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What Do You Read?


Sasun

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Howard's End sounds familiar, but I don't think I've read it... wasn't there a movie or something? :huh:

It's actually Howards End (minus the apostrophe) -- my bad. :D I just read the first 2 pages of that book, and it doesn't sound familiar.. so I'm not sure if there's a movie version of it.. it's not improbable though. :)

 

As for Catch-22, like all the other books I want to read, I own the book, but have too little time to actually start reading it. My ADHD is getting worse - I used to read 1000 page books in 2 days, now I can't even read 10 pages in 2 days. :(

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Oh, and just so you know, I don't have ADHD, and that's about the pace I read. :P B)

really..? :huh: :huh: hmmm.. weird. but wouldn't that mean that you might have ADHD/ADD? :) I don't know. and btw, the 10 pages i was referring to is.... small pages.. not a regular sized book, but the pocket sized (new-novel size, the ones on the shelves) books.. my Howards End book is that size, and i've read 2 pages in like... uhh.. 4 hours of straight reading. :( i just read and re-read because i don't get what i'm reading (just reading the words, not getting the meaning....) lol. :(

 

btw -- indeed, nice cast that movie has. :o perhaps i should just watch the movie and hope that it's similar to the book, instead of dragging my brain through painful hours of... reading.. 1 page. :cry:

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My experience is that the books are ALWAYS much better than the screenplay adaptations. No question. As for the ADHD thingy - actually I get to read for about 4-5 minutes before going to bed. Needless to say, it takes a long time to finish a book these days :rolleyes:
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My experience is that the books are ALWAYS much better than the screenplay adaptations. No question. As for the ADHD thingy - actually I get to read for about 4-5 minutes before going to bed. Needless to say, it takes a long time to finish a book these days :rolleyes:

yes, you're right.. books are better, and besides, they tend to change the movie versions slightly (and in some cases, quite a lot) from the original version... but it's a time-saver.. especially when you have 4 essays / week lol. :angry:

 

lol vava -- so you read 2 pages before going to bed in like 10-15 minutes.. that's not ADHD. :D

 

As for other books -- once (before I got my "blond moment in reading books" [i.e. ADHD got worse?]), I tried to read Tolstoy's War and Peace.. needless to say, i didn't get too far. only half a page was all Mr. Tolstoy needed to get me lost on the names... :o :lol: :blink: and that's one of the problems i have with reading Russian novels.. their name systems are too complicated... sergei mihailovich, ivan sergeich.. geez.. i don't know.. lol :blink:

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Try reading it in Russian, then you will definetely go crazy.

hahaha.. well, I don't know Russian (I don't know if I'm supposed to say "thank God" or "alas" for that one..), although I do know the letters (just don't understand what I'm reading lol!!!), but I can imagine how bad it'd be in Russian lol. :lol: But those who know Russian are more or less used to the Russian names, no? I have NO clue about the names, except that some of them end in 'ov'/'ova'.. :blink:

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agreed gurgen..my biggest mistake was taking an upper division russian lit class freshman year...last quarter..because although translated in to english..that crap was hard to understand...ended up reading from oblomov to dostoevsky to pushkin--i liked pushkin's work though....but the russian "culture" is very complicated..because they never had an actual "culture" of their own--considering art-esp.. because they barrowed from french baroque and itallian rennaissance art and architecture alott...i dunno...my point being..that russian lit is hard poop!! although i recieved an A in the class...it was hell..all the reading and interpretations.
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i'm taking a European and British novel course, and half the reading list is Russian writers.. lol. i had to read Notes from Underground, Happy Ever After, the Death of Ivan Ilyich, fathers and sons, and a few more i don't remember lol. notes from underground was pretty short and easy. so were the other ones. i haven't had that much problem with russian novels translated into english as i've had with french novels translated into english (madame bovary, etc. -- that book was ----> :yawn:) i was thinking about taking a russian lit. course, but now won't, because of this thread lol.

 

btw, Gogol is Russian, no? i read one of his short stories for my satire class, and it was very good lol. :)

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For those who read Armenian I heartily recommend Mkrtich Armen's 'Heghnar's Fountain'. It is a masterpiece. One of the few novels produced during the Soviet era that will endure.

 

But if you like short stories then Aksel Bakoontz is the one for you. A few of his have been translated into English. If anyone is interested I can scan/post these for your pleasure.

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The next 2 books on my reading list are: Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (was supposed to read it by last week but didn't have the time to lol) and E.M Forster's Howard's End:D Anyone read any of those two?

 

One of the books that I thoroughly enjoyed was Sir Thomas More's Utopia. It's a MUST read for all those who are interested in poli sci/politics/philosophy/communism-capitalism.  :D

I have no love for Conrad. The guy was a racist and this is reflected in his novels. A good critique of him was done by West African writer Chinua Achebe.

 

As for E M Forster's Howards End it is a fine novel and a good film has been made of it.

 

I agree with you completely on Thomas Moore. Did you know that he developed his conception of Utopia through his study of native American communities in what is now the USA?

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I have no love for Conrad. The guy was a racist and this is reflected in his novels.

So what?

 

The fact that he was racist does not make him a bad writer. Wagner was a racist, but he was a fantastic composer.

Edited by gurgen
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I agree with you completely on Thomas Moore. Did you know that he developed his conception of Utopia through his study of native American communities in what is now the USA?

hahahaha!!!!!! Sorry, I couldn't resist - this is off-topic, but it was posted by a friend elsewhere, and I just had to share it. :D

 

An old Indian chief sat in his hut on the reservation, smoking a ceremonial pipe, and eyeing two U.S. government officials sent to interview him." Chief Two Eagles” asked one official, "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his material wealth. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done." The chief nodded in agreement. The official continued,”Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?" The chief stared at the government officials for over a minute and then calmly replied, "When white man found the land, Indians were running it. No taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver,women did all the work, medicine man free, Indian man spent all day hunting and fishing, and all night having sex." Then the chief leaned back and smiled, "White man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."

 

Utopia it would be. :D

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I'll read whatever I can get my hands on... I've read a lot of 'old' stuff like you guys mentioned... I've been trying out some new books lately, I just finished 'Angels & Demons' and 'The Da Vinci Code', both by Dan Brown. I thought these books were going to be just one of those things that people over-hype and talk about that fail to deliver, but I was wrong. Both books are quite worth picking up. Edited by Justlooking
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One of the books that I thoroughly enjoyed was Sir Thomas More's Utopia. It's a MUST read for all those who are interested in poli sci/politics/philosophy/communism-capitalism.

Indeed. That is a great book. Certainly very useful for those who are interested in political philosophy. :) Not to forget Machiavelli's The Prince.

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