Random book questions

[laurenaefe]

(whups, this was a thread ab. book of the month for sept. but i noticed the sticky so i changed it)

1. what character from a novel do you most relate to and why?

2. what is one book you feel everyone should read?

3. do you feel closer to authors and characters in books than people active in your real life?

 

[member 737]

1. Old Shatterhand. He and his friend Winnetou were my role models once. I spent all my childhood with them, so I still feel a huge sentiment towards them, even though now I wouldn't be able to read any of May's books.

2. To my mind, there is no such a book. There are many great masterpieces, which are worth reading due to their artism, message and so on. Still, there are different genres, styles of writing, attitudes towards values in them, that's why I wouldn't recommend them to everyone.

3. Definitely not. If I did, It would be then a high time to visit a psychologist.

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by Idun:
Old Shatterhand. He and his friend Winnetou were my role models once. I spent all my childhood with them, so I still feel a huge sentiment towards them.

Wow, I didn't think I'd find anyone who also read those books. I absolutely devoured all of May's books on Old Shatterhand and Winnetou (I believe there were 12 of them) during one long hot summer some ten years ago, and I also have fond memories of the characters. I have read and forgotten so many books in the meantime, but these two characters will stay with me forever and ever, I'm sure.

You're a man of good taste, Idun

Cheers, Martin

 

[member 737]

Thank you very much, Martin!

Reading May's books is, if I call it like that, a part of family tradition. My dad loved them when he was a kid, and then he passed this liking on me...with lots of books. I should be eternally grateful for that.

I also haven't met any other May fans so far, so I'm even more happy that you enjoyed his books. I think that maybe people don't like them because of their naivety, or old-fashioned style of writing. But it's like with most old adventurous book. To my mind, they have some charm in them, don't they?

 

[funes]

1. Probably Axel Heyst from Joseph Conrad's Victory. The why is complicated and perhaps too personal for posting. I will say that Conrad was, in my opinion, the all-time master of capturing the psychological crises of characters who live chiefly in their own heads.

2. I don't know about a book everyone should read. If anything, I would suggest that everyone should try to read a balance of fiction and non-fiction.

3. No. I may tend to think of certain characters as "old friends" (like Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe), but I certainly don't confuse them with real people. Nor do I suppose that they are any substitute for interacting with real people.

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by Idun:

I also haven't met any other May fans so far, so I'm even more happy that you enjoyed his books. I think that maybe people don't like them because of their naivety, or old-fashioned style of writing. But it's like with most old adventurous book. To my mind, they have some charm in them, don't they?

There are too few pages to contain all the charm. However (there is an 'however'), I don't know how those books would hold up were I to read them today, being the age that I am now. Not good, I think, and that's why I will not be reading them ever again. I want them to remain (in my head) what they are; the very reason I started reading, and I haven't stopped since.

Cheers, Martin