The Catcher in the Rye
discussion
The Most Overrated Books
Anne Hawn wrote: "Literature should always help us get into the mind of people just like us, or or sometimes radically different. It teaches us about the folly of war and the concept of a just war. It shows us what happens when people go to war and what happens when they refuse to go to war until it is too late. Our government is deciding whether to go into Syria and if ground troops must be used. A Tale of Two Cities has a lot of food for thought right now.There is so much we could discuss if we don't get hijacked. ..."
I totally agree.
This is why I keep bring up The Catcher in the Rye because in that book Salinger has showed us who benefits from wars and why they are fought first in the minds of the public before troops are sent.
I wonder how you define "hijacked by the phrase "teen aged angst." Are you admitting that you were putting a label that you had heard in your liberal arts class and so were convinced that this was the correct way of referring to this book, but now realize that your thinking had been hijack by those that taught you what to "think." I appreciate the apology.
...I can barely see through the thick irony... (first one to crack the code wins the prize)
Leslie wrote: "...I can barely see through the thick irony... (first one to crack the code wins the prize)"Lol. I am a bit perplexed.
Karen wrote: "Leslie wrote: "...I can barely see through the thick irony... (first one to crack the code wins the prize)"Lol. I am a bit perplexed."
then you're headed in the right direction
Leslie wrote: "Karen wrote: "Leslie wrote: "...I can barely see through the thick irony... (first one to crack the code wins the prize)"Lol. I am a bit perplexed."
then you're headed in the right direction"
Okay good, I thought so.
I accept both of your apologies, Leslie & Karen.
Paul Martin wrote: "I accept both of your apologies, Leslie & Karen."HA HA HA! Why is a raven like a writing desk? ;)
Paul Martin wrote: "I accept both of your apologies, Leslie & Karen."Well, thank goodness for that! And I accept yours Paul!!
My heart sings. I may weep with joy.
Edward wrote: "HA HA HA! Why is a raven like a writing desk? ;)"
It looms and portends imminent death? When you take the numb..."
That was deep Edward! Where did you get that? Very good!
Leslie wrote: "Why is a raven like a writing desk? ;)"Because there is a "B" in both!
(No, I didn't make that up...I'm a filthy plagiarist, remember?)
Petergiaquinta wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Why is a raven like a writing desk? ;)"Because there is a "B" in both!
(No, I didn't make that up...I'm a filthy plagiarist, remember?)"
That is super deep Peter. There is also a B in Bravo. You win!
Edward wrote: "When Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock," she never mentioned Eden; just a garden. So, big impediment in terms of 28, 16 and 7. Plant some tomatoes"No one said she mentioned Eden.
Karen wrote: "Edward wrote: "When Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock," she never mentioned Eden; just a garden. So, big impediment in terms of 28, 16 and 7. Plant some tomatoes"No one said she mentioned Eden."
I'm an atheist, so numerology and deification hold no sway over my garden.
Leslie wrote: "I'm an atheist, so numerology and deification hold no sway over my garden": )
*TANGENT ALERT* Atheists, although I cannot claim to be one, belonging to one of those *other* categories, hold a moral high ground. When they act ethically, compassionately, sympathetically, kindly, morally, they do so because they feel it is the way to act, not because there's a vengeful, self-proclaimed jealous god whose representatives are telling them they're going to burn in a lake of fire for eternity if they don't.
But no, atheists don't worship numbers. Átheos, being "without deities" don't worship.
Logic and numbers are completely different concepts, although numbers are sometimes used to illustrate logic.But no, atheists are not necessarily wed to logic. Atheists can be just as emotionally driven as anyone else. They can conceptualize random chaos and nonsensical occurrences. They just do not believe there are deities yanking their chains.
Atheists are not Vulcans.
28, Eden, garden farm, stardust, golden...keep up, Edward, fer chrissakes! Do I have to spell it out for you again? Are you just thick or what??? Couldn't be more obviouser.
Edward wrote: "Karen wrote: "Edward wrote: "When Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock," she never mentioned Eden; just a garden. So, big impediment in terms of 28, 16 and 7. Plant some tomatoes"No one said she mentio..."
No Edward, he didn't, read it again.
Renee wrote: "*TANGENT ALERT* Atheists, although I cannot claim to be one, belonging to one of those *other* categories, hold a moral high ground. When they act ethically, compassionately, sympathetically, ki..."
Thank you Renee
Edward wrote: "Kallie wrote: "My heart sings. I may weep with joy."Sorry, its been a down day."
I don't expect or need your apology. Thanks anyway, Edward.
Karen wrote: "Renee wrote: "*TANGENT ALERT* Atheists, although I cannot claim to be one, belonging to one of those *other* categories, hold a moral high ground. When they act ethically, compassionately, sympa..."
You're most welcome :-)
Edward wrote: "Karen wrote: "Edward wrote: "Karen wrote: "Edward wrote: "When Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock," she never mentioned Eden; just a garden. So, big impediment in terms of 28, 16 and 7. Plant some toma..."Check a third time Edward.
Edward wrote: "So, big impediment in terms of 28, 16 and 7. ..."No, I absolutely refuse to. Order must be restored. Your claim has less validity than one you deride."
Time for bed Edward
Anne Hawn wrote: "I give up!"Sorry Anne! I really like your posts and we got off-track again.
Anne Hawn wrote: "I give up!"Don't give up. Goofiness is good after a kerfuffle, restores balance and humor.
Sustaining any thread of this length — physical and temporal — requires a certain amount of wandering around before coming back to the topic. That's the nature of conversation.
