Historum Book Discussion - Reading suggestions!

[avon]

Having agreed upon Voltaire's Candide as the first text in the Historum Book Discussion sub-forum, please use this thread to suggest further texts.













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Books currently on the list:

Ovid, Metamorphoses
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
George Orwell, 1984
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Thomas More, Utopia
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome
George Orwell, Animal Farm
Johann Wolfgang von Geothe, Faust
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, Praise of Folly
Franz Kafka, The Trial
Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates
HG Wells, War of the Worlds
HG Wells, The Time Machine
Isaac Asimov, Foundation
H.G. Wells, The Land of the Blind
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury, Zen in the art of writing (non-fiction)
Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By (non-fiction)
Albert Camus, The Fall
Albert Camus, The plague
Albert Camus, The Stranger
Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters





...

[Sisyphus12]

This is a great idea, I would like to propose: The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945 to the Present by William Hitchcock.

edit: or are we speaking strictly fiction here?

[Sisyphus12]

I moved it for you haha

[avon]

This is a great idea, I would like to propose: The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945 to the Present by William Hitchcock.

edit: or are we speaking strictly fiction here?

As far as I understand the general mood of the mob, any book can be suggested so long as it is available online, and access is free. There is plenty of time before Candide is dispensed with.


I moved it for you haha

Thanks! :)

[Sisyphus12]

A Natural History of Trees by Colin Tudge. History, and Trees, two of my favorite things, Trees because they are taller than me, and not much else is, and history because, well....I don't know exactly.

Seriously though, Ovid - Metamoprhopses.

[Sisyphus12]

As far as I understand the general mood of the mob, any book can be suggested so long as it is available online, and access is free. There is plenty of time before Candide is dispensed with.




Thanks! :)


Oh ok, a free requirement, I will think of some more. :)

[avon]

Oh ok, a free requirement, I will think of some more. :)

I think - perhaps! - we are looking for something that is not too heavy. Something enjoyable ... and free!

[diddyriddick]

Would The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be too heavy? Perhaps alternating between works from the old world and the new is a good idea.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76

[avon]

Would The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be too heavy? Perhaps alternating between works from the old world and the new is a good idea.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76

Good idea. I don't think it would be too heavy in terms of style, but I think we would need to read 2 parts a week.

I'm thinking that once we have a few suggestions, we could take a quick vote.

[Cicero]

Uncle Tom's Cabin is another thought. It is historically important to our Civil War. I started reading it once and stopped when his dog got drowned.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=203

[avon]

Uncle Tom's Cabin would be a good read as well, but might take longer than 4 weeks. Each chapter is about 4000 words (on average), and there are 45 chapters. It's certainly a good choice though.

[Edratman]

I suspect the book suggestion list will soon get overwhelming and future selection will become problematic.

The criteria for a book suggestion is established and appears satisfactory. I've got a suggestion for subsequent book selections:

A week or three prior to starting a new book a poll allowing multi-voting is posted with all suggestions.

All books receiving 50% or more votes becomes a candidate, gets thrown into a hat and the next book is selected randomly from the names in the hat.

The next book poll will contain all books that passed the 50% vote rule and all new suggestions. New suggestions can be books that did not pass previous polls. Banned for life is not appealing to me.

As they say on shampoo bottles, "Rinse and repeat".

[avon]

Excellent, a complex voting system! If we consult SCOTUS, the right-wing books will win.

I was thinking that some form of vote would be the best way to select books. My plan was simpler in that we would just compile a list of all suggestions and then read the one that gets the most votes. Of course, your 50% rule would be invaluable if we were to get a LOT of suggestions!

[avon]

Would The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be too heavy? Perhaps alternating between works from the old world and the new is a good idea.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76

Uncle Tom's Cabin is another thought. It is historically important to our Civil War. I started reading it once and stopped when his dog got drowned.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=203


Pedro and me will use the OP of this thread to keep a visual list. Each suggestion will be added to that post.

[Cicero]

We need to decide as well the shape of the table around which the voting will be done..... sorry.

I am looking forward to the book readings. I always wanted to join a book club and couldn't find the time. This is the perfect solution for me.

[avon]

We need to decide as well the shape of the table around which the voting will be done..... sorry.

What shape would you suggest?

[Sisyphus12]

Leviathan - Hobbes

I figured we could use at least 1 non-fiction.

[avon]

Any more suggestions? Guys?

Ideally, we are looking for books that are short(ish), not too heavy or using convoluted language. We have to remember that not everyone has English as a first language.

Once we have enough, we'll set up a quick poll to decide.

[diddyriddick]

Here are a couple of thoughts....

