Cool.
What do you think are some of the 10 best books of all time?
I would be hard pressed to list the ten greatest books ever written although there would have to be a Dostoevsky, not necessarily C and P, on my list. I'd range further afield chronologically and include more ancient literature, Greek tragedy especially. I'd also substitute Rabelais whom I love for cervantes whom everyone else loves. From the 20th century, I'd take Proust over Joyce any day. But that's just my idiosyncratic taste.
Also, to list the 10 greatest books of all time you really need to include some Shakespeare--and that sets up the devilishly difficult task of choosing WHICH Shakespeare. Personally I would opt for KING LEAR or MACBETH as the mountaintops. Others would no doubt say HAMLET. Probbaly the safest choice would be a collection of ALL Shakespeare's Tragedies as one "book."
For those of you who have followed the running tussle between plainoldme and myself, I should tell you all that I have made her a good-faith offer: I will apologize for my misbehavior if she will apologize for hers. Now let's see if she is woman enough to accept.
Just to show my largeness of spirit and what a gentleman I am, I extend an apology now to plainoldme even before she has apologized to me. I hope this clears the air and I hope she reciprocates. Of course, if she doesn't, that will tell us all about what kind of person SHE is.
Larry, agree with the Shakepeare and maybe Herodotus as well.
The silence from plainoldme is deafening. Apparently she doesn't even have the class to accept my apology, let alone the generosity of spirit to offer one of her own. I'm disappointed but not surprised. Anyone who could carry on the way she has on this discussion is clearly capable of anything except decency.
Hatfields and McCoys.....
Lots of folks do very well at displaying their own level of class on web forums. Sometimes, "Nothing" is the classiest retort.
Deb,
I have searched my literature database and can not come up with an author for Hatfields and McCoys, which I assume is your title submission for one of the top 10 books of all time.
From the two names I would hazard a guess that the plotline is somewhere between Star Trek and hence science fiction, taking the McCoys reference (Bones in Star Trek first version) and a history of Millinery in the countryside. So the best guess for author would be Isaac Hatsimoff, to date I have been unable to find references to such an author. Can you let me have his details as I am always keen to expand my reading range.
Timberlandko, I don't know about you, but where I come from, when somebody apologizes, it is only common courtesy to acknowledge the aplology and say "I accet your apology." I wish you would refrain from stirring the pot.
Larry Ritchette-The last time that I looked, this thread was about writing, not personal issues. Personal difficulties are to be worked out PERSONALLY, by PM, and not on the threads. If this continues, I will be obliged to lock this thread.
The Hatfields and McCoys were, in a way, the Greeks and Trojans of American mythology. Their family feud is certainly legendary to this day. I'm surprised taht anyone who grew up in the USA wouldn't at least have heard a passing reference to them. It's a pity that some good writer never immortalized their feud in an epic poem, a play, or a novel (so far as I know) the way Homer and Vergil did the Trojan war.
Hiama--you like Herodotus. I love him too, but I would have to say I love Thucydides just a little bit more. He doesn't have the entertainment value, but he gives you a picture of Athens and Sparta at war which remains the definitive study of rival empires on the march of folly with lessons as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. Thucydides is the great teacher of politics, statecraft, and strategy. Herodotus, known as the Father of History, was also dubbed the "father of Lies", which may be why he is more amusing.
Hiama - heehee - you were kidding, right? You know what my dry little comment was about?
Debs,
Of course, need you ask, I thought a spoonful of sugar would help the medicine go down, the medicine go down
Larry,
I think that the fact that Herodotus was such a good story teller is for me what makes him at once accessible and so very enjoyable, I personally find Thucydides, although quite a brilliant scholar, quite dry. It has to be said that his account of the Peloponnesian War is brilliant (and OK I enjoyed it, though I would never admit it publicly)
Hiama--you just admitted it publicly. But actually Thucydides was not a scholar but a participant in the Peloponnesian war, actually a general at one point. That is what makes his history so unique. It is a chronicle of events by someone who lived through them and understood them profoundly. I grant you, Herodotus is more fun to read, but also less meaty.
Thanks for the heads up Larry.
:wink: 
