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Author Topic: Since there is now a book category  (Read 10518 times)

bigbearomaha

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Since there is now a book category
« on: September 08, 2010, 12:41:10 am »
I would like to ask of peoples favorite book.

At this point,  I would say it is the "Complete Collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories and Poems"

in particular, my favorite poem from it being "Ulalume": (If you check around the internet, you might be able to find an mp3 copy of this poem as hauntingly read by Jeff Buckley)

Quote
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere -
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year:
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir -
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through and alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul -
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll -
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole -
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere -
Our memories were treacherous and sere, -
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!) -
We noted not the dim lake of Auber
(Though once we had journeyed down here) -
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn -
As the star-dials hinted of morn -
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn -
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.

And I said: "She is warmer than Dian;
She rolls through an ether of sighs -
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies -
To the Lethean peace of the skies -
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes -
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said: "Sadly this star I mistrust -
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:
Ah, hasten! -ah, let us not linger!
Ah, fly! -let us fly! -for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust -
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust -
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied: "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendour is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty tonight! -
See! -it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright -
We safely may trust to a gleaming,
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom -
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb -
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said: "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied: "Ulalume -Ulalume -
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere -
As the leaves that were withering and sere;
And I cried: "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed -I journeyed down here! -
That I brought a dread burden down here -
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon hath tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber -
This misty mid region of Weir -
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."
« Last Edit: September 09, 2010, 03:43:40 pm by bigbearomaha »

Offline tecumseh

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2010, 08:24:53 am »
oh the list would be seriously long...

various categories of favorite would be necessary..

as far as serious books that have changed how I look at the world three come to mind..

'you shall be as god'  (Alan Watts I think)
Betrand Russell 'A History of Western Philisophy'
and Eric Hoffer's 'The True Believer' (as well as just about anything else he wrote).
I am 'the panther that passes in the night'... tecumseh.

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2010, 10:24:22 am »
this is as hard as your horror movie question.  i couldn't answer that one because there are so many i love.  the more B the better.  book are the same (except the B part).  i read constantly and there are so many that i have loved over the years. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

bigbearomaha

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2010, 12:48:16 pm »
I know, it's hard for me too kathy.  That's why  I am more prone to discuss what is standing out to my attention at a given point in time for me.  There is so much to choose from after you have read so many.  

That's also why I like to ask these questions.  To get people to really think about what strikes them.

I also happen to be a huge fan of the "Sword Of Truth" books by Terry Goodkind

One of my all time  favorite technical books is "Linux Street Smarts" by Roderick W Smith.  "Linux Server Cookbook" by Carla Schroeder is one of my newest favorites.

in terms of beekeeping, "Beekeeping For All" by Abbe Warre and "Advanced Bee Culture" by W.Z. Hutchinson are in my top favorites as well.

a Lee Martinez has numerous books in recent history that  I find all of them to be about equal in terms of favorites"In The Company of Ogres" and "Monster" coming to mind first.

yes, it is very hard to pick and choose.

Big Bear

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2010, 01:07:10 pm »
Quote
I also happen to be a huge fan of the "Sword Of Truth" books by Terry Goodkind

me too.  also, Wheel Of Time series.  i was so disappointed that Robert Jordan died before finishing the last book.  guess his son is going to take a crack at it because the outline and much of the story was done before Jordan died.  also a movie in the works for next year.

i also like history.  when i start on a subject i like to start with stuff that was written at the time of the events and move forward to current writings.  it's amazing how perceptions change over time....and how the basic story can get screwed up over time.

right now i'm doing Shackleton's South not to far into it, but it's interesting.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2010, 07:05:52 pm »
wait......i have thought of one.  it's ONE of my favorites because the message endures.  Lord of The Flies  every once in a while, when i see society behaving badly, i am reminded that bad behavior is the natural state of man. reading that book was the first time i really thought about it.

Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2010, 02:12:29 am »
I've had a favorite book for a long time - called LIGHTENING by Dean R. Kootz - about a Nazi who while testing a time machine Hitler was having build, a soldier goes into the future, meets a paralyzed woman selling her life story in novel form. He finds out the Dr. delivering her was drunk causing her handicap.

He uses the time machine to go back, restrain the Dr., another one delivers her and she is born healthy. He shows up many times through her life at important times to make things right for her.You meet Hitler, Churchill and others as he bounces around time. As are all Koontz books, Lightening is a LOVE STORY with some supernatural like stuff.

