15-06-2002 03:11									#1
	What are the best pieces of Literature? Enter the AD-FREE zone

Anyway, I've just started reading (and getting into) Doestyevsky's Crime and Punishment. I was just wondering what you, Apolytoners, think is the best piece of Literature ever written. Oh, and just for fun write the worst as well .

Mine:

Best: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Worst: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

	15-06-2002 03:13									#2
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Well, going by what I've read, it's:

Best: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Worst: My Life as a 10-Year Old Boy by Nancy Cartwright

	15-06-2002 03:15									#3
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i recommend '1984' by George Orwell

	15-06-2002 03:16									#4
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i recommend 1984 by George Orwell

	15-06-2002 03:18									#5
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The thing about The Scarlet Letter is that it reflects the times.
It wouldn't make my Must Have list, just noting.

Peter Pan, LOTR, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
I'm reading Sin Killer by McMurtry now. First in a 4 part series that seems to me will be made into a movie.

	15-06-2002 03:19									#6
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quote: Originally posted by huntergatherer i recommend 1984 by George Orwell X 2!

So.... are you recommending 1984 by George Orwell?

	15-06-2002 03:19									#7
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Oh, I know, Sloww... I just didn't like it. The internal thoughts there bothered me, while in Crime and Punishment it just brings me in.

And actually I just made this poll to see which books I should pick up from the library to read this summer . My motives are not just a fun thread this time .

I do wonder if Don Quixote by Cervantes is worth reading.

	15-06-2002 03:20									#8
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Blood Meridian or the evening redness in the west by Cormac McCarthy.

	15-06-2002 03:21									#9
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To Kill a Mockingbird

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Voltaire's Candide is some nice fluff.

Two Years before the Mast is interesting from a scholastic point but doesn't have a good writing style.

I tried Crime & Punishment, War & Peace and Moby **** but couldn't get into them.

I'm currently working my way though Edward Bellamy's Looking Backwards...but I don't have great hopes for it.

For some really well written current literature: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and The Shipping News by C. Annie Prolx.

	15-06-2002 03:21									#10
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The best. Tough one there. Either The Guide or LotR. Of course, bestness is always in the eye of the beholder.


The worst... hmmm, a scifi novel written by me would probably be on that scale, since it's absolute suckiness can't be passed on even by trying to be bad (and thus, funny)... then again, I was rather young (13) when writing it.

	15-06-2002 03:23									#11
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To Kill A Mockingbird IS great.

	15-06-2002 03:24									#12
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Anything by Jean Pierre van Rossem!!

	15-06-2002 03:25									#13
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Ooooh yeah. George Orwell!!

"Keep the Apadistra Flying" and "Down and Out in Paris and London"--from the days when he was a communist.

"1984" and "Animal Farm"--after he became an anti-communist.

	15-06-2002 03:26									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Zkribbler I tried Crime & Punishment, War & Peace and Moby **** but couldn't get into them.

This autocensor thingie is getting more hilarious day by day.

	15-06-2002 03:27									#15
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui I do wonder if Don Quixote by Cervantes is worth reading.

No! Read the Cliff Notes...the book isn't worth it.

	15-06-2002 03:30									#16
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the Great Gatsby is another good one

	15-06-2002 03:30									#17
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I didn't enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird all that much. The character of Atticus Finch felt far too perfect, especially in comparison to some of the rest of the characters, that it didn't sit well with me.

On the other had, Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse) is excellent. Just don't judge it on the first few pages.

	15-06-2002 03:31									#18
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Why would I want to read the Cliff Notes then?

Don Quixote just seemed kinda like a Les Miserable type novel... where this guy just goes around all over the place and does wierd stuff .

	15-06-2002 03:32									#19
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quote: On the other had, Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse) is excellent. Just don't judge it on the first few pages.

Second that... It gets really wierd too, cool stuff .

	15-06-2002 03:33									#20
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The ending...

	15-06-2002 03:37									#21
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui Why would I want to read the Cliff Notes then?

Same amount of intellectual content but less typing.

	15-06-2002 03:38									#22
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Yeah, but I want to read a Classic piece of Literature for enjoyment, not because I have to get through them all .

	15-06-2002 03:39									#23
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LOTR is not a good piece of literature at all. It's a cool story, exciting and all, but literature-wise, the book isn't that bright, not written by a professional author anyway. I'm not saying it sucks, but many fans of it tend to glorify it in any way they can, even when they have no idea what they're talking about.

And good literature isn't all about a good story, nice language and all. For example, Tolkien was a bit superficial in character design to me, you hardly get an idea about Boromir, for example.
After all I would say LOTR is just about OK in that regard, despite being pretty cool in many others

Merle does some cool writing, but none of you reads Merle anyway, as observed long before.

	15-06-2002 03:47									#24
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The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio is a great book if you like humor and sex

	15-06-2002 04:04									#25
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quote: Best: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Couldn't agree more.

quote: Worst: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Didn't find it that bad. I don't know what the true worst would be, but my rogues gallery includes:

Moby D!ck
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
The Sound and the Fury
Pilgrim's Progress (Good lord this is so boring)

	15-06-2002 04:06									#26
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quote: Originally posted by SlowwHand To Kill A Mockingbird IS great.

Amen. Easily in my top 10 of all time.

	15-06-2002 04:09									#27
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Les Miserables.

I think you'd like Don Quixote, it has almost the same depth of character and emotion, though somewhat of a polar opposite in mood. One of the few books that ever made me laugh out loud while I was reading it, and it happened often. Still, I had the feeling I was missing out on a lot of the jokes because I wasn't familiar with the Authors/Works that Cervantes was obviously making fun of.

	15-06-2002 04:13									#28
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Yeah, I was thinking of getting it for that reason.

	15-06-2002 04:17									#29
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It would be interesting to compare the character of Don Quixote with Inspector Javert. Very similar on some levels, but a few little twists and you go from icon of idealism to frightening archetype of obsession.

	15-06-2002 04:53									#30
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quote: And actually I just made this poll to see which books I should pick up from the library to read this summer.

My brother keeps telling me to read The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas. I keep forgetting.

Good ones:

Voltaire. Candide was already mentioned, get a compilation of it and some of the shorter stories. Even Candide can be read in just a couple hours or so.

Edgar Allen Poe. "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" and "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq." are both hillarious, especially read out loud. Or maybe I'm just weird... most of his stories are pretty good.

War and Peace - Tolstoy. Takes a couple hundred pages to really get into though. Good for a lot of hours of reading after that.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence - Robert M. Pirsig. If you like philosophical works it's great.

Catch-22 - Joseph L. Heller. I'm not sure if it counts as 'Good Literature', but it's funny!