[quote]hoosegow wrote:
Is Ray Bradbury new?[/quote]
Ray Bradbury is one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time (Isaac Asimov as well). Most definitely a classic and pioneer in the genre.
I just read Aftermath by Ben Bova who has been around for decades and heavily influenced by Bradbury.
Say what you will(and I cant be leave no one has said it yet) but Angels & Demons and the Da Vinci Code were great GREAT books! I resisted reading them at first b/c I was like “they can be that good just b/c every one says they are.”
I wish I would have read them sooner so I could have read them again sooner. DA Vinci got all the publicity but I think Angels & Demons is the better book. Say what you want to about them, they may be in the nonfiction section but they are rooted in fiction.
“The Metamorphosis” Franz Kafka
“The Alchemist”- Paulo Coelho
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
EmilyQ wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
EmilyQ wrote:
It’s funny to think of a bunch of T-Nation guys carrying around my book. It’ll probably have something like lavender flowers on a pale green background for a cover. Maybe I’ll tell my publisher, if I ever get one, that I think I can sell more copies if they put a gratuitous fighter jet on the cover. And maybe a sword.
You need Fabio on the cover.
Fabio? Yikes. I dunno. I sort of shudder with revulsion when I see him. But you think the T-Nation demographic mostly finds him appealing? I’ll consider it. Maybe I can stick him in a fighter jet, holding some lavender flowers and a puppy. That should pull just about everyone in.
Then use Iron Dwarf as your model. He can even draw the cover himself![/quote]
Heheheh! I just saw this… 5 months later! LOL
Thanks Zap!
Yeah EQ… I’d love to do the cover! PM me if you’re interested in seeing some of my stuff.
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
[/quote]
See I read Ender’s Shadow before I read Ender’s Game. I infinitely prefer Ender’s Shadow (still rather liked Ender’s Game). Ender’s Shadow is a book I can keep reading over and over again.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
My only problem with All the Pretty Horses was he used a 16 year old as his main character. I doubt there’s a 16 year old who ever lived who acted as seasoned as this one and who was capable of enduring so much. It just doesn’t wash, IMO. I did like the book a lot though.[/quote]
Loved the Border Trilogy (All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing and Cities of the Plain). Those three books are IMO true American classics. With regards to a sixteen year old being capable of enduring so much, all I can say is - different time and different place. Best example I can give is all of the teens that went to war during WWII and kicked ass. Sixty years ago, I bet kids like John Grady Cole were not uncommon. Sadly, kids like that are pretty much extinct today.
[quote]Natural Nate wrote:
Print is dead.[/quote]
Egon Spengler.
Annie Potts was hot as hell as their secretary.
The best books I have ever read are
Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follet
and
The Religion by Tim Willocks
I’ve never been so into books untill I read those two. I don’t know if they are classics, I just felt like sharing!
[quote]eigieinhamr wrote:
OctoberGirl wrote:
Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
See I read Ender’s Shadow before I read Ender’s Game. I infinitely prefer Ender’s Shadow (still rather liked Ender’s Game). Ender’s Shadow is a book I can keep reading over and over again.[/quote]
I’ve never read Ender’s Shadow. I will definitely pick up a copy
I also listened to “The Quickie” by James Patterson. That was an entertaining fast moving story.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Thomas Pynchon yet. Gravity’s Rainbow is one of the most complex, beautifully written novels I’ve ever read. And I know it’s been mentioned a few times, but McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is incredible.
Much like poetry, it can be read over and over again just for the aesthetic value. Say what you will about modern literature, but these two works deserve to go down as classics. DeLillo’s Underworld also deserves consideration.
[quote
I can’t get into Kerouac as much as I used to, but ‘On The Road’ is an irrefutable classic if for no other reason than its impact. Besides, I’ll always recall fondly that ‘buzz’ it gave me when I was 19 and full of the same energy and ambition and hunger and questions that Sal and Dean seemed to be.
Even if I misunderstood the book, it still got me HIGH in a way few books have done since.
[/quote]
This perfectly summed up my feelings. When I was seventeen and first discovering Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bukowski, Fante, etc., “On The Road” blew my mind and helped usher in my bohemian years.
To go back and read it now confirms its “classic” status, but it finds less traction in my older, wiser point of view.
The only “newer” book I’ve read that I would call an instant classic is “The Kite Runner”. The film was a decent adaptation.
Although his popularity has held at a fever pitch for some 30 years now, I still don’t believe Bukowski has yet earned “classic” status among the general public. If for no other reason, the influence he exerted over subsequent generations of writers earns him a high level of regard.
[quote]Natural Nate wrote:
This isn’t quite modern-classic literature, but I truly think it bridges the gap:
Hannibal -Thomas Harris[/quote]
Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I couldnt disagree more. Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were both excellent, but reading Hannibal felt like reading the rough draft of a screen play. I think if you’re alone in a quiet place at night with that book and you hold it up to your ear you can still hear the thoguhts going through Harris’ head as he wrote that pile of trash - “ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching!” 
I know I’ve already mentioned him, but if you haven’t read Guy Gavriel Kay folks should really give him a try.
[quote]leon79 wrote:
The only “newer” book I’ve read that I would call an instant classic is “The Kite Runner”. The film was a decent adaptation.
[/quote]
Seconded.
Anyone read “The Corrections?” I think it came out in 02. No idea if it will still be being read in 100 years, but i think it’s awesome. it’s by Jonathan Franzen by the way
The Kite Runner, I haven’t read all the posts. But the book made me hate the Author for almost the entire book
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Dave Eggers. Funny, tragic, unpredictable. If you can get past the first chapter, the book is amazing.
Holy The Firm. Annie Dillard. This is a strange, short book, and it makes no sense if you don’t know who Julian of Norwich was. But, if you can put it all together, this is a fantastic book. I had to read it about 10 times through (my copy was only 74 pages long) before I actually got the point.
OG:
Try Umberto Eco.
[quote]frankcaribe wrote:
OG:
Try Umberto Eco.[/quote]
what was that movie they made of his book? Brotherhood of the Rose or something?
and thanks for the suggestion