Sit down and be counted
A few years ago, The Bob asked his friends for their favourite five books. It generated a month or so of debate/slander between pals and strangers alike, much of it regarding 'If On A Winter's Night PISS OFF PISS OFF PISS OFF'. I think Paul Auster was the top authorial dog, but it might have been Tolkein. I've been chatting with Banks about 'books to read before you die' - we both had lengthy lists but it was interesting and in the spirit of clarity I'm resurrecting the 'Top 5' challenge to ask the same of you chumps.
The good thing about commenting on the blog, rather than email, is that your Top 5s will be out in the open rather than huddled away in the sweaty recesses of The Bob's Gmail account, and he won't be able to diddle the results: I still can't believe that many people read Calvino and actually enjoyed it. So there you have it; depending on how it goes, future weeks may bring about requests for Top 5 films of the 1980s, debut records, cartoon characters, vegetable soups and Scottish bouldering venues. Who knows? Chances are we can leave it at books, which will save the hassle of proving by consensus that the answers are The Goonies, Weezer: Weezer, Wile E. Coyote, leek and potato and Applecross (when it's windy).
In no order:
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Fiesta, or The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Proud Highway/Fear And Loathing In America by Hunter S. Thompson
This really hurts. I've had to leave out Phillip Pullman and Roald Dahl; no showing for that sprawling monster House Of Leaves or the ice of The Bell Jar. I've gone with American Psycho but I was THIS close to Lunar Park. Chatwin pushed New York Trilogy out but it was a bloody fight, and scraps of paper are still drifting in the air-con like clowns in a regional Russian circus.
No Great Gatsby!
No Cloud Atlas!
No Walking On Glass!
I'm allowed two books by the Doctor because they are companion volumes of his letters - in the same vein, Lord of the Rings will count for one choice, rather than Fellowship Of The Ring, Two Towers and Return Of The King counting as three. Magazines don't count, Tim, so you're not allowed FHM for November-March. Plays and collections of poems do count. Anthologies do not count because they are a cop-out and you should be accountable, see.
The Bob: if you still have them, email me the old results and I'll add them in somewhere.
Arcade Fire Neon Bible is as mysterious and uplifting and quietly compelling as the night sky over Cornwall I can see satellites an orgasm in the right company morning sea mist on the Western lochs camping out and in the morning drinking tea with friends finding an old scrapbook where there are photos of people you love and they are not aware of the camera.
Inday and me are still bound for Ningaloo. That 'hippy' tourguide job - a seasonal vacancy - was denied me because I do not have permanent residency. Boo! And I could almost manage the 400 metres without getting twinges in my left arm. But the population of Exmouth explodes from 2,500 to 6,000 over the four month whale shark season and there will be work.
A film for Agent Blue - the Japanese movie Versus, regarded by enthusiasts as "...the only film which manages to mix swords, guns, gangsters, zombies, zombies with guns and swords, zombie gangsters with guns and swords, god-like super-beings, martial arts, assassins and police officers into one film set entirely in a forest on a timeline that spans millennia." It's crazy but beautifully shot, and it also features samurai, sniper rifles and tributes to Evil Dead.
Hot Fuzz is out over here soon, and I expect it to be funny, if slightly long... hey Banks, did Ric keep his job? We also watched Thank You For Smoking which is rather clever and tonight we're off to see Blood Diamond at the open air cinema. I like the nights over here. They are mild and pleasant after the broiling by day. I was told with some authority that should you (by which I mean me) come from a cold climate (Scotland) it takes about 18 months for your blood (my blood) to thin to the point where you are (I am) comfortable in a hot climate (Australia). I am still not sure if I'm being taken for a sucker. Professor Barndad will have the answers!
Outside, the sky is smudged with platypi, with longships and matadors, swans, dinosaurs, rockets. The sails dissolve in the sun and drift away, away.
The good thing about commenting on the blog, rather than email, is that your Top 5s will be out in the open rather than huddled away in the sweaty recesses of The Bob's Gmail account, and he won't be able to diddle the results: I still can't believe that many people read Calvino and actually enjoyed it. So there you have it; depending on how it goes, future weeks may bring about requests for Top 5 films of the 1980s, debut records, cartoon characters, vegetable soups and Scottish bouldering venues. Who knows? Chances are we can leave it at books, which will save the hassle of proving by consensus that the answers are The Goonies, Weezer: Weezer, Wile E. Coyote, leek and potato and Applecross (when it's windy).
