I’m reading Wuthering Heights and really struggling with it.
I struggled through “Wuthering Heights” for my GCSEs, along with “Pride and Prejudice”, when I was actually reading Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Oscar Wilde. Having said that, I intend to read ‘Moby Dick’ one day.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
Chewie, surely you aren’t Looney enough to believe Shakespeare did not write his own plays? 
[/quote]
People as diverse as Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, and Hellen Keller have all been skeptics. I believe a provincial person from a middling background who was a moneylender/malt trader in a provincial town in the 16th century wouldn’t likely have the ability/class background/life experiences to write those plays/sonnets.
Freud’s psycho-analysis on Shakespeare is especially interesting as he believes someone could only have written Hamlet in the aftermath of a momentous Oedipal struggle and its publication before any of Shakespeare’s parents deaths was suspect in Freud’s view. He also found it hard to associate a “man who grew up with a tall dungheap in front of his father’s house in Stratford” as being cultured enough to produce these works and believes that his name is a corruption of Jacques Pierre—close to the Earl of Oxford’s last name—de Vere.
I’m trying to read “The Classics” (as some sort of entity) right now. It may well be that they are overrated, but I want to be able to come from a somewhat informed opinion if I do eventually take that position. I also just want to know more about our cultural heritage in general. That said, Christ this book is hard going and I’m not even sure it’s that great so far. It doesn’t seem to be offering any great insights into the human condition. I’ve never read Wilde, but Dostoyevsky and Kafka seemed to be offering insights.
I’m also going though a bit of a classics phase. I’m on Jerome K. Jerome’s three men in a boat. Most of the humour still works, surprisingly, and a few bits are hilarious. The writing is excellent stuff, making allowances for stylistic evolution.
Wilde is worth reading. Much of it is what used to be called ‘mawkish’. A lot of it is just camp, airhead comedy. Some of it (not excluding the aforementioned) is good; or at least, I like them. A couple of his poems, Ballad of Reading Gaol, Picture of Dorian Gray, and the short about the Miller and his rich friend (I forget the title) … those stand out for me. I assume it’s all out of copyright and therefore available free on the net.
As for Shakespeare, I’ve read enough to conclude that he was a tedious, pompous git. The questionmark hanging over his authenticity (did he actually write it?) is his only redeeming feature. I’m sure the only reason people rate him highly is that very little else remains from that period.
Yes: Oscar Wilde on Project Gutenberg.
For that matter, Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat is also available there, along with about 36,000 other titles.
[quote=“ChewDawg”]Had a few weeks off at Xmas and thoroughly enjoyed these books
img contested1.jpg[/quote]
ChewDawg, if you enjoyed Contested Will, you might want to catch the film Anonymous that just came out. It explores the Oxfordian theory, which is the one that I personally believe. And it does it in a dramatic, entertaining fashion. I do recommend it.
No suprise there. Freud thought everyone was or wanted to roger their mum. Now EYE think HE was or wanted to roger HIS mum. 
Wading through A Dance with Dragons, and it’s hard going because it’s so huge, there’s the fear that after this one we’ll have to wait at least 5 years for the next one, and I reckon things aren’t going to turn out at all like we want for our favourite characters.
No suprise there. Freud thought everyone was or wanted to roger their mum. Now EYE think HE was or wanted to roger HIS mum.
Wading through A Dance with Dragons, and it’s hard going because it’s so huge, there’s the fear that after this one we’ll have to wait at least 5 years for the next one, and I reckon things aren’t going to turn out at all like we want for our favourite characters.[/quote]
I just finished ADWD. I am now reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid because I want something lighter.
FWIW I just finished the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, just to see what all the fuss was about. All I can say is, it’s no wonder the guy stuffed it in the bottom of a drawer and never bothered to send it to his publisher. Even allowing for translation issues, it should have stayed in that drawer.
Any good, or did it just leave you feeling frustrated?
I’m looking for a rollicking good read, that transports me out of the dreariness of life here (in China). I usually read the Thailand/Bangkok semi-thrillers/detective novels for a bit of relief.
Something Taiwan-centric would be good…
No suprise there. Freud thought everyone was or wanted to roger their mum. Now EYE think HE was or wanted to roger HIS mum.
[/quote]
Ever read Jed Rubenfeld’s “Interpretation of Murder”? He had something to say about Freud’s theory (the only thing I really took away from this so-so book). Says the theory is basically right but Freud got it backwards- it’s the mom who fears the daughter because she’s afraid she wants to do the dad, or will steal dad’s affections, and it’s dad who suspects son wants to do mother. Interesting idea 
Jed Rubenfeld is also the husband of Ms. TigerMom. Funny to read that book (which certainly shows some angst toward women) then get a dose of his wife.
Finley, gotta agree with you about the dragon tattoo books.
I’m finally reading Love in a Time of Cholera, cause everyone’s supposed to. I know I"m also supposed to love Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but sometimes I have trouble slogging through his books. Any thoughts on him?
No suprise there. Freud thought everyone was or wanted to roger their mum. Now EYE think HE was or wanted to roger HIS mum.
