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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 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!
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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.)