In no order:
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Fiesta, or The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Proud Highway/Fear And Loathing In America by Hunter S. Thompson
This really hurts. I've had to leave out Phillip Pullman and Roald Dahl; no showing for that sprawling monster House Of Leaves or the ice of The Bell Jar. I've gone with American Psycho but I was THIS close to Lunar Park. Chatwin pushed New York Trilogy out but it was a bloody fight, and scraps of paper are still drifting in the air-con like clowns in a regional Russian circus.
No Great Gatsby!
No Cloud Atlas!
No Walking On Glass!
I'm allowed two books by the Doctor because they are companion volumes of his letters - in the same vein, Lord of the Rings will count for one choice, rather than Fellowship Of The Ring, Two Towers and Return Of The King counting as three. Magazines don't count, Tim, so you're not allowed FHM for November-March. Plays and collections of poems do count. Anthologies do not count because they are a cop-out and you should be accountable, see.
The Bob: if you still have them, email me the old results and I'll add them in somewhere.
Arcade Fire Neon Bible is as mysterious and uplifting and quietly compelling as the night sky over Cornwall I can see satellites an orgasm in the right company morning sea mist on the Western lochs camping out and in the morning drinking tea with friends finding an old scrapbook where there are photos of people you love and they are not aware of the camera.
Inday and me are still bound for Ningaloo. That 'hippy' tourguide job - a seasonal vacancy - was denied me because I do not have permanent residency. Boo! And I could almost manage the 400 metres without getting twinges in my left arm. But the population of Exmouth explodes from 2,500 to 6,000 over the four month whale shark season and there will be work.
A film for Agent Blue - the Japanese movie Versus, regarded by enthusiasts as "...the only film which manages to mix swords, guns, gangsters, zombies, zombies with guns and swords, zombie gangsters with guns and swords, god-like super-beings, martial arts, assassins and police officers into one film set entirely in a forest on a timeline that spans millennia." It's crazy but beautifully shot, and it also features samurai, sniper rifles and tributes to Evil Dead.
Hot Fuzz is out over here soon, and I expect it to be funny, if slightly long... hey Banks, did Ric keep his job? We also watched Thank You For Smoking which is rather clever and tonight we're off to see Blood Diamond at the open air cinema. I like the nights over here. They are mild and pleasant after the broiling by day. I was told with some authority that should you (by which I mean me) come from a cold climate (Scotland) it takes about 18 months for your blood (my blood) to thin to the point where you are (I am) comfortable in a hot climate (Australia). I am still not sure if I'm being taken for a sucker. Professor Barndad will have the answers!
Outside, the sky is smudged with platypi, with longships and matadors, swans, dinosaurs, rockets. The sails dissolve in the sun and drift away, away.
posted by real sly shady at
5:33 PM
34 Comments:
Tim won't understand most of that!
(I don't recognise much of the literature myself, before he calls me a poster again)!
Good writing tho'.
We had snow and much cold yesterday - all gone now, thank goodness.
You haven't seen ANYTHING quite so funny as Digby sitting cool on the window ledge until a miniature MC has hold of the tip of his tail - UTTER disbelief and PANIC!!! I think he thinks it's a mini Mogs back from the dead and out to get him. Do they have feline zombies?
Satanic Verses - Rushdie
House of Leaves - Danielewski
Life of Pi - Martel
Titus Groan - Peake
Groosham Grange - Horowitz
Oh dear, that's quite a darkly dominated list. Frankenstein JUST didn't make it, as with Midnight's Children and Ros and Guil. Groosham is in there because it was the reason i began writing as a child - brilliantly macabre and fiendishly witty.
I am not one to read blogs and fair enough, in all honestly, don't really know you very well so in many ways, it is very odd that I would stumble upon your site...anyway, the main reason for me posting is about the books...would just like to congratulate you on your good taste in the literary department and thought that in the vein of random bits of information on stumbled upon blogs, I have included my top 5
1. Little Women- Alcott (no it is not just because I am a girl but because it is actually a lovely little book)
2. Rebecca- Du Maurier
3. Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway (tough call between this and For Whom the Bell Tolls)
4. The Great Gatsby- Fitzgerald (had a long, difficult battle against choosing Tender is the Night)
5. Northern Lights- Pullman
if it were 10, I would choose
6. The prime of Miss Jean Brodie- Spark
7. Lucky Jim- Amis
8. Lanark- Grey
9. Cat's Eye- Atwood
10.Screwtape Letters - C.S Lewis
I imagine that the two lists are interchangable, depending which day it is.
