Chretien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances (Penguin publishing anthology), and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, T.H. White’s Once and Future King (if you’ve got time for a Loooooooooooong book).
I also always liked Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton, which was the inspiration for the film The 13th Warrior, and ties in closely to the Beowulf legend. So if you have read or are planning to read that, this would make a good companion read.
Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha is sorta related to Buddhism. I liked it. So if you haven’t read it already…
Well, Machiavelli’s The Prince, obviously. Um, Molly Ivins has a couple good books on Bush: “Shrub” which was written before he became president, and “Bushwacked” which has come out in the last year or so.
Don’t know the fantasy genre too well. And of course what is “dark” is relative.
“Jennifer Government” by Max Barry if you haven’t already. But then you likely knew of that one already.
“Basketball Diaries” by Jim Carrol. If you liked Catcher in the Rye, you’ll dig this too.
Thucydides is very good. I also highly recommend Rousseu’s Discourse on Inequality, I think you personally will find that satisfying. And of course I must include the obligatory plug for Plato’s Republic.
Martin Luther, the Freedom of a Christian (also titled Christian Liberty). I also recommend a couple of books by Kierkegaard, “The Sickness Unto Death” and “Fear and Trembling”; but don’t be discouraged if they get really complex, I can barely make sense of half of it.
If you like Arthur, definitely read The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I think it’s the definitive Arthur telling out there. Other books you should try are The Movigoer by Walker Percy, The Trial by Kafka, and The Plage by Camus.
Originally posted by KaiserVonAlmasy
3. Well, Machiavelli’s The Prince, obviously. Um, Molly Ivins has a couple good books on Bush: “Shrub” which was written before he became president, and “Bushwacked” which has come out in the last year or so.
The Prince is an evil book. And it’s not, IMO, well-written, either. It does wonders, however, in pointing out the mindset of some not-so-bright political leaders.
Originally posted by Ivan The Prince is an evil book. And it’s not, IMO, well-written, either. It does wonders, however, in pointing out the mindset of some not-so-bright political leaders.
Exactly. And thus it is very important.
And lay off with the “evil” label, okay? It’s not like I recommended Mein Kampf or anything…
“Mein Kampf” isn’t really as evil as it is incoherent. Its poorly written, and intermingles stuff about bowling with the supposed supremacy of the Aryan race.
Ok, I will clarify. The book The Prince gives rulership advice that would result in despotic rulership. Hence I term the advice handed out by the book evil in nature. A book itself would not be considered evil, but I figured that went without saying (which, I suppose is why I am needing to clarify now).
I mention magnitude in order to say that I was not passing judgement on the order of magnitude of the evilness of the ideas presented within.
Despotic rulership is not necessarily evil. It depends on context. Abraham, Davi, Saloman* (you know, those guys from Jesus’s family), King Arthur (a myth, yes, but a good example anyway), Charlemagne… They were most despotic rulers. And they’re considered noble, saintly heroes by a lot of people.
I think you think despotism is evil because it’s anti-democratic, but remember that democracy as we know today was only invented by the late 18th century, way after the Prince. Ancient greek democracy was a lot despotic in its ways.
Originally posted by Cybercompost “Mein Kampf” isn’t really as evil as it is incoherent. Its poorly written, and intermingles stuff about bowling with the supposed supremacy of the Aryan race.
Which is rather wierd, given that Bowling would be a metaphor for the opposite.
It’s the complete and opposite reaction to Pool; whereas in pool the white ball knocks all the colored balls around, in bowling it’s the big black ball taking down whiteys with red necks.
The Odyssey was a better read than I expected. It’s fun to read it AFTER reading the Illiad, because, while the former could be considered a sequel to the later, it’s written from a ROMAN perspective while the first was greek.
Will have to get back to you on Buddhism. I do have a friend who knows a lot about those, tho.
I’m going to be pelted with eggs for saying this, but: Any book by O’Reilly. Yes, the guy has a big ego, and he needs to let his TV show guests speak more… but I get the feeling that he HONESTLY cares about society. Whether you agree with him or not, at least the books help you understand him better.
The Necroscope Saga, an horror novel series from the 80’s, had some very interesting ideas about death and vampires. It gets pretty cosmic at the end, which is why I consider it more Dark Fantasy than horror. Pretty gory, tho.
Milton’s Paradise Lost, which might be considered the first Fantasy Adventure, despite its being a re-telling of the events in the Genesis books of The Bible.
Not religion, but phylosophy: The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (Rats, I think I mispelled his name.) Big name phylosophist from South America. Has a penchant for teaching by using short faery-tale like tales. (I believe he’s also the author of The Knight with the Rusty Armor, an allegory about a knight with a heavy armor that represents modern man and his worries. Nice read.)
Other books I recommend:
James Clavel’s SHOGUN, a fictional story about the first englishman to reach Japan, and gets caught in the struggle between factions that want to seize the Shogunate. Some of you might remember the TV miniseries, which was pretty good, but the book’s better.
Superman: Miracle Monday. You’ll probably NEVER find this book, because it was a paperback novel that came out in the early 80’s, but to this day it remains my favorite Superman story. Basically, it’s Superman vs The Devil. It’s definitely comic-booky, but the way it gets into its characters’ minds- like the way it explains what it is like to grow up a Superman among normal humans, or the way the Devil gloats about the famous historical souls he had corrupted (and bemoaned those that had defeated him) is priceless.
And there’s a book on Historical Heroes (not just warrior types, but people who did great deeds, such as Albert Camus’ defense of a falsely-accused jew in France) wich I found very inspiring… but did NOT have the money to buy at the time, and I don’t even remember the title!! (I just browsed it at a Border’s.) It’s a recent book. If ANYONE knows the title, PLEASE tell me so I can order it!!!
Yes, Paulo Coelho wrote The Knight of the Rusty Armor (or whatever) & the Alchemist. I read the beggining of The Alchemist and I felt like throwing the book by the window. Really, I was giving him a chance by that time, but I can’t anymore. Also, for every 10 people I know, 10 will hate his texts. And that’s intellectual and layspeople together.
He has some strange ideas that are just too hard to understand. For example, on TV he’s already said he’s practiced anal sex with other men, and he (Coelho) was being passive. The crazy part is where he says that, for doing this, he is more straight (“more man”, to quote his exact words) than men who have never had sex with other men. No homophoby here or anything like that, I just dont catch his ratiocinating line. Another crazy thing he says is that he has the power to become invisible by simply “walking like a nerd walks”. I never got the catch of this part too.
Originally posted by Wilfredo Martinez 1) The Odyssey was a better read than I expected. It’s fun to read it AFTER reading the Illiad, because, while the former could be considered a sequel to the later, it’s written from a ROMAN perspective while the first was greek.
They’re both Greek, actually. The Aneid (sp?) is Roman.
