Other Genres

So, my whole life I thought classics were the only thing worth reading. Since growing up a bit, I realized that I've been missing out on the wonderful world of other genres. I've just started reading philosophy (Continental Aesthetics:Romantacism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, Sophie's World: A History of Philosophy), etc.

Literary Critisism Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag, etc.

Anthropology Guns, Germs and Steel, The Westo Indians, etc.

Botany The Omnivore's Dilemma, etc.

Biography and history and mathematics and theory and contemporary fiction and poetry.
And so many others.

How is it possible to choose what to read next? There's so much out there!

How is it possible to....?

Sometimes, you choose the only book in your collection that you haven't read.
Sometimes, the reasoning is that your favorite author is about to publish his/her ~next~ book, and you haven't even started the ~current~ book.
Sometimes, you want to reduce your TBR pile, so you grab the thinner books.
Sometimes, what you'll read next will be due to the influence of others, or as a result of something you may have just read in the newspaper.
Sometimes, you just gotta go with your gut.

Been there, done that, in all of the above scenrios.

Or sometimes you just close your eyes, reach your hand out, and grab.

:)

#1 "So, my whole life I thought classics were the only thing worth reading. "

I'm the complete antithisis of you. My whole life I've thought Classics were the one genre not worth reading, quickly followed by contemporary literature.

This I know is somewhat shortsighted, but as yo've already mentioned there is so much to choose from. What would you recommend, as the top few classics worth reading, with a plot and believable characters, who don't just sit around whinging all day?

I think most people recommend Jane Austen, but I find her very fluffy and almost obsolete.

My personal favorites are The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
which has such great underlying themes, and such full-hearted characters. It was a classic that really touched me. (Don't get discouraged in the beginning if you aren't all the way into it. I know a couple of people had to be convinced to keep going in the first chapter, but after that you can't put it down!)

East of Eden by John Steinbeck is a bit easier to read. I'm not a very religious person, but this book has such a bittersweetness to it, that it makes it believable.

I think females mostly appreciate the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, but even so, the book has such vitality and life that it should be read by everyone.

And, of course, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. This book, for me, is so aesthetically pleasing (the language is phenominal) that I would even suggest reading it out loud. There is so much to study in this book, that it could make anyone's head spin.

There are so many! These are just the ones that popped into my head right now....I could really go on forever....

What books would you recommend for me? (An almost purely-classics-reader?) :) If you want anymore please feel free to ask!

Oh, I just thought of something else that might just get you into classics....Kurt Vonnegut is always entertaining. I would suggest either Slaugtherhouse Five or Cat's Cradle to start off with. (If you haven't read him before, I wouldn't start out with Breakfast of Champions. That one could be a bit overwhelming if you don't know his style first). And, Ken Kesey is good too....One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is great.

>1 SweetbriarPoet:,2 Yes, been there, done that as well.

I jump around madly between genres all the time - you only need to look at my library to see that there's no cohesion. Books lead to other books, crazes for certain subject areas come and go (ten years ago I was reading a lot of literary criticism, these days there's a lot more history); books get washed-up on the TBR piles if they were bought on the tail-end of an enthusiasm (some day I'm going to read Diderot...); from time to time you just have to go for a bit of comfort-reading (Jane Austen, Patrick O'Brian, P.G. Wodehouse...); sometimes you want something that challenges you imaginatively (I recently discovered W.G. Sebald)...

>4 reading_fox:,5,6
It sounds to me as though you are defining "classics", SweetBriarPoet, as "anything written before last year", whilst reading_fox uses the word to mean "anything likely to have been recommended by a teacher, and therefore old enough to be boring and difficult". Or am I exaggerating? :-)

I challenge "fluffy" for Jane Austen! How do you come to that conclusion? If you had to describe her writing, I think you'd have to say "hard and spiky", surely. There's no vagueness or indecision in the writing. When her characters are indecisive, she criticises them for it. She uses words with extraordinary precision, just as Virginia Woolf does, and she knows exactly what she's doing.

All the Jane Austen I've read (and I'm no expert, surely) makes me think of contemporary literature. There seems to be something missing, some generalization that comes from her work. I know everyone else seems to find her intriguing--I just fail to see how she is so influential when she was just another popular writer of her time. The Bronte sisters have a lot more "umph" to me.

Fair enough - life would be very dull if we all liked the same things! To be honest, I didn't really appreciate Austen when I was younger.

What appeals to me (apart from the sheer escapism) is the precision and economy with which she tells the story. The way a little touch of irony can expose a character's motivation completely. The way she hardly ever needs to describe people or places explicitly: we know all we need to from what they say and do.

I've not read much by her contemporaries - a bit of Scott, Mary Shelley, a few excerpts from people like Fanny Burney, perhaps - but I haven't read anything that comes close. She's got more in common with earlier writers like Fielding, really, I'd have thought.

Do you think the Brontës would have had so much oomph if they hadn't had Jane Austen to read when they were little? :-)

Sorry to go on like this - there are plenty of Janeite threads out there where I could be preaching to the converted...

:) I don't mind at all a little discussion. Besides, just because I don't find her work as inspiring as others, doesn't mean I don't appreciate her as an author. I understand what you are saying about the Bronte sisters, but a lot of their writing comes from the experiences they had as children: something which puts so much personality and personal history into the work.

(I don't like Mary Shelley either...not a surprise....) Those qualities you mentioned I find much more readable in Henry James. I couldn't really say why I like him, but not Austen (if you notice, sometimes their style is similiar): I must have had a personal vendetta against her in a previous life! ;)

Anyway, maybe I should just read more of her work. I gave up on her after a second novel I read and analyzed. Perhaps I've put her off too quickly....Like I said, this group is for trying new things...maybe it's also for going back over the old!

That reminds me about a story I was writing about a secret agent who reads a Jane Austen book to escape his daily, exciting and deadly grind...

Anyway, I'm actually willing to try Romance and Sci-Fi as genres. Dare I even try Jasper Fyord or whatever his name is who writes the Thursday Next books?

See, SweetbriarPoet, your definition of 'Classics' is not my definition of 'Classics' so it is hard to see what you originally excluded?

How do I choose what book to read next?
I actually devised a personal information management system to sort through my books, and what order I read them in. But explaining it would take FOREVER. It's something like this: http://lilbrattyteen.blogspot.com/2007/08/revised-description-of-book-system.htm...
But it has evolved since I posted that.

Usually I use:
-lists of recommended reading at the end of a book
-books discussed in a book
-other books by the author
-librarything recommendations
-find online reviews of the book and see if those reviews discuss other books (this is also a good way to get some thoughts from the book)
-for NF, find the tag on LT and look at good books from that tag

Or just browse.

Hola,

At the end of a year, I look back over what I've read and get a general idea of how much fiction/non-fiction/poetry
is in the mix. Then I decide (very loosely) what I'd like to read in the new year. I put down titles and ideas (ie, a book on architecture, a children's book, a romance genre novel). The reading plan for the new year is not fixed--I can veer off on tangents as I please, or go deeper into one area or author.

To me, reading is the diet of the mind and I try to strike a balance.