Kierkegaard is known as "The Father of Existentialism" and he's both a philosopher and theologian.

I won't even attempt to explain further because it would go right over your impatient head, and besides you've made up your obstinate mind anyway.

You're thinking* of the French (so-called) Existentialists who came later, e.g., Sartre and Camus.


*if you can call what you do "thinking" at all.

oh that looks interesting-- a metaphor for white colonization huh?

there's a great short story by jack vance where this missionary goes to preach in a planet with several suns where they jsut can't keep times and they raise goats. funny shit.

jack vance fucking rules.

The title (Poisonwood Bible) always intrigued me, but the plot doesn't sound interesting to me. I can't explain what about it, but I don't like modern historical-fiction drama stuff. I found it under the coffee table at my apartment once, though. Weird.

yeah i was a bit ironic by making obvious the obvious "message"

i hate "message" books but i like some science fiction

anyway just read what you like

im still finishing BITCH-- a great little book. very fucking enjoyable. i like crazed women.

Well either that, or Robinson Crusoe or The Heart of Darkness. I got the cheap Barnes and Noble classics editions.

What do you think?

robinson crusoe is more of a children's book for me but heart of darkness is decent

--

Heart of Darkness. I haven't read it actually, but I was very jealous when the other English class in high school got to read it. And it's fucking short, so you can move to the next one quicker.

Robinson Crusoe I remember being kinda like..."Why the hell do you know all this random shit? I'm not buying it."

Hahah, Robinson Crusoe just seems so...classic? I'll get to it one day.

Heart of Darkness it is.

In organizing my books, I set aside all those I've read this year in chrono order. This year's been all about fiction.

Persuasion
Amerika
The Trial
The Castle
As I Lay Dying
Winseburg, Ohio
Babbit
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Sound and Fury
Absalom, Absalom
No Country for Old Men
To the Lighthouse
Sanctuary
Dubliners
Portrait of an Artist
Great Expectations
Moll Flanders
Ulysses
Jacob's Room
Light in August
Sentimental Education
Lord Jim
Therese Raquin
Go Down, Moses

Currently reading Sister Carrie, which is sucking something awful.

Many are re-reads. About a fourth of them weren't particularly good.

I love robinson cruseau. it is most definitely NOT a children's book, though it may seem that way upon surface reading.
I have read it at least 5 times since I was young.

well no it's not a kids book it's "victorian man against nature", and therefore an archaeological document of sorts, but i don't know, i wouldn't read it again... i guess i would if i was stuck in a desert island ha ha ha.

nabokov accused conrad of writing literature for boys, actually, so heart of darkness could be considered that, but it's ok by me and these days more of an "apocalypse now" reference ha ha ha.

its peculiar he hasn't read crusoe yet at 17, i read it when i was 12, but anyway, it's such a cultural touchstone, it demands to be read just as a matter of basic knowledge.

you guys ever seen "man friday"? it's a 60s or 70s movie w/ peter o'toole that demolishes the original crusoe. very fucking funny. but see you need to know crusoe for that.

Finished "Looking Backward"

fucking awful boring

how come you finished? i usually drop those.

actually read half of it than skimmed through the rest

school reading

I hate utopian stories. Especially one that puts in a love story for no fucking reason. Oh, and sexist.

school-- eww...

fuck I hated reading Dickens in school.

I was never encouraged to read at a young age. I had a good sophomore English teacher though that really got me geared toward it though. I read before then, but I certainly didn't have a great interest in it.

I don't know, man. I kind of enjoyed Tale of Two Cities.

we were not taught that one, just great expectations Oliver twist and copperfield.

well you lucky dog you lucky dog you dog.

good for your teacher. put him/her in your will.

then yeah i'd said check out crusoe and treasure island! and no it's not long DONG silver! ha ha ha ha!

on the subject of juvenile stuff i also recommend jules verne-- voyage to the center of the earth is being made into a movie actually so it would be nice if you get the original story. and then 20,000 leagues under the sea and the mysterious island and around the world in 80 days and from the earth to the moon-- all classics of the imagination and pioneers of science fiction. he wrote a shitload of books though, not all so famous, but these i think are like suppa-classix. michel strogoff was cool too, today it probably reads a bit racist ha haha.

anyway many of these books can probably be found under dover thrift editions for $1 or $2 new-- the print isn't the best but the price is right.

good summer reading, i mean-- if you like anime and comic books and shit like that (i do) these books should be perfectly fine entertainment.