Favorites

[Surmuck]

Yay a Literary Analysis favorites thread!! Whoohoooo!!

• Favorite Play:
• Favorite Book:
• Favorite Poem:

questioning members want to know!!

I tried to answer these questions and I really couldn't, but trust me I sat here trying to think up good responses for all of them. I just get easily torn between my favorite literary works of all sorts; and by making a deicsion I feel like I'm betraying someone or something? I don't know, I just get sentimental I guess. However! The rest of you aren't wimps and should be able to answer.

Give detailed reasons why, put spoilers in a spoiler tag, don't do stupid unexplanatory shit or you'll get in big trouble mister!

Have a good one

 

[dadevvtsvre]

It's hard to pick a favourite book, but I can narrow it down to two-Deception Point and War of the Worlds.

I though Deception Point was really intense and the twists caught me off guard-I love that. There were so many unexpected moments, and there were so many layers to it, the more you read the deeper you got into the plot. Not to mention I'm a sucker for aliens. There was humour here and there as well, I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. I rarely do that. And I loved how it was easy to follow-I never got lost or confused. Maybe my mine complaint is that some of the action scenes were a bit poorly written, other than that, great book.

War of the Worlds. Best science fiction novel, period. I don't care whether it was written over 100 years ago or not, this book is amazing. Even though much of the language is different than what I'm used to, it's so easy to read. The action scenes are vivid, the characters an accurate portrayal of human emotions and personalities, and who can beat alien invasions? Plus the fact that H.G. Wells managed to invent technologies waaay before anyone else did. Combine that with a very deep theme (the last chapter specifically is quite profound) and you have one of my favourite books.

 

[Mundane]

Favorite Book: Siddartha by Herman Hesse
I think Siddartha is one of the only books I have read recently that really stimulated my outlook on life. The message it gives about inner happiness is just amazing. It's a short read and I truly recommend it to anyone. No matter what you've heard the book isn't ALL ABOUT BUDDHISM, and is not going to try and convert you or preach to you. It's a well written fiction piece, and everyone should read it.

Favorite Play: Othello by William Shakespeare
I honestly don't know why this is my favorite play. I haven't read a whole lot of plays, but out of the ones I have read this is it. Shakespeare is a genius with words, and although this story is a widely predictable tragedy, it's just a great play. Perhaps I loved it so much because I actually read it aloud in class Sophmore year, and could get into it. *shrugs*

Favorite Poem: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
Poe is one of the greatest poets in American history, and could be one of the greatest ever. His use of words and his morbid macabre themes intrigue me. The Raven is such a mysterious character and the way he is portrayed really makes you think about the narrator's situation.

 

[serrated_colon]

    * Favorite Play: I really don't read many plays.
    * Favorite Book: The sound and the fury by William Faulkner. I can't describe it, you must go read it yourself(lazypost)
    * Favorite Poem: No idea.

yeah i don't read as much as i used to

 

[RedWitch]

Favorite Play: Streetcar Named Desire - its crazy, my favourite part was the characters themselves - also find Shakespeares Measure For Measure quite funny - went to see it at The Globe, London 3 years back and enjoyed it even with the rock hard benches (all part of the experience I guess)

Favorite Book: Hmm...am a big Terry Pratchett fan but can't decide which book I like best...he has a really down to earth view of things and his books really portray the british sense of humour. He also touches on a lot of theories I agree with

Favorite Poem: Got a few - The Thorn, William Wordsworth, already mentioned 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'-Robert Browning, I find Emily Dickinson a bit morbid but love a few of her poems.

 

[e]

Favorite Play: La Charge de l'Orignal Epormyable
It's a French - well, Quebec - play, steeped in our culture, so it might seem odd to the outsider, but I found it particularly engaging. It's set in the 40's and revolves around a man who was locked in an asylum for what would now be considered trivial matter; remember that psychology was primitive (compared to now) and hysteria or depression could still put someone in an asylum.

Either way, it's about the horrible treatment society reserved to "crazy" people and, to a given extent, anyone outside the norm.

Favorite Book: The Fall, Albert Camus. Best. Book.

Favorite Poem: While possibly not the best poem ever, it's still the one that has made the greatest impression on me; I read this when I was around 14 and then started to write myself. Idk. I guess there's a correlation somewhere. It's Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken.

 

[Petros]

* Favorite Play: Journey's End by R.C. Sheriff (Best performance I ever saw though was one of the Woman in Black by Stephen Malatratt)
* Favorite Book: The Game by Neil Strauss
* Favorite Poem: The Iliad by Homer (if that doesn't count even though it is an Epic Poem then, Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen)

 

[Mascarpone]

Play:Lend Me a Tenor. I almost PEED. it's one of the funnyest things i've ever seen in my life. Totally worth seeing. If you're into something more serious though, Proof is absolutly phenomenal.

Book: When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops? I mean lets face it. There may never be another man who revolutionizes comedy in quite the same way as George Carlin did. And i think it was his last book, though i could be wrong.

Poem: Idk i don't have one favorite. their too short. Allot of Robert Frost's stuff is great, just as long as it's not William Carlos Williams..

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

THIS IS NOT A POEM! this is GARBAGE! ._.

 

[e]

Why, thank you most esteemed scholar Mascarpone for this wonderful commentary.

Update on my favorite poem: I just finished reading The Figure of Man by Paul Éluard, and it's fucked up. It's a series of poems about WWII (in which he participated in the French Résistance).

 

[Mascarpone]

Oh most certainly my good chap. Think nothing of it.

Hey, etheon's post did contribute to the thread, even if the majority didn't. Yours didn't. Try not to do that. Thanks. -Surmuck

 

[skirtboy]

Poem: Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson)
Book: A study in Scarlet (A. Conan Doyle)
Play: McBeth

 

[tofurkey]

Play: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett zzz beckett is amazing, etc.

Book: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick it's a valid question albeit a very profound/well-written book

Though I guess I have to put up Dubliners by James Joyce here if that counts, though it's mostly just short stories :\

Poem: Beowulf, if that counts. Otherwise I'd have to go with either In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound or Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Light by Dylan Thomas. Hearing Dylan Thomas read that poem is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard.

 

[Daxis]

Play: None. I'm 15, don't watch plays.
Book: Lots... Can't really decide... Stephen king(just finished it in 5 days), rowling, paolini, Everworld's the funniest thing ever...
Poem: Meh. Does homer count?

 

[candle]

Book: The Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind - I just really love the portrayal of both the nobility and depravity of mankind. I laughed so much at the absolute hypocrisy of the Imperial Order.
Play: MacBeth by William Shakespear (sp?)
Poem: the Oddysey by Homer

 

[Nearly Infinite]

Poem: the Oddysey by Homer

That's cheating. The Odyssey is so huge and epic it transcends poetic license and becomes a book (or volume of books) in and of itself. It's a whole story of awesome.

Book: Catch 22
Play: True West
Poem: The Odyssey.

 

[Sailerius]

Play: "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre
seriously there is no excuse to have not read this
it is a one-act play available in full text online

Book: House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

Poem: "A Lecture Upon the Shadow" by John Donne