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It's deplorable how I haven't been able to read any books on my spare time that aren't for my philosophy class. However, since we have read good books in that class I'd like to make a list of my favorites with a short review:

Plato's Republic- Highly interesting read, it's all about attaining happiness and finding balance in our lives. Socrates uses the model of a republic as analogous to humans which is where the title comes from. If you have any interest in the origins of Western thought, read it.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics- This is a bit dry, but if you want a bit more of a pragmatic view on the same stuff Plato wrote, read it.

Augustine's Confessions- Eh, if you can bear pages and pages of "God be praised, I love you, you're the best" and similar it's worth reading for insight into the ideology of the Catholic Church.

Aquinas' Summa Theologiae- If you're into the Catholic Church and its dogma, read. Otherwise, skip. It's boring boring boring.

Machiavelli's The Prince - Totally different, cynical view on humanity. All about power, power, power, this is the beginning of modern philosophy.

Hobbes' Leviathan- Oh enlightenment thinkers, very interesting if you're into the origins of modern government.

Rousseau's Discourse on the Origins of Inequality- Same as above.

Descartes' Meditations- Now we move into the existentialists and here's where it gets interesting. This is where the famous phrase "I think therefore I am" comes from, and its all about using reason to find universal truth. Recommended read.

Kant's Groundwork for a Metaphysics of Morals - The title is mind boggling but if you sit down with it and focus, it all makes sense. Not an easy read (none of them are) but definately worth it. It's all about finding a morality that is always moral regardless of the particular situation using reason.

Pascal's Pensees - Antitheses to Descartes, for Pascal emotion plays a greater role than Descartes gives it credit. Interesting stuff.

Marx' Communist Manifesto - Yummy, highly rhetorical, political, socialist, all that. If you're interested in the origins of communism or you just want something to fire you up, read it.

Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling - Two words: Read it. Difficult, somewhat similar to Kant in that it's a little hard to keep the oversight on what's going on. Still, it's very inspiring (at least it was for me) and gives a whole new spin on faith in a way that you may not have thought about it before.

Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality- When reading this it's a little hard to ignore the antisemitism and the fact that the Nazis badly abused his ideas (especially on the overman) but his antisemitism is justified when he asserts that the worst are the Christians. It's more of a critique on institutions (religion is the opium of the masses), and its all very interesting to learn the context of those famous words: "God is dead". Thus Spoke Zarathustra is perhaps a more accessible read.

Freud's Civilization and its Discontents- Oh goody, psychoanalysis. It's very interesting in terms of our 20th century views on psychology since its thanks to Freud that that whole field developed as it did.


So that's much of what I've been reading all year. Now for some nice fiction over the summer :).
 
Natalie said:
Augustine's Confessions- Eh, if you can bear pages and pages of "God be praised, I love you, you're the best" and similar it's worth reading for insight into the ideology of the Catholic Church.

Aquinas' Summa Theologiae- If you're into the Catholic Church and its dogma, read. Otherwise, skip. It's boring boring boring.
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Augustine's Confessions are great because they are the Christianization of Plato's Ideas just like Aquinas' Summa gives the same treatment to Aristotle. Augustine is best read like Lord of the rings, if you can ignore what Natalie pointed out just like ignoring all the dumb ass songs in LOTR it's not so bad, really good actually. Aquinas more than boring is "dense". Both good reads though :D
 
Hold on there Onhell, the songs in LOTR are not "dumb ass", they are some great poetry. And I stand by what I said, Aquinas is dry as a desert and repetitive as...Mexico :P.
 
Onhell said:
And I stand by what I said, the songs in LOTR are dumb ass :p to each his own :)
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Yeah.  I agree.  I read around the songs after a few dozen pages or so.  They seemed forced despite some good writing.


