Good Books.... Well, there are a few.

[drssg]

I've been trying to read some of the classics, as well as revisit some which I've already perused. Moby Dick is lying around someplace where I set it down about 4 years ago... I've read that one before but man that's some dry reading. Tom Sawyer was a lot better, and shows the attitudes of people in Samuel Clemens' day. A few weeks ago I picked up "the Hunchback of Notre Dame" and started that; it may end up in the pile with Moby Dick. I was actually in the used book store looking for "Les Miserables", which I read years ago in 9th grade English class.

I've had mixed results with the classics. The one that sticks in my mind was Pride and Prejudice. I know it must be good, but OMG, that was the most boring thing I ever read. I kept thinking something is going to happen, and I finished it on principal.

I enjoyed Crime and Punishment, The Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island, Cat's Cradle, The Secret Garden, The Red Badge of Courage, and Oliver Twist.

I like that they are all available for free download from my local library, the Kindle app, and other internet sites.

 

[deserteagle71]

Just finished re-reading "Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. Read it the first time some 60 years ago - it was required reading in high school. Enjoyed it much more this time around. Some of the same elements re race relations are just as relevant now as they were when the book was first published.

 

[Oaktree]

I've been trying to read some of the classics, as well as revisit some which I've already perused. Moby Dick is lying around someplace where I set it down about 4 years ago... I've read that one before but man that's some dry reading. Tom Sawyer was a lot better, and shows the attitudes of people in Samuel Clemens' day. A few weeks ago I picked up "the Hunchback of Notre Dame" and started that; it may end up in the pile with Moby Dick. I was actually in the used book store looking for "Les Miserables", which I read years ago in 9th grade English class.

I've tried, but I just can't get into most of those books, or "classics" in general. Even in high school when some were required reading, I found many of them to be a real slog to get thru.

I would like to keep my physical books, but usually read on this now... kindle...I would at least like to be able to get the digital versions for my library. Unlike to re-read every few years.

I prefer "real" books myself. Reading an e-book just isn't the same, and I really don't want to have to buy another electronic gizmo to be able to read them. One of the things about reading that I enjoy the most is the lack of technology needed to do it.
I've got a few shelves of books I'd likely read again, though I've weeded out a lot over the years. I rarely buy books new, usually get them at the swap table at the dump or at flea markets.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I've had mixed results with the classics. The one that sticks in my mind was Pride and Prejudice. I know it must be good, but OMG, that was the most boring thing I ever read. I kept thinking something is going to happen, and I finished it on principal.

I enjoyed Crime and Punishment, The Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island, Cat's Cradle, The Secret Garden, The Red Badge of Courage, and Oliver Twist.

I like that they are all available for free download from my local library, the Kindle app, and other internet sites.

I'm with you. I doubt the kids read the classics any more, and that's a shame. I've read Moby Dick, Two Years before the Mast; Treasure Island, Red Badge of Courage...and The Foxes of Harrow! I enjoyed The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Whistling Death and Reach for the Sky...A Canticle for Leibowitz and Death World. I even read "I Robot" many years ago, and found it much better than the movie.

 

[BackRoad]

So a rabbit to chase:
With the Bible in a catagory of its own...

If you had one book to choose as your favorite, what would be? And what is #2 if you are struggling with deciding between two?

Any all time favorites?

 

[mrmikey]

If you had one book to choose as your favorite, what would be?

Sorry, not what you asked but I couldn't stop reading the Outlander series. 8 books so far and I couldn't stop, ....well I could but didn't want to . I watched the series also, very well done and acted.

I prefer "real" books myself. Reading an e-book just isn't the same, and I really don't want to have to buy another electronic gizmo to be able to read them. One of the things about reading that I enjoy the most is the lack of technology needed to do i

I know where you're coming from but I like the fact that I can carry multiple books with me. Not that I read more than one at a time but if I'm out waiting for something I can start another should I finish one or if I find I don't like it start another. Funny, I still to this day if I'm totally immersed in a book, will go to turn the page by actually trying to flip the paper page that isn't there.
Also I can enlarge the font and increase the spacing which makes it easier to read, try doing that with paper .
They're easier to carry as in they'll fit in a jacked pocket ( I guess an actual book will too come to think of it LOL).
To each his/her own, I fault no one for their method...............Mike

 

[Jstpssng]

I know where you're coming from but I like the fact that I can carry multiple books with me. Not that I read more than one at a time but if I'm out waiting for something I can start another should I finish one or if I find I don't like it start another.

I do the same, but don't seem to have a problem keeping more than one book around. Idon't see myself going electronic; there's just something about holding a book. It's not uncommon for me to have one started in my pickup with 2 more on the seat, another going in the house, and maybe a collection of short stories in the bathroom. There's a used bookstore I go to which has a wide selection of both old and new; I make sure when I go in there I only have about $20, and usually pick up 5 paperbacks.

I started reading "The Federalist Papers" about 5 years ago... that was a book which I just couldn't pick up.

 

[deserteagle71]

Sorry, not what you asked but I couldn't stop reading the Outlander series. 8 books so far and I couldn't stop, ....well I could but didn't want to . I watched the series also, very well done and acted.


I know where you're coming from but I like the fact that I can carry multiple books with me. Not that I read more than one at a time but if I'm out waiting for something I can start another should I finish one or if I find I don't like it start another. Funny, I still to this day if I'm totally immersed in a book, will go to turn the page by actually trying to flip the paper page that isn't there.
Also I can enlarge the font and increase the spacing which makes it easier to read, try doing that with paper .
They're easier to carry as in they'll fit in a jacked pocket ( I guess an actual book will too come to think of it LOL).
To each his/her own, I fault no one for their method...............Mike

I went to a Kindle for one main reason. A lot of my reading is done while camping out in the middle of nowhere - especially at this time of year, darkness comes pretty early so there's a lot of hours to kill before it is daylight again. So I read during the dark hours. To read an actual book at night, I need a light. Which, in camp, attracts every moth within a hundred miles. The Kindle I can set so the page (background) is black but the printing is white, which gives off hardly any light and does not attract all the bugs. Even when reading inside my camper it is nice to not have a light on, destroying my night vision.

And yes, it is nice to have a selection of hundreds of books on hand, depending on what I feel like reading.

 

[deserteagle71]

There's a used bookstore I go to which has a wide selection of both old and new; I make sure when I go in there I only have about $20, and usually pick up 5 paperbacks.

This ^ has been one of my problems in the last few years. Used to have several book stores in the area. ALL are gone now. So if I want an actual book to read I have to order it on line...and the on-line prices are far higher than I used to see in the used book stores.

 

[Jstpssng]

One downside of buying books vs reading electronically is "What do I do with them afterwards??" Some I keep, but only have so much space.
Years ago I was big into sci-fi. When I got past that phase I donated over 100 books to the local library. We had a book exchange at work for a few years but after a while everybody just brought in books which they couldn't get rid of.
I do get rid of some at the used book store, and still manage to give some away.

Years ago I read a few of these old books, THE BOY ALLIES OF THE ARMY SERIES BY ROBERT DRAKE
and have since been reading more online. They're geared for younger guys, but sometimes I just need something to read.