Favorite Living Author

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 9:16 pm

@Georgi: Lie-Brair-ee?

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 9:24 pm

Originally posted by Georgi:
Are library cards that expensive in Canada?

It helps to have a good library. The library in the town I'm in both sucks and blows.

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 9:34 pm

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn:
It helps to have a good library. The library in the town I'm in both sucks and blows.

That must be exspencive.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 9:36 pm

Originally posted by Darkpoet:

That must be exspencive.

Not for the job they do.

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 9:42 pm

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn:
Not for the job they do.

So, it would be more fun, standing in front of a automatic hand dryer then.

Mr Snow · Post by **Mr Snow** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 10:03 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans:
As a kid and teenager, I used to go to the library and borrow 20-30 books at the time, and return then a month or so later. Libraries are great!

A scurge on you too, from all the poor Librarians.
You know other young children need those books... They're not just for you, you know.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 10:13 pm

Originally posted by Mr Snow:
A scurge on you too, from all the poor Librarians.
You know other young children need those books... They're not just for you, you know.

Bah! 4 weeks are the standard time you are allowed to borrow books here!

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 10:19 pm

Originally posted by Darkpoet:

So, it would be more fun, standing in front of a automatic hand dryer then.

I wouldn't know.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 10:28 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans:
Bah! 4 weeks are the standard time you are allowed to borrow books here!

It took you four weeks to read'em? Hmm...well, when me and my parents lived in Tow, Texas, we would go to Kerrville, Texas(1½ hour away) every Wednesday for my mom's bible study. My dad would go play golf at their golf course and I would go to the library. I always had to wait an hour for the library to open, so I spent that time reading whatever book I was reading at the time. Then, when the library opened, I would go in, pick out a book, and read it during the 1½-2 hours I was in there. Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library in Kerrville, Texas is one of the best Libraries in the state. People from Houston(other side of Texas) would come to Kerrville to visit the library.

I miss that place.

Mr Snow · Post by **Mr Snow** » Mon Oct 08, 2001 10:34 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans:
Bah! 4 weeks are the standard time you are allowed to borrow books here!

I'm jealous

My last recollection was 2 weeks here

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 5:20 am

Sadly, I don't have much time for living authors...

I'm busy dealing with dead people.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 6:22 am

Posted by SS -

Then, when the library opened, I would go in, pick out a book, and read it during the 1½-2 hours I was in there.

Don't tell me....Dr Seuss? Green Eggs and Ham, or Cat in a Hat?

@C E - we get books for four weeks too

Long enough for the kids to be reciting by heart

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 8:05 am

Eco is not dead - i hope... should he be alive i nominate him.

@ CE i quite liked the movie in fact i think it was extremely well made.

As for his books I think that the name of the rose was better than Foucault's Pendulum.

Both books are of course master pieces but Foucault's Pendulum was just a bit too clever.

His 'the island of the day before' was more of a struggle than a plesure for me.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 8:18 am

Originally posted by C Elegans:
@humanflyx: re Umberto Eco, check my post on page 1. He is a professor in philosophy (semiotics - ie the knowledge about signs and symbols and their meaning and interpretation) and he writes in the "modern synthetic" style. His works are stuffed with philosophical questions, history, and references to literature, art and science. His language is absolutely great. At the same time his books are exciting and entertaining to read.

This also applies to Italo Calvino, whom I briefly mentioned above, without elaborating upon (since I was working at the time, which is what I should be doing now). Calvino was influenced by Borges, and a great friend of Eco. (Calvino and Borges were both guests of honor at a congress on fantastical literature at the University Menendez Pelayo in 1985. And yes, I kept that stupid fact in my memory.)

Like Eco, but with rather more attention to traditional methods of narration and a strong sense at times of whimsy (he was also a mathematician), Calvino produced novels and short fiction where disturbing questions of cultural relevance arch over the content.

I am especially fond of Invisible Cities, and the Castle of Crossed Destinies, both written in the early 1980s.

If you want a fine novelist's appreciation of Calvino, try this link: [url="http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/novels.html"]http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/novels.html[/url]

...But remember, there's a lot more to the man's multi-layered depth and deep, human compassion that Gore Vidal ferrets out.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 8:40 am

Originally posted by Yshania:
Don't tell me....Dr Seuss? Green Eggs and Ham, or Cat in a Hat?

Don't forget One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Actually, I read a Spider-Man novel, several Star Trek novels, the entire Star Trek TNG Starfleet Academy series, and a few physics books. I don't remember what else.

Originally posted by Yshania:
@C E - we get books for four weeks too Long enough for the kids to be reciting by heart

The library in Kerrville let us keep books for 3 weeks. All the other libraries I've been to, which have all been bad compared to Kerrville's only let you keep the books for two weeks. In Kerrville, you could also recheck out a book unlimited times while at the others, you could only recheck it out once and then you had to wait a month before you could check it out again.

EMINEM · Post by **EMINEM** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 12:19 pm

I wonder how many, or if any, of the authors we've mentioned, are destined to enter the literary canon. I guess only time will tell. Who knows if some anonymous pulp fiction writer will be studied in future University English courses rather than the ones whose works we admire.

Delacroix · Post by **Delacroix** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 1:14 pm

I Like these books( if you have time, take a look in it) :

Umberto Eco- "Diário Minimo" . [BTW I start to like the simiotic analises with one professor and friend of mine named Warat, he is awesome].

Roland Barthes- "Fragmentos de um Discurso Amoroso". Excelent book, one of my favorites. I don't know the name in english ( maybe: Fragments of a Love talk - probably I'm wrong)

BTW- I think I read this Italo Calvino once. Don't remeber the name of the book, but was about a perfect Knight(Paladin of Carlos Magno) without this body, only his armor. And another book about Italian folklore. As I remember, I don't think Italo Calvino is that good.

BTW2- I don't see anything about Umberto Eco died. For me he is alive. I'll check.

Reckon · Post by **Reckon** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 1:29 pm

Favorite Authors (Living):

David Foster Wallace
Haruki Murakami
Thomas Pynchon (if you can call that living)
Michael Moor****
Salman Rushdie

The brilliance level of these four is beyond magnitude. The best (in my opinion) are (respectively):
Infinite Jest
Wind-up bird Chronicle
Gravity's Rainbow
Von Bek series
Midnight's Children

-Reckon

IMO, Eco is very, very good, but I had issues with The Island of the Day Before. I think Rushdie writes in a similar style, but is much better at it. I just noticed that Mike M. got edited. Interesting.

[ 10-09-2001: Message edited by: Reckon ]

Happy Evil · Post by **Happy Evil** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 3:31 pm

My favorite living Arthur would be
Sir Arthur C Clark.

Nightmare · Post by **Nightmare** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:05 pm

Probably Tom Clancy. Was the Bear and the Dragon any good? Clancy has some really good books, as well as some books that put you to sleep.
The Good:
The hunt for Red October
Red Storm Rising
Clear and Present Danger
Rainbow Six

The Bad:
Executive orders (so damn SLOOOOOWWWWWW)
Cardinal of the Kremlin
Sum of all Fears (IIRC)

The Unknown:
The Bear and the Dragon
Without Remorse
Debt of Honour

No, I don't like any of the ones created by him and another author, like NetForce and Op Center.