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Starchild is offline Starchild
Emperor
a raving alcoholic drama queen with a penchant for the biosciences
Jan 1970
time: 00:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 00:48
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What classic books should I get? Support Apolyton

There's a store in my town that sells classic works of literature for between £1-£5 in paperback. I want to stock up on my classical collection and expand it beyond a tattered copy of, *cough* The Hitchhiker's Guide. Any suggestions on what I should get?

A brief summary of the work would also be appreciated.

So far, I want to buy:

Wuthering Heights
Dante's Inferno
The Prince
1984
Brave New World

Buck Birdseed is offline Buck Birdseed
Emperor
Khoon Ki Pyasi Dayan (1988)
Nov 2000
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 00:52 Visit Buck Birdseed's homepage!
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Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

These are the ones for which copyright has ended, right?

Starchild is offline Starchild
Emperor
a raving alcoholic drama queen with a penchant for the biosciences
Jan 1970
time: 00:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 00:55
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*shrug* Any book and I'll see if the store or some of the second hand books stores have it.

reds4ever is offline reds4ever
Prince
of the Spion Kop
Mar 2001
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 01:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
These are the ones for which copyright has ended, right?


yep, thats why they able to sell them so cheaply

The diplomat is offline The diplomat
King
Terre Haute, IN USA
Sep 1999
time: 23:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 02:03
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Pilgrim's Progress is classic!

Whaleboy is offline Whaleboy
Prince
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Jan 2003
time: 05:32
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Theyre all good, except for the prince

Starchild is offline Starchild
Emperor
a raving alcoholic drama queen with a penchant for the biosciences
Jan 1970
time: 00:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 03:08
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I liked the Prince. That's why it's already on my "to buy" list. I want other suggestions for that list!

Imran Siddiqui is offline Imran Siddiqui

Deity
The Potterverse
Jan 1970
time: 00:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 06:36
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Les Miserables isn't just a good play . Great classic.

Space05us is offline Space05us
King

Nov 2001
time: 17:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 06:44
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quote:
Theyre all good, except for the prince



besides being close to irrelevent whats wrong with the prince?

DanS is offline DanS
Emperor
Kickball Capital of the World
Jan 1970
time: 00:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 06:53 Visit DanS's homepage!
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Stock up on Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, for instance.

Skanky Burns is offline Skanky Burns
Deity
Skanky Bastard Quartermaster
Aug 2001
time: 14:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 07:17
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Emma

Verto is offline Verto

King

Mar 2002
time: 23:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 07:18
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The Bernstein Bears. All of 'em.

Zkribbler is offline Zkribbler
King
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Feb 1999
time: 21:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 08:29
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"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Billy Budd"
Mark Twain's "Letters from Earth"
"Beat to Quarters"
"Cyrano de Bergerac"
and maybe "Two Years Before the Mast"

MrFun is offline MrFun
King
of Iowa
Nov 2000
time: 23:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 10:52 Visit MrFun's homepage!
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The Republic of Plato

Gone with the Wind (even with its anacrhonistic views on race, and distortion of Recnstruction, I enjoyed reading it for other reasons)

Grapes of Wrath

The Fire Next Time

Alexis Tocqueville's "Democracy in America"

Catcher in the Rye

Datajack Franit is offline Datajack Franit
King
Bologna
Aug 2002
time: 06:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 11:07 Visit Datajack Franit's homepage!
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I own the Republic of Plato as well, great one

I strongly suggest

"Momo" and "The Neverending Story" of Michael Ende
Anything of Guy de Maupassant
Some russian literature as well, if the author's name end with kj, then is a good one

Zevico is offline Zevico
Chieftain
Melbourne
Apr 2002
time: 15:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 11:12
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EDIT: For quick summaries of the books
"All quiet on the Western Front"
Tells the tale of World War One through the eyes of an alienated German soldier. An amazing book which fully describes the horrors of that war and of war in general in a narrative that was gripping (for me at least).
"Pride and Prejudice"
A comedy/romance written by the famous author Jane Austen, this book is at times very funny and is also well written.
"Don Quixote de la Mancha"
A parody of the "knight in shining armour" genre of the Middle Age's novel writers, this is probably the most famous book ever written by a Spaniard. It is quite funny and well written.
"Catch-22"
This is another anti war novel about the experiences of a pilot in World War Two. It is very dark, and has a lot of dark humour in it, but is very well written and a great read.

Last edited by Zevico on 21-11-2003 at 05:34

molly bloom is offline molly bloom
Prince
Lundenwic
Oct 2001
time: 15:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 13:21
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I would recommend for your perusal and purchasing:

Daniel Defoe: A Journal of the Plague Year.

First writer in English to turn journalism into an art form. The ‘Journal’ still packs a punch even now. The economy of his style is aptly suited to describing the horrors of the plague run riot and the mounting death toll. All the more effective for not being sensationalized.

Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels.

Or a collection of his shorter satires, such as Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Battle of the Books. One of the very best satirists in the English language, with works replete with scatological references and mordant humour. Gulliver’s Travels is too often dismissed as a work for children, but it’s much more than that.

Mary Seacole: her autobiography.

