I shall start with several books that spend much of their time beside my bed or sitting proud a top my shelves.
Please refrain from retelling the story, Talk about it's teachings and it's lessons not how it taught them. After all; this is a book you treasure and want to have others enjoy, And the best way to enjoy a book is to sit down on a sunny moaning with a cool drink and rise from your chair in time to prepare your evening meal during which you will mull over the tale and decode it's tragedies and it's glimmers of golden epiphanies.
First a template to help keep this thread organized.
- Code: Select all
[b]TITLE[/b] [i]AUTHOR (put in brackets if it is a pen name or of questionable origins[/i]
[ABOUT THE BOOKS MEANING, (leave the brackets if your taking a break from writing the entry)]
[EXTRA DETAILS]
Now starting from the middle:
The Fault In Our Stars John Green
'As the tides washed in, the Dutch Tulip Man faced the ocean: "Conjoiner rejoiner poisoner concealer reveltor. Look at it, rising up and rising down, taking everything with it."
"What's that?" I asked
"Water," the Dutchman said. "Well, and time."
-PETER VAN HOUTEN, An imperial Affliction'
You might think it odd for me to talk about how i feel this book is important by referring to it's epigraph which is of course a quote form a different book. I would suggest Imperial Affliction as i have heard it to be a wonderful and deep book and I know of at least two people who loved it dearly; So if you ever find a copy please tell me, I promise high rewards.
The Authors note is also important, It teaches us an important message that I carry with me as a reminder; "Neither novels nor their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species." It tells you an important thing, a message that every religion has missed, that things don't have to be true to matter. A book can affect and shape your life further than any truth could.
This is not the only message hiding amongst the tale of Hazel and Augustus, The knowledge of coming death and impending doom sits strongly on both their shoulders. Not because they are poets or philosophers but because of terminal illness and the knowledge that the fight can not last forever. The idea of life is not permanent, that one day everyone will be dead and nobody will be alive to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra let alone you. But this is not a morbid book, although it is a tragedy, it displays human oblivion and all that surrounds it; To think of today and not tomorrow, as the future is just a series of present.
It is widely available, being a recent release and best seller, so any good contemporary bookshop should stock a copy. I will talk about several other John Green books, as like I said I am going though a pile not a list; and will add books as i please and extend entries when I figure out something new or a way to phrase my feelings.
The Alchesmist Paulo Coelho
[This is my favorite book and I have read it many times, but find it difficult to explain it's meaning and purpose.
Ostensibly it is the tale of a Shepard, Santiago, and his search for his treasure; But that is not interesting at all. The book talks about the heart and the soul and of Love. (the book is translated and I fear the english language may be missing a word for what it means, but "Love" is a decent substitute for what it is trying to mold into words)
Love is about Complexity and beauty, the reverse of entropy. It takes simple things and builds them up into marvelous things.]
This Is also a contemporary book and available from many bookshops, and i highly recommend reading it as that is the only way to find out it's teachings.
The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
[TBA: give me a couple of days to finish re-reading it]
Contemporary, took a bit of searching.
Looking For Alaska John Green
[It made me cry. It still makes me cry. I am going to stop writing this and stare at the ceiling for a bit... John green is really good at building characters you care about, and i don't think i can talk about it without spoilers so please read the book.]
This Is also a contemporary book and available from many bookshops.
Paper Towns John Green
[Amazing, it's about what we expect people to be and who they are, and the difference between loving the visible and invisible parts of a person. It is about dedication and hope. It is also about how our lives are clotted by the future; Going to school to get into University, to get a job, to pay your pension, to die. That maybe we need to look at what our time on earth is, a series of nows, being impulsive and doing what you want to be doing rather than preparing your tomb.
It is also about the complete converse of that, Planning and Preparing, The dreams of a 10 year old cross hatched with the ambition of a 16 year old. The idea of what you wanted people to be, what you thought they where, and who they are; Which can be surprising in many ways.]
If you have read TFiOS or Looking for Alaska then the plot will seem predictable, but there is a greater significance to the tragedy and the idea of "I love you, Present tense".
It's hiding somewhere and has a very cool cover What's his name
[Really cool]
[EXTRA DETAILS]
The Good People Steve Cockayne
[This is really fucked up, but so brilliant]
This Is also a contemporary book.
Excuse the half a million edits.
P.S. Is it possible to get some type of spoiler tag so that people can hide entire entries (other than the title and author of course) as it's kinda impossible to talk about some books without giving the game away.
in real life. He also has a website called badassoftheweek.com where he has stories about tons of other badasses and their exploits.