Libera Dreams

tcenrt wrote:The fascinating thing about the chronicles is that every time I read them I am still gaining insight from them. I guess that's what makes a classic.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never read those books .... I hardly read any books when I was a child; it wasn't the done thing where I grew up.

tcenrt wrote:

Yorkie wrote:You've got to love the internet for how it brings people together

Ann, what did you make of the story as a teenager in Hong Kong, how did you connect with it? Hope it's not a rude question, it's just that I'm fascinated about how Englishness/Britishness is perceived abroad.

I wasn't a big fan of the recent film, but I thought it did a good job recreating the 'Englishness' of the book that I had in my mind.

Oh, Yorkie, I don't think that the question is rude. Although I really have to think hard, 'course that was a long time ago. I guess I used to love King Arthur, Knights, the fair maidens, etc....most importantly, all those characters were so colourful, everyone has hair and eye colours other than black.

I was only around 9 or 10 when I first read the chronicles, I didn't even think that I know it was written by an Englishman. It was until I was older before I realized that the story was very Britishlike.....just look at the names....especially Edmund.

The fascinating thing about the chronicles is that every time I read them I am still gaining insight from them. I guess that's what makes a classic.

Edmund! Yes very English, but I don't think I've ever met anybody who was called Edmund!

Thanks Ann.

I actually know someone named Edmund but he goes by Ed. And he is very American.

Hey gang,

I have to put in another vote for "Watership Down". And Yorkie, no rabbit stew or pie.

Maybe you should become a vegetarian

Anyhow I read it for the first time about 1977, a few years after it came out, and I could not believe how good it was. I've read many, many books since but I've always loved this one the best.

Other good ones...

"The Stand", "The Shining", "IT" by Stephen King
"Ghost Story" Peter Straub
"The Killer Angels" Michael Shaara
"Jurassic Park" Michael Crichton
"In Cold Blood" Truman Capote
"War of the Worlds" H.G. Wells
"In the Heart of the Sea", "Mayflower" Nathaniel Philbrick

An Interrupted Life: Diaries & Letters 1941-1943 - Etty Hillesum
By far the best book I ever read. It tells of the spiritual development of a young Jewish student in Amsterdam in WWII and her caring role in a concentration camp. Hugely impressive. Not kids stuff though.

At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
The only book that ever gave me goosebumps and had me cry my eyes out.

The Chosen - Chaim Potok
A wonderful story of an unforgettable friendship

These are just 3 that I felt I needed to mention

I'm realy tempted by a Kindle at the moment, it will give me instant access to 1000's of books.

Can't decide to buy one, or just buy the books.

paul30003 wrote:I'm realy tempted by a Kindle at the moment, it will give me instant access to 1000's of books.

Can't decide to buy one, or just buy the books.

We have one and love it! Also, the iPad is great for this too! My dad uses both and says they are really nice

Rebecca (: wrote:

paul30003 wrote:I'm realy tempted by a Kindle at the moment, it will give me instant access to 1000's of books.

Can't decide to buy one, or just buy the books.

We have one and love it! Also, the iPad is great for this too! My dad uses both and says they are really nice

Hey Paul and Rebecca

I really want to get an e-reader too. I'm just torn between the Kindle, Nook Color and the iPad. Also theres the Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Oh so many choices...

I may have to wait just a bit for the iPad 2, but want to see reviews on that when it comes out.

Ah, the Kindle! I had nothing nice to say about the Kindle until, on a long journey that involved a lot of travel (and therefore large rucksacks a lot of waiting), a friend was completely entertained by his, while I was spinning coins on rail station floors and looking for patterns in airport departure boards. I'd get one in a heartbeat now, were I not so certain that I would drop it, crush it, spill something on it, or leave it on a train somewhere.