Hope you are well
end of random blog
:-)
Hmm, interesting. I would say
1)To Kill a Mockingbird
2)Origin of Species (not a great read but still an essential book)
3)War of the Worlds
4)Picture of Dorian Gray
5)Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass
As you well know im not a big reader of literature. Ive just plucked 3 and 4 out of fond memories rather than any life changing reading experience. 1,2, and 5 should be read by everyone though.
I would also make a list of most overrated books
1)Wuthering Heights-Pish!
2)Crime and Punishment-Only 1 thing happens in the entire book.
3)The Last of the Mohicans-just not exciting
Fraid i dont know anything about "thinning of the blood" sly but sounds dubious to me. Youll probably be adjusting your thermoregulatory system so that its not on full heat (scotland setting).
I have only ever read 4 books. I didn't like one of them.
PS: Thanks for the positive reinforcement Mum. Just as well that I don't know what self-esteem issues are.
I knew you wouldn't be upset - you just don't DO books!
I'm sure that all the stuff I read would be considered trash by these intellectuals.
xx
There's been a terrible mistake. you are all incorrect:
1)The Da Vinci Code - D.Brown
2)The Mohammed Code - D.Brown
3)As the crow flies - J.Archer
4)Riders - J.Cooper
5)Jordan: A Whole New World - K.Price
anyone who disagrees with this list is an intellectual snob of the highest order.......i.e everyone except tim and his mum
Leaving aside the fact that there is no such thing as the five 'best' unless and until you have an agreed objective definition of 'best', here are the five I would take into exile on the moon with me (or indeed on a long train journey).
'Kim' - Rudyard Kipling
'Smiley's People' - John le Carre
'Lord of the Rings' - JRR Tolkein (and Simon has kindly not mentioned that Badger was taught by Tolkein)
'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson
and
'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas
but that means leaving behind anything by Alan Bennett, Robert Graves, Dorothy Sayers, and possibly the toughest call 'Riddle of the Sands'.
What do you mean, 'You are old, Father William'?
May the crocodile of misfortune never hide in your hat.
1. Coin Locker Babies, Muramaki Ryu.
2. The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, Murakami Haruki.
3. number9dream, David Mitchell.
4. The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse.
5. Snow, Orhan Pamuk.
That's just for today. This list is subject to wild changes almost hourly.
As i look down these comments, I realise three things.
One; I am a literary incompetent.
Two; I'm not in the least bit bothered by number one.
Three; I reckon quite a lot of the entries have been written in a bizarre game of intellectual one-up-manship: I like a cleverer book than you, my favourite author was more politically obscure etc... All because not one of you wants to admit that the book that they've actually gained most enjoyment from over the years might have been something as main-stream as a Tom Clancy or Irvine Welsh.
Only Papa Sylvester seems to have been brave/ honest enough to go for something *gasp* COMMERCIAL like Bill Bryson.
Shame on you all. Your fear of being known to like anything other than so-called "important" works of literature for fear of mocking from your peers, is rather sad.
I await your no doubt highly indignant responses.
Paper-based knowledge transfer is a dead medium... I'm surprised you can all take time out from loitering in the past to peruse the intarwebs.
For those of you in attendance - Welcome to the future!
Abbé Busoni
PS: Especially for Tim who believes in the intellectual one-upmanship of this paper argument, I would however venture to elevate Euegene Wigner's seminal work, The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences to my premiere position; available in all good bookstores.
I'm afraid, Tim, your literary ignorance stretches to knowledge of what is mainstream and what is not. Life of Pi, High Fidelity, northern lights and quite a lot of the other books mentioned here would be considered mainstream by the majority of readers.
Also, when listing my 'best', it was about how much the book affected me, changed my perceptions, allowed me to look at the world a little differently than I did before reading it, how much it stretched my imagination and lingered with me afterwards. They might have disgusted me, appalled me and even forced me to put them down at points but what matters is that it affected me in a way that not many can. Each of them, in their own way, has inspired me to change my life.
Enjoyment is not determined by how you define a book, whether it be mainstream, cult or graphic novel, it’s about the words on the page and how they affected you. If I took one of the books I have listed out and put a ‘mainstream’ book in just to escape your misguided literary pomp ‘one-up-manship’ accusation, it would be a lie. They are there because they are my favourite books, it is as simple as that. And i'm sure everyone else here can say the same.
How are you by the way?!
Yeah, good thanks.
