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Originally Posted by Willravel
Personally, it's one of my favorites. I think the rich characters (Bill = awesome) and insightful allegories for society really got me right off the bat, but the more I read it the more I discovered nuances in Hemingway's writing that I had missed. Considering the current returning vets and the search to find one's place in the world and regain a semblance of stability, I would think that this book would be particularly poignant now.
This may sound odd, but give it another shot in a few years, when you've been in the military for a while. I'm not in the military, of course, but I suspect that it may gain new meaning for you. Just a thought.
Recently a friend of mine has been reading Tolstoy's War and Peace in Russian, and he said that a lot was lost in the more common translation (which I read a few years ago). I'm trying to find a better translation, but it seems there really isn't one that meets with my friend's interpretation. Tolstoy was always a favorite of mine, mostly because his writing challenged me in ways that I still am tenaciously fighting to comprehend, but it troubles me that something may have been lost in the translation. War and Peace is a singular experience, and something I'll remember all my life. I may have to try and learn Russian to really get it and that's unfortunate. So I've been rereading parts that my friend pointed out as possibly having a different meaning.
I'm also rereading Hamlet. I know it's not a book, but it's just so damned good.
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Good tip will, you make some good points. I will re-vist in a few years. I love "Old Man and the Sea", it's one of my favorites. But "Farewell to Arms", "Sun Also Rises" just don't do it for me. For me it was the feeling of nothingness, sort of hedonistic let's-all-feel-sorry-for-ourselves we-have-no-direction-in-life-but-we-drink,-eat,-travel-and-party-all-the-time mentality that really annoyed me. I didn't like any of the characters and felt they were unworthy. No redeeming value at all (to me at least). But Old Man was just awesome. I wonder why there's so much disparity between these books. Maybe age.
Good lord will! Reading War and Peace in Russian! Wow, that is awesome dude. Good for you. Keep it up.
I also want to read some Shakespeare. Maybe I will reread "Taming of the Shrew", one of my favorite Shakespeare.
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Originally Posted by ghoastgirl1
I recently finished "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Best. Book. EVER.
I don't think I'll ever read another book to top that one, lifechanging. I have just started "The Fountainhead" again for the second time. I had started in two years ago however after my rejection from architecture I stopped out of bitterness. It's much more enjoyable this time around.
Next will be "The Anthem"
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OOh, yeah, I've been meaning to pick some Ayn Rand up to read. Man, my reading list is backed up. What's her style like? Are the books fiction? I didn't know you were rejected from architecture school. Sorry to hear that.