Favourite books

Amor_ru · Aug 15th, 2003, 01:46

This is kinda gallup poll and familiar to topic in Music thread at this site but about books. What 5 books would you take to desert island?
Mine list:

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita.
Irvine Welsh - Acid House
Frederic Beigbeder - 99 francs
Victor Erofeev - The Men
Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

So, what are your`s fav books?

wonderwomanusa · Aug 15th, 2003, 04:12

Yukio Mishima - THE SEA OF FERTILITY (quartet)
Doris Lessing - THE FOUR-GATED CITY
Ahmitav Ghosh - THE GLASS PALACE
Laurence Durrell - ALEXANDRIA QUARTET
and
the guidebook for the desert island.

-m2- · Aug 15th, 2003, 09:16

books you would re-read? I've sometimes thought that I'd re-read a book I've just read, but seldom do. I'm really an eclectic reader (I seldom buy new books, and will trade for just about anything while on a trip) but books I actually have read at least twice:

-Catch 22 (at least a half dozen re-reads)
-Rise and Fall of the third Reich (first time while waiting for a bad case of diarrrea to subside while camping in Morocco, the second time last winter)
-Son of the Circus
-Lord of the Rings (first time in Goa '69, second time recently)
-The Kitchen God's Wife ( I think that's the title, it's by Amy Chan)

I'd probably re-read a few of Len Deighton's novels and definitely most of Clavell's as well if I was looking for a good re-read. I (vaguely) remember reading, and enjoying, at least three of the Alexandria quartet, and the Master and Marguerita sounds familiar too. I think I might like to re-read some of Hermann Hesse's novels too as I remember enjoying (and being intrigued by) them as well and it has been long enough since I read them that I'm sure I'd find them interesting again.

Amor_ru · Aug 15th, 2003, 11:35

>...the guidebook for the desert island.
LOL

)

marreigh · Aug 15th, 2003, 18:33

Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children ( or anything by this genius)
Mervyn Peake - Titus Groan
Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha
Margery Williams - The Velveteen Rabbit ( I know I'm mad )
Nick Cave - The Ass and the Angel.

Off the top of my head these are my fav's today but ask me tomorrow and how knows, another day, another book so who can say .

gweno' bribri · Aug 15th, 2003, 20:39

Master u margarita sounds good to bring, especially if in russian : it took me two months to read the first chapter. But then, In french I read the whole book a lot quicker.

Enki Bilal 's trilogies : "Nikopol" and "Le sommeil du monstre"

20th century french poetry

Those I've actually packed yesterday (intending to move not to a desert island but to Delhi)

Maybe I would add anything by Alexandre Dumas, and then... lots of other books.

cookiemonster · Aug 16th, 2003, 00:07

What a difficult quetsion!? I dont think I would bother with the guide to the desert(ed) island [... after all, why write a book about a desert(ed) island which you would want to desert from?! And even if it was the case, you would probably have the rest of your non-reading life to explore it yourself... :-) ]

Anyway, enough metaphysics:

-Milan Kundera: 'The unberable lightness of being'
-Anything from Pedro Salinas(1891-1951) Poetry: specially 'La voz a ti debida'
-Wolfgang Petersen: 'The neverending story'
-Plato: 'The Republic'
-Tolkien: 'Lord of the Rings'

Darmabum · Aug 16th, 2003, 10:48

One Hundred Years of Solitude; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (I took it with me on my first trip - a year-long Asia/Europe Epic, told myself I'd trade it when I could get through the first paragraph without laughing . . . I read it over 40 times that year (1982), and still haven't traded it); Ficciones (Jorge Luis Borges); almost anything by Rumi (Coleman Barks translation); Winter Count (Barry Lopez)

wonderwomanusa · Aug 16th, 2003, 11:35

My fifth book: Sam Delaney's DHALGREN

hash666 · Aug 17th, 2003, 01:06

Lord of the rings- tolkien
one flew ovr the cuckoos nest- ken kesey
the alchemist-paul coelho(always gives me hope )
zen and the art of motocycle maintenance
don juan de marco- carlos castenada

-m2- · Aug 17th, 2003, 02:05

ah yes, a few other dandies mentioned. I haven't re-read Fear and Loathing for a while but read it first when it came out in Rolling Stone magazine (1970?) and thought it about the funniest thing I had ever read. The mag didn't survive the many moves i've made but have read the hard copy (and Hunter Thompson's other works) once or twice since as his books seem to crop up as traders and on guest house book shelves often.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is another important book for me. Although motorcycles and their maintenance is not really the point of the book, it did sort-of encourage me to take up cycle touring. I bought a 2nd hand BMW in 1975 and did three 5-month winter camping trips to Mexico and central america with it which in some ways I've never gotten over as I still keep a well-maintained bike ready to go whenever I get the urge (less often these days

). I've also toured India with an older Bullet but that experience would frustrate a Zen master I think.

