Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-11-17 Thread Nicholas Thompson
] The Best 10 Fictional Works Everyone should read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Stephenson's Anathema is also a must read, much better than Cyptonomicon IMO. On Oct 8, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: > Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-11-17 Thread Miles Parker
Everyone should read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Stephenson's Anathema is also a must read, much better than Cyptonomicon IMO. On Oct 8, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: > Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and would like > to know this group's recomm

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-13 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works On Oct 9, 2010, at 5:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote: > Likewise, I am keenly aware as well that we are largely reading only > in Western European and American works. Can any folks on this list > who we

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Ted Carmichael
Favorite one? Well, I love the whole interplay with DEATH and his granddaughter, so I agree that Thief of Time is excellent. For my favorite I'm going to go with one of the city watch books though ... either Night Watch or Jingo. (Night Watch overall is better, but that bit near then end of Jing

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Scott R. Powell
I have never heard of him, Tory, lord help me. The second most widely read author in the UK and the seventh most widely read non-US author here. I wonder who compiled that statistic. But there's glory for you nonetheless. Thanks to all for mentioning him - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratch

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Scott R. Powell
Du hast Recht. On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 12:00 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote: > Just checking - this is the Friam list and not the discuss list, right? > > On Oct 11, 2010, at 11:54 AM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: > > Me thinks submissions are continuing to digress away from the Best Works > for a Lit

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
That's right because I started out interested in what this science/technology oriented community would recommend. I suspect the Discuss list would have a completely different perspective given that there's a big artist component. Thanks Robert C On 10/11/10 12:00 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote:

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Victoria Hughes
Just checking - this is the Friam list and not the discuss list, right? On Oct 11, 2010, at 11:54 AM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: Me thinks submissions are continuing to digress away from the Best Works for a Literary Education goal. Thanks Robert C On 10/11/10 11:30 AM, Victoria Hughes wrot

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Victoria Hughes
Well, yes but have you read him? Despite being an enormous fan I did not mention him until three others had done so. On Oct 11, 2010, at 11:54 AM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: Me thinks submissions are continuing to digress away from the Best Works for a Literary Education goal. Thanks Rob

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Me thinks submissions are continuing to digress away from the Best Works for a Literary Education goal. Thanks Robert C On 10/11/10 11:30 AM, Victoria Hughes wrote: Great to meet yet another Pratchett fan. If you had to pick one Pratchett, which would it be? I'd go for Thief of Time... Tory

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Victoria Hughes
Great to meet yet another Pratchett fan. If you had to pick one Pratchett, which would it be? I'd go for Thief of Time... Tory On Oct 11, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Ted Carmichael wrote: S difficult to find only ten. And I'm not sure what to do with the "literature" requirement ... I like well-

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Ted Carmichael
*S* difficult to find only ten. And I'm not sure what to do with the "literature" requirement ... I like well-written stories that transcend genre, but I wouldn't claim that is enough. And while I would recommend *everything *from, say, Terry Pratchett or P.G. Wodehouse, I've tried to pick ty

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Nicholas Thompson
orning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Restricting to just novels -- "Ulysses" by James Joyce "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce "Moby Dick" (1849) by Herman Melville "The Sound and th

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-11 Thread Owen Densmore
Being here in Italy, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose comes to mind. The translation is considered quite good, and it reads very well. Owen I am an iPad, resistance is futile! FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets F

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Nicholas Thompson
; is a language, not a field of specialization. We're talking "literature" here. Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 9:28 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Gro

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Roger Critchlow
The Odyssey - Genji Monogatari - I liked Seidensticker's translation, though it was years before I finally finished reading it. I see there's yet another translation available now. The Journey to the West - how the dharma came to the middle kingdom, and no abbreviated description could do it jus

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Steve Smith
Nick - Why would I want a PhD to lead a discussion on Literature? Because, even though I was a participant in the Berkeley dustup of the sixties, I still think that expertise has its place in the world. I wasn't actually criticizing your desire for a PhD in English to lead the seminar, but

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Thanks everyone for the tremendous response to this topic. However, we now have over 100 submissions from which to elect the 10 Best Fictional Works for a literary education! I think we should stop here because that's a lot to choose from. Shortly, I'll distribute the list for folks to vote

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Victoria Hughes
a meal/scotch/cigarette. Works for us... - Claiborne - -Original Message- From: Pamela McCorduck To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Sent: Sat, Oct 9, 2010 9:08 pm Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works On Oct 9, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote:

