CP LITERATURE DRAFT - (Rapid Fire Free For All Round)

[FanIn80]

With my second pick, I'm continuing with my list of personal favourites and selecting a book that is easily the best book I've ever read.

In the American Lit category... A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving!

Plot summary

The novel is told through the eyes of a mature John Wheelwright, an English teacher at a private girls' school in Canada, who elaborates on the events surrounding his close friendship with Owen Meany during the 1950s and 1960s in a small town and at a private boarding school in New England. These, John makes clear, are responsible for his belief in God.

Owen is unusually short and his voicebox is fixed, so that he always sounds as if he is screaming. Owen's short stature makes him the butt of many jokes and pranks, though his peers do not generally dislike him. Children and adults alike seem drawn to and are almost protective of Owen. Owen is also the recipient of many special privileges, such as getting to play the baby Jesus in a Christmas pageant because he is the only actor who can fit in the crib and not cry.

Themes

The novel deals with some serious spiritual issues, such as the importance of faith, matters of social justice, and the concept of fate, in the context of an outlandish narrative. Throughout the novel, John and Owen both offer criticisms of organized religion and religious hypocrisy. However, the spiritual dimension is repeatedly emphasized by Owen's foretelling of his own impending death. He is quite certain that he will die because he is an "instrument of God" and thus will serve some good and important purpose. He also believes that he knows the date of his death and that a heroic act on his part will kill him but also save some children. He is a bit unclear, however, about where and how this act will occur.

[Bobblehead]

For my second round pick, I decided to go with a classic of Children's Literature,
Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Watership Down began as a story that Richard Adams told to his two children, Juliet and Rosamund, on a long car journey; in an interview, Adams said that he "began telling the story of the rabbits ... improvised off the top of my head, as we were driving along."He based the struggles of the animals in the story on the struggles he and his friends encountered during the Battle of Oosterbeek, Arnhem Holland in 1944. His children insisted that he write it down—"they were very, very persistent"—and though he initially delayed, he eventually began writing in the evenings, completing it eighteen months later. The book is dedicated to both daughters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down
http://www.amazon.ca/Watership-Down-.../dp/0140306013

[driveway]

With my second round selection, in the category of American Literature, team Discovery Channel is proud to take:



Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

By Hunter S. Thompson, Illus. Ralph Steadman

First part published Nov 11, 1971 in Rolling Stone 95.

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.

This semi-autobiographical work of wicked genius is based on two trips Hunter S. Thompson took to Las Vegas with attourney Oscar Zeta Acosta while researching a story on the killing of Ruben Salazar. Mr. Acosta is the basis for the character of Dr. Gonzo, while Mr. Thompson is the basis for the protagonist, Raoul Duke.

Fear and Loathing is concerned with themes of the American Dream, the death of 60's counter-culture and drugs.

The writing in this book is unbelievable, truly staggeringly good wordplay by one of the twentieth century's best.

My attorney saw the hitchhiker long before I did.

"Let's give this boy a lift," he said, and before I could mount any argument he was stopped and this poor Okie kid was running up to the car with a big grin on his face, saying, "Hot damn! I never rode in a convertible before!"

"Is that right?" I said. "Well, I guess you're about ready, eh?"
The kid nodded eagerly as we roared off.

"We're your friends," said my attorney. "We're not like the others."

O Christ, I thought, he's gone around the bend. "No more of that talk," I said sharply. "Or I'll put the leeches on you." He grinned, seeming to understand. Luckily, the noise in the car was so awful -- between the wind and the radio and the tape machine -- that the kid in the back seat couldn't hear a word we were saying. Or could he?

How long can we maintain? I wondered. How long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family. Will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so -- well, we'll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere. Because it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose. He'll report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law-enforcement agency, and they'll run us down like dogs.

Jesus! Did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me? I glanced over at my attorney, but he seemed oblivious -- watching the road, driving our Great Red Shark along at 110 or so. There was no sound from the back seat.

Maybe I'd better have a chat with this boy, I thought. Perhaps if I explain things, he'll rest easy. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_an...g_in_Las_Vegas

[octothorp]

I love the books that are being picked. Actually, I haven't read Owen Meany, but both Watership Down and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are great.

This draft is very different than the movie draft; I love all the books that are being picked, but I'm far less worried about anyone stealing my picks. Although that may change in a hurry.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by octothorp

I love the books that are being picked. Actually, I haven't read Owen Meany, but both Watership Down and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are great.

This draft is very different than the movie draft; I love all the books that are being picked, but I'm far less worried about anyone stealing my picks. Although that may change in a hurry.

I've had a couple of mine taken already--but I knew that was a risk. I have backups, so I'm okay with it. If I'm being honest, I was really hoping Moby-Dick would last another round.

[octothorp]

Actually, now that I think of it, I probably would have taken Hundred Years of Solitude if it was available. But yeah, I've got a lot of backups in every category.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Actually, now that I think of it, I probably would have taken Hundred Years of Solitude if it was available. But yeah, I've got a lot of backups in every category.

I don't think I have a lot of backups, but it seems like every other pick I think, "Aww crap, yeah, that could go in there. Good pick".

[rogermexico]

For the second round, in the European Lit category, I pick Ulysses by James Joyce.



If you're ever in Dublin you can go to the James Joyce museum, which is just a little three story walk up flat off one of the main streets. It's not the most exciting place - they have some paintings and some plaques and stuff to read. But then if you go down stairs, they have a display of a door. It's the actual door from 7 Eccles Street, which was the address where Leopold and Molly Bloom live.

Seeing that door ... I can't explain the feeling that went along with that. Just like it's hard to explain the experience of reading this book.

Ulysses takes place over the course of a single day - June 16, 1904. In a way, you live this day more deeply and closely than any real day from your life.

