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Mad_Max (f)
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I do not know much about the biography of Dickens, but do you know any other book you might have studied in school that has a young character who asks for more (other than Oliver Twist)? If there is such other book, then it might be that other author and I would have been wrong to say Dickens [but I doubt I am].
I wasn't referring to your post. You likely got it right. I was wondering if the author's an aristocrat as mentioned in the puzzle. What does it matter sef? The guy don quench. Wondered how his stories fare today. Some of his characters are so idealised they make you grit your teeth. When he manages to give you a happy ending, you know it's BS but you don't give a rat's twisted tail. And it's SO nice for poor Oliver to get what he deserves. |
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Mad_Max (f)
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The answers,
1. Michael Crichton
2. Charles Dickens
3. Barbara Cartland
4. Clive Cussler
5. Umberto Eco
6. Thomas Harris
7. Dean Koontz
8. Sidney Sheldon
Oh man. The other authors completely threw me. I like that. But I'm not a Barbara Cartland fan. Willowy witless beauties overwhelmed by darkly handsome aristocrats who freely dispense satanic leers and cruel,punishing kisses. Or is that M&B? Not sure. But don't go near those. |
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vescucci (m)
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That's rare for a girl to say. No dark knight sweeping a fair princess off her feet for you Max (Can I call u Max?). Wanna take over the baton? Anyone?
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ayomorocco (f)
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So, who's the winner? Mad_Max! Ayomorocco a close runner-up. But I'm most impressed with doyin 13, though I do not care for his vendetta with Bluespice. Biased, yes, but it's my teaser.
At the risk of sounding like an over competitive twat, how come I am only a runner-up when we both got three questions a-piece? Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder.   Well, I'll settle for runner-up then. LOL |
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vescucci (m)
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I did say something like 'I'm biased and it's my teaser, bla bla bla. Anyways, for fear of sounding like a judgemental bastard I'll reserve my reasons. Ayomorocco, you still rank well now. You still rock. At least I learnt the most from you.
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Mad_Max (f)
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That's rare for a girl to say. No dark knight sweeping a fair princess off her feet for you Max (Can I call u Max?). want to take over the baton? Anyone?
Not as rare as you think. If I want a good romance I generally tend to watch it: Juno, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The English Patient, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Titanic. Romantic novels are mostly BS, and I am endlessly impatient with Cartland's heroines. There was one who stuttered whenever she got up the nerve to speak- throughout the novel! I was like, Lord save us, why am I reading this? Life's too short. There are amazing books out there, I'm not going to read them all before I die,but I sure as hell am going to try. There are the Roald Dahls, Austens, Salman Rushdies, CS Lewis, Cornwell,Achebes,Fieldings,PD James,etc,and I waste hours of my life with Cartland? Unlikely. |
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vescucci (m)
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Okies. I don't dig romance myself. But I still do not know if I can call you Max. U sure got a peculiar taste for books (esp Rushdie). your kind is rare and I find nobody to talk to about these people. You've read any Dostoyevsky or Vernes? I'm looking to get my hands on any Proust but Naija is a limited country. Let's talk shop eh? I can't find any of the books I want here so I settle for the mainstream. Bah!
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Mad_Max (f)
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Sure you can call me Max.
I read non-fiction as well, and so haven't read all the Old Masters. Right now I'm re-reading How the Mind Works By Steven Pinker, and Dingley Falls by Micheal Malone. Both great books. It was a choice between Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and I chose to read Tolstoy. I read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Chilren four years ago, and I was stunned by his virtuosity. Tom Sawyerr's my favourite children's book. Over the past year I read Joseph Heller, Anne Rice, James Joyce, William Faulkner,Joseph Conrad,John Steinbeck, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series, Stephen Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams,Shakespeare,Roald Dahl, Richard Ford, Dean Koontz, Agatha Christie, Patricia Cornwell,Amy Tan, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Homer, Gustav Flaubert and re-read Soyinka's The Man Died, Achebe's A Man of the People, and Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a classic. A friend's urging me to read The God of Small Things, but I haven't gotten 'round to it. Catherine Alliot makes me laugh. A lot. As does PG Wodehouse, Howard Jacobson and Gerald Durell. Don't know why the English folks succeed better for me at humour.
If I have to read romance I read Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Flawless and delightful roamnce.I'm looking forward to Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Aquinas. I read something intriguing about the latter's works and want to lay hands on it.
I agree it's often hard to get good books here, but if I don't see what I want I simply order a bactch from Amazon.
What's Dostoyevsky like? And who have you read recently that blew you away?
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vescucci (m)
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Recently I've been reading Rushdie's Satanic verses, some Follett, Kafka (died young and had a most vivid imagination), Hugo, Conroy, Dumas, Hiaasen (he's the one who cracks me up the most), you made me go back to Austen's P&P because I read it when I was little. But the book that blew me away recently is Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Rendered in English by some guy, I forget his name. I usually read like six books concurrently. When I feel moody I read this, when I feel angry I read that. In my life time, I've been privileged to read some books I really adore, unfortunately, some of them I do not own. To put it simply, if I had to enter a time machine and I could take ten books with me, they'd be; (not in order)
Animal farm by George Orwell
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
On Stranger Tides by Tim Stevens (I'm not entirely sure of the name)
Arabian nights
Unfortunately I do not like some 'classics' like Gone with the wind and others but to each his own. I'm looking forward to a number of books but have always been under the impression that ordering books from Amazon implied an unhealthy increase in price. Is this true? That could make my life a lot simpler if not my wallet.
