Favorite Books

element wrote:Two_Roads, I LOVE MacBeth! Shakespeare was pretty amazing, huh? I also liked death of a salesman, though I found it quite depressing, but aren't most good books and plays depressing?

P

yes lol... as for shakespeare, a professional doctor- therapist told me one can learn more about human psychology from shakespeare's plays than they can from the theory of psychoanalysis. I tend to agree.

@ Kevin > I can see you made some patriotic selection of authors, you selected all Irishmen . joking lol James Joyce should indeed be Irish pride, some theorists claim no better literary genius was born after Shakespeare, when it come to literature written in the English lang. Anyways, i like the concept of "epiphanies" in his literary themes, and the combination of sublime and trivial, and how he all packs it well with a sarcastic language.

death of a salesman > it is tragic in the end, but major theme in Miller's work is " responsibility ", he makes his anti-hero kill himself in the end to present the idea of irresponsibility, and how we must suffer consequences of our bad behavior ( in a broader context, referring to individuals, nations, etc ). His main message is " gain freedom through responsibility "

Now, have I been too annoying with this analysis ?

Well, I just read the introductory note on the book and I have already a different view on Germany and Hitler himself. The book is very long though, and I don't intend to read it until the Summer.

Kevin

two_roads wrote:

element wrote:Two_Roads, I LOVE MacBeth! Shakespeare was pretty amazing, huh? I also liked death of a salesman, though I found it quite depressing, but aren't most good books and plays depressing?

P

yes lol... as for shakespeare, a professional doctor- therapist told me one can learn more about human psychology from shakespeare's plays than they can from the theory of psychoanalysis. I tend to agree.

@ Kevin > I can see you made some patriotic selection of authors, you selected all Irishmen . joking lol James Joyce should indeed be Irish pride, some theorists claim no better literary genius was born after Shakespeare, when it come to literature written in the English lang. Anyways, i like the concept of "epiphanies" in his literary themes, and the combination of sublime and trivial, and how he all packs it well with a sarcastic language.

death of a salesman > it is tragic in the end, but major theme in Miller's work is " responsibility ", he makes his anti-hero kill himself in the end to present the idea of irresponsibility, and how we must suffer consequences of our bad behavior ( in a broader context, referring to individuals, nations, etc ). His main message is " gain freedom through responsibility "

Now, have I been too annoying with this analysis ?

No, you haven't been annoying with this analysis. I quite enjoyed it actually. I'm the queen of over-analyzing! But yes, anyway, I thought it was depressing though, anyway. I think it's because it brings up too many issues about my own father and things he's done. Very sad play, but it really does capture so many families in such a realistic way!

Indeed, you haven't been annoying with this analysis, two_roads. In fact, what you wrote made me laugh for a few reasons. Firstly, you used the phrase 'Irish pride'. Guess what? - This is the name of a type of bread sold in supermarkets here! Look here: http://www.irishpride.ie/

Back to Death of a Salesman, what I love about the book is it's - I guess - sheer brutal honesty about the hardships of the business world; but also that fact that I automatically adopt an American accent while reading it in my head! James Joyce is highly regarded here too - you better believe it! I actually have a huge canvas 'flag' that was draped over his former residence in Dublin whil it underwent construction work. It's grey, black, and white and has a picture of the man himself on it. the reason why I have i is because my mother works in the council, and she bought it for me. it must be around 5 x 2 metres or something.

Kevin

Hah, I loved how you said you pick up an American accent in your head. lol Partially because there are so many American accents, but I do understand what you are saying. I wonder what region the accent in your head would be associate with? Maybe I shouldn't care that much, lol, but after living in two drastically different regions, I've picked up quite an interest in accents.

