Oy, do I have to lock a Books topic?
Lock us? Ooh - I hope not - though any sensible regime burns books, almost as a first order of business, because they be dangerous things! LOL! I can see the headlines: "A2kers injured in library brawl" - "She hit me with the UNEDITED version of Gibbons' "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire!" - "Well, he hit me first with the collected works of Barbara Cartland, and everyone knows they don't even BELONG in a library!" "I shall deploy the complete Oxford English Dictionary if you do not surrender..."
Oh dear - don't mind me, it is early on another working day...sigh...
Dlowan, it says a lot about you that you consider burning books to be a sensible policy.
steissd, do you still have the "recognizing irony" curriculum to lend to ol' Larry, here?
Larry - thank you so much! I had a very bleeeeeh day at work and to arrive home to find your comment about me and burning books has made me laugh so loudly and long that the cats came running, and the neighbours may soon follow!
Please - keep 'em coming!
Shall we start an "Irony 101" course here? We have a numbe rof potentially wonderful teachers...
Please let's not make this the Larry Richette forum. He uses literature as a weapon to put other people down, and hasn't changed a bit since the Abuzz days. Such a great question, don't let's kill it by dueling with him.
I also love literature second only to music, and read a great deal. I don't know where to start in discussing which writers I love most.
Just start at the very beginning, Dream - although the actual topic was about different manners of discussing the said literature - it may, indeed, be time to move it on.
Does anyone recall the thread about reading 'great books'? We couldn't really come to an agreement on what those 'great books' were. I suspect 'literature' is much the same. I'm pretty sure that the group gathered here loves to read, loves 'great books' and loves 'literature'. (that's why we were tempted by the title of the thread). We can all provide references proving that our definition of literature is THE proper definition. I think we need to try to accept that our own definition is not everyone else's (i'm not suggesting that part is easy).
Maybe we'd be best off trying to identify an author, group of author, or style of writing that some of us would like to discuss. Some of us will think that the particular selection is literature, others will disagree.
ehBeth, have you checked in on this topic?
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4272&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
It started as a specific question about Virginia Woolf, but has become about literature in general, also.
No reason not to have two discussions on that topic -- it's a large one, to be sure -- but wanted to point you in that direction if you hadn't seen it yet.
Another ad hominem attack from Dream...it's a good thing I have a thick skin or I'd resent all these personal assaults. It's especially funny coming from Dream, who says he "doesn't know where to start" discussing literature but certainly isn'y shy about slandering me.
I see Dream is a female, not a male. My apologies to Dream for getting your gender wrong. But you are still a shoot-from-the-lip idiot.
I didn't hear anything -- slander is oral, libel is written. I see nothing libelous in Dream's statement and I do wish everyone would try using less deleterious manners on these boards.
Les deleterious manners would be good, too.
Lightwizard, ever since I started this thread I have been bashed, trashed, and yes libeled by all and sundry who have posted here. Now I am a big boy and I can take it--but let's not pretend that nasty comments are not nasty or that people like dream are not out to hurt me when they so clearly are. If the comments were directed at you, Lightwizard, I guarantee you they would read quite differently. You would not enjoy being trashed either.
I said, Larry, that you use literature to put other people down, I didn't call you a shoot from the hip idiot. Questioning people's taste and intelligence with negative remarks isn't what one would expect from a person as gifted and erudite as you. You go into such rages over people's seeming lack of brains. That"s a bad habit, Larry Richette.
I agree that it's a bad habit, Dream. I will work on correcting it in the future. I do appreciate the compliments you extended to me in your post.
The first good novel I read was Jane Eyre, when I was about 10. After that, I found Dickens, then Dostoesvky. I was entranced bythem, though not completely understanding what I read. I've been coming home with loads of books from the library almost every week ever since. I've read all of Jane Austen George Eliot, Thackeray, Trollope, just to start. Then I discovered the books of Sigrid Undset, and the whodunits of Dorothy Sayers, who got me started on high-quality mysteries. Those were the authors I read when in my 20's, though not all.
I've gotten recommendations on wonderful writers from Abuzz, friends, and now Able2know. I keep hoping for the new immortals to come along, and read mostly authors who are publishing now. Currently some of my favorites are Iain Pears and Elizabeth Berg. I'm always very happy for new recommendations, so I keep a notebook by the computer just in case.
i have mentioned on occassion the "The Dwarf" by Par Lagerqvist and although it is foreign it did win Lagerqvist the Nobel for literature. it is on my top 10 list of great modern literature and would like to hear what others may think.
