This is so underrated. My mum (with good intentions) got really frustrated with me for a while when I was young bc I refused to read typical āyoung adultā chapter books (e.g., Harry Potter, hunger gamesā¦)
Once she let me read books I was interested in , everything was fine
I missed this post, but Iāve been wanting to do a reading challenge where you read a biography of each president every week in chronological order.
I havenāt read a bunch of presidential biographies but āRiver of Doubtā about Teddy Rooseveltās trip through the Amazon that almost killed him. Highly recommended.
Iām currently in the Amazon and have heard about that from multiple places. Iām planning on checking it out once I get back to the States!
Currently reading this
I love history and currently live a few minutes from the battlefield. Been on a big Napoleon kick lately also.
Has anyone listened to Odds Bodkin? I prefer physical books to audio, but I could listen to him for hours.
Just digging into this thread - I never get the invites.
Revisited Metamorphosis recently when my son read it for fun (nerd alert). We had an enjoyable discussion about how frustrating it was and gave me an opening to discuss Stoicism and Taoism.
Loved this, could not watch Apocalypse now for a long time as it triggered me. Eventually, āCharlie donāt surf!ā won me over.
Loved the novel, especially the noble savage archetype of Queequeg - reminded me of both Othello and Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
I taught this book to ninth graders in Sacramento - very powerful!
I loved Dune, hated the movie.
It is of its time - not driven by action.
I think it depends on how you approach it, but that is for another thread.
Talk about mindless entertainment that is riveting, what a great series!
The Foundation trilogy changed my life in High School.
If you get past the language barrier, these are great stories. Not surprising you like Tolkien as well - these are all monomyths.
Such a well written yet simple retelling of the Buddha story, brilliant!
My sonās favorite movie. A budding lit snob, lol.
Such a simple story - sparse and to the point.
Second this. My new tattoo was heavily influenced by āThe Cask of Amontillado.ā
Favorite book of all time for me is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
Iām also a fan of YA lit having taught HS - The Art of Racing in the Rain stands out for me.
I havenāt read lit in years - I got ruined by my MA in English, having to read a novel a week and write a fifteen page research paper every month.
Lately just meditation and the Tao Te Ching book by Wayne Dyer, I think it is Change Your Thoughts Change Your Mind.
Great thread idea, sorry for my rant.
My Old English is passable enough to read street signs and menus in Iceland, Chaucer still confuses me - Middle English is like the uncanny valley of language, and Iām not going to learn Greek or Sindarian. The black speech would be interesting if it existed.
Thank you for the insights in your post.
I think Beowulf is actually Middle English, but am not sure about that.
Thatās cool. I was highly tempted to learn Old Norse after running across Jackson Crawford on YouTube with his weird mix of cowboy + viking expert + language professor. The language seemed close enough to Old English to feel a bit familiar. I never learned much of either though.
At the moment my attention bounces back and forth between Modern Chinese (for, well, modern reasons) and Classical/Literary Chinese since thereās a couple thousand years of writing in it.
Nearly everything written in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam until about 1850-1900 was written in the same language. Especially everything āofficialā. Starting from roughly 500BC.
Learning it would unlock so much.
Itās easier than the Dao De Jing and harder than the Bible. Itās fairly terse and somewhat cryptic because of it. Thereās a lot of references that make more sense with commentary.
You are correct sir!
Itās been a while.
Edit - most of my students complained that Shakespeare was Old English. I think my IQ was negatively affected by that.
I have Old English flash cards somewhere in my house.
Those are nice! A friend gave me this for Christmas after I supplied him with a bumper crop of chanterelle and maitake.
The ones I find myself thumbing through the most:
Iād love to have something similar from H.R. Giger and Salvador Dali, but those are like birthday things Iāll have to tell my wife about.
And
Cuz there are a lot of problems I canāt solve, so playing around with equations just feels good sometimes.
Most of my reading history is split between Horror, Sci-Fi, Time-Life serieses, National Audubon Societies field guides and various technical stuff.
That book looks good. This one is my favorite mushroom book, definitely worth picking up. I almost included it in the earlier post.
Escher is my favorite MC.
You almost had me until I saw that section on Hedgehog mushrooms.
I aināt falling for that one again! 
Thatās the biggest, earthiest hedgehog mushroom youād ever find.
I looked at a list of books he has narrated but donāt believe I have listened to him. Tried a sample and he has a nice voice.
The narrator can definitely make or break a book.
My favorite narrators are Scott Brick (people either love him or hate him), Ray Porter, Edoardo Ballerina, Christian Baskous, David Chandler, Lorelei King and the late Rene Auberjonois.
One of my professors recently published his own translation of Beowulf that, from what Iāve heard, has gotten some good reviews. Iāve still never read any version of the story.
I can find a link if youāre interested but if you have a favorite version or just plain donāt care to check it out, thatās fine. Just thought Iād do the guy a favor with some publicity, haha.
When I was younger I read a lot of fiction, Saul Bellow was (and still is) a favorite.
I went through an Ayn Rand phase and still prefer The Fountainhead over Atlas Shrugged.
Someone mentioned The Old Man and the Sea. When I was wrangling Spec Ed I read short stories by Hemingway to my students. They liked Hemingway. I am not sure Hemingway is as well read currently. Too masculine.
Though a very good movie, A River Runs Through It is more than a directive on fly fishing. It is one of the great novellas. My students would sit and listen. Even the hard asses were sniffling at the end.
One book that changed my view concerning the religion of my younger years was Jesus of Nazareth by Benedict XVI.
I have to travel now. Have a good weekend.
