Chicks On Lit discussion

We talked about the 5 books Oprah said everyone should read. I love Oprah and all but I'm more curious as to what you guys would put on your 5 books everyone should read.

What would be on your list?

I'm have a few floating around in my head Ill share as soon as I narrow it down.

uuuggg.....tough question. I can hardly remember what I read prior to my current read (one of the reason I love this site.....keeps track of my lists!!).
I'm going to have to sit on this question for awhile.

Gee it would depend on the category of the writing styles...

Mystery:
Agatha Christie (any of the following)
*What Mrs. Mcgillicuddy Saw!
*The Body in the Library
*The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
*Murder is Announced

Classics:
Jane Austen
*Sense & Sensibility
*Pride & Prejudice

History based/non-fiction:
Peter Eisner
*The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis During World War II

Beach Reading:
Patrick Dennis
*Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade

Peter Mayle
*A Year in Provence
*Toujours Provence

Just because you want to read!:
Sharon Krum
*The Thing About Jane Spring

Philippa Gregory
her series on Tudor women

Clare Naylor
*The Second Assistant: A Tale from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder
*The First Assistant: A Continuing Tale from Behind the Hollywood Curtain


Gee this can take forever!!!

5 huh??

1. Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch (you guys know I LOVE this book)

2. The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser (my mom and I both agree this book is fantastic)

3. Gone With The Wind (one of my very favorites.....the dialogue, the scenery, oh I love it!)

4. Poems by Emily Dickinson (everyone should read her poems and dissect them until you truly understand them)

5. ok I'm really struggling for a 5th one for some reason. That's sad. Do I just not read good books anymore?? I'm having a hard time remembering ones from when I used to read voraciously so that's part of the problem. Sorry!! ok.........here are 3 that stayed with me after reading them and really made me think about life and people.

~~~~~ One Child by Torey Hayden
~~~~~ Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford
~~~~~ Million Little Pieces by James Frey

I read One Child and Mommie Dearest both when I was 9 and boy did they start my hunger to know why people do what they do.......what makes people the way they are??

Million Little Pieces is just fantastic. I know a couple of poeple who are vey close to me who have struggled with alcohol and drugs and James Frey's account of what its like is exactly what its like. Its not pretty that's for sure.

Okay Im still not done but I'll give my partial list
scripture aside (I kinda think that is up to the person to decide if and when but I do think it would be good if more people read a)their own scriptures and really understood them and also those of other faiths just to know and learn about them - i think fear/hatered are hard to harbor if you understand someones beliefs and why)

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis I adore this mans style of writing. I am in love with his nonfiction works. This one is my favorite and I have a very fond place in my heart for A Grief Observed (another day another story on that book).

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman beauty and power in verse. Love it.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I really think everyone should read this book alone and undisturb and be able to go back to the time and feel the emotions and go from being a child to an adult all in the space of a book.

I really want to say East of Eden by John Steinbeck but Im only 2/3rds of the way through and if the last 1/3 sucks then id feel bad. But up to this point it is maybe the best written piece of fiction I have ever seen. So I am putting that one in my back pocket until I am done.

Emma by Jane Austen. I know it's not one of her most acclaimed books but I love it and want everyone to love it as much as me Id settle for any of her books but that would be my first choice.

This last one is HARD.
I want to say Gone With the Wind but I really don't think you should read GWTW unless you read Roots. I love GWTW for the sweeping story and the romance of time and people but there is a deep under story that Mitchell doesn't really tell that I think should be understood of the slave perspective. It wasn't all romance and beauty and wonder. I think Roots does a brilliant job of giving the other side of that coin. But that would be 6 choices and 7 if I continue to love East of Eden. So pretend GWTW and ROOTS are one of those flip around books where you read it through one way until the end then flip it over and read the other way with another perspective. (man thats genius someone should market that!)

Oh and I want to put Hamlet on my backup list.

Tera.....I absolutely love all of your suggestions. I'm going to read them all (I've been wanting to anyways!!) Just more to add to that never ending "to read" list I got goin on LOL