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread lrudolph
On 9 Oct 2010 at 23:17, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Steve Smith and Lee Rudolph, and everybody, > > Why would I want a PhD to lead a discussion on Literature? > > Because, even though I was a participant in the Berkeley dustup of the > sixties, I still think that expertise has its place in the w

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-10 Thread Stephen Guerin
On Oct 9, 2010, at 5:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote: Likewise, I am keenly aware as well that we are largely reading only in Western European and American works. Can any folks on this list who were raised outside this tradition, weigh in? Additionally, I appreciated the sci-fi variant, and wou

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
lexity Coffee Group Sent: Sat, Oct 9, 2010 9:08 pm Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works On Oct 9, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote: And I (also) say "Why English", why not World Literature or something more expansive... and for the benefit of the women on thi

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Grant Holland
Don't forget "Sound and Sense" by Laurence Perrine. Grant Holland VP, Product Development and Software Engineering NuTech Solutions 404.427.4759 On 10/9/2010 6:29 PM, Stephen Thompson wrote: Pamela & Steve: Winging their way to me via the magic of the Internet and Amazon Books are three boo

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
, Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 5:07 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Lee - Why would you want to ask a PhD in

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Rich Murray
1. A Course in Miracles, J. Christ, 1975 -- JC through Helen Schucman, Columbia University Medical Center research psychologist, in 1965-1972, the foundation for post-Christian Christianity -- as a willing victim of this relentless subversion of all concepts since August, 1977, I never tire of

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread qef
Group Sent: Sat, Oct 9, 2010 9:08 pm Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works On Oct 9, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote: And I (also) say "Why English", why not World Literature or something more expansive... and for the benefit of the women on this list... why

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
On Oct 9, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote: And I (also) say "Why English", why not World Literature or something more expansive... and for the benefit of the women on this list... why do we (mostly) read the words of "dead white men"? Really? Without going all feminist, I'd really l

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Pamela - Great reference... thanks! A couple of Trollopes! I'll mention it to my wife, she probably has a copy somewhere or will find one within a week (really, she is *that good*) ... Sigh. Not much of an option in Manhattan. You've gotta discard. Especially when you calculate what it'

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
I read Lubbock many years ago, and he's got much good to say, as does E. M. Forster on the novel, and even, if I recall right, Henry James. But I prefer Wood. Your mileage may vary. Menand's "The Metaphysical Club" is good stuff too, but dense, I agree. P. On Oct 9, 2010, at 8:29 PM, Steph

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
On Oct 9, 2010, at 6:49 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Pamela - When I hear someone say "I never read fiction," I'm a little saddened. It comes to my ears like "I never look at art." When one starts getting all hairy-chested about the greater value of non- fiction over make-believe, please be remi

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Stephen Thompson
Pamela & Steve: Winging their way to me via the magic of the Internet and Amazon Books are three books: two recommended here: 1. James Woods "How Fiction Works" 2. Zelazny's "Jack of Shadows" and one recommended by a reviewer of Wood's book (not a happy review) Percy Lubbock's "The Craft of

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Leigh Fanning
> And I (also) say "Why English", why not World Literature or something > more expansive... and for the benefit of the women on this list... why > do we (mostly) read the words of "dead white men"? Really? Without > going all feminist, I'd really like to have more submissions here of > w

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Lee - /Why would you want to ask a PhD in English to "lead" you? Ph.D.s in English are to the joy of reading fiction or poetry as firefighters are to fires./ I think I understand Nick's need for a PhD-person... (something about establishing credibility in the whole City College thi

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Self
On 9 Oct 2010 at 16:04, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Perhaps you could gin up a reading group for the City University of Santa Fe > Spring Coffee House Seminars. Do we know anybody with a PhD in English who > would lead us? I know that, being unacquainted as I am with the CVs of the Friends and

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Steph T. For scifi, my Fahrenheit451 book is "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny I'll see your "Lord" and raise you a "Jack" (of Shadows)... Zelazny (our own hometown boy) was awesome... I miss him. And his works. FRIAM Applied Com

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Pamela - When I hear someone say "I never read fiction," I'm a little saddened. It comes to my ears like "I never look at art." When one starts getting all hairy-chested about the greater value of non-fiction over make-believe, please be reminded of the books you pull off your shelf to make r