In all honesty, I know a bit more than I let on. I'm familiar with many of the books listed and understand the (purposeful?) ambiguity of the question; "What are your favourite books?". It leaves you completely free to interpret it as you want, thus ensuring a colourful mix of answers and a better blog page. The fact that it failed is neither here nor there.
By insulting the reasons for your choices, I was merely trying to reanimate a stagnant discussion by putting some passion into it and if possible, hopefully forcing some actual discussion about said choices rather than just having an endless ream of people writing their own top 5s.
I mean honestly - read the comments again. Not one person has interracted with another, not one person has commented on another's choices. F*cking boring is what it is.
Essentially, your recent entry means I have achieved both of my goals... But I have to be honest. Because of the manner it has come about, the victory is hollow.
TIM "THE VOICE OF LITERARY INCONTINENCE" SLYVESTER....
Yowser! I turn my back for two days and look what happens...
C'mon now, kids, play nice. Tim me mucker, isn't it enough just to look at other people's top 5s? Makes me think about books I've read/hated reading/want to read/never heard of. For example, I see that two of my good friends have listed 'The Glass Bead Game' - which I'd never heard of - but now I want to track it down and give it a go. I reckon most of the lists are fairly mainstream - and if there are exceptions that seem obscure, that's just further testament to how people read books in different ways and take different things from them. I don't think it's boring at all - I've enjoyed seeing what other people are reading. And I reckon that most of people who posted their top 5s will agree that justifying their decisions is near-to impossible because they have so many favourite books. Some of them click, that's all. Some don't.
How's the new pad?
I am honest enough to admit that listing my five favourite books would reveal me to be possibly the most boring man in the world. So I won't but Simon knows what books I read.
Tim, you would make a wonderful politician. Just when things get boring, sorry I mean stable, you jump up with something that deliberately stirs up the passion in your contemporaries. Have you ever heard of Peter Costello, the Australian Treasurer?
Jeremy
I'm afraid not, but he has a wonderfully exciting surname.
And Si, the book topic is fine - my comments that it was boring was in relation to the fact nobody was talking to each other.
Finally, to Anon. At least when i write something people are going to react to, I have the balls to put my name to it. Grow a backbone.
And yes, I know i just said increasingly annoyance. I meant, of course, increasing annoyance.
I find it very interesting to note that the comments stayed only up to 12 in number for DAYS, until Tim burst the literary bubble - so to speak!
Tim, you have done well my son. The literary discussion cherry of this blog has been savagely molested, and then unceremoniously popped. You may as well have poked us all with a stick.
I also would like to read 'Glass Bead Game' now, and 'snow' which i have heard very good things about.
I'm reading 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' at the moment and it is fantastic. Magical realism fresh from the womb before Rushdie got his grubby (genius) hands on it.
I have to agree with Tim. A lot of these lists of favourite books/music/art do seem to my philistine eyes to be intellectual masturbation. In terms of reading enjoyment i get most pleasure out of pop sci and biography. I like to be learning something. But to kill a mockingbird is strongly affecting and very good.
Now that bob has effectively slapped my cheeks with an html white glove i have to say "fair enough, people have differing opinions on subjective issues". I would also like to sy that 100 years of Solitude was a chore to read and not very good. Put THAT in your enema and flush it.
We know that in the time of Moses many laws did not seem necessary or desirable because the second time he came down from Mount Sinai he said:
"The good news is I got Him down to ten; the bad news is that one of them is still THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY."
In Limbo there are only five laws:
1. No making anybody do anything they don't want, except mind their own business
2. No shitting or pissing in the streets
3. No spitting on the floors
4. No undated notices on the bulletin board
5. No eating of hotdog buns.
I propose a sixth law: "no posting of anonymous comments on blogs".
Jeremy
Hehe. Barndad said 'masturbation'.
masturbation, masturbation, masturbation!
At least with now know of 3 of Barndad's favourite things!
Jeremy
Hey. Don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone he's totally in love with.
anyone that says theu dont like it is a damn liar.
It obviously does something to one's ability to spell!
Don't be so harsh, Sara, its possibly his eyesight.
Jeremy
I should point out that i was referring to "to kill a mockingbird" and its unassailable position as one of the books it is impossible to dislike and not some of the cruder suggestions on this list...
Sorry, got to go and get an eyetest
On a completely different subject SLY - buy the new Modest Mouse album, it's sea-shanty-tastic.
Don't reel me that kind of yarn, you dog. I've been singing the praises of said record for a month: "Well the dashboard melted but we still had the radio..."
simon
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