Me and some friends want to meet monthly to discuss philosophical, phsycological, political, aristic, ect. topics in books. Any suggestions for short reads? They can be either classic or unusual.
2007-01-10 12:18:06 · 16 answers · asked by Jai 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray
Camus' The Stranger
Mann's Mario and the Magician
Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground
James' Turn of the Screw
2007-01-10 12:28:58 · answer #1 · answered by someone 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Try these John Steinbeck books. The Pearl and Of Mice and Men
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
These should get you started. Please don't think that "old" books aren't interesting. Once you begin discussing and dissecting these books, you will come to appreciate the genius it took to write them.
After you have finished the above, read To Kill a Mockingbird and the Grapes of Wrath.
2007-01-10 14:28:17 · answer #2 · answered by Rox 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure how short it is, but my group had a great discussion on "how i live now" by Meg Rosoff.
The basic plot is that a teenage girl is sent to live with relatives in the UK right before a terrorist war breaks out all over the world. It is very discussable.
2007-01-10 12:41:48 · answer #3 · answered by Kate 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My Classic Pick: Catcher in the Rye
My Unusual Picks: V for Vendetta (graphic novel).
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. (Philip K Dick)
2007-01-10 16:35:22 · answer #4 · answered by H_A_V_0_C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shawshank Redemption (Stephen King) is short and quite an interesting read.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Album)
The Hatchett (Gary Paulsen)
2007-01-10 12:27:03 · answer #5 · answered by mJc 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Flatland!
A tale of a square who travels through several dimensions. He travels to the first dimension, which is inhabited by points and lines. We learn of his two dimensional land of shapes. He then visits the land of 3 dimensions and attempts to bring back this knowledge to his two-dimensional plane. It is a very short novel, that brings about very philosophical questions.
I'm sure I did not do the book justice in my description.
:)
p.s. It is not a children's book... it may have sounded like it.
2007-01-10 12:25:23 · answer #6 · answered by Squirtle 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch. Superb and short book about one's experiences in the Gulags in Siberia during the Stalinist era. Plus....you're freezing when you read it because it's so damn cold there and the prisoners are working and scrounging in it.
2007-01-10 12:36:49 · answer #7 · answered by Quasimodo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'll second Haruki Murakami!
(I loved the stories in "After the Quake" ...very eery but interesting)
Another good one: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera.
2007-01-10 18:03:03 · answer #8 · answered by pecan fish 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
read the God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. it os worth ur need,
this book is winner of the Booker Prize 1997
2007-01-10 19:54:33 · answer #9 · answered by Anastasia G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One immediately springs to mind. "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce.
2007-01-10 12:25:58 · answer #10 · answered by alicesarbonne 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