Terminalcoffee discussion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...

I think I like Slaughterhouse Five better than Cat's Cradle, but I haven't read the latter since my freshman year of high school.

I agree on the John Wyndham and the Jeanette Winterson, though I think both Sexing the Cherry and Written on the Body are her highlights.

And I think a lot of you have recommended Pale Fire over Lolita but I took it out of the library the other day and it intimidated the hell out of me.

I would say that Jane Austen's most famous and successful novel is Pride and Prejudice, and I love it, but it is greatly surpassed in skill and depth by Emma and Persuasion

Or his short fiction.

John Buchan is really only known today for The Thirty-Nine Steps, which for me is his weakest book so far.

I've never heard of him.

Some of his books are set in South Africa. Colonial times, of course. The kraal.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada.

GCMG is Knight of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George; GCVO is Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order; CH is the Order of the Companions of Honour--but what is PC? Privy Council?

Correct.

The Right Honourable John Buchan.

His Excellency the Right Honourable the Lord Tweedsmuir. Known to his friends as Bu-Bu.

I once knew someone with a Bichon Frise named Bu-Bu.

I once knew someone with a Barbichon Bolognaise named Stumpy.

I once knew someone named Stumpy who made Bologna sandwiches at the Barbizon Hotel.

I once tripped over a stump outside the Barbizon School of Beauty, where I had arranged to barbiche a bolog.

A barbarian named Barbiche once tripped me on my way to meet the beautiful Bolonga, queen of Barbizonia.

I sometimes think authors are known for the short books that students have to read in high school more than their best work. So, in other words, Steinbeck might be known more for Of Mice and Men than East of Eden (although, to be fair, Grapes of Wrath is probably more famous than both). And Hesse is probably better known for Siddartha than some of his better books, e.g. Demian.

Amber wrote: "I would say that Jane Austen's most famous and successful novel is Pride and Prejudice, and I love it, but it is greatly surpassed in skill and depth by Emma and Persuasion"

This is interesting. I can't remember which of the last two people have warned me off. I think it was Emma.

RandomAnthony wrote: "Amber wrote: "I would say that Jane Austen's most famous and successful novel is Pride and Prejudice, and I love it, but it is greatly surpassed in skill and depth by Emma and Persuasion"

This i..."

You should ignore them.

RandomAnthony | 13992 comments I sometimes think authors are known for the short books that students have to read in high school more than their best work.

Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea, Kafka The Metamorphosis, Thomas Mann Death in Venice, Edith Wharton Ethan Frome.

I really like those last three, but they certainly don't give you a feel for the whole author.

Jonathan wrote: "I once knew someone with a Bichon Frise named Bu-Bu."

HA! My brother in Brooklyn does dog-sitting for a gay couple with a Bichon Frise named Diva. She's a little bit naughty, that Diva.

Lobstergirl wrote: "John Buchan is really only known today for The Thirty-Nine Steps, which for me is his weakest book so far."

Agreed!

Or Mansfield Park, which features her most unlikable (priggish) protagonist.

No one could possibly warn someone off Persuasion! I'd have to hear it with my own ears to believe it.

Persuasion may be her greatest love story. With P&P a close second and Emma and S&S a distant third and Northanger Abbey a very distant fourth. The love story in Mansfield Park feels completely tacked on...I was not buying it...