2014/03/28 14:47:14
Rain
Moshkiae
Rain
... Hence, I've recently started reading Shelley's Frankenstein in English for the first time in my life. Up next, obviously,  Stoker's Dracula ...

 
BEFORE, you read Dracula, you gotta reas a couple of things around that time, that are really quick reads and kinda tell you how Mary Shelley came to write her book. You gotta read Polidori's "Vampyr" and then Sherida Le Fanu's Carmilla. Along with The Castle of Otranto (Walpole) this was pretty much the beginning of "gothic literature" that was eventually furthered by the French Revolution and its gory public'ness.
 
There is a novel, by some guy whose name I can never remember, called "The Missolonghi Manuscripts" and it is about the week or two that these books were written by Polidori and Mary. And it also gives, although in a fictionalized way, a nice picture of those days and nights! Marvellous reading.
 
There is a critical book, called "The Romantic Agony" that is a magnificent write up about the literature that started that era.
 
 




 
Thank you, Mosh! :) I'll check these out.
2014/03/28 14:48:17
sharke
I've just started David Byrne's "How Music Works." It's early stages yet but it is shaping up to be the most interesting book on music that I've ever read. 
2014/03/28 17:02:35
dmbaer
sharke
I've just started David Byrne's "How Music Works." It's early stages yet but it is shaping up to be the most interesting book on music that I've ever read. 




Please report back.  I have that book sitting in my to-read stack, but it's never bubbled its way to the top.
2014/03/28 17:33:31
bapu
sharke
I am of the belief that P.G. Wodehouse was the greatest English writer in history. 



+1000.98976857576979855
2014/03/28 17:35:50
bapu
Beagle
EXCELLENT list!  I have read most of those.


Well, if you had only read most of the list how do you know it's an excellent list?
2014/03/28 18:31:43
craigb
bapu
Beagle
EXCELLENT list!  I have read most of those.


Well, if you had only read most of the list how do you know it's an excellent list?




Remember Bapu, Beagle has declared himself King and, as we all know, Kings tend to make judgements without needing to back them with trivial things like facts, ya? 
2014/03/29 22:50:37
Leadfoot
Hey Rain, I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but no list would be complete without The Adventures of Don Quixote. :)
2014/03/29 23:22:40
craigb
I just realized that there are a LOT of good suggestions in this thread (well, except for that buffoonery from Beagle  ) so I just had to save most of them into a file for later study.
 
Good stuff! 
2014/03/30 03:41:36
Kev999
dmbaer
sharke
I've just started David Byrne's "How Music Works." It's early stages yet but it is shaping up to be the most interesting book on music that I've ever read.

Please report back.  I have that book sitting in my to-read stack, but it's never bubbled its way to the top.



I'd be interested too.  I've had this one on my Amazon Wish List for a while.
2014/03/30 05:21:38
jamesg1213
batsbrew
 
KEN SCOTT'S "ABBEY ROAD TO ZIGGY STARDUST" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
 




If you liked that, I'd recommend 'Are We Still Rolling?'' by Phill Brown.
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