Books' Corner

since everyone's up reading something serious, I decided to treat meself to a hilarious book: The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Finally, I found something. But I do not know if it is good collection of books and authors here. anyone can enighten me. Because most of them are not heard to me.

Here is a link.

I don`t know if anyone has mentioned these books before (or maybe even i have) but,in case you`re interested in reading something at the same time light but also `enlightening` in the terms of language and emotions used i strongly reccommend:

*Oriana Fallaci- Una lettera a bambino mai nato (Letter to a Child Never Born),amazing touching story by the most famous Italian journalist.What are we willing to sacrifice in life and to what extent?And how does it come back on us....

*classic- Umberto Eco-Il nome della rosa (The name of the Rose)

For those of you who study Italian,i suggest reading them in Italian since you`ll definitely improve your knowledge of the language and since it isn`t difficult to understand.

Originally Posted by rae

This is exactly what I expected form you...

ok ok so what do u like i bet u read them urself u are so hypocritical

Originally Posted by ariel

I don`t know if anyone has mentioned these books before (or maybe even i have) but,in case you`re interested in reading something at the same time light but also `enlightening` in the terms of language and emotions used i strongly reccommend:

*Oriana Fallaci- Una lettera a bambino mai nato (Letter to a Child Never Born),amazing touching story by the most famous Italian journalist.What are we willing to sacrifice in life and to what extent?And how does it come back on us....

*classic- Umberto Eco-Il nome della rosa (The name of the Rose)

For those of you who study Italian,i suggest reading them in Italian since you`ll definitely improve your knowledge of the language and since it isn`t difficult to understand.

Gio has read that book [Umberto Eco] earlier and told about it to us. Actually I have read it too, but it is an translation to lithuanian. At the moment I am still not able to read books in italian, cuz I know that language too littel and it would be too hard challange for me. So I stick with spanish

At the moemnt I am reading a book which does a big impression to me. It is written by Robert Kagan and the title is Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order.

I have read alomst a half of it and I can not a fact to deny. It is supreme phenomenon. That guy really knows what he is writing.

The book is based on deteriorating relations between US and European countries[mainly western], why it is happening, what were the core issues to make it happen and what would be a future of both continents.

Europe is dead.

I have just finished that book. It is fantastic one. If you really want to know what is wrong between US and Europe, with all argumentation and explaination you should take it. Worderful stuff there. Kagan is very wise man. I have not find a fact that I can deny. Enjoy.

I Know kind of think books are boring

i?ve just finished The name of the rose again and understood it better after i read it at school 6 years ago.I didn't catch many of the theological issues about the poverty of Christ and many of the phylosophical debates. Being interested in the middle age hystory, art and esp phylosophy which has been brilliant despite many people think it's just a dark age now i've got much more from the book. Probably one of the most sure criteria to establish the goodness of a book is to read it several times and get something new each time.

I wouldn't recommend it to the fans of Dan brown though. Currently reading Angels and Demons and i like it, it's a light reading compared to the Name of the Rose.
I've heard of the hype around Dan Brown and i wanted to check what he was like as a novelist. I must say his best credit so far is to have awaken a sort of interest around cultural subjects. He's a good writer but not a great writer.

Despite being a phylosopher, Umberto Eco is a better writer, by far. Dan brown is in the stream of the modern authors who catch the attention of the reader, but whose pages are a bit too "light". I mean, you read them just for the pleasure to read something entertaining but these books don't leave you much more.

Anyway so far Dan Brown is ok, the idea of his novel is interesting but he is a mainstream writer, not a writer of future classics.
Probably i'm wrong, because modern classics 200 years ago were mainstream just as Dan brown is today, but what i mean is that passing from Eco or even Puzo to Dan Brown, the last authors i've read, you feel the difference.

I like Irvine Welsh though, despite the subjects are light, because he's so gifted.

Anyway, i think reading must be entertainment first, then cultural committment and formation.
So, push your children to read, but let them choose what they like. First they must get in love with reading, then they will get in love with classics. If a teenager gets too bored with difficult books, his interest in reading can be wasted all life long.

I'm reading Dune! what a dork I am ( i have been on a total sci-fi kick), it's really good.

i just finished readin ghost soldiers by hampton sides. it is absolutely shocking. i never knew about what the japanese did in WWII...

it shows you the value of reading. I read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut a few weeks ago. Unbelievable. I was almost totally unaware of the Dresden raid that killed more people than Hiroshima right at the end of the war.

Last week i finished Angels and Demons. What can i say? Bad is an euphemism.
The first part of the book was interestingly developed with an intriguing plot, but the spectacular solutions chosen in the final part of the book are at least ridiculous: a man jumps from an elicopter with a towel used as paraglider and doesn't die, the Vatican full of insane cardinals, a woman enters into the Conclave in shorties..

i cannot resume the sensationalist bollocks invented by Brown but sometimes i didn't know wheter laugh my arse off or cry to have wasted 1 week in reading this book.

Brown meanwhile is having a laugh looking at his bank account; if i think this guy has sold more than 30 millions of books around the world then i have a chance as well.

To get a partial consolation i'm reading

Virginia Woolf's "MRS. DALLOWAY"..finally literature.

Stream of consciousness novel......if you are already into it i reccommend James Joyce`s `A portrait of an artist as a young man`.`Ulysses` is an incisive omage to Odysseus but not as interesting as Portrait,and also it`s way too long knowing it`s after all stream of consciousness novel.The plot takes place in only one day(like Mrs Dalloway),yet Joyce needed 600 pages to describe it.However,if you really are interested in reading it,first read Portrait,then Ulysses and then Finnegan`s wake.(in order to get to know Joyce`s psyche better and to complete your opinion on the main character ,Stephen Dedalus)

P.S.
Another beautiful piece that i reccommend...`SETA` (Silk)by Alessandro Baricco,Giovanni`s neighbour

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is one of the best I've ever read - it's close to 1,000 pages tho, so not for those looking for a quickie.

Hard to describe....based on a true story of an escapee heroin addict in Australia who winds up in Bombay, lives in the slums, opens a free-clinic, gets mixed up with gun-runners and almost dies in Afghanistan. Of course there is a love story there as well.