I love what you said about religion too. I have often felt that we should all be required (or just want) to learn about other cultures and then maybe so much of the hate in this world could be erased. I have often thought that we as a people should understand that other cultures in the world are brought up to believe a certain way just as we are. And even though that way is foreign or wrong or just plain weird to us doesn't mean its wrong. Its just different and all they know. I wish we all could understand that eveyone is the same underneath their skin and religious and political layers.

Sorry------got off on a weird tangent there as usual!!

Great tangent (as usual)! I absolutely love the study of religions--and I am NOT a religious person AT ALL!!!!!!!!! Nope, not AT ALL! But one of my favorite classes in college was The History of Christianity. Such an awesome way to understand why societies behave the way they do, and for the most part, religion and government were one and the same. This idea we have in the US of separation of church and state is somewhat new and unusual. (Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way.)

I'm not religious at all either....I like to call myself "spiritually inclined" LOL

I agree with you about separation of Church and State being unusual but isn't everything we do in this country unusual?? I would love to take that class you took Amanda....I'm very interested in psychology (why we do what we do) and sociology (why we all do what we all do). Can't get enough of that. I've loved watching the differences in generations in my life and lately seeing how people in their early 20's seem to be making a shift more in their thinking that's going back to the 50's way of thinking. Do you agree?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63...

Here's the textbook we used. PM me your address and I'll mail it to you--you can give it back to me when you come see your sister! Plus, it'll give us incentive to make sure we meet up--I'll hunt you down if you don't give it back! hee hee! Keep in mind, though, it IS a textbook. But very interesting. Discusses the very beginnings of Christianity and why the early practices were adopted, what politics affected which books were chosen for the bible (a touchy subject, yes), the Nicean Council, etc, etc. Neato stuff!

I have to think more about that 50s mentality thing. I think I agree w/ you but I can't put my finger on why...

I'm still thinking about a fiction and non-fiction list, but I've got a list of must-see plays. I say "must-see", because very few people can do justice to a play when they read it. The emotional impact of a well done production can not be beat.

Here's my list:

1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (best seen as a double feature with or shortly after seeing Hamlet)
3. Any August Wilson play - Fences, The Piano Lesson, Joe Turner's Come and Gone
4. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
5. The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Honorable mention to any of Martin McDonagh's plays - particularly The Beauty Queen of Leenane or The Cripple of Inishmaan.

My selection criteria - something not on every high school reading list but something with depth and consideration of the human condition - but not entirely lacking humor. (Okay the Ibsen doesn't have much humor... but it's the best story or fable I can think of any where that shows that the majority is not always right.)

Ohh this is so tough... being an old history teacher... I would probably pick historical novels!


Off the top of my head...

1. Romeo and Juliet
2. A tree grows in Broklyn. because it is one of my favourite books ever!!
3. Truman by David McCollough (SP??)
4. Night by Elie Wiesel (SP??)
5. The Great Gatsby
6. Pride and Prejudice

OH no can't cut it to 5~

I could list about 10 more, and I have not even really thought about it!

I want to teach a World History Course.... with no history books but only novels of the period!

Read on!

Andrea, what about Checov??? :) The Cherry Orchard was woooooonderful!

Should I do five plays to supplement your five? hee hee!

Oh god thanks Amanda! Very cool of you.....I would love to read that book. NICE =) That made my day! And we are FOR SURE meeting up when I come to NC......looking forward to that ;) conversation and cocktails.....not passing up that opportunity!! LOL

I say that about the 50's because it seems that most of the kids I come in contact with now that are in the 19-22 age are wanting to settle down, get married, have kids, stay at home or have what used to be traditionally women's careers (teachers, nurses) and they all want to stay virgins until they are married. Its been so many of them that it became bizarre to me and when I started really thinking about it it seems that's what they are doing. Going back to the 50's and the values and morals people had back then and wanting that kind of life. Its like they are going back to that with their own little twist thrown in to make it their own.

Really hard to narrow down to five. I have favorites that I think everyone should read (like Harry Potter series) but they aren't books that are world-changing! Just pure fun!

I can only come up with one off the bat - Black Beauty. Absolutely wonderful story. Told brilliantly, too.

Amanda,

Please post your list of plays. My list certainly has glaring ommissions. Not Tennessee Williams, no Eugene O'Neil, no Chekhov. Not to mention no Greeks,no Sheridan, Jonson or Moliere...

Oh...I do love a good play...

Hmmm... Off the top of my head:


~Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
~Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
~Medea by Euripides (there's a version by Seneca as well)
~Hedda Gabler by Ibsen (I haven't even read this one yet! SHAME ON ME! And I'd rather post this one than Checkov--I don't know why. I'm flaky like that! But like I said before, I saw the Cherry Orchard and it was totally fantastic)
~Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber

Ok, you're right! This is HARD!!!!!! I want to do more, but my five are up.

OK - I am so adding Gone with the Wind to my to-read list!

Here is my list - I don't think any of these were earth shattering, but I still love them!

Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman
The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough

~Night by Ellie Wiesel
~Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult
~Gods, Hereos and Men of Ancient Greece by WHD Rouse
~Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton
~The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Ok, on plays: I'm going to skip the Shakesperean and Greek Cannon, and go for some more obscure ones that are just GREAT THEATRE.

Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard. Love, poetry and statistics. What could be better?
Death and the Maiden, by Arial Dorfman. A harrowing tale of suspicion and torture in a (not very well-disguised Chilean) autocracy. I couldn't get up from my seat at the end of this play.
Le Malade Imaginaire, by Moliere. A classic on the human weakness of hypochondria.
Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens. Not strictly theatre, but the two-part adaptation is one of the great stage experiences of our age.
Playboy of the Western World -- JM Synge. Irish bar-room banter turned to poetry.

Okay, I finally came up with a list of 5 fiction books. Caveats, I'm avoiding Austen, Dickens, etc. that are on the typical reading lists. And some authors that I love (Eco, Calvino) who are amazing writers, but who are not for everyone.

These are in no particular order:

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (or perhaps My Antonia)
Fifth Business or What's Bred in the Bone by Roberston Davies

That is hard to narrow it to 5 books but if I had to choose only 5 they would be...

1. The Book Thief- Markus Zusak
2. The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud-Ben Sherwood
3. A Rip In Heaven- Jeanine Cummins
4. The Pact- Jodi Picoult
5. My Sister's Keeper- Jodi Picoult

If you guys keep this up my To BE READ pile is going to be even more out of control that it already is!!! I did a first today I made it out of the library without checking anything out!! I still have two books to read in my possession!!! SOOOO wish me luck. I am also forbidding myself to add anything to my tbr pile for the rest of the month (excluding voted book-of-the month books so that will only be one book more to add) My goal is to get this list a little bit down!!

1984
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe
Ender's Game
Eye of the world
The dark elf trilogy

Okay I am about to laugh. There are numerous branches of libraries here in Tulsa. But the weird way that they do reserves is funny. When you reserve it is not for any of that one book but sometimes depending on how its listed it is for each individual book at one branch. Make a long story short as a joke I was strolling through the shelves looking at my tbr pile printout from my list here and didn't even notice it was one of the "Oprah" books that origianally had over 34 holds one one copy at a large branch. But I was at an itty bitty branch that it not as busy and low-n-behold it was on the shelf. So I was able to check out Beginner's Greek. I am planning on reading it tomorrow on my day off. I will let you know if it surpasses "Oprah's" standard fare or not!! Ha!

okay I finished a book off the Oprah list.

Its a good thing that I waited till after I finished the book because I changed my mind several times about how I felt about the book!! I read "Beginner's Greek" by James Collins.

At first I was very intrigued as its a romance type of book written by a man and taking the side/approach of a man. But the first portion of the book jumps around a lot!! It was very distracting, but I did enjoy the book when I could get into a grrove and kept going. By the end of the first 25% of the book or so I was ready to throw it against the wall and judge it very low!! Ready to bash the staff flunky who picked it...but I read on.

I am surprised to say it was actually pretty good. Not one I would have chose, but I am glad I read it. Some of it was predictable, but you cheer a bit for some of the characters by the end and 1/2 way through it all flows and makes sense. Its a bit like the movie Serendipity, but more. Its a story of what is love that is meant to be and how fate can throw up a curveball.

I give it 2 thumbs up, but its not anything that you have to rush out and MUST read. Read it if you have the chance to check it out at a library, but not one I would recommend buying your own copy. Its just on a scale of 1 to 10 about 5.5! Sorry not good enough for a must read list in my eyes, but it wasn't bad either. Just the middle of the road.

You can substitute "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott for "Gods, Hereos and Men of Ancient Greece" by WHD Rouse on my list!