Almost forgot, Dostoevsky is epic, but not in the same sense as Homer. He's sort of like a Russie Dickens. Had a lot of 'issues' like morality and stuff that did not agree with his government at the time. He's great to make a long story short. I've read only Crime nd Punishment but am looking forward to Brothers karamazov. It's a big world out there!
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Mad_Max (f)
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Animal Farm is undiluted genius. One marvels at what it must be like to have been George Orwell.
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vescucci (m)
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Pray tell who is this 'One and Only Boss'?
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doyin13 (m)
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Pray tell who is this 'One and Only Boss'?
Yes ooo. . . .I wan knw abeg. . . .Make I size up the competition Sisikill. . . . Did I tell u I think Northerners are just the most fabulous people. A few have even come to my house sef.  |
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vescucci (m)
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That's sure to earn you some points with her Doyin; she probably works for a tourism outfit with all the gazillion pictures she's been posting lately.
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vescucci (m)
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Say something already. It's YOUR thread
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Mad_Max (f)
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Reading CATCH 22 by Joseph Heller. I've not read anything like it before. It's so subversive and so FUNNY. I bought A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Antony Burgess, and leafed through.It intrigued me, and thoroughly pissed me off. If I want something difficult I'll read James Joyce or Faulkner. I hate books that are difficult just to be difficult. I don't mind being given a hard time by Joyce,he's an almost incomparably beautiful writer and he rewards you on every page. But this frigging Burgess isn't using the language at all; the bastid had to go and invent slang and gutter patois for a nonexistent society, and writes mostly in that, and I'm pissed,because I know I'm going to read it.
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kay9 (m)
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. . . . and I'm pissed,because I know I'm going to read it.
Too bad. When I was in high school, I thought I was the only person with the "hate-it-but-can't-drop-it" syndrome; I guess you have it too, Max. |
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vescucci (m)
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@Max. I downloaded and read Catch 22 because the title sounded, catchy. I didn't regret it and I share your sentiments exactly.
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Mad_Max (f)
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@Vescucci,
If you liked Catch 22 you'll enjoy Good as Gold by the same author. Read any good crime fiction lately? I have my Dad's John Creasey and Agatha Christie collection,and I'm eyeing Murder on the Orient Express. Hercule Poirot.What are you reading?
@ Kay9,
Do I know what you mean or what? You're gritting your teeth with each page turned but cant put the thing down till it's finished. But A Clockwork Orange is slowly turning into something strange and interesting,though I'm still pissed at the invented language.
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vescucci (m)
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I do not think that'll be as easy to get. Crime fiction? My last was a very long time ago. My favorite genre is espionage anyway. I'm currently reading Le Carre's The Constant Gardner, Pride and Prejudice (again, because of you), Pat Conroy's Prince of Tides (again) finishing Hiaasen's Skin Tight (hilarious as usual), started on David Copperfield (this one is daunting)
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bluspice (f)
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Vesucci! espionage? nice |
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vescucci (m)
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Oh crap! Just call me Vesucci. Have a ball!
Espionage really is the best stuff to read!
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Mad_Max (f)
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Espionage?
I'm not really a fan. Too caught in classics- I love beautiful prose. But I remember I LOVED Robert Ludlum,Jack Higgins,Jeffrey Archer and John Le Carre,who is perhaps the best. Not sure Higgins qualifies as espionage,though.
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crazylegs (m)
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Espionage?
I'm not really a fan. Too caught in classics- I love beautiful prose. But I remember I LOVED Robert Ludlum,Jack Higgins,Jeffrey Archer and John Le Carre,who is perhaps the best. Not sure Higgins qualifies as espionage,though.
If you like espionage and the classics you might want to try something in between: The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. Great book! @Vescucci Prince of Tides is a very good book, as is Catch 22. Currently reading Wilt by Tom Sharpe. Very funny book by a very funny chap. |
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vescucci (m)
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I do not really like Higgins. The British folk are the best at espionage but I like Ludlum the best. Me, I'm kinda a lover of good books. I'd like a good romance novel. But the definition of 'good' will be subject to me alone. |
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vescucci (m)
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I do not really like Higgins. The British folk are the best at espionage but I like Ludlum the best. Me, I'm kinda a lover of good books. I'd like a good romance novel. But the definition of 'good' will be subject to me alone. Welcome Crazylegs! |
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Mad_Max (f)
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I've read Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. He's a great writer. If he wrote espionage I'm checking it out!
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Sisi Jinx
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Happy New Year!!  |
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Sisi Jinx
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Awww! Crazylegs is here!!!
It's been a loooooooong. . . really, really, long time, how have you been?
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kaydkay (m)
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For all you Stephen King Fans and also to those that have never read his books before then u r just in luck.
Starting from today, I will be uploading his books for youu all to be able to download. They are all in PDF formats.
Below are three of his books for starters.
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Mad_Max (f)
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Could you include the Dark Tower series? That would be nice.
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