What Is Your Favourite Work of Litertaure?

a reply to: CyberMoses1001

Rumor has it, Coleridge wrote the whole opus whilst bombed-up on Opium - its a complex story that causes one to reflect on the consequential effect that ones decisions has upon others - a 'learn the lessons of others' type story.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Interesting, I'm sure it is highly symbolic and steeped in freemasonry.

originally posted by: Metallicus
All of those you list are fine, but for me “The Hobbit” and J. R. R. Tolkien are my favorite ever. I can still remember how amazed and enthralled I was by his works and Middle-earth.

Dang , you beat me to it
Anything Tolkien.
Followed by Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Series.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Metallicus
All of those you list are fine, but for me “The Hobbit” and J. R. R. Tolkien are my favorite ever. I can still remember how amazed and enthralled I was by his works and Middle-earth.

Dang , you beat me to it
Anything Tolkien.
Followed by Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Series.

A teacher recommended that to me after I read and loved The Hobbit, but I couldn't get into Lord Foul's Bane.

a reply to: CyberMoses1001

It does. I did enjoy my exposure to The Canterbury Tales, what I puzzled through of them.

I also enjoy Shakespeare although I much prefer seeing his plays staged as it helps with the language to see the acting. The poetry (sonnets) is a different matter. I find that more accessible.

I think modern poetry has somewhat lost its way compared to some of the artistry and mastery of vocabulary that was required in the older forms.

a reply to: Gothmog

I've read The Hobbit several times and really enjoy it, but I never could get into The Lord of the Rings series. I don't know why. I love fantasy and devour the contemporary stuff like most women take down dime store romance novels, but I think Tolkien's style just doesn't do it for me.

The movies were the first time I ever got through that story.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes I'm not a fan of Tolkien nor The lord of the Rings, it is typical brick-building and money making, no soul, nor originality, no philosophy, no eulogy. etc.

originally posted by: CyberMoses1001
a reply to: Liquesence

Ah Wilde's Dorian Gray, similar to Joyce's Portrait of The Artist, if you understand literature properly.

Haven't read Portrait. I have read part of Ulysses, although a very long time ago.

I preferred to concentrate on Shakespeare and American authors insofar as the degree was concerned. Everything else was pleasure.

originally posted by: CyberMoses1001
a reply to: ketsuko

Yes I'm not a fan of Tolkien nor The lord of the Rings, it is typical brick-building and money making, no soul, nor originality, no philosophy, no eulogy. etc.

Sometimes people just wanna get lost in a story, ya know?

a reply to: CyberMoses1001

No. It's not the story I disliked, so much as something about the prose style.

Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men presented me a similar problem. I was assigned to read it for a high school class, and I literally could not get engaged with it. I finally ended up having to write my final paper as an apologetic on why I could not read the novel and what about it turned me off.

Usually I can hammer my way through most anything.

originally posted by: Liquesence

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Metallicus
All of those you list are fine, but for me “The Hobbit” and J. R. R. Tolkien are my favorite ever. I can still remember how amazed and enthralled I was by his works and Middle-earth.

Dang , you beat me to it
Anything Tolkien.
Followed by Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Series.

A teacher recommended that to me after I read and loved The Hobbit, but I couldn't get into Lord Foul's Bane.

I HAD to read The Hobbit in High School....
My assignment.
I still hold that English Lit teacher in deepest respect since.

The Chronicles is a very dark series
The good guys never really win.
Well , there really are no "good guys"
The first half of Lord Foul's Bane is setting up the entire series.
A little "dry" but is the start of the entire plot of the story.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft
a reply to: CyberMoses1001

Rumor has it, Coleridge wrote the whole opus whilst bombed-up on Opium - its a complex story that causes one to reflect on the consequential effect that ones decisions has upon others - a 'learn the lessons of others' type story.

A most excellent poem indeed--and it made for a great Iron Maiden tune....

a reply to: Liquesence

Shakespeare was good, but you have to remember, behind Shakespeare was the Tudor royal house and Britain's Empirical military, Shakespeare was a brick builder for this empire, the reason Joyce is the greatest, and of course, Tolstoy, is because they understood civilisation, they where writing about space and time when Einstein was unknown or just working on papers, they understood Freemasonry and metaphysics, magick and literature, architecture and the problems of men it is why their work is natural and rough in style, When reading Ulysses, you able to read it slow, and in a relaxed atmosphere, Joyce is a deeply symbolic and allegorical writer, behind the superficial nature of his work is a much greater story, not only, does it contain the Odyssey, but it also contains Plato's Republic, The Apology, The Soul and the Symposium, alongside he works of Aristotle and the travels of the American President of that time, alongside numerous other meanings.

Some of my favorites from the official literary canon:

- Herman Hesse: "The Glass Bead Game" and "Siddhartha"
- Ken Kesey: "Sometimes a Great Notion"
- Hemingway: "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

And from a very, very young age, I've always loved Kipling.

That was at a point where I would only read stories about animals, and The Jungle Book was my intro to literature. I still love them today.

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck is my favorite book. He's arguably my favorite author, stated with the caveat that I am fully aware he's not the greatest in the pantheon, merely the one who most resonates with me.

a reply to: Gothmog

The Hobbit, for me, was recreation. But that's cool your teacher opened you up to a new world, which is what they're supposed to do.

I don't remember 'why' I couldn't get into Lord Foul, whether it was the story or the writing (I was reading a LOT of Stephen King/Koontz at the time), but if you say the first half is dry that could be a reason. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it...

originally posted by: Hefficide

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck is my favorite book. He's arguably my favorite author, stated with the caveat that I am fully aware he's not the greatest in the pantheon, merely the one who most resonates with me.

I'm of the opinion that you like who you like, and Steinbeck has earned his place in the canon.

a reply to: CyberMoses1001

Very...stream of conscious style post.

Shakespeare is/was brilliant, writing about complex issues including history, society, culture, metaphysics, psychology, philosophy, and etc, reflecting the time in which he lived, much of which is timeless. Part of that brilliance, too, is how those issues are not necessarily explicit, but couched in language, form, and word play.

That doesn't mean other authors, such as Tolstoy and Joyce, are not equally brilliant in how they used language as a means to communicate the times in which they they lived or as creative liberty.

The thing, for me, with non-English authors, is finding the best possible translation, and/comparing translations (some adhere more to form or structure, some to content/ideas, some to imagery, etc).

a reply to: CyberMoses1001



Ummm...all those you list are good...I wouldn’t call them great...not a one of them had an impact on me in any emotional or connective way...they were more like stepping stones really...flagstones on the path...nothing more...

How could anyone have an singular favorite...?

A great or transformational story has a voice...it speaks to your core...it populates your psyche as you become the character...it controls your mental imagery and your emotions...it grips your heart and mind...

A great read challenges assumption...


Perhaps...”The Adventure of Consciousness”...”The Nag Hammadi Library”...”The Path of Purification”...”The Philokalia”...”The Serpent power”...


My favorite would have to be “The Holy Bible”...for the reason that it’s the only collection I’ve ever read that changes it’s message and text according to ones level of...purity...

If there is a bible code...it’s zip filed...files that only unzip once you level up...

Don’t take my word for it...

Level up...









YouSir