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Robert J. Cordingley Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 9:14 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works The situation so far... in case you are not keeping count: Given some

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
up Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Nick - I teach a Junior level course for our Honors Program. Our program is open to students from all majors, so my "audience" in the class comes from everywhere -- majors of students in the class this Fall range across Art, En

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
On 10/9/10 1:27 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote: and even us lurkers (10 !? can't even begin to get it down to ten, thus the absence of presence) are getting a kick and learning a lot from this all... And no fair submitting 10 (only 10?) Terry Pratchett Novels... though I think I have a couple of y

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Julia Susemihl
ulia From: pam...@well.com To: friam@redfish.com Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 16:27:30 -0400 Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works When I hear someone say "I never read fiction," I'm a little saddened. It comes to my ears like "I never look at art." When one starts getting al

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Tom Carter
e context in which you are reading these > things? > > Nick > > From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf > Of Tom Carter > Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 12:07 PM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: Re: [

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
Thanks for the Yeats, Robert. He's one of my favorites, and was even before I knew there was a tenuous family connection. P. On Oct 9, 2010, at 4:56 PM, Stephen Thompson wrote: Steve: There are so many good suggestions I despair of finding the Classic Comics version of all these books - th

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Stephen Thompson
Steve: There are so many good suggestions I despair of finding the Classic Comics version of all these books - that's the only way I will get through them all. (An HS teacher said when you get to college, read the first and last 2 chapters then read the classic comic for the middle - its fast

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Robert Gehorsam
Hi, I get to claim both lurkership and newbie-ship here, and have enjoyed this thread. This is an interesting idea, Pamela, that literature has endured, more than non-fiction. It feels intuitively true as we look back on various canon(s). It does all sorts of I come from the opposite direct

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
m [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Tom Carter Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 12:07 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works All - 10??? Oh, well . . . When I was a kid, my parents installed this in the

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
When I hear someone say "I never read fiction," I'm a little saddened. It comes to my ears like "I never look at art." When one starts getting all hairy-chested about the greater value of non-fiction over make-believe, please be reminded of the books you pull off your shelf to make room for

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
On Oct 9, 2010, at 3:28 PM, Merle Lefkoff wrote: Merle Lefkoff wrote: Have I missed something? I don't recall having seen anything by Philip Roth on anyone's list. And now that I think about it, I've been musing for some time about the dearth of neurotic Jewish intellectuals in Friam

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Merle Lefkoff wrote: Have I missed something? I don't recall having seen anything by Philip Roth on anyone's list. And now that I think about it, I've been musing for some time about the dearth of neuroti

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Victoria Hughes
and even us lurkers (10 !? can't even begin to get it down to ten, thus the absence of presence) are getting a kick and learning a lot from this all... Tory On Oct 9, 2010, at 12:41 PM, Steve Smith wrote: On 10/9/10 11:10 AM, Grant Holland wrote: Thanks, Steve. I've noticed that the bread

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Merle Lefkoff
Merle Lefkoff wrote: Have I missed something? I don't recall having seen anything by Philip Roth on anyone's list. And now that I think about it, I've been musing for some time about the dearth of neurotic Jewish intellectuals in Friam--especially noteworthy given our Complexity forefathers:

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Merle Lefkoff
Merle Lefkoff wrote: Thank you for mentioning Richard Powers. And don't forget Powers' "The Time of Our Singing", an extraordinary imaginative leap into the complexities of racial identity. Tom Carter wrote: All - 10??? Oh, well . . . When I was a kid, my parents installed this in t

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
On 10/9/10 11:10 AM, Grant Holland wrote: Thanks, Steve. I've noticed that the breadth of you reading is exceptional. And that is just the stuff I'm willing to admit to on-list I'll save the really juicy stuff for another forum. Most places I'm askeered to admit to reading Russel and Whit

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Leigh Fanning
Here's some in random order. The Age of Reason, Jean Paul Sartre The Tale of Genji, Lady Murasaki For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Cervantes, Don Quixote The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo Labyrinths, Jor

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Tom Carter
All - 10??? Oh, well . . . When I was a kid, my parents installed this in the living room (you can still sometimes find it in used book stores -- saw one a few years ago for $150, missing Marx and Freud !). I learned a lot :-): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_We

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread David Mirly
I make no claims about being among the "10 Best" but here are a few selections not previously mentioned. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut Candide - Voltaire Perhaps something by John Steinbeck? I guess the obvious is The Grapes of Wrath but I hated it for some reason (perhaps because I grew up in

