IAP Political Forum

Which book have you read that you would recommend to others as a must-read?

And why?

Tell us briefly what it is about and why you think others should read it

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

It's about a girl who's father, a historian, gets kidnapped by Dracula. There's a lot of secret society type stuff in it. I collect vampire books. Definitely the best one I've read except for the original Dracula.

How about the "Holocaust Survivor"?

http://holocaustsurvivor.info

The Kite Runner,

And the follow up (not sequel) A Thousand Splendid Suns

Both by Khaled Hosseini. 

Stories about life in Afghanistan, from Pre-communist times to Post Taliban, the first a story of a young boy who grows up in Kabul and is later forced to flee the country with his father after the Soviet invasion, his live in America, and eventual return to Afghanistan, then under the Taliban.

The second book is about two women living under the Taliban.

Neither of these books are my normal fair, but both are very compelling, absorbing, very well told stories.  Hard to put down, even though at times they are disturbing enough that you wish you could.


(hopefully this will work, I actually posted about these two books in the literature forum yesterday, but it turned into a ghost post)

I have heard amazing things about the kite runner, that it's just a must read book.

It is.  As I said, a very compelling read.  This is not the kind of thing I would normally read, but I had a hard time putting them down.

I actually would suggest starting with A Thousand Splendid Suns, it actually starts a little faster, and being a woman yourself, you will likely identify more with the characters  (although I am guessing you have never worn a burqa  :) )

If you get a chance to read either, I would be gratified to read you impressions of them here.

I have never heard about these books. Thanks gomper. They really seem interesting  :)I am definitely intrigued now

They are not based on true stories though are they?

In a way similar to these books, although not much of an adventure is Jean Sasoon's best seller Princess.

I just loved this book. It is about a Saudi princess and life behind the veil, but it is so well written and takes you behind the walls of Saudi palaces and what happens behind closed doors. It is a true story and very well written.

It is part of a trilogy. I read two of the three books: Princess and Princess Sultana's Daughters (aka Daughters of Arabia). But I think nothing beats Princess. Definitely a must read.

As for my all time favorite book, it is without contest Gibran Khalil Gibran's: The Prophet.

Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prophet_(book))


One of the best chapters is the one about Love:

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.


Full Version (http://www.kahlil.org/prophetpf)

I started reading "Live From Cape Canaveral" by Jay Barbree. It wasn't my initial pick, it was offered to me by an older person in my family. But I find it to be very interesting, especially since I missed all those NASA race for space years. And it's also funny (in some chapters)- especially when it speaks about the early astronauts and the pranks they used to play on one another.

I will repeat what I posted in the old IAP: Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Chilling yet satirical. A true masterpiece!

OswaldTheOsprey

You didn't seem like the Anne Rice kind of person to me...

I like Anne Rice. The idea has been to played out though. Why they made a movie about "Queen Of The Damned" but not "The Vampire Lestat" is beyond me.

"Boomsday" by Christopher Buckley

A political satire about on the day all the Boomers retire, a woman begins her quest to start a movement and policy initiative straight off of her blog that asks the people to rise up and make the government implement a new law in which to provide tax incentives for Boomers who kill themselves.  All to fix the growing social security problem.  Phun book, hilarious, and a quick read. Highly recommend!

 

They did take it to Broadway though... and it died swiftly...

Yeah, I heard about that.

I saw a musical in downtown KC called "Rockula". It was this really run-down artsy theatre. About a rock band (think Motley Crue) who were all vampires. It was really good.

"Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins.

Off the wall, some heavy concepts written in a light style, may be a little offensive to people who are too serious about their religion.

A hippie girl trains fleas, one of the characters is a monkey, and Jesus gets vaporized.


Highly recommended.

That sounds awesome.

I say if you have a free afternoon, grab coffee and Alan Lightman's book
"Einstein's Dreams," it's imaginative and heavy illustrations and thought.  A bit abstract, so it may not be everyones cup of tea.

I notice that most like fiction books a lot (like vampires and Sci Fi and stuff). I never was a fan of this no matter how well written a book is. As soon as I read the summary and it is this much fiction, I immediately lose interest.

BTW, I don't like this much fiction in movies either

Vampire books are the only fiction I read. I prefer history or biographies. I actually, I prefer non-fiction vampire books.

There are non-fiction vampire books?  ;D

How do you define that?   

Well, as non-fiction as a fictional idea can be. Research on vampire sightings, the history of the myth, etc.