Darmabum-- how about Eric Hiscock's sailboat cruising bible, or even Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World ? Those ones got me into a sailboat adventure in the early '70's; the sale of the boat in '75 financing the motorcycle and a few years more of (almost) work-free travel. I'm with you on One Hundred Years of Solitude too; also a keeper.

Darmabum · Aug 17th, 2003, 04:26

m2 - Hiskocks books are indeed classics - as were the Hiscocks themselves. Just finished reading my second book by Bernard Moitessier, called "Tamata and the Alliance." Where the Hiscocks speak to my sailing heart, Moitessier speaks to my soul; a true lover of the ocean wilderness. Your place in the B.C. looks wonderful! I've spent some time cruising and sea kayaking in the San Juans and Canadian Gulf Islands - amazing territory! Living on a small boat (19') (and living the last 15 years in Portland) I almost spent my winter in the San Juans - but after living aboard a 29'-er for eight years in Oregon, I needed some sun - and so Ifind myself in the SF Bay area. Be Well. Peace. Scott

-m2- · Aug 17th, 2003, 09:24

Scott - It is special, I spent about 5 months cruising in the San Juans and Gulf islands before selling the 31 footer at the end of the summer in 1974 -- I always figured that this was the area I'd eventually wind up. Nice 3 season weather -- it works really well if you get away for 3 or 4 months and miss the short days of a rather wet and dreary, if mild, winter. I love India

m2

Butter_girl · Nov 14th, 2003, 16:00

Michael Ondaatje - The english patient
Sandor Marai - The last meeting
Fred Ulhman - Reunion
Edith Warton - The age of innocence
Juan Ramon Jimenez- Platero and I, poetry

madmax00 · Nov 14th, 2003, 20:52

Love in the time of Cholera, The story of the stone, Remembrance of things past, The tin drum, A good dictionary !!

Aug 15th, 2003, 01:46	#1
Amor_ru Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Moscow, Russia Posts: 20	Favourite books This is kinda gallup poll and familiar to topic in Music thread at this site but about books. What 5 books would you take to desert island? Mine list: Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita. Irvine Welsh - Acid House Frederic Beigbeder - 99 francs Victor Erofeev - The Men Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest So, what are your`s fav books?

Aug 15th, 2003, 04:12	#2
wonderwomanusa Maha Guru Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Northern California Posts: 3,243	Yukio Mishima - THE SEA OF FERTILITY (quartet) Doris Lessing - THE FOUR-GATED CITY Ahmitav Ghosh - THE GLASS PALACE Laurence Durrell - ALEXANDRIA QUARTET and the guidebook for the desert island. __________________ The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

Aug 16th, 2003, 10:48	#8
Darmabum Maha Guru Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: in the mountains of Idaho Posts: 788	One Hundred Years of Solitude; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (I took it with me on my first trip - a year-long Asia/Europe Epic, told myself I'd trade it when I could get through the first paragraph without laughing . . . I read it over 40 times that year (1982), and still haven't traded it); Ficciones (Jorge Luis Borges); almost anything by Rumi (Coleman Barks translation); Winter Count (Barry Lopez) __________________ Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure - Marianne Williamson

Nov 14th, 2003, 16:00	#14
Butter_girl I moved to Mother Ganga username Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Varanasi Posts: 4	Michael Ondaatje - The english patient Sandor Marai - The last meeting Fred Ulhman - Reunion Edith Warton - The age of innocence Juan Ramon Jimenez- Platero and I, poetry Last edited by Butter_girl : Nov 16th, 2003 at 08:12.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Aug 15th, 2003, 09:16	#3
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	books you would re-read? I've sometimes thought that I'd re-read a book I've just read, but seldom do. I'm really an eclectic reader (I seldom buy new books, and will trade for just about anything while on a trip) but books I actually have read at least twice: -Catch 22 (at least a half dozen re-reads) -Rise and Fall of the third Reich (first time while waiting for a bad case of diarrrea to subside while camping in Morocco, the second time last winter) -Son of the Circus -Lord of the Rings (first time in Goa '69, second time recently) -The Kitchen God's Wife ( I think that's the title, it's by Amy Chan) I'd probably re-read a few of Len Deighton's novels and definitely most of Clavell's as well if I was looking for a good re-read. I (vaguely) remember reading, and enjoying, at least three of the Alexandria quartet, and the Master and Marguerita sounds familiar too. I think I might like to re-read some of Hermann Hesse's novels too as I remember enjoying (and being intrigued by) them as well and it has been long enough since I read them that I'm sure I'd find them interesting again.

