Book Recommendations

[alpharaposa]

By the way- Frankenstein? Good read. Go read it. Really.

And the Sherlock Holmes stuff? Go read that, too. It's fun stuff.

How many people watched Star Trek: First Contact? Remember the girl who compared Picard to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick? She spent time talking about how he was going after that white whale. And then, Picard quotes from the book, and she's lost. She'd never actually read the book, even though she knew vaguely what it was all about.

There are a lot of books I've never read. I've been slowly trying to fill in those gaps. Hence, the Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein. I read A Christmas Carol after this Christmas, just so I'd know. I'd also read Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in 80 Days for the first time.

Let's see... who else? How many people have never actually read Through the Looking Glass or Alice in Wonderland? I've been wanting to reread them recently, but our library lacks a copy. What about the Oz books?

Maybe I'll even sit down sometime and read Moby Dick or Ivanhoe.

Comments

[aefenglommung.livejournal.com]

I began Moby Dick in fifth grade. By the time I got past Father Mapple's sermon, I gave it up and let the White Whale escape.

Ivanhoe is one of my all-time favorites, though!

[stryck.livejournal.com]

I do recall that I didn't even finish the first paragraph of Wuthering Heights back in my junior year of high school. Some books are just too much.

I decided to make a start on Ivanhoe. The first chapter has already informed me that my grasp of English history needs improving. At least it's good enough that I know what's going on, though. I still shudder mentally when I think of the guy in London who didn't know who Shakespeare was.

[aefenglommung.livejournal.com]

The hardest thing for me to get used to was the leisurely style of Sir Walter Scott's writing. The sentences are long and full of emotive and extraneous description. It makes it hard for a modern reader to concentrate. But once one has dialed in the sentence structure so that it no longer is jarring, the story moves right along.

[silussa.livejournal.com]

Anyone who recommends Moby Dick as a good book for a youngster...has never read it. Just the cannabilism alone should discourage THAT. ;)

I've read most of the Jules Verne, a lot of the Sherlock Holmes, and the entire series of Oz books, I think, except I understand there's a new one now. (yes, there's a LOT more then just "Oz". Like...oh, who is the place named after in the first place?)

Frankenstein, I have to admit, I've never gotten to, although I most certainly intend to.

Alice in Wonderland, I have sitting here. I think I read it many years ago, and intend to again.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Moby Dick myself, and was just recommending the ones I had read in general, not for youngsters.

I haven't managed to read all of the Oz series, but I've read a handful of them.

More Jules Verne are on my future reading list as targets of opportunity. If I have spare cash and see one, it'll get added to the library.