100 novels everyone should read
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For me, 20. I am not a Philosopher so I never read Proust and partners. At this time I think a must did it, but I do not have enough time because I am reading not Philosophy books but novels (Sci-Fi, mystery...) :laugh:
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Right on. I've read one book from that list, The Lord of the Rings. Which is actually 3 books, but apparently that doesn't matter. I've read plenty of programming books from cover to cover at 1200-1500 pages each. But novels? I simply don't have enough time to sit down and read them. What does he do for a living?
No Lord Of The Rings is one book. That's how it was written and how it was intended to be read. Tolkien was forced into the rather artificial dividing of the work by his publisher and he was never happy with it. Most modern editions reunite the three parts in a single volume in any event.
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I hit 15 only counting the books I finished. Ulysses is bull s**t on a stick. Get drunk (really drunk), talk into a recorder and you will have made as much readable material. Pseudo-intellectuals sop up this kind for garbage and claim to "so get it" when there is nothing there. Emperor/clothes much?
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I see Moby Dick is on the list (as if it's ever not on a list). For anyone who hasn't read it, here's the short version: Rope is awesome. Knots knots, rope, knots, oh yea baby. Also a white whale because reasons.
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The list is invalid without War and Peace on it. Although, it did have Hitchhiker's Guide... "I am rarely happier than when spending entire day programming my computer to perform automatically a task that it would otherwise take me a good ten seconds to do by hand." - Douglas Adams
Well hardly invalid. It's a list of 100 novels that should be read. It doesn't say anywhere that it's the only 100 novels you should read nor indeed that these are the 'best', 'greatest' or any other superlative you care to mention. It doesn't even claim that the list is any kind of definition of 'literature' as we know it.
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For me, 20. I am not a Philosopher so I never read Proust and partners. At this time I think a must did it, but I do not have enough time because I am reading not Philosophy books but novels (Sci-Fi, mystery...) :laugh:
In what way is Proust philosophy? Certainly it's an exploration of the human condition but that's true of pretty much all good writing and especially so of sci-fi. If any genre can be accused of being 'philosophical' then sci-fi is right up there among the usual suspects!
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11. No "Confederancy of Dunces"?!?
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Wait, are there developers out there that actually have the time to read...for fun?! :omg: I don't think I've read anything but technical books for years now. Does watching the film count? I'm at 10 without films, up to 25 with films + theater. I've never read/seen Wuthering Heights, but saw plenty of Cathy/Heathcliff jokes on Dave Allen at Large, back in the day. Does that count, too? :cool:
I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone - Bjarne Stroustrup The world is going to laugh at you anyway, might as well crack the 1st joke! My code has no bugs, it runs exactly as it was written.
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I've read 41 of them, that's a pretty random list, it seems to be a list of 100 books the author has read that seem impressive enough to include in a list. I was not surprised to see Moby Dick on that list, it's so overrated, what a miserable piece of turgid prose and over-wrought symbolism. It's a book that people only pretend to like because they're supposed to. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance should be on that list, that's most certainly a book everyone should read. Also, if sci-fi is going to be included then something by Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula Le Guin should be on that list somewhere.
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In what way is Proust philosophy? Certainly it's an exploration of the human condition but that's true of pretty much all good writing and especially so of sci-fi. If any genre can be accused of being 'philosophical' then sci-fi is right up there among the usual suspects!
Yeah sci-fi is the most philosophical of genres, more so than mainstream literature. Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, etc. Certain works by Kafka, Hesse, Vonnegut, etc. could be considered sci-fi as well. Many common sci-fi themes such as alien contact, the effects of technology on people, artificial intelligence, and the like are all inherently philosophical.
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In what way is Proust philosophy? Certainly it's an exploration of the human condition but that's true of pretty much all good writing and especially so of sci-fi. If any genre can be accused of being 'philosophical' then sci-fi is right up there among the usual suspects!
In certain way you are right. Every good written book has philosophy inside. When I refer Proust as a Philosopher, I am telling that his books are more aimed to a life philosophy rather than a story by itself. They have a story inside, but every chapter includes many human conditions that, in my point of view, make the reading difficult. The analysis of life has been always a hard matter and if you are looking for a 'soft' reading (as you said, Sci-Fi is not necessarily an easy reading) may be Proust, Sartre and even Kafka are not the kind of writer you are going to give a try. May be you prefer Asimov, Clarke (Sci-Fi) Garcia Marquez (folkloric) Stephen King, Peter Straub (Horror), and many others who write 'easy-to-understand' novels (note the quotes) that are really good written, but in which the analysis of human condition is not the most relevant part. All the previous, is taking into account that Philosophy as we understand in our time, is referring to the study of human being and not as was understood by the ancient greeks as 'Hunger of Knowledge'.
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Only read one (39. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
Good for you, that's probably the most important must-read book on that list.
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No Lord Of The Rings is one book. That's how it was written and how it was intended to be read. Tolkien was forced into the rather artificial dividing of the work by his publisher and he was never happy with it. Most modern editions reunite the three parts in a single volume in any event.
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Crap list. No Dune, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Martian Chronicles, Foundation and Empire, Dhalgren, etc.
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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I managed to score 8 plus starts on another 3. It should be noted that number 100 on the list is actually 3 books.
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