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Grant Holland
Thanks, Steve. I've noticed that the breadth of you reading is exceptional. Grant Holland VP, Product Development and Software Engineering NuTech Solutions 404.427.4759 On 10/9/2010 10:45 AM, Steve Smith wrote: Grant - Thanks for the reminder, I haven't visited Castenada since I was in my

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Stephen - Good points all. Most of us went off on a "my favorite reads" jag with only a minor interest in whether it was "Literature" by any nominal or not-so-nominal standard. It doesn't surprise me that most of us have a collective double-standard. In our own fields of study/expertise

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Saul - I love (most of) your list. Great Ante. I think you might mean "A Scanner Darkly" by Dick, but there appear to be as many as 5 novels by the Title "Through a Glass Darkly" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_a_Glass_Darkly and then there is Sheridan le Fanu's 1872 collection of Got

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Steve Smith
Grant - Thanks for the reminder, I haven't visited Castenada since I was in my twenties... perhaps he deserves a revisit. At the time I slogged through several of his works because everyone was raving so much about them (not unlike the ravings about Cormac's work)... they just came off as w

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Grant Holland
Oops... I'll mention two. Far from great literature, but I still enjoy reading it is "Journey to Ixtlan" - Carlos Castaneda. (I know it is advertised as "Sociology", but I regard it as Fantasy.) Another great Fantasy (although held by most as mathematical logic) is Kurt Godel's 1931 paper "

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Merle Lefkoff
I'd add to Jack's criteria: 9) deep exploration of a particular culture at a moment in time. Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Hate to say it because it's been so over-hyped, but it's that good, right up there with Huck Finn and Jay Gatsby. I think it will 10) stand the test of time. Merle Ro

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
The situation so far... in case you are not keeping count: Given some restrictions, like only accepting the first 10 mentioned by anyone ... so far we have 73 submissions, 4 have been recommended 3 times, 9 have been recommended twice and the rest once. And just to confirm that my literary

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Grant, James Joyce has been mentioned twice, Woolf once... and your top 10 are? but you're right about Proust. Thanks Robert C On 10/9/10 8:31 AM, Grant Holland wrote: What? Nobody mentioned Proust, James Joyce or Woolf? (I'm not going to.) Grant Grant Holland VP, Product Development and S

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Pamela McCorduck
Somebody did mention "To the Lighthouse," and I'd agree. I mentioned admiring, without particularly liking (except in parts) "Ulysses." The Scott-Moncrieff translation of "Remembrance of Things Past" is heavy weather; a later translation (sorry; it's on a high shelf) lets Proust's humor sho

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Grant Holland
What? Nobody mentioned Proust, James Joyce or Woolf? (I'm not going to.) Grant Grant Holland VP, Product Development and Software Engineering NuTech Solutions 404.427.4759 On 10/8/2010 11:54 PM, Alison Jones wrote: After 10 years of lurking something I can finally comment on. In no particlu

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Stephen Thompson
Most of you are PhDs and respond to inquiries from the non-science type to aspects of your field(s). So how about asking a college in the English Lit or World Lit department? Robert, you mentioned you are going to improve your literary education, so the works will generally be older because tho

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-09 Thread Saul Caganoff
All great suggestions and timely since my library book is due back tomorrow. I'll add a couple of other suggestions: The English Patient (Ondaatje) Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Persig) (not sure if this counts as fiction) A Glass Darkly (Philip K Dick) On the Road (Kerouac) Unbearabl

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Alison Jones
After 10 years of lurking something I can finally comment on. In no particlular order: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie Sometime a Great Notion by Ken Kesey Beloved by Toni Morrison Middlemarch by George

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Steve re: Brown... You have to pick specific volumes! Sorry if I didn't make that clear, otherwise someone could suggest a decalogy and 9 others, ie 19 works! Thanks Robert C On 10/8/10 11:22 PM, Stephen Guerin wrote: I'd add "Sometimes a Great Notion", by Ken Kesey and pretty much any vol

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Stephen Guerin
I'd add "Sometimes a Great Notion", by Ken Kesey and pretty much any volume of Encyclopedia Brown. That kid can solve anything. -S _ step...@redfish.com (m) 505-216-6226 (o) 505-995-0206 sfcomplex.org | simtable.com | ambientpixel.co

