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Mar. 19th, 2018 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Voted for the There ARE NO Rules Literary Lunacy Bracket - March Madness for Book Lovers Round 2.
Sort of wish I had the capability to do this. Because if I did, I'd pick different books. So far it sort of going the way I'd wish.
Atlas Shrugged vs. A Wrinkle in Time = A Wrinkle in Time (yes, duh. Atlas Shrugged is a horribly written book and should never have been published. I found it unreadable, and I've read almost all of Ayn Rand's novels. If you want to read Rand? Read Anthem, ignore everything else. It's short. It's to the point, and it pretty much states everything she has to say and why clearly and succinctly. I don't agree with Randian philosophy at all by the way. It doesn't work. And "The Good Place" is sort of a satirical anti-Randian philosophical piece.)
But...
I liked One Hundred Years of Solitude more than Sound and the Fury, also why didn't they choose Ulysess over either? Hello? Bad English Lit majors! Bad!
A Catcher in the Rye vs. To Kill a Mockingbird - luckily resulted in To Kill A Mockingbird, because seriously who would pick Catcher in the Rye? (Another book I really did not like. And is horribly dated.)
Hee Hee...people picked Pride and Prejudice over Crime and Punishment. Take that Russian Lit majors!
Definitely 1984 over A Brave New World...A Brave New World gave me a headache and I can't remember it, while I vividly recall 1984.
Slaughter House Five vs. Catch-22? Slaughter-House Five, I found Catch-22 not all that memorable. I read it. I wrote about it. I can't remember it.
Slaughter House Five vs. Farwell to Arms? Slaughter House Five, I couldn't make it through A Farewell to Arms, too sappy.
Jane Eyre vs. The Great Gatsby -- The Great Gatsby. It think Gatsby is an indictment on our culture and class system in the US. Jane Eyre is a gothic romance novel. (It's probably worth noting that I despise 19th Century literature.)
Which is why I'd pick An Invisible Man over Frankenstein any day of the week.
Still too white. You can tell who picked that list.
I'd have shook it up a bit more.
Choices?
a. Beloved by Toni Morrison vs. A Color Purple by Alice Walker
b. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien vs. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
c. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS. Lewis vs. His Dark Materials by Philip K. Pullman
d. Ulysess by James Joyce vs. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
e. Metamphorses by Franz Kafka vs. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
f. Anne of Green Gables vs. Little Women
g. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain vs. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
h. Dune by Frank Herbert vs. Foundation by Issac Asimov
i. The Left-Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Quinn vs. Cyteen by CJ Cherryh
j. The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnette vs. The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
k. Candide by Voltaire vs. Guillvars Travels by Jonathan Swift
l. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens vs. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
m. Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle vs. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
n. The Shining by Stephen King vs. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
o. Farentheit 451 by Ray Bradbury vs. 1984 by George Orwell
p. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegurt vs. Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Addams
q. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein vs. Brave New World by Adolus Huxeley
r. Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlow vs. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
s. Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice vs. Godspell by Stephen Schwartz
t. The 100 Acre Wood by AA Milne vs. Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
u . The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough vs. Gone with the Wind by Margret Mitchell
v. Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson vs. Peanuts by Charles Schultz
w. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi vs. Fun Home by Allison Bechedel
x. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklyn vs. Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
y. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling vs. Charlie and The Cholocate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Ronald Dahl.
z. 1001 Arabian Nights vs. The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson
(And no I haven't read everything on that list. I've read more books than I can remember. I love books, all books, I'm not very discriminatory when it comes to books, I'm afraid, or television shows and movies for that matter...makes it very hard to choose sometimes.)
2. Instinct -- this is the cop buddy series staring Alan Cumming. It reminds me a bit too much of Elementary for it's own good and I like Elementary better, even though I stopped watching Elementary about two-three years ago.
Sorry, Alan, I got bored halfway through. You aren't enough to hold my interest. Nor is Whoopie as your editor.
Although will state, once again makes a lot more sense structurally speaking than Castle did. Cop hunting serial killer asks college professor teaching a course in abnormal psychology for help. Apparently he's an ex-CIA profiler turned mystery writer, and the serial killer is using his last book for ideas. So, it makes sense they'd ask him for help. Also reminds me of Deception, but I liked Deception better -- it had a more interesting structure and set-up, plus no serial killer (which is always a plus. I hate serial killers.)
Two things I'd like to get rid of: reality shows and serial killer shows.
Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath on either.
Sort of wish I had the capability to do this. Because if I did, I'd pick different books. So far it sort of going the way I'd wish.
Atlas Shrugged vs. A Wrinkle in Time = A Wrinkle in Time (yes, duh. Atlas Shrugged is a horribly written book and should never have been published. I found it unreadable, and I've read almost all of Ayn Rand's novels. If you want to read Rand? Read Anthem, ignore everything else. It's short. It's to the point, and it pretty much states everything she has to say and why clearly and succinctly. I don't agree with Randian philosophy at all by the way. It doesn't work. And "The Good Place" is sort of a satirical anti-Randian philosophical piece.)
