Favourite Books?

[Ortega]

its like the anti-anne rice.
its about a telepathic bar-maid who gets mixed up with vampires, but not the brooding, gothiky vampires.  In the book, vampires have revealed themselves to the rest of the world.  its definately has a sense of humor, plus werewolves and shapeshifters.  and any book with Elvis as vampire is required reading.


I read Dune back in high school, and proceded to read the entire series.  It defintely ain't for everyone.  Its not as clunky as say, a Tolkien novel, but it is extremly multi-faceted.  Herbert deals with ecology, politics, religion all in one story.  Dont let the insane lynch movie or the mini-series scare you away.

 

I know most fans of herbert cry heresy at the new series his son did, but this triology of books is, in my opinion, one of the best Man vs Machine fiction i've read in a while.

[call_me_nuveena]

I'm a huge fan of anything Christopher Moore has ever written, but Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal has got to be my favorite book, like, ever.

I also love:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Hitchhiker's Guide... by Douglas Adams (as well as the Dirk Gently books)
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (LIAR!  IT ENDS!)

And though it's been called out for being inaccurate and possibly insulting to the entire country of Japan, I adored Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden if only for the fact that I still can't believe a man wrote it.

Recent books I love include:
Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres, and
A Treasury of Royal Scandals by Michael Farquhar, which my best friend referred to as "The National Enquirer for smart people."  I don't know if she's correct, but it's a helluva fun read.  It's non-fiction, but Farquhar's narrative voice is hilarious.

[Hank_Peters]

I don't read too many books, but I did enjoy Microserfs (Douglas Coupland), Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), and The Real Frank Zappa book.

[hare.29]

My favorite book of all time is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I find his writing awesome, but it can be hard to get into. He writes several page long sentences. A Supposedly Fun Thing... is a riot, though.
The Baroque Cycle rocked, as did most of Stephenson's other stuff.
Lately I've been reading a lot of Dickens (who, aside from ToTC is really funny), and I'm really looking forward to the new Thursday Next book.
Frank Herbert is also a good read.
Greek drama, with the right translator is great, too. I like Paul Roche's translations of Euripides, Sophocles, and Aristophones.

[Tripe]

These are usually good editions for classical works

[hare.29]

These are usually good editions for classical works

I have some Loeb's of the Apostolic Fathers which are good, but I haven't looked up their classics, basically due to trouble finding them. But I should.

[Tripe]

England right?

I used to have the devils own job of finding them in England too, the only place I could find them at was an independent bookshop in Stratford (now closed ). I'd try like a really big Waterstones or Blackwells in Oxford (if your near there) or Hatchards if you're near London.

You might also be interested in Harvard University Press (the ones that do the Loeb editions) Renascence literature library

[hare.29]

England right?

I used to have the devils own job of finding them in England too, the only place I could find them at was an independent bookshop in Stratford (now closed ). I'd try like a really big Waterstones or Blackwells in Oxford (if your near there) or Hatchards if you're near London.

You might also be interested in Harvard University Press (the ones that do the Loeb editions) Renascence literature library

Actually, I'm in Indiana. But I tend to do the library thing, and a lot of public libraries don't seem to be into the whole dead-language thing. There's always amazon, though.

[Tripe]

Actually, I'm in Indiana. But I tend to do the library thing, and a lot of public libraries don't seem to be into the whole dead-language thing. There's always amazon, though.

I'm guessing the U of Indiana isn't going to have many in their Library either.

[hare.29]

Actually, I'm in Indiana. But I tend to do the library thing, and a lot of public libraries don't seem to be into the whole dead-language thing. There's always amazon, though.

I'm guessing the U of Indiana isn't going to have many in their Library either.

I'm at Notre Dame, and a quick search of their libray catalog suggests they do have a decent selection. I'll have to wonder over after work. Makes sense- we Catholics love dead languages. 

[LadyKenobi]

Tell Fr. Ted I said hi.  I used to love studying on the 13th floor

Thirteen floors in that thing-- they should have it.  If not, ND has a darned good interlibrary loan system, and is particularly known for its Ren texts.

[Tripe]

Actually, I'm in Indiana. But I tend to do the library thing, and a lot of public libraries don't seem to be into the whole dead-language thing. There's always amazon, though.

I'm guessing the U of Indiana isn't going to have many in their Library either.

First of all, there is no "University of Indiana." It's Indiana University (pet peeve of mine).  Secondly, the Herman B. Wells library has an enormous collection of Classics books.  And I'm sure Notre Dame can do ILLs of them.

Well excuse me for not knowing American Academia backwards and forwards. Christ on a Bike!

[Tripe]

No, Loebs are generally terrible translations, because most of them are 80 or 90 years old. 

So, what? Lots of good translators were living 80 to 90 years ago.

But seriously, unless you read the original languages

Which I do. Been a while since I did them at school admitadly but I used to be quite good.

and want the facing text, don't buy Loebs.

Always nice I tend to find.

[Tripe]

Okay, if you want archaic English,

I do.

great. Have fun deciphering the Dorian Greek they render as incomprehensible Scots dialects in the Theocritus or Aristophanes.

I did

Or hey, how about when they won't translate the "naughty" bits? Or hell, when they just plain make up Greek (as H. Stein in the Herodotus Loeb) which isn't even attested in any manuscripts? Great!

Isn't it just?

Seriously man. If you want the languages, get a Teubner or OCT. If you want the translation, get a penguin. Loebs are just...blah. Overrated.

Well, you're entitled to your opinion of course...

[Tripe]

Attaboy, you know i can keep this up all day

Anyway I like other translations too, the Loebs are the only ones I could find that translated The Emperor Julian. Do you know of any others?