Animal Farm-George Orwell
The Rivals-Richard Brinsley Sheriden-Not sure if plays count
The Sound and the Fury-William Faulkner
Catch-22-Joseph Heller
Heart of Darkness(to heavy?)Joseph Conrad
Faust-Goethe
Something Wicked This Way Comes-Ray Bradbury
Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I, Claudius-Robert Graves
The Jungle-Upton Sinclair
All the President's Men-Robert Penn Warren
The Bridge of San Luis Rey-Thornton Wilder

....Ok....More than a couple.
;)

[avon]

Diddy, that's a nice list. BUT, as far as I'm aware, only three are available in the public domain as free downloads. Shame really.

From that list I've taken Animal Farm, Faust, and Heart of Darkness. If you can find any of the others as 'free download' or 'read online', I would be very happy (there are a few I fancy reading!).

[Comet]

Erasmus, Praise of Folly...if available.

[avon]

Erasmus, Praise of Folly...if available.

'Tis indeed available.

[avon]

Okay, I've just added HG Wells to the list and that made me think about Isaac Asimov - someone I've never felt compelled to read. Does anyone have any suggestions in this line?

[Morlock]

From HG Wells, I would like to suggest, obviously, The time machine! :D

[Cicero]

Okay, I've just added HG Wells to the list and that made me think about Isaac Asimov - someone I've never felt compelled to read. Does anyone have any suggestions in this line?
I like the foundation trilogy, which is at least peripherally related to history. He took some figures in the books from historical figures. I know of one any way, Bel Riose is bsased on Belasarius. The whole concept of the foundation trilogy is the fall of the Roman empire in space in the future and how to help it reform as quickly as possible.

[Cicero]

Erasmus, Praise of Folly...if available.
I like this one as I started reading it once and didn't finish so would like to do so! Julius excluded from heaven is often in the same anthology!

[avon]

From HG Wells, I would like to suggest, obviously, The time machine! :D

Sure. Thanks.

I like the foundation trilogy, which is at least peripherally related to history. He took some figures in the books from historical figures. I know of one any way, Bel Riose is bsased on Belasarius. The whole concept of the foundation trilogy is the fall of the Roman empire in space in the future and how to help it reform as quickly as possible.

Sounds real interesting. I've added the first book, Foundation to the list.

[avon]

Last call for suggestions! A good books that are not too long and fairly easily read. Please!

[Pedro]

Suggested Book titles – and a thought. Maybe for variety and to avoid fatigue a short story of outstanding merit be considered occasionally. Something classic in the line of H.G. Wells, in The Land of the Blind. As much as I love Sherlock Holmes (have the BBC series plus) I would not include it because it is pure entertainment, not prone to philosophical discussion.

Late thought: I certainly appreciate Asimov’s great learning and have over the years learned a lot from his books. He is a born teacher. His breadth of learning is probably unmatched by anyone in my memory, yet his fiction I have never been able to warm up to. I would be more interested in selecting a writer with less breadth with a profounder depth.

Bradbury, Ray – Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray – Zen in the art of writing. (non-fiction)
Campbell, Joseph – Myths to Live By (non-fiction)
Camus, Albert – The Fall, The plague, The Stranger
Chandler, Raymond – The Simple Art of Murder (suggested because it is a short work. Not one of his full length detective novels.)
Golding, William – Lord of the Flies
Lewis, C.S. – The Screwtape Letters

All are at http://www.truly-free.org/#nonfiction

This site has a five book download in two weeks limit. Lot of title I have not seen on other ‘download free’ sites. I didn’t read the fine print and wasted my five downloads testing the site. Most were pdf files. Of the five, one had no formatting and was unreadable until I cut and pasted in wordperfect. That worked fine.


Last call? Already? I haven't finished Candide yet.

[Solidaire]

I can't believe I missed this!

Thank you Pedro for the "advertisement" of the book section in another thread.
http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=13343
At first I thought it was some incomprehensible remark about the subject discussed (Pedro's comments befuddle me sometimes), until I realised that it might actually be an announcement. :)

Is the suggestions list closed, or is there still time to propose some books?

[avon]

... is there still time to propose some books?

Please do. :)


(Just remember that all books need to be available free online to facilitate participation. They also need to be relatively short - not much more than 100 pages or so.)

[Solidaire]

Alright. I followed Pedro's link about free books and the following suggestions are included there:

-Albert Camus, "Exile and the Kingdom".
Although you have already included his best books, the above is a collection of six short stories, ideal for this thread.
It is also one of my favourites.

-Hermann Hesse, "Narcissus and Goldmund".
The novel is set in medieval Germany, and although rich in philosophical context, it is also interesting from a historical point of view.

-Hermann Hesse, "Siddhartha".
I would suggest "Steppenwolf" also, but it is kind of heavy.

-Nikos Kazantzakis, "Zorba the Greek".
Although the book is largely identified with the Hollywood film, it is a marvellous book, perhaps the best I have ever read.

[avon]

Some interesting options there, Solidaire. Thanks, mate! :)

[Raypc800]

Having agreed upon Voltaire's Candide as the first text in the Historum Book Discussion sub-forum, please use this thread to suggest further texts.









