GREAT BOOKS....List them!

[knapplc]

The Sherlock Holmes series

[Art Vandelay]

Atlas Shrugged.

I cringe every time someone mentions Ayn Rand when talking about great literature. Even if you agree 100 percent with her philosophy, how do you get past the horrible writing?

[Mookie4ever]

Atlas Shrugged.

I cringe every time someone mentions Ayn Rand when talking about great literature. Even if you agree 100 percent with her philosophy, how do you get past the horrible writing?

The same way that Dan Brown and Elmore Leonard get to drive jags. Unexplainable.

[knapplc]

Atlas Shrugged.

I cringe every time someone mentions Ayn Rand when talking about great literature. Even if you agree 100 percent with her philosophy, how do you get past the horrible writing?

I picked up Atlas Shrugged to see what all the fuss was about and the writing... I just couldn't get past it.


For the record, I never finished Moby Dick, either. Couldn't get past the writing.

[Curtis Pride]

Given she wrote it in a second language, the writing is admittedly cumbersome and especially repetitive.

However, the scope of the story (even if you disagree with her politics) is pretty amazing.

[knapplc]

Given she wrote it in a second language, the writing is admittedly cumbersome and especially repetitive.

However, the scope of the story (even if you disagree with her politics) is pretty amazing.

Scope is relative. There are lots of crappy, but deep, stories out there. I am pretty much past being "amazed" by anything I see, read or hear anymore.

[Tavish]

Atlas Shrugged.

I cringe every time someone mentions Ayn Rand when talking about great literature. Even if you agree 100 percent with her philosophy, how do you get past the horrible writing?

Because most people read Rand when they are 14-15 years old and chances are that they don't remember the details, just that it felt important. Sort of like if you let someone the same age watch Michael Moore documentaries. The ideals are flaming pile of poo, but it is presented in a way that makes you feel like you leave with a greater understanding of the world.

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

[RedHopeful]

Grew up reading Jules Verne and really everyone should at least read a few of his classics. Wouldn't it have been awesome to have something like this be required reading back in grade school over the likes of say The Bell Jar?

[Mookie4ever]

I read Day of the Tifffids in school and I've been afraid of vegetables ever since.