A few recommendations:

At Swim, Two Boys (Jamie O'Neill) — Quite possibly the best novel I've ever read. Set in Dublin shortly before the Rising of 1916, it centers around two boys who grow together (and apart, and together, and apart again, etc.) over a pact they've made to swim out to a small island they can just see from the shore. A bit of a love story, but also more about social upheaval, wartime politics... I could go on and on. A gay story but not a 'gay novel.' Gorgeous, eye-opening, and sad. The first little while is a bit difficult stylistically, but it's enormously worth it.

To Serve Them All My Days (R.F. Delderfield) — Follows the life, mainly within and sometimes outside of a fictional public school, of former army officer David Powlett-Jones, who arrives at the school in 1918, sent to teach by a doctor who believes it will help treat his shell-shock. He starts a family, watches generations of boys come and go, and boggles the minds of many young and not-so-young men with his attitudes on war, among other things. A really, really fantastic novel.

Day (A.L. Kennedy) — About an RAF gunner who goes from serving on the team in a Lanc bomber; to being a prisoner of war in a German camp; to playing an extra in a just-post-war film about prisoners of war. It works much better than I thought it would, reading the back cover.

Angels in America (Tony Kushner) — This one's a (long) play, a 'gay fantasia' on 1980's America. It deals heavily with the early days of the AIDS epidemic and weaves in these gorgeous thoughts on madness, politics, race, belief, death, and ultimately hope. Someone made a mini-series (with big, big names: Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep...) that, if I remember correctly, is almost the play, word-for-word.

Regeneration (Pat Barker) – Set in the military mental hospital Craiglockhart; fictionalised telling of psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers' treatments of shell-shocked First World War officers, some of them real (Siegfreid Sassoon, Wilfred Owen) and others fictional. (Or if you'd rather, there's a film by the same name.)

My pathetic summaries can't do any of these justice.

I suppose I'm also a bit obvious in my taste in books.

liberavieve wrote:Ah, the Kindle! I had nothing nice to say about the Kindle until, on a long journey that involved a lot of travel (and therefore large rucksacks a lot of waiting), a friend was completely entertained by his, while I was spinning coins on rail station floors and looking for patterns in airport departure boards. I'd get one in a heartbeat now, were I not so certain that I would drop it, crush it, spill something on it, or leave it on a train somewhere.

This is why I am not suposed to use my dad's
I'm known to easily break stuff

liberavieve wrote: A few recommendations:

At Swim, Two Boys (Jamie O'Neill) — Quite possibly the best novel I've ever read. Set in Dublin shortly before the Rising of 1916, it centers around two boys who grow together (and apart, and together, and apart again, etc.) over a pact they've made to swim out to a small island they can just see from the shore. A bit of a love story, but also more about social upheaval, wartime politics... I could go on and on. A gay story but not a 'gay novel.' Gorgeous, eye-opening, and sad. The first little while is a bit difficult stylistically, but it's enormously worth it.

Couldnt' agree more! I just posted my recommendation for this one yesterday

liberavieve wrote: Angels in America (Tony Kushner) — This one's a (long) play, a 'gay fantasia' on 1980's America. It deals heavily with the early days of the AIDS epidemic and weaves in these gorgeous thoughts on madness, politics, race, belief, death, and ultimately hope. Someone made a mini-series (with big, big names: Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep...) that, if I remember correctly, is almost the play, word-for-word.

I saw the play, by one of the best theatre groups of the Netherlands, a couple of years ago and loved it. I later saw the mini-series but I liked the play better.

liberavieve wrote: I suppose I'm also a bit obvious in my taste in books.

Hmm - it's either war or homosexuals...

maartendas wrote:

liberavieve wrote: I suppose I'm also a bit obvious in my taste in books.

Hmm - it's either war or homosexuals...

War or homosexuals? I was going to say, of course, 'generally well-received late twentieth-century fiction'... but I suppose that works, too.

maartendas wrote:At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
The only book that ever gave me goosebumps and had me cry my eyes out.