But...
I liked One Hundred Years of Solitude more than Sound and the Fury, also why didn't they choose Ulysess over either? Hello? Bad English Lit majors! Bad!
A Catcher in the Rye vs. To Kill a Mockingbird - luckily resulted in To Kill A Mockingbird, because seriously who would pick Catcher in the Rye? (Another book I really did not like. And is horribly dated.)
Hee Hee...people picked Pride and Prejudice over Crime and Punishment. Take that Russian Lit majors!
Definitely 1984 over A Brave New World...A Brave New World gave me a headache and I can't remember it, while I vividly recall 1984.
Slaughter House Five vs. Catch-22? Slaughter-House Five, I found Catch-22 not all that memorable. I read it. I wrote about it. I can't remember it.
Slaughter House Five vs. Farwell to Arms? Slaughter House Five, I couldn't make it through A Farewell to Arms, too sappy.
Jane Eyre vs. The Great Gatsby -- The Great Gatsby. It think Gatsby is an indictment on our culture and class system in the US. Jane Eyre is a gothic romance novel. (It's probably worth noting that I despise 19th Century literature.)
Which is why I'd pick An Invisible Man over Frankenstein any day of the week.
Still too white. You can tell who picked that list.
I'd have shook it up a bit more.
Choices?
a. Beloved by Toni Morrison vs. A Color Purple by Alice Walker
b. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien vs. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
c. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS. Lewis vs. His Dark Materials by Philip K. Pullman
d. Ulysess by James Joyce vs. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
e. Metamphorses by Franz Kafka vs. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
f. Anne of Green Gables vs. Little Women
g. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain vs. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
h. Dune by Frank Herbert vs. Foundation by Issac Asimov
i. The Left-Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Quinn vs. Cyteen by CJ Cherryh
j. The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnette vs. The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
k. Candide by Voltaire vs. Guillvars Travels by Jonathan Swift
l. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens vs. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
m. Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle vs. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
n. The Shining by Stephen King vs. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
o. Farentheit 451 by Ray Bradbury vs. 1984 by George Orwell
p. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegurt vs. Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Addams
q. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein vs. Brave New World by Adolus Huxeley
r. Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlow vs. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
s. Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice vs. Godspell by Stephen Schwartz
t. The 100 Acre Wood by AA Milne vs. Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
u . The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough vs. Gone with the Wind by Margret Mitchell
v. Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson vs. Peanuts by Charles Schultz
w. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi vs. Fun Home by Allison Bechedel
x. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklyn vs. Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
y. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling vs. Charlie and The Cholocate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Ronald Dahl.
z. 1001 Arabian Nights vs. The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson
(And no I haven't read everything on that list. I've read more books than I can remember. I love books, all books, I'm not very discriminatory when it comes to books, I'm afraid, or television shows and movies for that matter...makes it very hard to choose sometimes.)
2. Instinct -- this is the cop buddy series staring Alan Cumming. It reminds me a bit too much of Elementary for it's own good and I like Elementary better, even though I stopped watching Elementary about two-three years ago.
Sorry, Alan, I got bored halfway through. You aren't enough to hold my interest. Nor is Whoopie as your editor.
Although will state, once again makes a lot more sense structurally speaking than Castle did. Cop hunting serial killer asks college professor teaching a course in abnormal psychology for help. Apparently he's an ex-CIA profiler turned mystery writer, and the serial killer is using his last book for ideas. So, it makes sense they'd ask him for help. Also reminds me of Deception, but I liked Deception better -- it had a more interesting structure and set-up, plus no serial killer (which is always a plus. I hate serial killers.)
Two things I'd like to get rid of: reality shows and serial killer shows.
Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath on either.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-20 04:35 am (UTC)Too many English majors voting. Dostoevsky isn't my favorite, but seriously, Jane Austen? She wouldn't even get a good grade in English Compostion. ;o)
I would have picked Dracula over Frankenstein, but I think that's mostly because I prefer the late 19th century style to the early 19th century style. Franks a better thought piece, but Dracula, is a more fun story.
I agree with the rest of your picks in the bracket.
I haven't read a lot of the things in your extras, too many I've read one and not the other, but...
b. I'd take Carroll
c. I'm not crazy about Narnia, but I've had difficulty getting into Pullman.
d. No fan of Joyce, I'll take Faulkner
g. Twain vs Lee a tough choice. but I probably would have to take Twain in the end.
h. I'd take Asimov any day, not even close.
l. Dickens. A better comparison would be Crime and Punishment and Les Mis... And Hugo would still be the loser in my book.
m. I fond of both of those, but I'd give the edge to the Hounds.
o. I'd pick 1984. It hits closer to home.
p. Trendy Vonnegut over trendy Addams any day.
q. Heinlein.
r. I haven't read Jew of Malta, but the things I have read of Marlow do convince me he did *not* write the plays of Shakespeare. ;o)
t. I've never read The 100 Acre Wood, but I love Dorothy Parker's (aka. Constant Reader) comment on Milne :"...And at this point Tonstant Weader fwowed up."
v. I'd take Schultz over Waterson. I wonder if a younger generation would go the other way.
y. Rowling in a walk over.
z. 1001 Arabian Nights.