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Steve Smith
i-collinearity (i.e., overlap) in these; it would be good to evolve them into a more orthogonal set. So feel free to have at it! Jack From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Robert J. Cordingley Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 1:45 PM To: The Friday Morning

[FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Jack Stafurik
Behalf Of Robert J. Cordingley Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 1:45 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and would like to know this group's recommendations f

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Carl Tollander
Well, like an exercise program, the best books are the one's one actually rereads. I was that liberal arts major, until I came across computer science, then all was lost, then complexity and developmental biology, and all was *really* lost...virtually nothing on the English major curriculum i

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Pamela McCorduck
Lists like this are always a bit odd. I got dressed down last night (gently but firmly) by a professor of English who couldn't believe that I thought Brothers K. was the most tedious thing I've ever read half of (couldn't drive myself to read the second half). I like other Dostoevsky--just

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Steve Smith
Doug - Geeze, doesn't anybody like good science fiction any more? Larry Nivin's Ringworld. Poul Anderson's Gateway series. I love that shit (much of SF)... but don't quite want to call most of it literature... great storytelling and exposition of esoteric scientific concepts... but not qu

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Steve Smith
R - So I take it that our working definition of "best" is "will look good on the coffee table and impress liberal arts graduates" rather than "will be read and enjoyed"? ;-) I don't think that was the original question. Is it evidenced in some of the answers? Or is this just Doug spoofing yo

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Douglas Roberts
Geeze, doesn't anybody like good science fiction any more? Larry Nivin's Ringworld. Poul Anderson's Gateway series. --Doug On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 4:21 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > I've just been reading a collection of Twain's writings on writing itself. > > Therefore I have to offer the classic

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread glen e. p. ropella
Hugh Trenchard wrote circa 10-10-08 02:56 PM: > The Glass Bead Game, by Hermann Hesse, is a must-read for any > self-respecting complexity theorist :-) +1 I was also _very_ fond of Narcissus and Goldmund... Oh! Oh! and Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, as well. I'd also add the following to the list

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Steve Smith
I've just been reading a collection of Twain's writings on writing itself. Therefore I have to offer the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is the classic American Novel, and not just (though especially) for young men. I squirm at Frank's recommendation of (anything by?) Cormac McCa

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Robert Holmes
So I take it that our working definition of "best" is "will look good on the coffee table and impress liberal arts graduates" rather than "will be read and enjoyed"? ;-) -- R P.S. Also: when selecting foreign authors you must specify the translation if you are going to maximize your pseud points.

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Scott R. Powell
t; cheers, Paul >> >> -----Original Message- >> From: q...@aol.com >> To: friam@redfish.com >> Sent: Fri, Oct 8, 2010 3:39 pm >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works >> >> Robert -- >> >> The St. John's graduate in m

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread George Duncan
Restricting to just novels -- "Ulysses" by James Joyce "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce "Moby Dick" (1849) by Herman Melville "The Sound and the Fury" (1929) by William Faulkner "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment: by Fyodor Dostoyevsky "A

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Hugh Trenchard
The Glass Bead Game, by Hermann Hesse, is a must-read for any self-respecting complexity theorist :-) Hugh - Original Message - From: "Robert J. Cordingley" To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group" Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 12:44 PM Subject:

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Scott R. Powell
ormat:* Paperback > *Publication date:* 07 Nov 2009 > > > cheers, Paul > > -Original Message- > From: q...@aol.com > To: friam@redfish.com > Sent: Fri, Oct 8, 2010 3:39 pm > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works > > Robert -- > >

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Paul Paryski
:39 pm Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works Robert -- The St. John's graduate in me says "whoopie"! Here are 10, in no particular order: Shakespeare: Sonnets Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet Dante: The Divine Comedy Homer: The Iliad Tolstoy: War & Peace Cerva

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread qef
but I'd aver at least some of them qualify in the sense of being "based on a true story", if not necessarily fiction. Happy Reading! - Claiborne Booker - -Original Message- From: Robert J. Cordingley To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Se

Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Russell Standish
I would have to vote for the Bible. Its arguably not great fiction, but its probably the most influential work of fiction in the English language. Cheers ;). On Fri, Oct 08, 2010 at 01:44:31PM -0600, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: > Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and

[FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

2010-10-08 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and would like to know this group's recommendations for the "10 Best Literary Works" I should read. They have to be works of fiction and available in English and not just say of 2009 but of all time. Google searches tend to list t