His best points are how the paradoxes that occur during this story.

An interesting second is Swan Song by Robert McCammon - read about this one on the web. Very epic in scale like The Stand.

Last of my top three was a whacked out book called SHROOMS - about everything living gets effected by this mutant spore from some mushrooms - the world is covered with mushrooms and they are deadly, and for the major part of the book, you are traveling in a tank with some interesting characters.

BUT STILL - LIGHTNING is NUMBER ONE in MY BOOK CLUB!!!

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Offline beemaster

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Re: Since there is no book category
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2010, 11:18:57 am »
Good IDEA about the BOOK FORUM - I'll add Books and Audiobooks forums to the coffee house. I like that.

See, you could have suggested that  :brian:
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bigbearomaha

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2010, 03:43:25 pm »
 I just figured  I would take the initiative and start talking.  lol.

See,  I changed my subject line to reflect new happenings.

Big Bear

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2010, 04:37:29 pm »
Much better title - TY :) I listened to the Jeff Buckley youtube , very cool his rhythm, nicely done. Ever incisive production he did.

I was talking about lightening and Swan Song - has anyone read either or both???
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bigbearomaha

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2010, 08:08:33 pm »
 I am a fan of Dean Koontz, particularly the Frankenstein series, the Christopher Snow series and the Odd Thomas series.

I haven't read "Lightening" yet, but  I know of it.  It's on my "to get to" list.

Hadn't heard of the other till now..

Big Bear

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2010, 09:24:25 pm »
bigbear, i think you and i have the same reading list.

i am working through some of the David Baldacci books i had missed.  i'm on the 4th King and Maxwell book.  i have also gone back to the op-center series by Ton Clancy.  for some reason, it didn't grab me the first time around.

i have a bath book, and two recorded books going right now. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline bud1

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2010, 10:58:04 am »
now Miss Kathy you know by now I am kinda slow, but what is a bath book?
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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2010, 12:48:02 pm »
bud, you  know darn well what a bath book is!  :evil:

it's that book, usually a paperback, that i read while i soak in the tub.  it can't be a library book because i wouldn't want to drop one of those in the water.  it shouldn't be a hard cover because they are heavy. 

buying bath books is my main reason for going to goodwill...that, and i won't pay 40 dollars for a pair of new jeans  :-D
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Geoff

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2010, 07:34:54 pm »
I'll help you out here Bud. I know what a book is but whats a bath. Must be some thing you have in the northern hemisphere.
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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2010, 07:48:09 pm »
Geoff:

Doesn't the water just lay on the ceiling when you run it in the Southern Hemisphere? We never covered "life" on the upside-down part of the world  :-D

Everyone:

I want to let out a secret (of sorts) and that is Uncle Bud, that Giant Bear of a man reads mostly fantasy books - his collections of dragons, dwarfs, ogres and pixies has left the printed page and gone digital  :-P of course, I must be honest, sci-fi/fantasy is some of the hardest reading you can do - galactic battles with infinite characters is mind boggling reading to me. Takes a college man like Bud to put this reading in its place!
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #16 on: September 11, 2010, 07:51:47 pm »
maybe that's why bud and i get along so well.  it's my favorite category of reading and if i could pick only one channel to keep on TV, i'd be hard pressed to pick between the syfi channel and the history channel   :evil:

you know....the two are connected.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

bigbearomaha

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #17 on: September 11, 2010, 08:05:05 pm »
Just a note on my favorite author, Mr. Edgar Allen Poe, was credited with writing the first modern "science fiction" story.  He also is noted as the contributor of the modern detective story.

And to think people hear his name and can only think of "the raven" 


tsk tsk tsk

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Offline hjon71

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Re: Since there is now a book category
« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2013, 05:58:58 pm »
War is a Racket by Smedley Butler

Short, Easy to read, and Straight to the point. Exactly what you would expect from a military man.

I have several others that I really enjoy:
The Screwtape Letters - most of C.S.Lewis' other works
Civil Disobedience

I better stop, this could get quite long...
Quite difficult matters can be explained even to a slow-witted man, if only he has not already adopted a wrong opinion about them; but the simplest things cannot be made clear even to a very intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he already knows, and knows indubitably, the truth of the matter under consideration. -Leo Tolstoy