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Thread: [Books] Again I come to you for suggestions

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    ))) joke, relax ;) coqauvin's Avatar
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    Default [Books] Again I come to you for suggestions

    My independant study assignment is to pick an era of literature (Lost Generation, Dark Romantic, Post Modernist, Augustine, etc.) and a book from that era. From there, my final essay is to write about the era, about the author and their influence in (or how they were influenced by) the era and how that book fits into the era in question. All of this is to give the novel context, but because the range that I can choose from is so large, I don't know exactly where to start.

    Ok, I kind of do. I want to pick an interesting author. I've been recommended Jonathan Swift (so probably Gulliver's Travels), but I've also considered Joseph Heller, Daniel Keyes, Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon.

    Do you guys have any suggestions on good authors, or good books in particular to do for this assignment?

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    Senior Member Syme's Avatar
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    Joseph Heller and especially Kurt Vonnegut are kind of snarky bitches who I found somewhat irritating to read (although setting that aside, Heller especially produces some damn good prose). I really can't recommend Thomas Pynchon highly enough.

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    Superfly Pepsi's Avatar
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    Herman Melville or Voltaire.
    I hear the voices inside my head. They counsel me. They understand. They talk to me.

    Quote Originally Posted by djwolford View Post
    You know, when Tidus points out that you have failed at internetting, it's probably time to go ahead and off yourself.
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    pepsi reserves the right to tell cryptic to get out at any time

    it's in the CD charter

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    Senior Member piranhas's Avatar
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    Dan Brown.

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    ))) joke, relax ;) coqauvin's Avatar
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    Herman Melville was listed, and I'm marginally interested.

    So far, my thumbs-up are pointed at: Flowers for Algernon, Catch-22, and Gulliver's Travels.

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    Senior Member Syme's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coqauvin
    Flowers for Algernon
    Uhh, isn't this about 20 pages long? I remember reading it in like 9th grade, I think it's a short story.

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    ))) joke, relax ;) coqauvin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Syme View Post
    Uhh, isn't this about 20 pages long? I remember reading it in like 9th grade, I think it's a short story.
    No, it's a 150-200 page (don't quote me i don't remember) novel written in the format of journal entries from a mentally retarded person who undergoes an operation that brings him up to Mr. E levels of intelligence. It chronicles his life paralleled by a mouse named Algernon, who was the test rat of the procedure, his coming of age and going back through all the events in his life before regressing back to what he was before the operation.

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    Senior Member Syme's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coqauvin View Post
    No, it's a 150-200 page (don't quote me i don't remember) novel written in the format of journal entries from a mentally retarded person who undergoes an operation that brings him up to Mr. E levels of intelligence. It chronicles his life paralleled by a mouse named Algernon, who was the test rat of the procedure, his coming of age and going back through all the events in his life before regressing back to what he was before the operation.
    Yep, that's the plot I remember... except I swear it took up no more than about 15-20 pages in my 9th grade lit compilation.

    EDIT: Okay apparently it started out as a short story and he later expanded it into a novel. Mystery solved.
    Last edited by Syme; 02-19-2010 at 11:15 AM.

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    Superfly Pepsi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coqauvin View Post
    Herman Melville was listed, and I'm marginally interested.

    So far, my thumbs-up are pointed at: Flowers for Algernon, Catch-22, and Gulliver's Travels.
    Billy Budd is a pretty interesting read. I just read it last week.
    I hear the voices inside my head. They counsel me. They understand. They talk to me.

    Quote Originally Posted by djwolford View Post
    You know, when Tidus points out that you have failed at internetting, it's probably time to go ahead and off yourself.
    Quote Originally Posted by gwahir View Post
    pepsi reserves the right to tell cryptic to get out at any time

    it's in the CD charter

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    λεγιων ονομα μοι sycld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Syme View Post
    Joseph Heller and especially Kurt Vonnegut are kind of snarky bitches who I found somewhat irritating to read (although setting that aside, Heller especially produces some damn good prose).
    Oh my God.

    I'm not the only one who thinks this.

    I think I'm going to cry.

    I would hug you.


    PANDAS
    If you don't like them, then get the fuck out.

    Quote Originally Posted by Think View Post
    Atheists are quite right

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    feel like funkin' it up gwahir's Avatar
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    gay

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    λεγιων ονομα μοι sycld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gwahir View Post
    gay
    I would cup your balls and suck your penis.


    PANDAS
    If you don't like them, then get the fuck out.

    Quote Originally Posted by Think View Post
    Atheists are quite right

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    ))) joke, relax ;) coqauvin's Avatar
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    aaaaand sycld tosses another gasoline-soaked log on the raging bonfire that is how much we know he is gay

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    λεγιων ονομα μοι sycld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coqauvin View Post
    aaaaand sycld tosses another gasoline-soaked log on the raging bonfire that is how much we know he is gay
    Hey now... I was just reacting to gwahir's comment.

    The e-hug I gave Syme was given in a purely fraternal spirit, I swear


    PANDAS
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    Quote Originally Posted by Think View Post
    Atheists are quite right

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    feel like funkin' it up gwahir's Avatar
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    in sycld's defense i probably shouldn't have opened up a can of flames on this thread so i'm probably the bad guy here

  16. #16
    Merry fucking Christmas Atmosfear's Avatar
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    You should read Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test or another Tom Wolfe novel because Tom Wolfe is cooler than all of us.

    Bonfire of the Vanities was also excellent.

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