I read Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.  Essentially, the book criticizes humans as evil and petty because we prefer materialism and science to spirituality and sacredness, in the sense that nothing is seen as unknowable.  The book was written at a time when science was replacing religion in the West as the primary force in human pursuit for knowledge.  This satire is one of the most famous written and while having huge negative reviews in its time (1726), the satirical sting has worn off in our modern society. 

How many different ways can an author say that he despises what humans have become?  It gets old fast and frankly in our modern day and age it is hard to take the Swift's perspective.  He never foresaw the technology that science would bring.  I'm pro-science and anti-religion and even if I wasn't, the "I hate and pity mankind" message within the book would be too much for any reader.  While most critics would retort with anger, I feel nothing but amazement and wonder at how inhuman an author's psychology could be.  I only completed the book because I have this compulsive need to do so.

On the bright side, the book gave us a famous proper name -- Yahoo.  One of the book's legacies is that many people wear this term as a badge of honour, like the company of the same name.
 
Instead of coming out with this giant review at the end of the summer, I decided to update once in a while. I promised myself I'd read some fiction and I have done so.

Roverandom by Tolkien- A childrens book much in the style of the hobbit about the adventures of a small dog after he angers a wizard. He is turned into a toy and is subsequently sent to the moon and the depths of the sea, all in the quest of being turned back into a real dog. If you're a Tolkien afficionado, there will be times when you recognize precursors of Smaug the Dragon and Gandalf, among other things. All together a cute story, well written and enjoyable.

The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald- I'd never read this novel which is shocking as its an American classic. I was somewhat reminded of the Sound and the Fury but I enjoyed this book much more (its far more readable simply because its not written from the point of view of the mind of each character and its far shorter). Its all about the American dream and how its all really a failure, in particular as it does not succeed in substituting real happiness. A very good read, and remarkably easy.

Daisy Miller by Henry James- A short novel (novella I should say) about a young American man and woman set in Europe. I felt that Daisy is a character similar to that of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, all innocent and naive and totally unprepared for and unspoilt by the society in which she finds herself. Quite a sad story really and it has one of the worst endings I know of (lame I should say, as if James wrote himself to a point where he couldn't think of a satisfactory way to solve the problem...so he chose the easy way out). But still, its a light read and interesting all the same because of its descriptions of the various European settings.

A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde- This is a play which I would call a tragicomedy, with more emphasis on the tragedy of it all. As always, Wilde employs quips and clever (arrogant) phrases that make the whole thing funny, but the subject matter and the themes it adresses are quite serious. A good play, if sad, about the loss of innocence and the consequences of our mistakes. Are and should the sins of the fathers be visited unto their sons as it says in the Old Testament? Or should we be governed by Love? And what are the real differences between men and women or are there just good and bad people?
 
Natalie said:
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald- I'd never read this novel which is shocking as its an American classic. I was somewhat reminded of the Sound and the Fury but I enjoyed this book much more (its far more readable simply because its not written from the point of view of the mind of each character and its far shorter). Its all about the American dream and how its all really a failure, in particular as it does not succeed in substituting real happiness. A very good read, and remarkably easy.
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Pete Wirtanen taught me this book, and the man was obviously so into everything.  We read every line aloud, and he explained it as we went for the people who couldn't understand.  I still really enjoy it, even if it just reminds me of a small older man's obvious passion for the English language.
 
You amuse me LC and Onhell. :).

Further update:

The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk- He won the Nobel prize for literature in 2006 (I don't think for this book), but I wasn't too impressed with this novel. I feel it dwelt too long on certain things and then rushed over others which I would have found more interesting to explore. The story is about an Italian during the renaissance who gets captured by Turks and who ends up being bought by a man who resembles him alot. The man is interested in all things about Italy and the West, and they end up sharing alot of their knowledge with each other albeit not in a very evidently friendly way. The ending to this book is interesting and to my mind more interesting than much of the rest of the book. However, it could be that the english translation does not do the book justice.

