Off Topic Books (off topic)

And how can college or uni mess up your perceptions of literature? You mustn't have a legend of a lecturer....

 

Just looked that up, looks great. I'm gonna try to find it somewhere! Cheers

 

Haha, nahh, not quite that, but sometimes if you really really enjoy reading a book and you have to delve into it too much, pick at it too much, it can ruin it for you.

 

Im telling you lot, your missing out. SIMPLIFIED ACCOUNTING Best book ive read

 

I know what you mean. I've had to teach some of my favourite texts for the past few years and I'm now tired of them.

 

Any Dickens fans?

 

I've read Great Expectations and thought it was great...i'm ignorant other than that though.

 

Aye. David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are classics for a reason (not forgetting a Tale of Two Cities). To be honest there's not a lot of literature I don't like.

 

I love reading his articles and non fiction a lot more than his novels actually, though A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House are supreme. American Notes For General Circulation is really interesting, documents his journey to the US and subsequent travels. Night Walks is brilliant too, a short collection of articles and essays of his. Several of which document times when he would wander the streets of London in the small hours of the morning talking to strangers and finding out what different people got up to at those times.

 

I've read The Uncommercial Traveller and loved that. You a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson?

 

I think the Night Walks collection shares a few writings with The Uncommercial Traveller, I'll have to grab that.

On Stevenson, I've actually never read anything by him at all, could you recommend me a work of his that is likely to get me into reading him more?

 

Island Nights' Entertainments (also known as South Sea Tales) is a good collection of shorter stories. The obvious two are Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but i'd recommend The Master of Ballantrae or Kidnapped.

 

Cheers I'll go for the short stories collection, usually a good way to get into a particular author's style.

 

RIP Christopher Hitchens a lot have recommended his books on this thread

 

Yep, I was thinking of making an off topic thread, but this seems like an appropriate place to say it.

RIP.

 

Yep, they're both good. Also, Sam Harris and Dan Dennett are worth reading.

 

cheers bik if you have any recommendations stick the author and title up as there is a huge list on page one of all the recommendations and i'll add them to it

 

Sam Harris is great. Love watching him debate... but Hitchens still puts him to shame.

 

Just seen this.. I've read most of that list.. so I'm a disaffected youth then?

 

Anybody else read The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter? I had to read it for school...any excuse to mention periods and she will!