Well this isn't going to get it back on track quite yet, but I wanted to give a shout out to Jasper Fforde, the author of the Thursday Next series of books. He's the original source (as far as I know) for the answer "Because 'both' begins with 'b,'" and he also suggested "Because Poe wrote on both..."A number of you might like his Thursday Next series; Thursday is a lit-ops law enforcement officer (or something like that...I ain't fact checking this early in the morning) in a world where the line between fiction and reality is not as firm and fixed as it is in ours. So the books are great fun for GoodReaders with a love of lit. It's not high brow stuff, but it's funny and clever and pretty well done...at least the ones I've read. The first book concerns Jane Eyre...it's a good starting point, The Eyre Affair, I think.
The Chesire Cat and Miss Havisham make regular appearances; the dodo is a common house pet, and Thursday has a Neanderthal assistant. And a whole lot of other silly stuff, but it works, and I'd say it's a lot better than what Christopher Moore does. It's sort of like Douglas Adams or Dr. Who for the literary set.
I've read the Eyre Affair! LONG ago. Definitely a good read! Thanks for reminding me; I'd forgotten it, except as a nebulous, "there was this entertaining book I read . . . ."
Petergiaquinta wrote: "Well this isn't going to get it back on track quite yet, but I wanted to give a shout out to Jasper Fforde, the author of the Thursday Next series of books. He's the original source (as far as I kn..."The Eyre Affair sounds fun. I tried Moore. Eh.
Renee wrote: "Sustaining any thread of this length — physical and temporal — requires a certain amount of wandering around before coming back to the topic. That's the nature of conversation."True, and I like the wandering around and sure am guilty of it. Sometimes I feel bad though.
As for silly books, I like them. Thursday Next I will check out.
I'd agree about "The da Vinci code" and "Atlas shrugged". I haven't read them all, but none of the others seems to have been as overhyped as those two.
I'm trying to decide whether or not to continue reading Don Quixote. I've been at it (on & off, as I tend to read several books at once) for months, and I'm barely more than a third of the way through. I've greatly enjoyed parts of it, but am beginning to lose interest. Is it worth pushing on?
I read Don Quixote when I was thirteen or fourteen and enjoyed it then, but I was on a classics jag, too; Vanity Fair, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Moby Dick, all of Jane Austen, the Brontes, Hawthorne . . . but I could not, for the life of me, get more than a quarter of the way through Les Miserables, or The Last of the Mohicans.
I'm also having trouble making it through Infinite Jest, Renee, although I really enjoyed DFW's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.
I've not tackled DFW yet. He's on my list though. Right now I'm treating myself, in the stolen moments I get to read (parents moving across country, 40 years of crap to sort through, figure out what crap I want and where to put it in my little hovel, that sort of thing) to Jack Cady's oeuvre. Time's too scarce at this moment in time to spend it on lesser things. Cady's a wicked storyteller, and an original and has great depth. His grasp of human nature is uncanny as well. :DOh, and I've never been able to get through Dickens either. Urghh.
But I loved Chaucer, Beowulf (one of the translations in the saga form) and The Divine Comedy. Go figure.
Michael wrote: "I'm also having trouble making it through Infinite Jest, Renee, although I really enjoyed DFW's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men."So am I. I haven't made it very far at all. I'm only up to Hal's episode during his admissions interview. (So, what is up with Hal anyway?) I don't think it's entirely the book's fault, though. Book adhd slows me down. I keep jumping in and out of different books.
Edward wrote: "Edward wrote: "Michael wrote: "I'm also having trouble making it through Infinite Jest, Renee, although I really enjoyed DFW's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men."BIWHM was the one that went movie,..."
Thanks, Edward. I'm at pg. 170, so I guess I'll hang in there...
most overrated books for me..Jonathan Livingston Seagull
100 years of solitude
The Great Gatsby
Twilight
Harry Potter
Jane Eire
1984
to be continued
the great gatsby is the most overrated book of all time !
Osman wrote: "the great gatsby is the most overrated book of all time !"Why do you think this?
Was it not a good example of how the rich, corrupt as they were and are, still get away with it? The poorer you are the more guilty? (Gatsby didn't have a name.) Isn't it about playing the game and how the game is rigged? Or that desiring more has its phoney side? Or how some people think they should be entitled to use others? I love the song they are playing on the piano and how that completes the story.
Or do you feel that Fitzgerald was just good at writing good movie themes? It worked for Hollywood and therefore it was great?
Cosmic wrote: "Osman wrote: "the great gatsby is the most overrated book of all time !"Why do you think this?
Was it not a good example of how the rich, corrupt as they were and are, still get away with it? Th..."
Well put, Cosmic. Ane I don't think either of the films that I saw were as good as the novel.
Sorry but in terms of sales, scope and ratings, I would have to say the -most- overrated book of ^all^ time is the bible.
Leslie wrote: "Sorry but in terms of sales, scope and ratings, I would have to say the -most- overrated book of ^all^ time is the bible."You know you're going to Hell for that, right?
'Sokay. I'll bring the marshmallows. :D
Leslie wrote: "Sorry but in terms of sales, scope and ratings, I would have to say the -most- overrated book of ^all^ time is the bible."Closely followed by the Koran/Quran...
And at least the Bible has some characters and plot development in it...someone direct me to where I can find that in the Koran, please.
Petergiaquinta wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Sorry but in terms of sales, scope and ratings, I would have to say the -most- overrated book of ^all^ time is the bible."Closely followed by the Koran/Quran..."
By contrast, the various Buddhist writings remain relevant.
Peter can grab the chocolate, I'll get the graham crackers, we'll do this up right! I'll bet there's a great library right off the fire pit.
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Good suggestion, Anne. I like the characters with limited options theme and will give this some thought as I choose my next novel.