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-   -   imagine an alien who could read english really well got dropped on earth (http://forums.netphoria.org/showthread.php?t=187708)

reprise85 02-12-2020 11:02 PM

imagine an alien who could read english really well got dropped on earth
 
and tell me what books you'd recommend to them.

because i want to start reading and i'm woefully under-read

i started with portrait of the artist as a young man. which i am enjoying very much.

yo soy el mejor 02-12-2020 11:22 PM

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser is a real page turner. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, too.

You strictly going for fiction?

ilikeplanets 02-13-2020 12:36 AM

I really enjoyed reading The God of Small Things, Confederacy of Dunces, and Faust

ilikeplanets 02-13-2020 01:14 AM

This inspired me to reread Candide, because I have completely forgotten what it is about. Almost halfway through it. :)

reprise85 02-13-2020 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yo soy el mejor (Post 4530182)
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser is a real page turner. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, too.

You strictly going for fiction?

thanks. not necessarily but mostly, yes. i need something to engage my creativity, not feel like i'm studying

reprise85 02-13-2020 04:19 AM

thanks both of you

Shallowed 02-13-2020 06:54 AM

Finnegans Wake

run2pee 02-13-2020 09:40 AM

Some of my all time faves before my current job sapped all joy from the act of reading:

Enormous Changes At the Last Minute - Grace Paley
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
2666 - Roberto Bolaño

topleybird 02-13-2020 11:19 AM

Light in August, by William Faulkner
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (the collection, not just the story)
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro

FoolofaTook 02-13-2020 11:32 AM


duovamp 02-13-2020 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by topleybird (Post 4530217)
Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Super good suggestion. I was thinking of throwing in a British country house novel.

topleybird 02-13-2020 01:47 PM

I've found every Ishiguro I've read to be a goddamn delight, that one and Never Let Me Go in particular. I've never done this before or since, but when I got to the end of Never I paused, went back to the first page, and started over. And then again.

buzzard 02-13-2020 04:55 PM

Please give Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses a go.

I would also highly recommend Adolfo Bioy Casares' The Invention of Morel. Please let me know if you (or [almost] anybody else) would like a digital copy.

redbreegull 02-13-2020 06:00 PM

The Man Who Was Thursday
The God Of Small Things
A People's History of the United States
The Hunchback of Notre Dame

FoolofaTook 02-13-2020 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzard (Post 4530243)

I would also highly recommend Adolfo Bioy Casares' The Invention of Morel. Please let me know if you (or [almost] anybody else) would like a digital copy.

Yes, thanks for reminding me.

For the poor sap who doesn't fall under [almost]:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/re...o-bioy-casares

reprise85 02-13-2020 07:25 PM

ok, I made a text file. I'm going to start with:

An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser

Hunchback of Notre Dame

and i will go through others from there, see what i want to explore

going to get hard copies of them, dont really want to go ebook

keep suggestions coming please

reprise85 02-13-2020 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by topleybird (Post 4530217)
Light in August, by William Faulkner
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (the collection, not just the story)
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro

i remember reading the lottery story, prob will check out the whole book once i'm done with one of the first two

reprise85 02-13-2020 07:28 PM

i don't expect to be going voraciously through these, 30min-1 hour a night, so prob a few weeks each, longer if they are difficult or long. who knows, may get sucked in though

duovamp 02-13-2020 08:47 PM

Eulogy probably has some good suggestions too.

Mine are all going to be lame. I’m going to go through my shelves tonight to look for some bangers.

FoolofaTook 02-13-2020 09:13 PM

ur dad's a banger

duovamp 02-13-2020 09:47 PM

Yeah he's a qt lil sweet tart.

reprise85 02-13-2020 10:58 PM

thanks you guys i really appreciate the recommendations, fo shizzle

Eulogy 02-14-2020 09:01 AM

I am very ashamed of how little I’ve read post schooling. Could maybe blame a couple years on burnout but uh. Not anymore. Will think about this though. It’s to the point where I don’t even remember the names of some of the suggestions that came to mind right away : (

ilikeplanets 02-14-2020 11:38 AM

The large majority of these books weren't originally written in English, but I digress

yo soy el mejor 02-14-2020 11:43 AM

Shadow of the Wind was originally in Spanish. A married French guy I was seeing (his name was Yves...classic!) when I was 23 gave me his copy, which sucks cause I don't want to tie anything good to that time in my life. But hey, it's a great book.

buzzard 02-14-2020 03:19 PM

Saying "Yves and Lauren" fairly quickly is actually a pretty handy pronunciation guide.

LaBelle 02-14-2020 06:43 PM

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
It's 3 books but worth it!

100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

Dracula - Bram Stoker

FoolofaTook 02-14-2020 06:58 PM

I need to read 100 Years. Read Midnight's Children last year and I want more stuff like that.

run2pee 02-14-2020 07:45 PM

Love in the Time of Cholera is better than 100 years imo

Less characters to keep track of and more heartfelt

vixnix 02-14-2020 07:55 PM

100 Years is my #1 best human book of all time, I haven’t read the last 10 pages because I’ve saved it to do it on my deathbed.

I loved Love in a Time or Cholera...but Chronicle of a Death Foretold is kind of like my fan favourite or something. I remember feeling this weird sense of triumph at the end of it, vicariously, something like “wow, you did it”


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