Recommend A Book to a GS friend | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Recommend A Book to a GS friend

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
My favorite book :
"Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz or the Traps of the Faith" by Octavio Paz (Nobel)

It is not a light read, I read it like 5 times and I dont understand completly :confused: :p ,but is a biography in a way of assay about the best writer in the history of Mexico, a nun named Juana Ines de Asbaje in the seventeenth century, I swear, is fantastic.

Others: "the second sex" Simone de Beauvoir and "Sophie' s world" Jostein Gaarder
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Some of my all-time favorites:

Boris Pasternak -- Doctor Zhivago; the only Russian novel I've ever been able to finish :slink:

Jane Austen -- Pride and Prejudice. 'Nuff said...

Robert Penn Warren -- All the King's Men; one of the great American political novels and required for my high school AP English class. It didn't do much for me at the time but stuck with me enough that I actually picked it up again about 10 years later. What a difference!

Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird; this one seems embarrassingly obvious but it never, ever grows old for me. Aside from the wonderful characters (always wanted Atticus Finch for my own dad) and plot, what I love most is Harper Lee's simple, direct, atmospheric writing.

Jack Finney -- Time and Again; IMO, the best time-travel novel ever!

Madeleine L'Engle -- A Wrinkle in Time; read it first at age 8 and still read it to this day. Meg, the heroine, is a geeky, awkward girl with glasses. Reading about her made me believe that things really would get better. ;) IMO, a great book for kids and parents to share.
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
There are so many books I could recommend that I don't know where to start.
All the classic literature of France, England, Russia, Italy (I see Meoima ha recommended Calvino, good choice. :agree:), Germany, USA. I'm not familiar with Asia tbh.

It's really difficult, quite impossible to choose just one book, so I'll choose some.

1.Stefan Zweig. Read all his novellas, often published in one book as a collection.
"The Royal Game" (or Chess Story) and "Amok" are the best, IMO, if you can't find them all and have to choose.

Why do I recommend his novellas? I'm not very good in describing it, especially in english.
I was very young when I read it but I was completely blown away, emotionally and mentally, when I read his novels.

2. Erich Maria Remarque "Three Comrades"
3. Theodore Dreiser The "Genius"
4. Dostoyevsky "The Idiot"
5. Primo Levi "If This Is a Man".

Last but not least, everyone should read Tolstoy and Dickens works, IMO.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
David Copperfield it's no.1 for me. :love:
I think I've read that book more than 5 times, together with Anna Karenina and War&Piece. :biggrin:

For me it's also Copperfield at the top, and A Tale of Two Cities as well. If I ever want a good cry, all I have to do is read just the last page of A Tale of Two Cities.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Oh, dear.

Embarrassed to admit I've never been able to finish Copperfield b/c the way his stepfather bullies him in the first part just breaks my heart. It's no good telling me everything turns out OK. Can't do it.

A pippe mentali comma shagging English teacher ruined Two Cities for me in high school by giving us impossibly picky "reading quizzes" on an almost daily basis while we were reading it. Sample question: "how many rows did Mme. Defarge knit in chapter X?" In my mind, the woman was Mme. Defarge incarnate. :bang:

Back to the BBC -- I did thoroughly enjoy the BBC's Copperfield from around 10 years ago. Maggie Smith as Aunt Betsey and an extremely young Daniel Radcliffe as little David. Delicious!

Apropos of Dickens (well, sort of), are there any Anthony Trollope fans out there?
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Oh, dear.

Embarrassed to admit I've never been able to finish Copperfield b/c the way his stepfather bullies him in the first part just breaks my heart. It's no good telling me everything turns out OK. Can't do it.

A pippe mentali comma shagging English teacher ruined Two Cities for me in high school by giving us impossibly picky "reading quizzes" on an almost daily basis while we were reading it. Sample question: "how many rows did Mme. Defarge knit in chapter X?" In my mind, the woman was Mme. Defarge incarnate. :bang:

Back to the BBC -- I did thoroughly enjoy the BBC's Copperfield from around 10 years ago. Maggie Smith as Aunt Betsey and an extremely young Daniel Radcliffe as little David. Delicious!

Apropos of Dickens (well, sort of), are there any Anthony Trollope fans out there?

I completely understand your wish to avoid Mr. Murdstone. I remember feeling terrified of him and exceedingly distressed for David. It was very hard, though worthwhile, to get past the section where he appeared. I agree that the production with Maggie Smith was wonderful, as is anything with Maggie Smith. The woman is magic.

I think I had the sister of your English teacher, who gave the same kinds of quizzes. She nearly ruined American literature for me; fortunately, my Dickens teachers (other grade levels) were cut from different cloth.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
I think I had the sister of your English teacher, who gave the same kinds of quizzes. She nearly ruined American literature for me; fortunately, my Dickens teachers (other grade levels) were cut from different cloth.

