Barthheart said something about Don Quixote being on his "bucket list" of books to read and that got me thinking, "What's on MY bucket list?" Guy Gavriel Kay. Enough Asian history books to familiarize myself with the timeline of important dates and events. Books on the history of corners of the world that I know little or nothing about. An entire John Keegan book. A host of things that escape me now that I want them.
Now, how about you?
"To Kill a Mockingbird". One of those classics I never got to. It's at least made it onto my Amazon wish list at this point, lol. That's progress.
Jesus H; there are far too many books for me to possibly list. Seriously, it would be an all-day affair to just sit here and write/type them all down!
C'mon, Martok! Give it a try. Just think of the service you would be doing for the rest of us :-)
No offense 'phro, but I have absolutely no desire to service you guys...
War and Peace.
^Showoff ;D
i had Catcher in the Rye on mine - i would have preferred to have died without the experience
Quote from: Steelgrave on January 09, 2013, 09:47:59 AM
^Showoff ;D
Actually, I think "masochist" is the word you're looking for. :P
I haven't read it yet! If I really wanted to show off I would brag about how I acquired the copy :)
Quote from: Martok on January 09, 2013, 07:14:38 AM
No offense 'phro, but I have absolutely no desire to service you guys...
And we have no desire to be serviced by you. No offense ;-)
Quote from: Gusington on January 09, 2013, 03:49:07 PM
I haven't read it yet! If I really wanted to show off I would brag about how I acquired the copy :)
I think you just started to because you
know someone is going to ask about it... ;)
Quote from: Gusington on January 09, 2013, 08:13:42 AM
War and Peace.
Bah! That's a bedtime story compared to any of the Robert Jordan
Wheel Of Time books.
I haven't read either.
I haven't read War And Peace, but I did read the first eight Wheel Of Time books. That's a hundred and forty seven years I will never get back.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 09:11:42 PM
I haven't read War And Peace, but I did read the first eight Wheel Of Time books. That's a hundred and forty seven years I will never get back.
I got through the first two of the Wheel of Time Series. The first was very slow and dragged on but the second was much better. I am still not sure if I want to continue the series or not.
I started reading those Wheel of Time epics of wordcount and after getting
a few books in just completely ran out of sh*ts to give about the characters
or the story.
Quote from: TheCommandTent on January 09, 2013, 10:45:31 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 09:11:42 PM
I haven't read War And Peace, but I did read the first eight Wheel Of Time books. That's a hundred and forty seven years I will never get back.
I got through the first two of the Wheel of Time Series. The first was very slow and dragged on but the second was much better. I am still not sure if I want to continue the series or not.
I got through 5 and then completely lost interest when it became clear that anyone deemed a major character was never actually going to be in any real peril of dying. Kinda killed any drama he was trying to create.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 07:33:54 PM
Quote from: Martok on January 09, 2013, 07:14:38 AM
No offense 'phro, but I have absolutely no desire to service you guys...
And we have no desire to be serviced by you. No offense ;-)
None taken. :P
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 09:11:42 PM
I haven't read War And Peace, but I did read the first eight Wheel Of Time books. That's a hundred and forty seven years I will never get back.
Wuss! You quit just when it was getting good! ;D
Seriously, though, I don't blame you. The 7th-10th books are where the series really slows down, where most folks say "screw it" and give up...and the 8th and 9th books (
Path of Daggers and
Winter's Heart) are especially bad in this regard.
I'm personally glad I pushed through them so I could get to
Knife of Dreams (book 11), as things finally pick up again (and in a major way) -- it's like Jordan knew he didn't have that much longer to live, and so did his level best to start wrapping up a bunch of the sub-plots -- but I definitely can't fault anyone who's unable to do so.
I've attempted to read Moby Dick like 10 times now in my life. All I can say is there is no &*^%&**&^ way it's the great American novel. No *&^$^&&** way. If it was so *&^%&^&*^ I'd have finished it one of the ten times I tried to read it. Melville sucks. It's on my bucket list.
Quote from: Bison on January 10, 2013, 03:02:44 PM
I've attempted to read Moby Dick like 10 times now in my life. All I can say is there is no &*^%&**&^ way it's the great American novel. No *&^$^&&** way. If it was so *&^%&^&*^ I'd have finished it one of the ten times I tried to read it. Melville sucks. It's on my bucket list.
I have to confess I cannot stand any of the "great" American authors from the first half of the 19th century. Melville, Hawthorne, Cooper, and co. all suck as far as I'm concerned -- no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot get into any of their books.
The one exception from that period is Poe. That man knows how to write a good story!
Quote from: Martok on January 10, 2013, 03:19:50 PM
Quote from: Bison on January 10, 2013, 03:02:44 PM
I've attempted to read Moby Dick like 10 times now in my life. All I can say is there is no &*^%&**&^ way it's the great American novel. No *&^$^&&** way. If it was so *&^%&^&*^ I'd have finished it one of the ten times I tried to read it. Melville sucks. It's on my bucket list.
I have to confess I cannot stand any of the "great" American authors from the first half of the 19th century. Melville, Hawthorne, Cooper, and co. all suck as far as I'm concerned -- no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot get into any of their books.
The one exception from that period is Poe. That man knows how to write a good story!
Never cared for Melville. Didn't have to read Cooper. Liked Hawthorne. Poe, however, Poe is a GENIUS! My favorite story is, "The Cask Of Amontillado". If you've not read it, you should find it and do so. NOW!