Don't you diss the Austen
Date: 2018-03-20 11:07 am (UTC)Re: Don't you diss the Austen
Date: 2018-03-20 12:20 pm (UTC)LOL!
Agreed. Austen is a comedian, playing with manners.
Read Notes of an Underground May by F. D and you're done. (Could never get through F.D, and there's a reason that there are five different film adaptations, and multiple fanfics, and a whole fandom surrounding Pride and Prejudice and nothing on Crime and Punishment. It's a book only Russians and Russian Lit majors tend to read.)
LOL
Date: 2018-03-20 03:26 pm (UTC)As I said, Dostoevsky isn't my favorite. But if you don't think Dostoevsky is funny you probably haven't read enough of it. ;o)
Re: LOL
Date: 2018-03-20 03:57 pm (UTC)Really? I have. You don't get around much. ;-)
It's probably not fair to compare the two. Bit like comparing a banana to a kiwi. Had a marketing guy once rant for thirty minutes to me why kiwis are better than bananas, except it's a lot easier to bake with bananas and they provide more fiber. I prefer the taste of kiwi, both give great potassium, but overall? Banana.
P&P vs. C&P?
One is a comedy of manners, has no violence, and deals with various levels of morality and resolving problems -- also delves into gender politics. I admittedly haven't read C&P, so can't defend if. I have it at home -- it sits there and I think, eh, too much work, why bother?
no subject
Date: 2018-03-20 05:01 pm (UTC)I've actually read most of Dracula, got bogged down in the middle and gave up. Never made it very far into Frankenstein. So would agree. But again, not a fan of 19th Century literature. 18th Century -- worked for me. So did 20ths. But I despise the Victorian Period in Literature. (It probably didn't help that it is over taught in most English Lit programs, and as a result all these English Lit grads think fiction must be written in the same insanely syrupy, flowery, antiquated style -- and they ended up with traditional publishing companies. So as a result, we get a lot of books that are copy-cats of those antiquated tropes and styles. At one point, every person I met in the NY fiction publishing industry who went to an east coast school - swore by Henry James, the Brontes, Stoker, Shelly, and I thought, seriously? This is ALL you read? What a waste of an education. It's an interesting period, but it's not the most interesting one, and it's insanely white and British.)
l. Dickens. A better comparison would be Crime and Punishment and Les Mis... And Hugo would still be the loser in my book.
Probably. But I wanted to pick one that I'd sort of read and stories I was familiar with. But yeah, from what I know of C&P, I'd say it fits Les Mis better. (Certainly better than comparing it to coughP&P*cough*)
If between C&P and Les Mis? Isn't Les Mis more hopeful? I go with the hopeful one. ;-)
Not a fan of Dickens. But I haven't read Hugo and have actually read Dickens.
v. I'd take Schultz over Waterson. I wonder if a younger generation would go the other way.
Waterson, but I'm an artist. And Waterson is a masterful visual artist. Also, I thought he was a bit deeper.
1001 Arabian Nights.
Yep.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-20 11:30 am (UTC)Rowling v. Dahl? Rowling tries to go deeper, but Dahl is just the better writer, hands down.
Voltaire v. Swift! France v. England (as always). Tough one, but Swift...barely. I love both, though.
Bradbury v. Orwell? Oooh, TOUGH. Both have plenty to say about today's society (and there's a new version of F451 starring Michael B. Jordan coming up). But I'm going with Orwell, because I just have a more visceral reaction to 1984.
Tolkien v. Carroll? Carroll. More playful. Plus: math!
no subject
Date: 2018-03-20 04:49 pm (UTC)On the fence regarding Rowling and Dahl. I remember Dahl better and Dahl's more biting. He also go across a lot in a tighter space. But Rowling's world was one I wanted to escape into and set up shop. I think of the Potter books as happy books, not so much Dahl's. There's a misanthropic thread in Dahl's work that isn't in Rowling's, which is why his is more biting, I think?
Agree on Swift....having read Candid in the orginal French, Gulliver's Travels has a bit more depth to it.
And not sure which one I'd go with on Bradbury or Orwell. Orwell's more political and Bradbury's more speculative. I think Bradbury's ending was a touch more hopeful though.
I'd pick Tolkien, mainly because the Hobbit had an actual story, character development, a theme that worked for me and wasn't just a series of games and mathematical riddles. (Never liked Alice books that much, but if you are into math...they are a lot of fun.)