I consider the best, I'd like to share a short list of those whom I find I frequently re-read, just for the pleasure of it. They would be, in no particular order: Mark Twain, Mary Gordon, and John Irving.

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"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige

Ray41-- I've been poking about in my library and do have a couple of Michener's novels, first edition/hard cover--forgot how huge they are; will have to pick one up and try again to read it-- a little too cumbersome for me, but I certainly respect your appreciation for his work.

leonAzul: Do you have a Mary Gordon recommendation?

While she hasn't ever published a bad book, in my opinion, my favorite would be Men and Angels.

What I find most remarkable about this novel is her unobtrusive craftsmanship. Every chapter and most paragraphs are themselves careful elaborations of metaphors that contribute to the overall themes without disturbing the narrative flow and development of the story.

In many ways, Mary Gordon uses suburban Long Island the way Flannery O'Connor uses rural Georgia.

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"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige

RubyMoon wrote:
Ray41-- I've been poking about in my library and do have a couple of Michener's novels, first edition/hard cover--forgot how huge they are; will have to pick one up and try again to read it-- a little too cumbersome for me, but I certainly respect your appreciation for his work.

The first book of Michener's that I read was "Hawaii". The ? pages of genealogy, alone, would have taken a tremendous amount of time to write.
The research he had to do in order to give this book credence must have been immense, as was the research into "Poland", "Alaska', in fact all of his books.
I have a paperback copy of "Hawaii" so that if I need to read it away from home, then I can fit it in my suitcase.

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RULES ARE FOR THE OBEYENCE OF FOOLS AND FOR THE GUIDENCE OF WISE MEN

My pleasure Ruby, among my favourite authors is Ion Idriess, whom I would have posted, but, who would not be known that well outside of Australia.(?)
If you google his name, then go into the Wikipedia site, you will see a mine of information on Idriess, plus, a list of all his books.
While there, google 'Jandamarra' which will give you an excellent insight of aboriginal life in the 1890's.

If you want one on Aboriginal culture then I suggest that you first read 'The Red Chief'. This is a basically true story that Idriess wrote from notes taken by one of the first white settlers, as told to him by an elderly aborigine. It is about the way they lived before the coming of white settlers.
Outlaws of the Leopold. About Jandamarra,also know as Pidgeon. [The aborigine did not submit easily to white intrusion and in many areas there where tribes/individuals who fought ceaselessly to maintain their land and culture]
Man Tracks is another good read.

Idriess wrote of the patrols that the mounted police carried out, particularly in the Northern Territory, where they would track so called 'outlaw aborigines'[such as 'Pidgeon'] and bring them back to justice[sic] in neck chains!

I am not sure on the availability of Iodriess books, but, some of the online bookstores would be your best bet. My wife uses "Abe" with great success. Good luck in your search.

I read all of his books as a 10 to 15 year old and it gave me a great insight into life in the late 1800 to early 1900's.
I still re-read "The Red Chief" when I get the chance as it predates European settlement in timeline.

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RULES ARE FOR THE OBEYENCE OF FOOLS AND FOR THE GUIDENCE OF WISE MEN

To boneyfriend: Jude The Obscure is my favorite work by Hardy.
Have you read it?


To Ray41: dear Ray, you have gone above and beyond the call of duty with your post regarding Australian culture&literature.
I am most grateful...The information you provide is exactly what I was searching for... Thank you!
(I'll return soon!)

Selma Lagerlöf, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Doris Lessing, Ursula K. Le Guin, Susanna Clarke...

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

To RubyMoon No I haven't read Jude The Obscure but I will. I just loved The Mayor of Casterbridge so much.

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In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.--Mar Atwood

Boney, you could save a lot of time by just inserting screws under your toenails. It only takes about an hour ( if you're determined ), and doesn't take up any shelf space.

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Sanity is not statistical

No Dostoevsky? Thomas Hardy? James Joyce? Samuel Beckett?

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"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon" Suzanne Ertz

All of them,
Seriously, Hawaii was his biggest [literally] and takes ages to read.

Highly recommend 'Alaska' as J. A. M. based most of his books on carefully researched information.

'Poland' was a good read, but,I have a tendency to read historical novels as I find them far more interesting than 'make believe'.

I am sure that you will not be disappointed, no matter which one you start with.

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RULES ARE FOR THE OBEYENCE OF FOOLS AND FOR THE GUIDENCE OF WISE MEN

pedro: We've mentioned Thomas Hardy as few times in this thread... which of his works is your favorite?


boneyfriend: Take excaelis' advice... but keep the screws under your toenails while reading Jude The Obscure-- it will double your pleasure!


I think Hawthorne's last novel, The Marble Faun, is his best; it's rather funky-- not at all like The Scarlet Letter, etc.

Yes I also love Hardy's poetry. Here is one of my favourites.



The Darkling Thrush
by Thomas Hardy

I leant upon a coppice gate,
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to me
The Century's corpse outleant,
Its crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind its death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervorless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead,
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited.
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
With blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew,
And I was unaware.

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle