Maximus Powers': Books To Read Before You Die

[Sherban Shabeel]

I'll have all the time in the world to read in heaven IA

 

P.S.: The Alchemist is SO overrated

[5]

Originally posted by MAXIMUS POWERS:

 

Often, elaborating extensively about a person's psyche can be a demanding task for a writer, especially if he/she wishes to keep the reader glued to the pages. Dostoyevsky achieves it with terrific ease. Crime and Punishment is a didactic novel which superbly dramatises Doestoevsky's view of sin, guilt and punishment.

I read this when I was 12. Leave out the obvious "classics" and recommend true gems. This, To Kill a Mockingbird , Catcher in the Rye etc., whilst all being decent books, are books for tweens. Well, OK fine they're not, but they should be. Much better than the mind-numbing crap tweens of today read.

 

Make good recommendations or don't bother!

[guerilla]

 

 

[Miriam1]

The Alchemist is a RUBBISH book.

 

It's so hard to make one of these lists up. But I really want to delve into the world of African American writers specially during the Civil Rights Era. I have already read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Any suggestions ?

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

^ Have to agree with there. One of my favorite contemporary black authors is Diane McKinney-Whetstone, you should check her out.

 

[Miriam1]

^ Thank you. Will do so.

[N.O.R.F]

Never been much of a reader and fiction just isn't for me.

 

Best reads:

 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (by Alex Hailey).

 

Hurricane: The Life of Rubin Carter, Fighter (Paperback)

 

 

The man carried weapons to South Africa (he had a fight there) and gave them to Steve Biko :cool:

 

ps The Alchemist is over-rated.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

When reading this books, the reader always infuses much of his own meaning and interpretation into the writing.It is saturated with satire and absurdity of the human beings trying to bring identity to their own selves, at the centre of which is a buddhist teacher and his disciple. Pelevin teaches to separate mind from physical substance and abandon the individual's self in order to learn exactly what "self" means. Funny, thought-provoking, powerful.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

 

Very personalised account of the Nigerian Civil War, told from multiple perspectives, all of them Biafran in their political orientation, and yet very coherently presented. The voices of the intellectual, the domestic, the rich, and the british all are clear and quite beautiful in this book.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

Forget the romanticised view of India portrayed in the likes of Inheritance of Loss and A Passage to India. This is a tale from the other end of India, where corruption, murder, money and power are at play. Where corporate India collides with the poorest of the poor. It is told through the communications of a self made entrepreneur writing to the President of China who is due to vist. He tells of his rise from pauperdom to riches. His tales of corruption and murder that he has commited to achieve his sucess.All told in a gritty and sardonic way and totally devoid of any sentimentality. Brilliant;

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

Ishiguro's prose is graceful and eloquent, and his understanding of human relationships is deep. It left me feeling very disturbed and I sincerely hope that we never have to come to such a point where we raise clones just to make them donate all their organs when they're at the peak of their lives - full of youthful love and hope. 9/10

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

Bulgakov tells the story of a poet who encounters Satan when he shows up in Moscow and then goes on to wreak havoc throughout the city with his unholy band of companions. The rampage involves mass hypnotism, the distribution of fake money, disappearances, mysterious deaths, and the driving of many people to insanity. The core of the story is about the Master, an insane novelist who rewrote the New Testament from Pontius Pilate's point of view in a way that parallels Moscow society in the 1930's, and Margarita, the beautiful woman who sells her soul in order to liberate the Master from his insanity.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

 

A very engrossing and intriguing book. Very well written. The humour is gentle and the story very compelling!