Comments | themis: an imperfect list

themis

an imperfect list

Jun 29, 2008 23:34

You guys probably remember the Big Read list of books, because it was, like, yesterday. (Well...a few days ago.) Anyway, I complained a lot and then schiarire told me to make my own...so I did. Not of 100 books, but of 30 - which is a good start ( Read more... )

jane austen, toni morrison, books, antigone, book lists, dostoevsky, pinter, shakespeare, e m forster, evelyn waugh, keats, mckillip, stoppard

Comments 23

almightychrissy June 30 2008, 04:16:01 UTC

I feel terrible about this, but Song of Solomon is my least favorite book EVER OF ALL TIME.

themis June 30 2008, 04:17:59 UTC

It's...like, it's on there, but I think it could just as easily be "any Toni Morrison book"...What I've heard about SoS makes me think I'd like it. But I will take your opinion into account!

almightychrissy June 30 2008, 04:20:08 UTC

I think part of it is that I was not feeling charitable towards things I was reading at the time, but it really felt like 300 pages of random shit and pissing on plants and bizarre things women do to bad men and then 30 pages of actual plot.

themis June 30 2008, 04:21:26 UTC

That...intrigues me. Plot is not what I read books for. Plot is for movies.

Thread 7

19_99 June 30 2008, 04:45:13 UTC

I'm wearing a Twelfth Night shirt right now. It rather amused me, and I thought I'd share.

I'll consider making a list but it will be very crazy and not valid. ^_^

themis June 30 2008, 04:59:40 UTC

I LOVE Twelfth Night. For me...it's balanced on a sword's edge. But there are t-shirts?!

All lists are valid! Bourgeois standards must be eliminated!

19_99 June 30 2008, 05:10:55 UTC

Well, the Shakespeare fest in Stratford, Canada did it the year before last, and they sell t-shirts of whatever plays they do that year.

That being said, I'm sure there's a website out there that has a t-shirt design for every one of Shakespeare's plays and if not, we should go make one right now.

themis June 30 2008, 05:19:01 UTC

Uh, but more importantly, have you watched Slings and Arrows?

Haha, I think Ou Phrontis has some stuff related to it...

schiarire June 30 2008, 04:46:12 UTC

I like this a lot! It seems impressively even, considering the impetus.

What is the order-logic?

themis June 30 2008, 05:02:52 UTC

Thank you. It's a very personal list...in a few weeks I might find it embarrassingly so. It's kind of worrying me.

Ummm. It is very sketchy, but mostly it's: personal significance + quality + universal significance. Books I have not yet read are in no particular order, however.

schiarire June 30 2008, 05:04:50 UTC

That's a very personal order! You shouldn't be embarrassed by anything on this list, though, I think :)

I'm surprised that you haven't read Waiting for Godot, somehow ...

themis June 30 2008, 05:08:00 UTC

I'm not embarrassed by the content! It's more...it being a list. And I'm not embarrased now, but later who knows?

Yeah. It is surprising, although in my defense I'm going to see a Beckett play soonish. It's especially surprising given how important Beckett is for the other dramatists I'e read most of: Stoppard and Pinter.

Thread 8

thistlerose June 30 2008, 14:41:08 UTC

It's been over ten years, but I remember liking Song of Solomon. It's mostly about a young man exploring his geneology, which is complicated by the fact that some of his ancestors were slaves.

themis June 30 2008, 16:05:35 UTC

I'm looking forward to reading it.

rubyschnopps July 3 2008, 02:22:16 UTC

Ohhh One Hundred Years of Solitude. My absolute favorite first chapter ever. Even though I've only read the entire book all the way through once, I've read the first chapter at least seven times. So much love.

themis July 3 2008, 03:07:43 UTC

It is such a gaping whole in my reading! I need to get on it. Hearing that you like it makes me more confident though.