Aug 15th, 2003, 11:35	#4
Amor_ru Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Moscow, Russia Posts: 20	>...the guidebook for the desert island. LOL )

Aug 15th, 2003, 18:33	#5
marreigh Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: NEW ZEALAND Posts: 16	Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children ( or anything by this genius) Mervyn Peake - Titus Groan Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha Margery Williams - The Velveteen Rabbit ( I know I'm mad ) Nick Cave - The Ass and the Angel. Off the top of my head these are my fav's today but ask me tomorrow and how knows, another day, another book so who can say .

Aug 15th, 2003, 20:39	#6
gweno' bribri Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: New Delhi Posts: 42	Master u margarita sounds good to bring, especially if in russian : it took me two months to read the first chapter. But then, In french I read the whole book a lot quicker. Enki Bilal 's trilogies : "Nikopol" and "Le sommeil du monstre" 20th century french poetry Those I've actually packed yesterday (intending to move not to a desert island but to Delhi) Maybe I would add anything by Alexandre Dumas, and then... lots of other books.

Aug 16th, 2003, 00:07	#7
cookiemonster Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Spain Posts: 29	What a difficult quetsion!? I dont think I would bother with the guide to the desert(ed) island [... after all, why write a book about a desert(ed) island which you would want to desert from?! And even if it was the case, you would probably have the rest of your non-reading life to explore it yourself... :-) ] Anyway, enough metaphysics: -Milan Kundera: 'The unberable lightness of being' -Anything from Pedro Salinas(1891-1951) Poetry: specially 'La voz a ti debida' -Wolfgang Petersen: 'The neverending story' -Plato: 'The Republic' -Tolkien: 'Lord of the Rings'

Aug 16th, 2003, 11:35	#9
wonderwomanusa Maha Guru Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Northern California Posts: 3,243	My fifth book: Sam Delaney's DHALGREN

Aug 17th, 2003, 01:06	#10
hash666 Lord of the Flames Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Land of the Free Posts: 320	Lord of the rings- tolkien one flew ovr the cuckoos nest- ken kesey the alchemist-paul coelho(always gives me hope ) zen and the art of motocycle maintenance don juan de marco- carlos castenada

Aug 17th, 2003, 02:05	#11
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	ah yes, a few other dandies mentioned. I haven't re-read Fear and Loathing for a while but read it first when it came out in Rolling Stone magazine (1970?) and thought it about the funniest thing I had ever read. The mag didn't survive the many moves i've made but have read the hard copy (and Hunter Thompson's other works) once or twice since as his books seem to crop up as traders and on guest house book shelves often. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is another important book for me. Although motorcycles and their maintenance is not really the point of the book, it did sort-of encourage me to take up cycle touring. I bought a 2nd hand BMW in 1975 and did three 5-month winter camping trips to Mexico and central america with it which in some ways I've never gotten over as I still keep a well-maintained bike ready to go whenever I get the urge (less often these days ). I've also toured India with an older Bullet but that experience would frustrate a Zen master I think. Darmabum-- how about Eric Hiscock's sailboat cruising bible, or even Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World ? Those ones got me into a sailboat adventure in the early '70's; the sale of the boat in '75 financing the motorcycle and a few years more of (almost) work-free travel. I'm with you on One Hundred Years of Solitude too; also a keeper.

Aug 17th, 2003, 04:26	#12
Darmabum Maha Guru Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: in the mountains of Idaho Posts: 788	m2 - Hiskocks books are indeed classics - as were the Hiscocks themselves. Just finished reading my second book by Bernard Moitessier, called "Tamata and the Alliance." Where the Hiscocks speak to my sailing heart, Moitessier speaks to my soul; a true lover of the ocean wilderness. Your place in the B.C. looks wonderful! I've spent some time cruising and sea kayaking in the San Juans and Canadian Gulf Islands - amazing territory! Living on a small boat (19') (and living the last 15 years in Portland) I almost spent my winter in the San Juans - but after living aboard a 29'-er for eight years in Oregon, I needed some sun - and so Ifind myself in the SF Bay area. Be Well. Peace. Scott

Aug 17th, 2003, 09:24	#13
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	Scott - It is special, I spent about 5 months cruising in the San Juans and Gulf islands before selling the 31 footer at the end of the summer in 1974 -- I always figured that this was the area I'd eventually wind up. Nice 3 season weather -- it works really well if you get away for 3 or 4 months and miss the short days of a rather wet and dreary, if mild, winter. I love India m2

User Name		Remember Me?
Password

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
favourite authors and their books relating to India	bijapuri	Books, Music, and Movies	76	Aug 1st, 2006 17:05
Favourite hotels	drumbrake	Lodging and Hotels in India	3	Feb 14th, 2005 19:44
who's your favourite god?	bijapuri	Chai and Chat	20	Nov 30th, 2004 21:11
These are a few of our favourite things	Camelot	Chai and Chat	8	Oct 27th, 2004 03:46

Nov 14th, 2003, 20:52	#15
madmax00 Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 12	Love in the time of Cholera, The story of the stone, Remembrance of things past, The tin drum, A good dictionary !!