I'll second the recommendation for The Kite Runner. Really great insight into Afghan society and culture. I'm just over half way through and it's really getting absorbing--don't give away how it ends!

It's a fictional account, but written by someone who grew up in Afghanistan. Like all good novels, although it's a fictional account, you can learn much from reading it. If the author is really good, you can learn as much or more reading fiction as you can reading non-fiction, IMHO. How can you read, say, John Steinbeck and not feel more fully...conscious? human?...for having read it?

I also just finished The Worst Bad Time, by Timothy Egan, about the Great Dust Bowl. I had no idea...

Sorry cedar, missed this earlier... But jpn answered.  They are fictional, although there are some parallels between the life of the protagonist of the Kite Runner and the Author's life, so I am left to wonder how much he drew from his own experiences. 

And despite jpn's warning, I am going to tell you about the ending of the Kite Runner......

It ends.....

...
...
...
On the very last page   :P

ok, clearly I have not had enough sleep.

Pioneer DVD manual

trully you lead an amazing and exiting life    :P

Houm... don't like fiction books? Well, you're just the second weirdest person I've met in what books are concerned.

First was that guy who had grown aboard ships, essentially (lived with dad and dad was a sailor), and who spoke Vietnamese, Thai, Greek, a bit of German, English and French (was Canadian), and he never read any book that was not a information-rich, factual one. Not fantasy, not sci-fi, no fiction at all. Never had read a novel. OTOH, he would enjoy fiction in films, but thought that devoting more than two hours to a fiction was a waste of time... why spend days reading a book when a film tells the same story in a couple hours?

Anyway the purpose of fiction is evasion, and evasion is a privilege/need of people whose lives don't include wars... to say so. ;)

A lot of people don't like fiction books.

My view is, if I'm going to spend time reading a book, I might as well learn something.

Out of the Ashes series by William W Johnstone

Maybe it will wake up some of these liberals to where this country/world might go if they cont their misguided beliefs.

It was good.



A good book, a very good book is "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves. The surreal and amazing life of the stuttering, stammering lame man whom everyone ignored, only to become the unwilling emperor. Nero and his mother tried to erase this history by burning what he thought was the only copy. There was another, found nearly 1900 years later. This coupled with the prophecy at the beginning of the book makes for a real attention grabber, and pulls the reader into the past as though they played a role in the story:

"Who groans beneath the Punic Curse
And strangles in the strings of purse,
Before she mends must sicken worse."
...a reference to Rome.

"Ten years, fifty days and three,
Clau, Clau, Claudius shall given be
a gift that all desire but he."
...this was off by 1 year.

"To a fawning fellowship
He shall stammer, cluck, and trip,
Dribbling always with his lip."
While family members squwabbled and poisoned each other and banished each other in a effort to vie for the "throne", Claudius went unnoticed since how could a lame person ever become emperor?

"But when he’s dead and no more here,
nineteen hundred year or near,
Clau, Clau, Claudius shall speak clear."[/b]
Long after the Julian-Claudio dynasty had been settled in terms of it's histoy, this work comes in to change everything we thought we knew.

It's a very good book that really puts you in the time and shows us how people back then were easily as clever and sophisticated as today or even more so.



Ahk

I have not yet read the book, but remeber being riveted by the PBS series when I was younger.  They did an excellent job of bringing to life the intrigue of the Roman rulling families.

Claudius' story is an amazing one.  I have always been intriqued by the way he, unique among the ceasers, did not vie, fight, manipulate and conive for the thrown, but in fact had it thrust upon him by the pretoreans who were sick of the corruption of the emporers, but did not want to lose their jobs, so they chose someone they thought would be weak and easy to control.  He winds up being one of the most effective emporers Rome had...

1984, another good "what could happen in future" book.

Speaking of "what could happen in the future books: "A Handmaiden's Tale"

Literature, i.e., novels written by talented, insightfull artists, can teach a great deal about a world of things.

I see it more as interpretation and commentary, not a set of facts. I can interpret things for myself, thank you very much.

Yes, and you can paint for yourself. And make music for yourself. But if you didn't experience great paintings and great music, you'd miss a great deal.

Novels can provide penetrating insights into the human experience. Sure, Steinbeck's portrayal of the plight of the "Okies" fleeing the dust bowl is just his interpretation, but I know I'm richer for having read it. Reading novels extends your life experience to many places, situations, emotions, etc. And they can just be pure fun, like Catch-22, for instance.

