Novels(which/why should i pick?)

ronano

My novel list for english lit this semester,i'm going to buy 6 of the books so! what should i buy and why

Moon Palace - Paul Auster
Complicity - Iain Banks
Go tell it to the Mountain - James Baldwin
Regeneration - Pat Barker
Soldiers of Salamis - Javier Cercas
The Names - Don De Lillo
Tender is the night - F Scott Fitzsgerald
Snows falling on Ceders - David Gutterson
A world of Strangers - Nadine Gordimer
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
Miss Smilla's Feeling for snow - Peter Hoeg
Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
An American Dream - Norman Mailer
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan
A Bend in the River - VS Naipul
Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk
American Pastoral - Phillip Roth
Midnight's Children - Salmon Rushdie
The Age of Reason - Jean Paul Sartre
Dog Soldiers - Robert Stone
My Secret History - Donna Tart
The City and the Pillar - Gore Vidal
In the Name of the Lilies - John Updike

tHE vAGGABOND

3 of the best books ever written and which would be among my favourites..

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
An American Dream - Norman Mailer

3 I have not read, but that I believe are very good

Midnight's Children - Salmon Rushdie
Complicity - Iain Banks
Tender is the night - F Scott Fitzsgerald

impr0v

What a great list! I presume you're going to buy 6 and borrow the rest from a library?

I haven't read enough of them to tell you with confidence which 6 stand out, so either aim for the six which you think will give you the most variety or else go with the ones which have the least amount of pages, for economy reasons! You really should read them all however.

Pherekydes

Buy the 6 cheapest.

Read the 6 shortest!

Pherekydes

How many ways can you choose six books from that list (of 25)?

ronano

Well i've read blurbs on the back/reviews online for them and have what i think i may want to get i posted this on the off chance that someone may sauy something about a book that would catch my eye and make me buy it.

rain on

Iain Banks! Where do you do English/what year are you in?

eclectichoney

very cool list. Moon Palace is my favourite book EVER, so obviously i think you should read that. i wish i did english now

cashback

tbh i reckon you're better off buying the novels that are the hardest to get in the library. In UCD some were impossible to find as there would only be one copy or it would be missing etc.

pwd

Iain Banks writes in a few different styles and his novles range from rubbish to superb. Complicity is a very entertaining read. if you like that you would also like Espedair Street and (best of the 3) Whit.
I think Orwell wrote some fantastic books. The only book of his I don;t consider superb is Keep the Aspidistra Flying which I disliked.
Dune by Frank Herbert is totally amazing, and far superior to any ofthe sequels or prequels.
I am selling some of Iain Banks' books on my thread on the for sale:general board btw. 3 paerbacks for a tenner. Check it out.

humbleCounty

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway

what a ****ing book, absolutely amazing

theCzar

i've got "For whom the bell tolls" at home, it's next on the hit list, after i've knocked off Homer's Illiad which i'm using to clear my palate...

Incidently, there's 177100 possible ways to pick 6 from a possible 25.

Pherekydes

theCzar wrote:

i've got "For whom the bell tolls" at home, it's next on the hit list, after i've knocked off Homer's Illiad which i'm using to clear my palate...

Incidently, there's 177100 possible ways to pick 6 from a possible 25.

Well done. I thought people had forgotten about it.

Pherekydes

Currently reading "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World" by Francis Wheen.

After that it's "Rubicon".

Got 3 for 2 in Waterstone's. Can't ever resist them. They're not on your list, but they're compulsive reading.

Blitzkrieger

ronano wrote:

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Oh sweet jesus NO! Anyone but that one.

I'd also avoid : The Names - Don De Lillo

The only other one I've read was "For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway" which was excellent.

theCzar

Slow coach wrote:

Well done. I thought people had forgotten about it.

It's what i'm here for, random maths questions in the middle of the lit board... 4 years of engineering went into that... *sob*

Robbo

Slow coach wrote:

After that it's "Rubicon".

Off topic but Rubicon is an excellent history.

theCzar

Robbo wrote:

Off topic but Rubicon is an excellent history.

To go slightly further off topic, there's 2 rubicon books, ones a history of the roman republic, (and v.good too) and ones about the similarities about the end of the roman empire, and the present day American "empire"...

so which is it!

OY

I was a little inspired by your list and am reading Go tell it on the mountain which i am flying through. Pretty decent.

I actually e-mailed the list to myself just because there is a lot i am interested in reading! Anyway all i am doing right now is writing to say thanks very much!!!

Capt'n Midnight

ronano wrote:

english lit - this semester

sound like you are on the other side of the pond - so postage might be a bit much

Two books I'm got to read myself sometime.

Miss Smilla's Feeling for snow - Peter Hoeg
The Age of Reason - Jean Paul Sartre

John

I feel so ignorant, I have not read even one of those books.

Pherekydes

theCzar wrote:

To go slightly further off topic, there's 2 rubicon books, ones a history of the roman republic, (and v.good too) and ones about the similarities about the end of the roman empire, and the present day American "empire"...

so which is it!

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been reading this thread.

The Rubicon I am reading is by Tom Holland, subtitled The Trajedy of the Roman Republic.

Very good so far.

Aside: How come a movie hasn't been made about the life of Sulla?

theCzar

Slow coach wrote:

Aside: How come a movie hasn't been made about the life of Sulla?

1) Nobody really has heard of him, not nearly as famous as (the) Caesar

2) Would he be the goody? he did install himself as a dictator and carry out large scale pogroms against his enemies (even if he relinquished power later). but if he's the baddy, who's the goody, since nobody stood up to him with any success, Marius is hardly a hero...

3) historical epics are crashing at the box office of late, i think people should leave them alone for a while.