The Europeans by Henry James- Another short novel (novella) by Henry James that I found to be quite charming and delightful. It's a light read, the influence of Jane Austen is clearly to be seen, but since I like Jane Austen this didn't really bother me. I thoroughly enjoyed the description of Boston weather now that I've lived there myself and altogether I found it a nice story about the difference between Europe/Europeans and America/Americans. Naturally, because of the Jane Austen influence everyone ends up happily and neatly pairing up with everyone else and there may be some discomfort when you consider that they're all (or most of them) cousins.
 
Recently I read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, which if I recall, is the world's best selling mystery of all time.  If you enjoy murder mysteries, this book is a must.  I read it in no time fast. 

One of the greatest things about the plot, is that it does not contain one of Christie's chief re-occurring characters like Miss Marple or Poirot.  The setting is an island off the coast of England.  Plot synopsis: an unknown owner invites several guests to his abode on the said island and the only thing the guests have in common is that they've all sinned in one way or the other.  Guests die according to a nursery rhyme.  The killer is on the island has to be one of the guests, yet due to her great writting skills, his/her identity will be guessed at until the end of the book.  I am willing to guess that the book inspired many clones including the movie 'Clue' (1985) and many plays of the same name.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Guests die according to a nursery rhyme.
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The rhyme -- and original title of the book -- is "Ten Little Niggers". Yet another fine example of how political correctness can re-write history. "Baa-Baa Rainbow Sheep" anyone?
 
Maverick said:
The rhyme -- and original title of the book -- is "Ten Little Niggers". Yet another fine example of how political correctness can re-write history. "Baa-Baa Rainbow Sheep" anyone?
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Though the movie AND the rhyme are kept "10 Little Indians" (the first change before And Then There Were None). Also notable is that the book has probably the best ending, while the play, also written by Cristie, has different one which the movie kept. However a Russian adaptation kept the original ending, thank god
 
Here's the original nursery rhyme. Whereas it seems racist by today's standards, it most probably wasn't intended to be when it was written (or I wouldn't post it here!).

Ten Little Niggers


Ten little nigger boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little nigger boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were Seven.

Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little nigger boys playing with a hive;
A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little nigger boys going in for law;
One got into Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little nigger boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little nigger boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was One.

One little nigger boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were None.
 
Onhell said:
Though the movie AND the rhyme are kept "10 Little Indians" (the first change before And Then There Were None). Also notable is that the book has probably the best ending, while the play, also written by Cristie, has different one which the movie kept. However a Russian adaptation kept the original ending, thank god
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The book's ending is one of its finest points and great book endings are hard to come by.  I've seen the 1960s movie and the Hollywood interpretative ending was horrible.  I understand why the ending was so cheerful and happy.  The American audience, at that time, was still in its "innocence".  The movie's ending isn't as much contrived as is the behaviour and particularly the conversation of Vera and Lombard. 

I wanted to get my hands on the Russian version, but could not find it.

I was a little shocked when I first learnt that the original title was Ten Little Niggers, but I assumed it was due to the time the book was written in.  Like Maverick, I do not think Christie intended to be racists.

The book was so appealing, I even played an adventure game based on the book.  The basic plot is the same, but the killer is not.
 
Genghis Khan said:
The book's ending is one of its finest points and great book endings are hard to come by.  I've seen the 1960s movie and the Hollywood interpretative ending was horrible. 
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The "hollywood interpretation" comes from Christie's play version. I forget why she changed the ending, but that's the ending Hollywood and subsequent film adaptations went for, unfortunately :(
 
Reading update:

Silas Marner by George Eliot- An excellent novel about a man terribly wronged (twice) who finds solace and fulfillment through the love of a little child. A beautiful story to warm even the coldest hearts.

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte- Quite an alright novel, seems a little unrealistic at times, but still interesting. Set mainly in Belgium it isn't quite as likeable for me as Jane Eyre was, but it has a singular charm about it. Recommended.
 
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