One thing I prefer in novels is a view of contemporary life. For example, if I read a novel from, say, 1910, I would prefer it be set in 1910 rather than earlier. Steinbeck is a good example and so is F. Scott Fitzgerald.

OswaldTheOsprey

Watership Down

Of course you learn something, if the fiction is any good.  It should make you more reflective and more understanding of human strengths, frailties and possibilities.  Living in a world only of your own interpretations is to live a life of emotional poverty and solipsism.  Good fiction can help us transcend our parochialisms.

I recommend King Lear because I can't think of any tragedy which I've read which is as compelling.

For somewhat lighter, but still substantial, fare I recommend Orson Scott Card's sequels to Ender's Game.  Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide are especially compelling.

I read it years ago. Loved it. Watch Fiver.

Anything by Tom Robbins. I know his books are getting old, but great stuff.

Also, the whole series of Terry Pratchett, especially if you have any nieces or nephews in the double digit age.


Now reading: First Lensman (2nd book of the Ed E. Smith, PhD series)
Pre space-flight sci-fi: my favorite!
Oh, they got it so wrong, but its so good!

I just finished several books.  But the two of note I will present are:

Russia's Capitalist Revolution:  Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed - Anders Aslund.

US Taxation of Foriegn Income by Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Ariel Assa

Animal Farm - by George Orwell.

The Anatomy of Fascism - Robert O Paxton

For anyone confused as to the definition of Fascism, this is a good read. It explores the economic, political, and social conditions that allow it to exist, explains how Fascist leaders gained power, and how society operated under their leadership.

"Animal Farm " by George Orwal.

You already said that...

Thats oldie....but still a goodie.

True, its an accurate portrayal why communism never works in practice. Because everyone is unique and not the same. You get hard working people and lazy people. Its just human nature.

Each animal is based on a figure in the russian revolution and communist russia. I learnt them all in school but can't remember now.

One of my favourites is "The consolation of philosophy" by Boethius. I noticed this book reading another great one which is "The confederacy of dunces" by J.K. Toole. The main character of Toole's book is Ignatius who is a huge fan of Boethius's book. So, first impressed by Ignatius I went to buy "The consolation of philosophy" and I didn't get wrong.   


Synopsis
An eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, Boethius (c. 475-525 AD) was also an exceptional Greek scholar. It was to the Greek philosophers that he turned when he fell from favor and was imprisoned in Pavia. Written in the period leading up to his brutal execution, it is a dialogue that alternates from prose to verse between the ailing prisoner and his 'nurse' Philosophy, whose instruction on the nature of fortune and happiness, good and evil, fate and free will, restore his health and bring him to enlightenment. The clarity of Boethius's thought and his breadth of vision made "The Consolation of Philosophy" hugely popular throughout medieval Europe and his ideas suffused the thought of Chaucer and Dante.

"Decameron", by Bocaccio. Horrible era, after the plague but a masterpiece, beautifully written, evocative of the age and the stories related by the 10 young people in the book are pretty amusing.

Also "The Earth" by Emile Zola, but it is earthy and possibly a little too earthy to be classy IMO ...not really enjoying it   :P

Did you see the movie made on the Bocaccio's book by Pier Paolo Pasolini?

No, I haven't seen it.  Do you recommend it, Diego?  Which language is it filmed in?

I've got a Spanish version, don't know if there's an English version ... I didn't read the book but as I've read over the internet it's a little bit different from the movie (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/arts/wheel/pasolini.shtml)

The movie in my opinion it's little bit bizarre but quite interesting. Maybe the best word is provocative. The movie is included in the "Trilogy of life" by Pasolini and that is why I started with it rather than book. I've found the idea interesting and I hope to see the other movies soon.

Uh...I started reading over the review in your linked page, but it is giving away parts of the story I haven't read yet... ;D

I will try to locate the movie.  En Espanol esta bien para mi, porque lo hablo bastante bien y tengo que practicarme...

Sorry about that. I thought that you've reached the end of the book.

Veo que te defiendes bien en español. ¡No dejes de practicarlo!. Un saludo

Clockwork Orange
A million little pieces
The memory keepers daughter
Siddhartha

The Sun Field-Heywood Broun
Manhattan Transfer-John Dos Passos
Babbitt-Sinclair Lewis

OswaldTheOsprey