Absolutely. Certain parts of it made me feel a bit physically ill. But in a good way, if you can imagine such a thing.

liberavieve wrote:

maartendas wrote:

liberavieve wrote: I suppose I'm also a bit obvious in my taste in books.

Hmm - it's either war or homosexuals...

War or homosexuals? I was going to say, of course, 'generally well-received late twentieth-century fiction'... but I suppose that works, too.

Maybe that's just me then

liberavieve wrote:

maartendas wrote:At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
The only book that ever gave me goosebumps and had me cry my eyes out.

Absolutely. Certain parts of it made me feel a bit physically ill. But in a good way, if you can imagine such a thing.

Yes, I can I felt the same near the end. Hard to discuss it without revealing spoilers but - you might be interested to know that the book actually made such an impression on me that when I was in Dublin for the Libera concert I tried to visit some of the locations where the story takes place. The one really moving moment near the very end (I think you might know what I mean) - I managed to find the spot where it was supposed to have happened - and took pictures of it. I know it sounds silly but for me, a novel that good, is on such a realistic plane that it is real in its own way.

Come to think of it, there is another novel that I feel the same way about

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving.

Up there with the others I mentioned. Incredibly moving and believable despite the outrageous characters and storyline (the hero Owen Meany is a tiny guy with an extremely screechy voice and an unwavering faith in God who accidentally kills his friend's mother with the hit of a baseball). With this novel also I felt that I had made some wonderful new friends, and that their lives were real.

Don't worry - I'm not delusional - I know they're just letters on paper But on that paper they really do come to life.

And while we're at it - how could I forget:

The Brothers Lionheart - Astrid Lindgren

Talk about impressive. This book was read to me in its entirety - IN CLASS when I was about 7 or 8. All I did was draw while the teacher read us from this unforgettable tale of two brothers who die at a very young age and enter into the world of the afterlife where all is not as good as it seems at first. May sound stupid explained like this but really it's not. It has some of the most impressive descriptions of betrayal and fear in it, as well as bravery and downright explosive joy.

maartendas wrote:

liberavieve wrote:

maartendas wrote:

Hmm - it's either war or homosexuals...

War or homosexuals? I was going to say, of course, 'generally well-received late twentieth-century fiction'... but I suppose that works, too.

Maybe that's just me then

Certainly just you!

maartendas wrote:
Yes, I can I felt the same near the end. Hard to discuss it without revealing spoilers but - you might be interested to know that the book actually made such an impression on me that when I was in Dublin for the Libera concert I tried to visit some of the locations where the story takes place.

Lucky! It must have been strange, seeing that spot on a calm (well, calm for Dublin, and calm in comparison to the moment in the story) day? I was in Dublin a bit ago and meant to make my way down to the Forty Foot, but it was pi--ing rain the entire day, so I ducked into the Pro-Cathedral instead, to hear a sung service. Not a bad alternative by any means, but since so much of At Swim is set at the Forty Foot, I'd really hoped do see it. Did you make it down that far?

maartendas wrote:A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Argh. I've never actually read this one, but when I was much younger, I watched most of the film based on the book with my parents and wound up going to hide (and maybe sniffle just a little bit) in my bedroom because my mother cried the entire time. Definitely not for the soft-of-heart if you're looking to maintain a reputation.

liberavieve wrote:I was in Dublin a bit ago and meant to make my way down to the Forty Foot, but it was pi--ing rain the entire day, so I ducked into the Pro-Cathedral instead, to hear a sung service. Not a bad alternative by any means, but since so much of At Swim is set at the Forty Foot, I'd really hoped do see it. Did you make it down that far?

Unfortunately not - I did get on a south bound train to see more of the surroundings but ended up passing the Forty Foot without being able to see it as it was hiding behind trees and bushes from the railroad I meant to go to the Forty Foot and engage in that particular activity it is famed for in the novel, which would be a first for me, but - it would still be a first, as I never did