It isn't always easy, but life never is, right?

[sadora]

Originally Posted by rogermexico

For the second round, in the European Lit category, I pick Ulysses by James Joyce.



If you're ever in Dublin you can go to the James Joyce museum, which is just a little three story walk up flat off one of the main streets. It's not the most exciting place - they have some paintings and some plaques and stuff to read. But then if you go down stairs, they have a display of a door. It's the actual door from 7 Eccles Street, which was the address where Leopold and Molly Bloom live.

Seeing that door ... I can't explain the feeling that went along with that. Just like it's hard to explain the experience of reading this book.

Ulysses takes place over the course of a single day - June 16, 1904. In a way, you live this day more deeply and closely than any real day from your life.

It isn't always easy, but life never is, right?

One of my all time favorite. Damn you rogermexico. Great pick!

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by octothorp

In the European category, I'm really excited to pick up Joseph Conrad's masterful study of evil in a colonial world, Heart of Darkness.

I HATE this book with a flippin passion.. Most brutal novella ever!

[Ronald Pagan]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I HATE this book with a flippin passion.. Most brutal novella ever!

Loved that book.

[liamenator]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I HATE this book with a flippin passion.. Most brutal novella ever!

Do you hate it because it makes you question all that you hold dear, and, subsequently, want to tear your teeth out?

[habernac]

under fantasy, I'll take Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I don't read a lot of fantasy, and this is one I read probably 25 years ago. I forget a lot of what I read after a few years, but this one is still fresh after all this time.

Triffids are fictional plants capable of animal-like behaviour: they feed on rotting meat, are able to uproot themselves and move about on their three "legs", possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting, and appear to communicate with each other. The narrator and protagonist is Bill Masen, who has made his living working with Triffids. Being an expert on the subject, he speculates that they were deliberately bioengineered in the Soviet Union, and that Triffid seeds were spread worldwide when an attempt was made to smuggle them out of Russia; the escaping plane is presumed to have been shot down, literally scattering the seeds to the winds. Whatever their origin, when Triffids began sprouting all over the world, their extracts proved to be radically superior to existing vegetable and animal oils. The result was a worldwide slew of Triffid farms, where the penned plants' stings were left intact as docking impaired the quality of their oil.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

In the category of Canadian Literature, Bartleby and the Scriveners are pleased to select Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient.



Is it possible for a bestseller to be an underrated book? Published in 1997, this book was more or less responsible for launching Ondaatje, until then known mostly in the Toronto literary scene, into a new realm of international stardom and movie deals. Many people know the film adapation, in its own right a remarkable piece of cinema, even if it doesn't resemble the book very much in a formal sense. But I feel gratified to have encountered this book first, and to see in it the real achievement of Ondaatje's career--a book that achieves solid craftsmanship in Ondaatje's surgically precise linguistic style, along with a riveting, complex plot that unfolds piece by piece like a puzzle. Ondaatje has numerous brilliant works: wrenchingly potent lyric poetry in The Cinnamon Peeler, experimental writing in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, improvisatory writing in In the Skin of a Lion, the list goes on. But The English Patient is where Ondaatje puts it all together, and it remains his best work to this day.

[Jagger]

Originally Posted by habernac

under fantasy, I'll take Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I don't read a lot of fantasy, and this is one I read probably 25 years ago. I forget a lot of what I read after a few years, but this one is still fresh after all this time.

Very nice pick habby! I also read this one ages ago and it certainly left a lasting impression with me too!

Good choice......

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

In the category of Canadian Literature, Bartleby and the Scriveners are pleased to select Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient.



Is it possible for a bestseller to be an underrated book? Published in 1997, this book was more or less responsible for launching Ondaatje, until then known mostly in the Toronto literary scene, into a new realm of international stardom and movie deals. Many people know the film adapation, in its own right a remarkable piece of cinema, even if it doesn't resemble the book very much in a formal sense. But I feel gratified to have encountered this book first, and to see in it the real achievement of Ondaatje's career--a book that achieves solid craftsmanship in Ondaatje's surgically precise linguistic style, along with a riveting, complex plot that unfolds piece by piece like a puzzle. Ondaatje has numerous brilliant works: wrenchingly potent lyric poetry in The Cinnamon Peeler, experimental writing in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, improvisatory writing in In the Skin of a Lion, the list goes on. But The English Patient is where Ondaatje puts it all together, and it remains his best work to this day.

Thumbs up to both your pick and your team name.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Thumbs up to both your pick and your team name.

Thanks! The story's a particular favourite of mine--I try to find a way to teach it every semester.

[liamenator]

I'll take, in the American Lit category, certainly my favorite work of fiction of the last 15 or so years, and right up there with my all-time favorites.... Jonathan Franzen's epic, postmodern examination of the 20th century American family, The Corrections.

Franzen weaves together an amazing number of contemporary issues through his examination of a "typical" mid-western family, which caused for me a serious amount of introspection and thought about how value systems, ideals and "fundamental" aspects of society are social, historical constructs. How did "we" get here, and what are these value systems representative of? How do they inform our actions and our relationships with each other? It's a helluva read.

[octothorp]

Trade to report:
To Aeneas: Travel
To Octothorp: European Fiction

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

With my second pick, I'm continuing with my list of personal favourites and selecting a book that is easily the best book I've ever read.

In the American Lit category... A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving!

Just as an aside, this was a book that I really liked but couldn't stand the movie.

That happens for pretty much every book that they turn into a movie. I get suckered every time though and watch the movie based on a book I liked and am disappointed.

Ashley Judd as the mom though, that was a good pick.

The "scene" in the book of the Christmas pageant was great. One of the funniest things.