I guess there are teachers like that in every subject, aren't there? Thankfully, they're outnumbered by the good ones!

Even my Mme. Defarge did one absolutely wonderful thing for us: a few days before Christmas break, she played Richard Burton's recording of A Child's Christmas in Wales for the class. Richard Burton and Dylan Thomas in one fell swoop -- now that was a good day! So, the Two Cities trauma notwithstanding, I did eventually learn to appreciate Dickens and am still grateful that she introduced me to Dylan Thomas.

As loathsome as Murdstone is, the amazing thing about him and his fellow villains (and all Dickens' characters) is that they're so colorful, so rich in personality, and so very real. He's as frightening as any bad guy in the movies, and without any special effects -- just words. Talk about genius...
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Oh, dear.

Embarrassed to admit I've never been able to finish Copperfield b/c the way his stepfather bullies him in the first part just breaks my heart. It's no good telling me everything turns out OK. Can't do it.

A pippe mentali comma shagging English teacher ruined Two Cities for me in high school by giving us impossibly picky "reading quizzes" on an almost daily basis while we were reading it. Sample question: "how many rows did Mme. Defarge knit in chapter X?" In my mind, the woman was Mme. Defarge incarnate. :bang:

Back to the BBC -- I did thoroughly enjoy the BBC's Copperfield from around 10 years ago. Maggie Smith as Aunt Betsey and an extremely young Daniel Radcliffe as little David. Delicious!

Apropos of Dickens (well, sort of), are there any Anthony Trollope fans out there?

:laugh:

Do it this way. You skip that part and go on with the book. I can assure you that you will want to read it again, after a while maybe, the whole book. ;)
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Here! (raises hand) :)

Hooray! :clap: Also, sorry for not replying sooner after having asked the question. :disapp:

Which are your favorites? For me, it's the Pallisers series; the Barchester books are a close second.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
:laugh:

Do it this way. You skip that part and go on with the book. I can assure you that you will want to read it again, after a while maybe, the whole book. ;)

Alba, just for you, maybe I'll give that a try one of these days. No promises, though... :slink:
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Hooray! :clap: Also, sorry for not replying sooner after having asked the question. :disapp:

Which are your favorites? For me, it's the Pallisers series; the Barchester books are a close second.

My most favourite - and they are among my most favourite books overall as well - are "The Warden", "Barchester Towers" and "The Last Chronicle of Barset".

By the way, have you seen the BBC adaptation Barchester Chronicles? If not, I will only mention that Alan Rickman makes a marvellous Mr Slope. :)

Oh, and there's a '70s adaptation of The Pallisers - and, in the adaptation of the last book, Anthony Andrews plays Lord Silverbridge, and Jeremy Irons his friend Frank... Trevelyan, I believe? (you'll know who I mean if I've misrememberd, though, I'm sure! :) )

Other favourites include "Framley Parsonage", "Doctor Thorne" of the Barchester set, and then also "The Kellys and O'Kellys", "Rachel Ray", "Lady Anna", "He Knew He was Right", "Ayala's Angel", "The Belton Estate"...
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Has anyone mentioned this book? I like it very much. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1618.The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night_Time

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, fifteen-year-old Christopher is autistic and everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favorite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.)
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Since we were naming favourite books, I remembered that I'd written about it elsewhere (not on GS), and, since I'm lazy, I decided to track it down and copy it. (Yes, spending time doing that was far easier than having to actually, you know, think - along with being lazy, I'm also forgetful and absentminded... ) It was part of a book rec thread:

I thought I’d start with a list of my Absolute Favourites – these are the books that have stood the test of time and re-reading. So, in no particular order, but as they occur to me:

Charles Dickens: “Little Dorrit”/”Bleak House”/”Our Mutual Friend”
Jane Austen: “Pride and Prejudice” & “Persuasion”
J R R Tolkien: “The Lord of the Rings”
Lloyd Alexander: “The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man” & Prydain
Diana Wynne Jones: “Howl’s Moving Castle” & “Charmed Life”/”The Lives of Christopher Chant”
Elizabeth Gaskell: “Cranford” & “North and South”
Charlotte Brontë: “Jane Eyre”
Anthony Trollope: “The Warden”/”Barchester Towers” & “The Last Chronicle of Barset”
Jerome K Jerome: “Three Men in a Boat”/”Three Men on the Bummel”
P G Wodehouse: “Leave it to Psmith” & Jeeves and Bertie Wooster (can’t choose)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (the same problem as above, but I probably prefer the stories in Adventures, Memoirs and Return)

I might have forgotten something and I don’t doubt – with time (15+ years or so) and re-reading (multiple) – more books will be added. Then of course there are my Favourites – books that I “merely” really, really – really love. (My favourite Georgette Heyer – well, obviously I’m fond of her books! – is “Devil’s Cub”.) Then there are the books I “only” love; and the books I “just” like…

“Beyond the stars are even more worlds”!
 
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