When I read fiction, it's normally a series of books. It'll be easier for me to list the series I've read than individual books.
The Ultimate Hitch Hiker's Guide, by Douglas Adams, a massive compendium of the whole Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It's got to be the best science fiction series I've ever read, from the description of the Infinite Improbability Drive, to the fact that there's no need to manufacture amenities in most of the universe because there's always a planet where things like mattresses and pillows can be caught in the wild. And if you're unsure of the answer to life, the universe, and everything, rest peacefully knowing that it's 42.
I enjoy the series of Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz, because the title character is eerily similar to myself in his behavior and drive, and the character development in each book is extremely professional. However, the second book has a slight misrepresentation of the toxicity of Brugmansia, a dangerous fruit bearing plant that grows naturally in the US. And, the main antagonist is called Datura, another name for Brugmansia.
Dinotopia, by James Gurney, is a series about a lost island home to sentient dinosaurs, and the humans who live alongside them after being shipwrecked. It's essentially steampunk with dinosaurs, so it's pretty awesome. The dinosaurs all have their own languages according to family and sometimes genus, and often there's a sense of racial tension between certain groups of dino.
Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My favorite book in the series is The Hound of the Baskervilles. It's a fun series to read because the clues are all right in front of you, and you get to forecast your own conclusions in the book according to evidence. And, if you can't quite figure it out, Holmes breaks it down for you in the guise of making Watson look silly.
Animorphs, by K.A. Applegate. When the series came out, I was right on top of it. Kids near my age who stumble across alien technology that lets them transform into any animal they touch, and have to fight a race of body-snatching slugs to keep them from taking over the earth as a part of a global conspiracy? Oh yes. I didn't read the whole series, but I read most of it. It got to the point where the stories were just...boring. You can only fight brain-slugs for so long before the whole thing gets hackneyed.
I've also read Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami, a book about a young boy who runs away from home so he can get stronger and find himself, as well as being about an old man who lost a part of himself and is compelled to act as the boy's subconscious desires.
As for non-fiction, I've read a bunch of books about space and time, but I've more recently finished The Physics of Superheroes, by James Kakalios. It goes into detail on how superpowers could work if they were real. Most end with being miracle exceptions to the laws of physics, but it's still an entertaining read.
I also recently finished The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He was a computer science professor diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and was given the chance to literally give his last lecture. He wrote a book about the process of composing the lecture, as well as telling about his former classmates who've inspired him, students who've gone on to live their dreams, his relationship with his parents, and his own family he regretted leaving because he wanted to be a father to his children, all under six years old. It was an inspiring read, and what I wanted most after finishing the book was to meet the man who wrote it.
I'm working on A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Works of Albert Einstein, as edited by Stephen Hawking.

element wrote:Hah, I loved how you said you pick up an American accent in your head. lol Partially because there are so many American accents, but I do understand what you are saying. I wonder what region the accent in your head would be associate with? Maybe I shouldn't care that much, lol, but after living in two drastically different regions, I've picked up quite an interest in accents.

It would just be the accents of the Americans that I have actually heard talking here - i.e. my cousin Meggan, and an American dude that I met in South America. My cousin is from 'upstate' New York, so, maybe that's the accent. Strangely enough though, there is no one Irish accent either! There are many accents here. People from the county of Cork, for example, have a very strong accent and are sometimes hard to understand even for people like me! I think that I have a Dublin accent though, and my voice is apparently quite deep.

Kevin

I would say that I have a southern accent, but I can still be very annoyed by southern accents, because there is quite a variety of them! Mine has "faded" some since I moved to the north though. I've picked up some on a more northern accent, but of course there are many of those. There are really separate accents for all states, and more than one for many states!

Aw, I'm glad that you like the accent, Asuka! A lot of people in the North associate it with ignorance, which is quite frustrating. But thankfully, I am not from Texas, and my accent is nothing like Bush's, so I don't have to deal with THOSE remarks! As I said before though, my accent has faded some, but it is still definately there.

I think Mein Kamph would anger me, because the whole holocaust topic angers me so much, but I'm very interested in it. That's why I was going to read the book. I find it very interesting. It was too thick though, and I couldn't stay focused, so I never did read it. One summer perhaps...

~element

So, the 'southern' accent is from where exactly? I recall that the Alabaman and Texan accents are quite distinct, but I don't actually mind the way Bush talks. It's kind off laid-back. Have you any examples of famous people with a southern accent?