54 replies to this topic

[Alessandra]

This is embarassing - aiming to be an English teacher and soem of my favourite books aren't up to scratch.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
The Snow Garden / A Density Of Souls by Christopher Rice
Decipher by Stel Pavlou
Fire Ice by Clive Cussler/Paul Kemprecios
ST:New Frontier (a series of books) by Peter David
The Bourne Quadrilogy by Ludlum and Lustbader

oh my! I don't plan to be an English teacher and never have.. but I do share the top of the list with you!
if I had to say two books I'd say:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
A room with a view by E.M. Forster

.. to cite more I'd include your second (Vanity fair by W.M. Thackeray),
"Portait of a lady" and "the bostonians" by Henry James
and just ANY other Jane Austen one, except Northanger Abbey which I don't find as absolutely outstanding as all the others.

despite being Italian, i basically only read British literature. I love it.
the one big Italian novel I love is "i promessi sposi" by Alessandro Manzoni.

[spynovelfan]

Oh, Alessandra! What about Il Gattapardo? Or some Calvino? Or even Pasolini's marvellously Fleming-esque* unfinished novel Petrolio?


*Kind of. Perhaps more akin to Bret Easton Ellis - truly frightening stuff.

[terminus]

Heh - actually, Northanger Abbey is one of my favourites as she wrote it when she was 18 and it was only published later.

I've got an Austen tribute story I did for my coursework that I might post when the release date gets here.

[Alessandra]

Oh, Alessandra! What about Il Gattapardo? Or some Calvino? Or even Pasolini's marvellously Fleming-esque* unfinished novel Petrolio?


*Kind of. Perhaps more akin to Bret Easton Ellis - truly frightening stuff.

oh you're right! I do love Il Gattopardo... Calvino really depends, some of his books I don't like at all, others I do like. Pasolini is too dark for me.. I'm a positive person!
I like a lot of Pirandello too (it's more theater than novel actually.. but extremely intelligent and funny).
you seem to know a lot about Italian literature though, I'm impressed!
you would like Buzzati a lot I sense...

[Alessandra]

Heh - actually, Northanger Abbey is one of my favourites as she wrote it when she was 18 and it was only published later.

I've got an Austen tribute story I did for my coursework that I might post when the release date gets here.

Well I CANNOT wait to read that!
i just said it is not OUTSTANDING as the others but it still is very good! lol
MY favourite remains Pride and Prejudice.. I know all of the first chapter by heart... NO KIDDING! My british colleagues can't believe it..

"it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. however little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering the neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of one or other of their daughters.
"my dear mr Bennet" his lady said to him one day. "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"
THIS IS JUST THE MOST BRILLIANT START TO A NOVEL EVER!!

BTW.. have you seen the just released movie of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley?? I do like her, although I think she's even TOO beautiful to play Elizabeth.. it's the guy playing Darcy who doesn't convince me completely. In some scenes (I've seen the trailer) he seems great, but alltogether he seems a bit too "weak" to play Darcy. I still find him better than Colin Firth, who played the part very well but just is NOT the most handsome man ever described in literature!!! lol THAT is Darcy. I think the guy who played Willoughby in "sense and Sensibility" with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet should've been cast to play Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

[terminus]

Ewww - no, Willoughby looked smarmy and arrogant, as he should, but Firth oozed icy pride as Darcy.

I'm on the Darcy side of the fence - and while Keira might be a good Liz, I just can't see McFadden as Darcy.

[Alessandra]

Ewww - no, Willoughby looked smarmy and arrogant, as he should, but Firth oozed icy pride as Darcy.

I'm on the Darcy side of the fence - and while Keira might be a good Liz, I just can't see McFadden as Darcy.

lol NO! I didn't mean that Darcy should be like Willoughby!! just that the ACTOR had the right LOOKS! lol Because Darcy is possibly the most attractive man ever described in literature!
I haven't seen the movie yet (not yet released here) so can't say about McFadden... he did look "weak" to be Darcy, but at the same time he also looked VERY intense... which is very good for Darcy.
Agreed. Firth PLAYED Darcy very well.. but not the right looks. I, TOO, am on the Darcy side of the fence! lol he's my favourite! which is why I'm so picky on actors who should play him!!
My idea was to have that actor who impersonated Willoughby as Darcy... Gwyneth Paltrow as Jane, let's even keep Knightley as Elizabeth, and Hugh Grant as Bingley.
the difficult ones are Georgiana and Caroline... Caroline I know exactly the face of the actress but I cannot AT ALL remember her name... she was in four weddings and a funeral... long dark hair.. hateful face lol
And Georgiana...hmmm... very difficult.

