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Tuesday, May 05, 03:41:54pm [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ]

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Date Posted: Sunday, August 21, 06:59:55am
Author: Chani
Author Host/IP: 81-65-192-252.rev.numericable.fr / 81.65.192.252
Subject: Cool !
In reply to: AurraSing 's message, "Book meme" on Saturday, August 20, 10:12:16pm

Ok my five would be:

1) Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. I was 15 when I read it the first time and it changed my life. It seemed that I had found a kindred spirit! Borges then became my favourite author and still is. The short stories in Fictions are pure gem, so clever and so deep. I love everything about it, the classical style, the philosophical depth, the dark humour, the storytelling, the fantasy in the tales. It is the epitome of what works for me. Yes, it is very intellectual, but also extremely poetical.

2)Dune(and Dune Messiah, etc)by Franck Herbert. Still one of my favourite books and one that has been with me since I was 13. I like how Herbert did something new with old myths/storylines, made up a whole universe and questioned his own mythology while creating touching characters (yes I fell in love with Paul the first time I read it). And the man could write! Unlike the two clowns who, lately, have been stealing the notes he left, releasing poorly written novels and exploiting the money-spinner...

3) Foundation cycle by Isaac Asimov. Asimoc had a real talent for short stories and maybe it is what he was the best at but Foundation remains my favourite work of his for I love the idea of psycho-history, I love the characters, I love the twist concerning the Second Foundation! I enjoy rereading it from time to time (usully there's a gap of several years between each reading). It is what SF should be. I mean, a fictional science is what the whole thing is based on!

4)Les Faux Monnayeurs by André Gide. It is simply the best French novel IMO. I love its structure, the subversive notions it tackles (very subversive for the 20's but still for nowadays), the dark places it dares to go to, and André Gide's superb style. I reread it every couple of years (usually in one single night!)and the magic is still there. If I had to give an example of what Literature is (as opposed to just, you know...books), I would pick this novel. It's probably bizarre for a woman to love this book so much given that it's mostly a men's universe and the "hero", like Gide himself, is an homosexual whose ideal love isn't something that is supposed to resonate with me, but this is powerful stuff.

5) El Siglo de las Luces by Alejo Carpentier. I read it when I was in Hypokhâgnes for my Literature course and it was a revelation. Historical novels are a tricky matter (being a historian I'm hard to please and I rarely like them) but this is true masterpiece that isn't well known enough. Carpentier's baroque style is nothing like Borges', but it's terrific. His use of metaphors and pictural elements in the novel (there's a painting that is a sort of leitmotiv throughout) is amazing. And I love the way he tells the story of the French Revolution from a Cuban point of view, changing the usual angle and scope, and how he intertwins the Grand History with the personal tragedy of his characters --all fictional but one, Victor Hugues who we know did exist and were politically involved but that's all we know about him so Carpentier could use him as he wished. I was competely drawn to that character he re-created!


I guess that the choice of both Borges and Carpentier (my two favourite Latin-American writers) kinda shows my Spanish roots, and that most of my picks mean that I am not into "fun stuff" but into complexity (which doesn't mean it isn't highly entertaining IMO)and I am very sensitive to aesthetics and style. I also notice that all my choices are from the XXth Century but nothing post 60's, Dune being the most recent work.

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