What are some of your absolute favorite books?

Started by Bernadette, September 27, 2018, 06:08:34 PM

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Bernadette

I'm looking for book suggestions to fill my new kindle. I have quite an extensive collection, but I'm hoping to come across something new. So, what books do you really love?
My Lord and my God.

martin88nyc

"These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Bernadette

Wow, I had no idea it was so long! Nearly 500 pages!
My Lord and my God.

martin88nyc

Quote from: Bernadette on September 27, 2018, 07:07:03 PM
Wow, I had no idea it was so long! Nearly 500 pages!
It was the only book that really captivated me and I just couldn't wait to know what would happen next.
And besides vampiers, blood and thrill the book is rich in Christian symbolism. Also very romantic.
"These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Maximilian

Remembrance of Things Past
by Marcel Proust

[warning] It's an adult book (or set of books depending on how you want to look at it), not pornographic, but filled with adult themes.

It's written so beautifully, and encapsulates all of life so completely, including the Catholic Faith, that other books pale in comparison.

Bernadette

^ I've been meaning to read that since college. Just found it for 49c on Amazon.  ;D But three thousand pages! Good thing it's text-to-speech enabled!
My Lord and my God.

Jacob

"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
--Neal Stephenson

martin88nyc

Quote from: Maximilian on September 27, 2018, 09:03:38 PM
Remembrance of Things Past
by Marcel Proust

[warning] It's an adult book (or set of books depending on how you want to look at it), not pornographic, but filled with adult themes.

It's written so beautifully, and encapsulates all of life so completely, including the Catholic Faith, that other books pale in comparison.
But isn't this book morally "contorted"?
"These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Maximilian

Quote from: Jacob on September 28, 2018, 07:26:04 AM
Max, what is your translation?

I haven't read the newest translation. But I certainly prefer the original title.

Maximilian

Quote from: martin88nyc on September 28, 2018, 10:14:27 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on September 27, 2018, 09:03:38 PM
Remembrance of Things Past
by Marcel Proust

[warning] It's an adult book (or set of books depending on how you want to look at it), not pornographic, but filled with adult themes.

It's written so beautifully, and encapsulates all of life so completely, including the Catholic Faith, that other books pale in comparison.
But isn't this book morally "contorted"?

See warning posted above.

martin88nyc

#10
Quote from: Maximilian on September 28, 2018, 12:24:00 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on September 28, 2018, 10:14:27 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on September 27, 2018, 09:03:38 PM
Remembrance of Things Past
by Marcel Proust

[warning] It's an adult book (or set of books depending on how you want to look at it), not pornographic, but filled with adult themes.

It's written so beautifully, and encapsulates all of life so completely, including the Catholic Faith, that other books pale in comparison.
But isn't this book morally "contorted"?

See warning posted above.
I was about to buy volume #2 for 6$ at my local used books shop today but then hesitated because I didn;t know if I would even like it at all.  Which part of the six volume work is best in your opinion?

Look what I just found on archive.org  ;D
https://archive.org/details/InSearchOfLostTimeDramatized
"These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

MilesChristi

Brideshead Revisited
East of Eden
A Tale of Two Cities
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

MundaCorMeum

what genre are you looking at?  I'm currently reading a lot of children's literature with my kids for school, so that's what I'm familiar with at the moment ;)  Over the summer, we read 'The Rats of Nimh'; 'Adam of the Road'; and 'Five Children and It' (almost done with that one).  All excellent reads.  I've never read E. Nesbit before...she's pretty fantastic.   For this school year, we started 'Stuart Little', and a couple of books on ancient Egypt.  For science, we are reading 'The Storybook of Science' by Jean Henri Fabre, which is a really quaint and fun read.  Also, 'Parables of Nature'.  I like that one, as well.  I'm reading 'The Burgess Birdbook for Children' with my first grader.  That one is precious.  We are also listening to The Lord of the Rings on Audio book whenever we get in the car.  By myself, I am reading (well, kind of...I haven't picked it up in awhile) Charlotte Mason's book, 'A Philosophy of Education'.

Matto

#13
Remembrance of Things Past, I read the translation titled In Search of Lost Time. I read the first two books of seven, but never finished the rest. I do not remember why I never finished them because at the time I really enjoyed them. I thought they were absolutely beautiful. Artistically they were as good as any novel I have ever read. The way Proust described a man falling madly in love with a woman was nearly perfect I thought. But morally I thought it was bad. Lust and sodomy. I was actually shocked when I read the part where two men engage in sodomy and afterwards one of the men reveals he was a Catholic bishop. Even though stuff like that is in the news all the time today it shocked me to read that in a book from a hundred years ago. And I did not even read the book called Sodom and Gomorrah. Is that book as bad as the title suggests? So I wouldn't read it again even though it was so beautiful because I found it to be morally corrupt because I thought the artist was approving of the sins he wrote about and promoting them. It reminds me of an old silent movie called Michael which was about a homosexual relationship between an artist and his model. It was also very beautiful and not pornographic but I thought morally corrupt. So I would give Proust an A+ artistically and a D morally. But I would not say not to read it. An adult could read it and appreciate its beauty. It really is wonderful artistically. I know I am writing a story myself with adult themes that people might not approve of (so I am not against adult themes as I think that was a mistake of the censors, dumbing down all entertainment to the level of children), though I am trying to not approve of the sins in my story.

It also reminds me a lot of The Tale of Genji, an old Japanese story, written by a woman, that is unreadable today and has to be read in translation even by modern day Japanese. I found the modern English translation to be very beautiful. It is also a story about love and lust. Basically a high ranking aristocrat sleeping with (and sometimes possibly raping) and then marrying multiple noblewomen and princesses. The hero of the story has a wife who becomes his favorite that he found as a young girl and pretended to be a foster-father to and then by modern day standards he raped and forced her to marry him at the age of fourteen. So in a way it is perverted, but I found it to be artistically beautiful and the language is very discreet and not pornographic.
I Love Watching Butterflies . . ..

Maximilian

Quote from: Matto on September 29, 2018, 09:29:49 AM

So I wouldn't read it again even though it was so beautiful because I found it to be morally corrupt because I thought the artist was approving of the sins he wrote about and promoting them.

No, I think definitely not. Proust's position is that of an objective observer. He is cold and detached even from his own self. However, the accumulated weight of the work is, in my opinion, intended to be a condemnation of the corruption of society. In no way does he ever make sin look appealing and attractive. Rather he shows it in its degradation. Those caught in the toils of sin are unable to break free from the compulsion that makes them destroy their own happiness.

Quote from: Matto on September 29, 2018, 09:29:49 AM

It also reminds me a lot of The Tale of Genji,

Yes, there are similarities. And in the end, the point of the story is to break free from worldly attachments.