[spynovelfan]

you would like Buzzati a lot I sense...

Never heard of him, love. I don't read filthy foreign literature.

Ahem. Buzzato, you say? Any recommendations?

And Greg Wise - Willoughby - apparently screentested for Bond in '95. Think he's a bit old for it now.

[Jericho_One]

I quite enjoy the Meditations by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

I've read it dozens of times and it never fails to inspire me.

[Number 6]

SUMMER OF NIGHT by Dan Simmons

A WINTER HAUNTING by Dan Simmons

THINNER by Stephen King

GHOST STORY by Peter Straub

THE MASK by Dean Koontz

THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW - by Richard Laymon

BURNT OFFERINGS by Robert Marasco

[bill007]

Other than the obvious, I also like Zecharia Sitchin's The Earth Chronicles series:

The 12th Planet
The Stairway to Heaven
The Wars of Gods and Men
The Lost Realms
When Time Began

[Kilroy6644]

James Clavell's Asian Saga
The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
The Source by James Michener
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
Raise The Titanic! by Clive Cussler
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carr

[Seannery]

Other than the obvious, I also like Zecharia Sitchin's The Earth Chronicles series:

The 12th Planet
The Stairway to Heaven
The Wars of Gods and Men
The Lost Realms
When Time Began

Looks like we have a COAST TO COAST fan.

[bill007]

Looks like we have a COAST TO COAST fan.

Never was the same after Art left.

[Santa]

Lucky Jim, Shogun, Love in the Time of Cholera, Heat and Dust, any Thomas Hardy, Jules Verne or H.R.Haggard, I also have quite a thing for Jilly Cooper. Very odd books but strangely enjoyable.

[Mamadou]

These are loosely ranked.

King Lear
Hamlet
Macbeth
Othello
Julius Caesar
Henry V
Richard III
-William Shakespeare

Man & Superman
Caesar & Cleopatra (this is somewhat personal, since I played Caesar in this show three years ago)
Saint Joan
The Devil's Disciple
plus many of his short plays
-George Bernard Shaw

Jane Eyre
-Charlotte Bront

[Ambler]

I'm reading A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler right now.  It's quite good.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is the next Ambler on my list, and I can highly recommend those in my previous post. A master of the suspenseful thriller.

Today is the centenary of Eric Ambler's birth. Good profile in the Wall Street Journal, though there a few mistakes:

http://online.wsj.co...1211445742.html

[Loomis]

ENGLEBY by Sebastian Faulks

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE by Ian Fleming

LOST JAPAN by Alex Kerr

WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

[The Ghost Who Walks]

Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

The Dark Tower series, by Stephen King

[jrcjohnny99]

This is embarassing - aiming to be an English teacher and soem of my favourite books aren't up to scratch.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
The Snow Garden / A Density Of Souls by Christopher Rice
Decipher by Stel Pavlou
Fire Ice by Clive Cussler/Paul Kemprecios
ST:New Frontier (a series of books) by Peter David
The Bourne Quadrilogy by Ludlum and Lustbader

Nice to see a mention of Christopher Rice; Anne Rice's son of course and a terrific young writer;
Of course you've got great taste, your from my hometown....

[Tybre]

I've got to really sit and think about more, but I can definitely name two right now, 1984 and Brave New World.

[jrcjohnny99]

A few faves of mine, random order

Catcher in the Rye; JD Salinger

Bonfire of the Vanities; Tom Wolfe

The Terror; Dan Simmons

High Fidelity; Nick Hornby

Cold Mountain; Charles Frazier

The Ghost; Robert Harris

The Stand; Stephen King

The Alienist; Caleb Carr

The Sportswriter/Independence Day; Richard Ford

The Dante Club; Matthew Pearl

White Crosses; Larry Watson

American Psycho; Bret Easton Ellis

Survivor; Chuck Pahlaniuk

Snow Falling on Cedars; David Guterson

The Rachel Papers; Martin Amis

Underworld; Don Delillo

Invisible Monsters; Chuck Pahlaniuk

Bright Lights, Big City; Jay Mcinnerny

Glamorama; Bret Easton Ellis

The Great Gatsby; F Scott Fitzgerald

[Jose]

Among others-
1984, Animal Farm, A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse-Five, Lord of the Flies, The Metamorphosis, Flowers for Algernon, Catcher in the Rye, Chronicle of a Death Foretold

[Cruiserweight]

American Psycho-Bret Easton Ellis

The Spy Who Loved Me-Ian Fleming

[Kilroy6644]

In the 2 1/2 years since I last posted in this topic, I've added Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.