----------------------------------------

Books currently on the list:

Ovid, Metamorphoses
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
George Orwell, 1984
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Thomas More, Utopia
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome
George Orwell, Animal Farm
Johann Wolfgang von Geothe, Faust
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, Praise of Folly
Franz Kafka, The Trial
Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates
HG Wells, War of the Worlds
HG Wells, The Time Machine
Isaac Asimov, Foundation
H.G. Wells, The Land of the Blind
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury, Zen in the art of writing (non-fiction)
Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By (non-fiction)
Albert Camus, The Fall
Albert Camus, The plague
Albert Camus, The Stranger
Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters





...


I would like to suggest a light little book by Howard Pyle called "Men of Iron" this is about knights and a movie was made of this called " The Black Shield of Falworth" starring a young Tony Curtis. Link to book here. Hope any that read it enjoy it.

http://manybooks.net/titles/pyleernietext98femen10.html

[avon]

Would there be any support for resurrecting the Historum Book Discussion?

Maybe we could get started in a couple of weeks?

Anyone?

[Cicero]

I'm in!

[avon]

I'm in!

Thought you would be!! :)

[Pedro]

Would there be any support for resurrecting the Historum Book Discussion?

Maybe we could get started in a couple of weeks?

Anyone?

I could resign myself to it. .. ..:D

[avon]

I could resign myself to it. .. ..:D

'It seems that nothing ever gets going good till there's a few resignations.' - Kin Hubbard.

Good to see you here!

[Pedro]

Avon:
While you were on sabbatical you may have missed these two post dealing with the book discussion. The first if by me and I admit I had a wild hair up my….”

http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=14414 #8

The second is by Gile. He may be speaking for many other members as well as for himself.
http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=14414&page=5 #47

The book discussion was one of the finest things (if I do say so myself) on Historum or anywhere else. Personally I would like to see it continue, especially with more participants, as for me I feel a certain lack of energy and don’t feel I could contribute as much as before. In for a penny and all that you know.

[avon]

Avon:
While you were on sabbatical you may have missed these two post dealing with the book discussion. The first if by me and I admit I had a wild hair up my….”

http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=14414 #8

The second is by Gile. He may be speaking for many other members as well as for himself.
http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=14414&page=5 #47

The book discussion was one of the finest things (if I do say so myself) on Historum or anywhere else. Personally I would like to see it continue, especially with more participants, as for me I feel a certain lack of energy and don’t feel I could contribute as much as before. In for a penny and all that you know.

Well, that's three of us plus Gile (a valuable addition to any thread - to be sure, to be sure! ) and that's a plenty! Let's do it.

[Comet]

Well, that's three of us plus Gile (a valuable addition to any thread - to be sure, to be sure! ) and that's a plenty! Let's do it.

Do we know what selection is next?

[avon]

I don't know.

A short story?


Common Sense?



Animal Farm?




Something light, humorous ...




... Roald Dahl?



Or perhaps The Island of Doctor Moreau?



Where's Pedro?

[Cicero]

Anyone for P G Wodehouse? I have always wanted to read his books but have never gotten around to doing so.

I've read Common Sense and Animal Farm... wouldn't mind reading them again. I haven't read Dahl and H. G. Wells, but not Moreau.

[avon]

Anyone for P G Wodehouse? I have always wanted to read his books but have never gotten around to doing so.

I've just ordered a volume of his short stories. I haven't read anything of his before, so it could well be an interesting exercise!

I've read Common Sense and Animal Farm... wouldn't mind reading them again. I haven't read Dahl and H. G. Wells, but not Moreau.

;)

[Gile na Gile]

Do we know what selection is next?

As a newbie I'll go with what the vets decide. I'm not a great devourer of fiction so I've no short list to pick from either but we did have a list of upcoming titles so I'll presume we'll be working off that to some extent.

I haven't read any Wodehouse yet so that might be a treat. Either way, I'm easy.

[Rosicrucian]

P.G. Wodehouse is dandy, gotta love his scathing pen. The Foundation Series is brilliant too but I doubt we'd get free online access to it.

Good to see this place breathing again though. :D :)

[avon]

As a newbie I'll go with what the vets decide. I


Good to see this place breathing again though. :D :)


We're still getting sorted here, but I guess we can be assured of your imputations next Sunday. Good for you both!! :)

PG Wodehouse will be on the list, but we haven't decided on a particular text yet.

Benjamin Button will be starring here next Sunday ... please be sure to help us along. Without the imput of as many members as possible, this project cannot work.

[Pedro]

Where's Pedro?
I’m over here in the corner trying to be inconspicuous.

[avon]

I’m over here in the corner trying to be inconspicuous.

Good. I've you've perched yourself upon a stool in the corner, you might want to cast an eye over the new reading schedule.

http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=15352


You might also want to check out:

http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?t=15344

[Belisarius]

Avon has requested this thread to be closed until Sunday the 8th. Done.