Think of her as the black, unsung Florence Nightingale, she spent her own money treating the sick and wounded of the Crimean War. It’s a very touching insight into what it was like to be an outsider in Victorian society.

Charles Dickens: Bleak House.

A vast labyrinthine book, with mistaken identities, hidden children, hypocrisy, an interminable law case and a ‘murder’ mystery. Also possibly the first record in literature of a death from ‘spontaneous human combustion’.

Oscar Wilde: Collected plays, or The Picture of Dorian Gray, often found together with Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.

The plays’ll make you laugh, the novellas will give you that fin-de-siecle, louche bohemian feeling.

Sophocles: The Theban Plays.

One of the bedrocks of European literature and culture, the playing out of the story of Oedipus and his family is haunting, melancholy, and gripping. After I read the Theban Plays the first time, and certainly after I first saw them performed, I felt exhausted, but exhilarated too.

James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

A marvellous portrayal of a crisis of faith, it has been said that if you’re a Catholic and read this book, you either have your faith reaffirmed or you reject it.

I love the way the language of the book develops, the way Joyce uses sounds and words to create pictures in the mind’s eye, the way he shows us the development of the young Stephen Daedalus from the baby speech infant of the first page, to the self-assured arrogant young bohemian of the last.

Henry James: The Turn of the Screw.

Or a collection of his short stories (with an emphasis on the ghost stories). I love the way the atmosphere builds up languorously in his ghost stories- the way a sense of dread or unease creeps up like sea mist out of a clear morning.

Kropotkin is offline Kropotkin
Emperor
of Ålidhem
Mar 1999
time: 06:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 15:49
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Books by Joseph Conrad. Penguin Popular Classics sells cheap for instance. Titles like Heart of Darknessof cource, but also Nostromo or Lord Jim will do.

Zylka is offline Zylka
Prince
sure
May 2000
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 15:56
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Jane Eyre
Treasure Island
The Fountainhead

mindseye is offline mindseye
King
A Yankee living in Shanghai
Apr 1999
time: 13:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 21:24
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When I read the thread title I immediately thought of Wuthering Heights, which I just read for the first time. Terrificl!


Some personal favorites you might like:

Thomas Hardy, Mayor of Castorbridge

Anthony Trollope, The Way We Live Now, The American Senator

Zulu Elephant is offline Zulu Elephant
Prince

Jun 1999
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 22:09
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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Lazarus and the Gimp is offline Lazarus and the Gimp
King
Whale-raping abomination
Aug 2000
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 23:54
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Get some Robert Louis Stevenson. Christ knows why he's considered a kid's writer- he was the best and tightest plotter of the Victorian age.

"Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped" are the picks.

Buck Birdseed is offline Buck Birdseed
Emperor
Khoon Ki Pyasi Dayan (1988)
Nov 2000
time: 05:32
  Old Post 20-11-2003 23:58 Visit Buck Birdseed's homepage!
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Plato's Republic is utter proto-fascist excrement. Avoid!

If you want more Macchiavelli might I suggest Discourses on the first ten books of titus livius? That's his biggie, The Prince was just a calling card.

Wernazuma III is offline Wernazuma III
Emperor
Decolonize!
Aug 2000
time: 06:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 01:35 Visit Wernazuma III's homepage!
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quote:
Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
Plato's Republic is utter proto-fascist excrement. Avoid!


Yes, stay away from it. Complete crap.

Some more suggestions:
Herodot, Histories is great and easy lecture spicked with anecdotes. Perfect reading at night before going to sleep.

The naughty ballads of Francois Villon

The little prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Alice in Wonderland (if you want it more freaky, get Carrolls complete work and think about Michael Jackson)

Ramo is offline Ramo
King
Austin, Texas, USA
Oct 1999
time: 23:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 01:58 Visit Ramo's homepage!
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No one has mentioned the Ruskies yet? Check out Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

Of the French, I don't believe Zola has been mentioned.

Bereta_Eder is offline Bereta_Eder
Prince

Oct 2000
time: 07:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 02:11 Visit Bereta_Eder's homepage!
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Definitely Dostoevsky. "White nights and other short stories" (don't know exactly how it is translated in english).

Verres is offline Verres
Settler
Swimming with the mermaids...
Aug 2003
time: 05:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 02:12
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quote:
Dante's Inferno


Try to get the whole of the Divine Comedy - purgatorio is possibly even better than the inferno.

Kropotkin is offline Kropotkin
Emperor
of Ålidhem
Mar 1999
time: 06:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 02:16
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If we're to dive into the wast sea of good russian literature, we might as well add Gogol's "Dead Souls".

Bereta_Eder is offline Bereta_Eder
Prince

Oct 2000
time: 07:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 02:21 Visit Bereta_Eder's homepage!
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Oh how could I forget?
Plato's Symposium, I think you'd find it... of particular interest Starchild

Whaleboy is offline Whaleboy
Prince
Please make all cheques payable to Whaleboy
Jan 2003
time: 05:32
  Old Post 21-11-2003 02:27 Visit Whaleboy's homepage!
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Read the Meno for sheer sadistic comic purposes

 
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