^I love Poe too. Also, I read Ivanhoe as punishment when I was ~15 and liked it pretty good although I don't remember any of it. Not bad for a 200 year old book.
I actually have Ivanhoe on my Kindle ready to be read. Someday. Again.
Let me know how it is. Maybe I'll remember why I liked it.
Well I read it like 20 years ago or more and I don't remember it at all. Remind me never to talk about how long ago I've read or done something from my youth. It's depressing.
Didn't you read my original post? I read it while punished at 15! Now that's depressing. And all I remember is that I enjoyed it.
Yeah but you didn't tabulate the years. See if you would have said I read it 23 years ago that confirms your getting older, but just saying I read it when I was 15 is sort of nebulous in terms of the past.
That's almost as bad as when you start to notice the gray hairs your family has been telling you have for years that you have been studiously ignoring and you no longer can.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 10, 2013, 10:57:05 PM
That's almost as bad as when you start to notice the gray hairs your family has been telling you have for years that you have been studiously ignoring and you no longer can.
They're not grey dammit! They're highlights! >:(
I don't have any hair to have color. I guess if I I let what is left grow it would be brown with bald highlights.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 10, 2013, 07:29:00 PM
Poe, however, Poe is a GENIUS! My favorite story is, "The Cask Of Amontillado". If you've not read it, you should find it and do so. NOW!
Yep, that's my favorite Poe story as well. I also have a great affection for "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Masque of the Red Death", but "Amontillado" definitely tops my list.
Quote from: Gusington on January 11, 2013, 08:14:03 AM
I don't have any hair to have color. I guess if I I let what is left grow it would be brown with bald highlights.
Same, except it would be a dark blonde.
Hey, we should form a club! Then we could get jackets.
EDIT: What on earth is it with me always leaving intransitive verbs out of my damn sentences??!
Would the jackets have hair?
Quote from: Gusington on January 11, 2013, 02:02:09 PM
Would the jackets have hair?
Only on Thursdays and every other waning gibbous.
That's a lot more than I have now.
Quote from: Martok on January 10, 2013, 10:10:48 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 07:33:54 PM
Quote from: Martok on January 09, 2013, 07:14:38 AM
No offense 'phro, but I have absolutely no desire to service you guys...
And we have no desire to be serviced by you. No offense ;-)
None taken. :P
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2013, 09:11:42 PM
I haven't read War And Peace, but I did read the first eight Wheel Of Time books. That's a hundred and forty seven years I will never get back.
Wuss! You quit just when it was getting good! ;D
Seriously, though, I don't blame you. The 7th-10th books are where the series really slows down, where most folks say "screw it" and give up...and the 8th and 9th books (Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart) are especially bad in this regard.
I'm personally glad I pushed through them so I could get to Knife of Dreams (book 11), as things finally pick up again (and in a major way) -- it's like Jordan knew he didn't have that much longer to live, and so did his level best to start wrapping up a bunch of the sub-plots -- but I definitely can't fault anyone who's unable to do so.
Same here. I finished all of them. I was very disappointed with the late middle books. The ending was a bit of a cop-out too.
I don't remember at what book and who they chose to do it, but, Jordan died and another writer was called in to complete the series. It's my understanding that at that point, the books gathered momementum and were finished fairly quickly.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 10:00:59 AM
I don't remember at what book and who they chose to do it, but, Jordan died and another writer was called in to complete the series.
Jordan died after the eleventh book
Knife of Dreams was published. Brandon Sanderson (author of the Mistborn novels I enjoy so much) was hand-picked by Jordan's widow to finish out the series.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 10:00:59 AM
It's my understanding that at that point, the books gathered momementum and were finished fairly quickly.
That's my impression as well. (I myself wouldn't know, as I'm determined to wait for the final book,
A Memory of Light, to be released in paperback next year before I purchase the last three novels.) However, Jordan himself really picked up the pace in
Knife of Dreams; from what I understand, Sanderson's merely increased that pacing by another notch or two.
How about The Illiad and The Odyssey? Have we all read those?
Not in Greek.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 11:04:37 PM
How about The Illiad and The Odyssey? Have we all read those?
Definitely on my list. I started the Illiad when I was a kid and couldn't get too far and just never got back to them.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 11:04:37 PM
How about The Illiad and The Odyssey? Have we all read those?
"Yes" to
The Odyssey, "not yet" to
The Illiad.
Before any of you go back to them, it wouldn't hurt to peruse Bulfinch's Mythology first. Give yourself a refresher.
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 11:04:37 PM
How about The Illiad and The Odyssey? Have we all read those?
Yep - got copies here. Both worth reading, although I enjoyed the Odyssey more than Illiad.
Quote from: bob48 on January 14, 2013, 05:04:26 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on January 12, 2013, 11:04:37 PM
How about The Illiad and The Odyssey? Have we all read those?
Yep - got copies here. Both worth reading, although I enjoyed the Odyssey more than Illiad.
The Odyssey was the worlds first travelogue. I enjoyed it more than
The Illiad, too, but I liked the battles and the reasons for them. Oh, and the interventions by the gods.
Got 'em both and on audio book.. great for long drives.
I like the part where Ares is bitching to Zeus after one of the
Goat-bangers shanks him and he is crying about how unfair it all is.