"The 10 Greatest Books of All Time"

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Seattle, I think your list is pretty close to an ideal (if there could be such a thing). I don't think I'd include both Aeneid and Illiad. I think I'd just use the Illiad to represent the epic form.

I'd also have to include Beowulf.

I think my first criterion would be the influence the work had on later works.

Sometime read Anna Karenina's tirade at and about Vronsky in the scene before she commits suicide after reading Dido's tirade at and about Aeneus in the scene before she commits suicide. You will get the spooky feeling that either Tolstoy is immensely indebted to Virgil or he is Virgil reincarnated. Anna is Dido. Every major work of literature owes a huge debt to the Iliad and the Aeneid. Many have noted the Iliad's influence on War and Peace. The reason I included both of them is that while they are both classical epic poems each has its unique voice and theme and imagery. Virgil was very indebted to Lucretius as well as Homer, by the way. Bloom goes into this. On the nature of the universe has some very erotic language.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Sometime read Anna Karenina's tirade at and about Vronsky in the scene before she commits suicide after reading Dido's tirade at and about Aeneus in the scene before she commits suicide. You will get the spooky feeling that either Tolstoy is immensely indebted to Virgil or he is Virgil reincarnated. Anna is Dido. Every major work of literature owes a huge debt to the Iliad and the Aeneid. Many have noted the Iliad's influence on War and Peace. The reason I included both of them is that while they are both classical epic poems each has its unique voice and theme and imagery. Virgil was very indebted to Lucretius as well as Homer, by the way. Bloom goes into this. On the nature of the universe has some very erotic language.

As I have read the Aeneid in both the original and translation, I do have to agree with you on these points. Obviously it would be silly for me to argue that the one could fully represent the other.

And of course not only has the Aeneid filled our literature with allusions to its plots and characters, but it has also impacted our rhetorical construction and storytelling devices.

But, if I had to choose one over the other, I would favor the Illiad, as the Illiad inspired/influenced the Aeneid, and not vice versa.

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by creekster

Jupiter Jones!


Once again we find common ground. I recall these books very well and have from time to time asked others if they have heard of them and no one ever had. I recall they were tied into Alfred Hitchcock somehow, who introduced the stories. I preferred Juptier becasue he was, uh, 'thick-limbed' and smart and I was also thick limbed and wanted to be smart, so there you go. Great books and although my tastes changed, I enjoyed them as much at the time I read them as I did when reading Anna Karenina years later.

I did read thre ahrdy boys, btw, and Jupiter Jones was much much better.

Jupiter Jones rocks. The Three Investigators rock. I loved those books.

I also read The Great Brain books, and Encyclopedia Brown. My girls recently got some Encylopedia Brown books from the library. I remember as a kid being amazed at how he figured stuff out but when I read them now the answers aren't nearly as amazing and are often quite silly.

[RockyBalboa]

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and it's sequel SuperFudge rule.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

its sequel SuperFudge rule.

That was the first book I ever read. I'm going to have my son read it if I can ever get him past Hop on Pop. Which of course is a literary classic in its own right.

[ute4ever]

My nephew is reading the Frog and Toad series.

I guess childrens books could be another thread on its own.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Seattle, I think your list is pretty close to an ideal (if there could be such a thing). I don't think I'd include both Aeneid and Illiad. I think I'd just use the Illiad to represent the epic form.

I'd also have to include Beowulf.

I think my first criterion would be the influence the work had on later works.

Beowulf would be a good choice. Or, to avoid charges of occocentrism (such charges wouldn't bother me, btw), you could delete one of Tolstoy's listed works and the Aeneid and add The Tale of Ghengi and the Koran.

[Detroitdad]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Beowulf would be a good choice. Or, to avoid charges of occocentrism (such charges wouldn't bother me, btw), you could delete one of Tolstoy's listed works and the Aeneid and add The Tale of Ghengi and the Koran.

Lets not forget the Epic of Gilgamesh, the one that got the whole ball rolling.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Beowulf would be a good choice. Or, to avoid charges of occocentrism (such charges wouldn't bother me, btw), you could delete one of Tolstoy's listed works and the Aeneid and add The Tale of Ghengi and the Koran.

What the heck is "occocentrism?" Not even google can give me a hit on that one.

My first criterion, by the way, would have to be that I enjoyed it. There is no way a book on my list is one of the all-time best books written if I don't even want to read it- is that called Cali Cougcentrism?

[creekster]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

What the heck is "occocentrism?" Not even google can give me a hit on that one.

My first criterion, by the way, would have to be that I enjoyed it. There is no way a book on my list is one of the all-time best books written if I don't even want to read it.

It's either:

1. An unnatural obsession with Doc Octopus from Spiderman ouevre; or,

2. Focus on the occult, thus proving what many of us have suspected: SU worships evil. Perhaps we better find out if he floats?