[/quote]
Ever read Jed Rubenfeld’s “Interpretation of Murder”? He had something to say about Freud’s theory (the only thing I really took away from this so-so book). Says the theory is basically right but Freud got it backwards- it’s the mom who fears the daughter because she’s afraid she wants to do the dad, or will steal dad’s affections, and it’s dad who suspects son wants to do mother. Interesting idea
Jed Rubenfeld is also the husband of Ms. TigerMom. Funny to read that book (which certainly shows some angst toward women) then get a dose of his wife.[/quote]
Now that’s interesting! Never read his book though, although it kinda makes sense in a way, especially considering Asian families and mother son relationships. Isn’t there some Chinese saying to the effect that the only true relationship a woman ever has is with her son or something of that nature?
I read for enjoyment. I don’t read anything I find to be a slog. I read Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls, because everyone goes on about what a fine writer she is. The overall story was ok-ish, but mostly I found it to be a bit of a bore. Won’t be reading anything of hers again.
Any good, or did it just leave you feeling frustrated?[/quote]
It was good and it left me feeling frustrated at the same time. George RR Martin has a habit of trying to make you think he has killed a character off when he has not. He does this by saying things at the end of a chapeter like ‘And then the darkness overcame her’ and things like that. That is frustrating. It seems like he is employing a cheap tactic to make you think the character has died off only to bring them back later. On the plus side, I found the characters to be more interesting than the new ones he introduced in A Feast for Crows and there was a bit more action to it. I also liked the ending. Overall I thought it was pretty good.
Any good, or did it just leave you feeling frustrated?[/quote]
It was good and it left me feeling frustrated at the same time. George RR Martin has a habit of trying to make you think he has killed a character off when he has not. He does this by saying things at the end of a chapeter like ‘And then the darkness overcame her’ and things like that. That is frustrating. It seems like he is employing a cheap tactic to make you think the character has died off only to bring them back later. On the plus side, I found the characters to be more interesting than the new ones he introduced in A Feast for Crows and there was a bit more action to it. I also liked the ending. Overall I thought it was pretty good.[/quote]
Cool. I’ll see how it goes and get back to you after I’m done. You’ve made me feel a bit better now. I just wish that damned Cersei and her ill gotten brood would die the fuck already!!
Edit: I’m up to the point where I know what happened to Theon Greyjoy. Poor bugger. I actually feel sorry for him.
I put One Hundred Years of Solitude down about halfway through. It was fucking awful, to say the least. Possibly one of the most overrated books I’ve ever tackled. It might rate up there with Atlas Shrugged in being simultaneously awful and adored. Even the pretentious label of “magical realism” shits me about that guy and his cult of followers. Because heaven forbid it should be labelled “fantasy”. Everyone knows that elves and goblins are stupid, but a book with a girl who eats dirt? Creme de la creme of modern literature.
I put One Hundred Years of Solitude down about halfway through. It was fucking awful, to say the least. Possibly one of the most overrated books I’ve ever tackled. It might rate up there with Atlas Shrugged in being simultaneously awful and adored. Even the pretentious label of “magical realism” shits me about that guy and his cult of followers. Because heaven forbid it should be labelled “fantasy”. Everyone knows that elves and goblins are stupid, but a book with a girl who eats dirt? Creme de la creme of modern literature.[/quote]
Glad I’m not the only one. I wanted to love him, but I just don’t. I also wanted to love Haruki Murakami, but I just like him, there is no love.
Looking for a good book of short stories, as my attention span seems to have shortened recently. Any suggestions?
It occurred to me after I finished it that he didn’t write it with publication in mind. It was some sort of personal catharsis, and he hid it in his desk for the same reason you hide a diary in a desk - you don’t want people to read it. He’d probably be mortified to discover people have been reading his private scribblings.
Being in a Jerome K Jerome phase at the moment, I can recommend Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow which is a collection of (mostly very well-written) essays. It’s free if you’ve got a Kindle. If you haven’t, get one: there a lot of short-story anthologies on Amazon for just a couple of $. You’re sure to find something you like, and if you don’t, you haven’t wasted much.
Non: Yeah, I am a little suspicious of any modern writer being held in so high regard. It’s all too recent. On the other hand, I often wonder if I’m missing something when I read writers from previous ages and wonder what all the fuss is about. There’s a fine line between being a philistine and thinking the emperor has wonderful clothes.
Can’t recommend any proper short stories off the top of my head. However, there is plenty of sci-fi that is fairly short/quick that’s good. I really liked The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin, and also Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. Actually, I just thought of Jorge Luis Borges. His short stories are good. At times, I had no idea what he was talking about, but they were still good. His stories are dreamlike: very weird, but the imagery is amazing.
I just read The Road this weekend. That was an extremely quick read and I literally couldn’t put it down. It was certainly very good, but I think I liked Blood Meridian more, even though I understood it less. I’m now working on The Hobbit, not having touched it since I was twelve. I vaguely remember hearing that it was written for kids and LoTR was written in a darker, more mature fashion, but it’s actually really noticeable now. The tone is really different.
I should note that my reading choices are usually based upon what I can get for free online or borrow from friends, so they’re a bit over the place.