I need a source of philosophical fiction-any recommendations from the book sluts that I know lurk on this list?

x0

c

Yes, I am a slut......and a book slut!  Crime and punishment is good. Not an 'easy read' though.  For the life of me I can't remember the author....why am I thinking Tolstoy??? I know it's not.....

Hmmm, not sure what you are looking for, but some of my faves are.....

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

For some more recent fare that might entice you try:

The Laws of Our Fathers by Scott Turow
The Church of the Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (author of The World according to Garp)

Yup, I'm a book worm : o)

PS. I am betting you would enjoy the Beauty Series by Anne Ricee as well, though I'm not sure you would classify it as "philosophical fiction", more like philosophical erotica

and yes i am a slut but no book slut lol

Two for you:

Written on the Body, a sometimes tedious but good novel with a sound philosophhical premise.

Silk Road, by Jean Larsen.  Creates its own world, just follow along ...

Teamwork baby oh yea! that's what i'm talkn about
uc

-- Modified on 3/1/2008 10:54:45 AM

Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, is a philosophical fiction.

"American gods" by Neil Gaimen
"Pastwatch" by Orson Scott Card
"Time Enough for Love" by Robert Heinlein
"Lovelock" by Orson Scott Card and Kathryn H. Kidd which I believe is out of print, but worth searching for.

Oooooh, good one!

by Gabriel García Márquez.

Charlotte this book is written in such a fast paced, no nonsence way that you'd think it was dealing with everyday issues.  The author takes for granted that his readers are already insconced in ideas such as visions, incest, speaking with ghosts, prostitution, love in all of its sick and twisted glory, giants, mass murder, suicide, and the desperate search for freedom.  
I read this book on the edge of my seat for a week.  I cried, I laughed, I threw it down in anger and banged my head against the wall to release some of the horrific images, I fell in love, and I grew some....  
but Charlotte... oh Charlotte... it was the last line, the very last line in this book that, when I read it, I got down on my knees and wept from the sheer genius of Gabriel Garcia.  He is a master.  He left me in awe, in humble contrition that I had the fortune to be in his presence for these tiny moments of respite when his book was laid on my night stand.  I devoured it, only to be changed, Charlotte.
The last line of this book is not about the story so much as it tells everything about the author. He is brilliant.  And "100 Years of Solitutde" was my all time favorite read of 2007.  Because it hurts, it makes you bleed and I can't stop thinking about it.
Sorry for such a plug... but this book did things to me.

The Prince - Nicolo Machiavelli

This guy got an awfully bad rap and rep for telling it like it is/was. Easy reading as you can jump around for different topics. Then read..

What would Machiavelli do? - Stanley Bing

Bing revisits the scenarios that Machiavelli outlined but applies them to the current corporate America. I thought it was funny to a great extent. Insight into Martha, Donald and Turner give you a new spin on "killing off" the competitors, unworthy staff and just the general fun some of these folks get by flexing their power.

and it is an excellent novel, as all of Dostoyevsky's novels are.  (Leo Tolstoy himself felt this way.  He was buried clutch a copy of The Brothers karamazov.)

If you enjoy that, you will really enjoy The Brothers Karamazov; pay particular note to the chapter entitled The Grand Inquisitor.

My favorite novel of his is The Idiot.  Is there a woman alive that would not want to be Nastasya Filipovna Barskova?

If this all sounds too ponderous (I took a course in Dostoyevsky in college.) then I would suggest any of the books by Bill Bryson.  They are very entertainingly written, highly informative and just plain fun.

-- Modified on 3/1/2008 5:22:45 PM

Regardless of the inevitable bashing I will get for mentioning her, there's always Ayn Rand.  "The Fountainhead" is her best, IMO.

Another quasi-philosophy would be the naturalism implied in the book "Dune" by Frank Herbert.

Then if you really want something to fuck with your mind, try "The Magus" by John Fowles.

Something to bring back your faith after that would be "The Slave" by Isaac Singer...which debates religious philosophy from the standpoint of a 17th century Jewish slave.

Especially Siddhartha and Steppenwulf

Thomas Mann- Death in Venice

Albert Camus- The Stranger

Kafka

Vonnegut

Paradise Lost

Illusions: Confessions of a reluctant messiah- Bach

It would give you plenty to think about and touch you in ways that you may not understand for a while... In paperback, pay special attention to pages 131 and 747.



-- Modified on 3/1/2008 9:41:31 PM

I read allot, though I have little time for novels, but "100 Years of Solitude" is one my all time favorites.

No bashing here.

I found Golding's "Pincher Martin" very good also.

Those are a great trilogy.

b-

Excellent book! And some incredibly steamy sex scenes.

Jennings wrote two more books in the series, Aztec Autumn, and Aztec Blood. Neither are quite as good as the first, but are both still excellent reads

have a way of staying with you too... and between the political realities of those times and what must have been the beginning of the end of the Mayan culture... well, it was a bitter sweet read. Did you also partake of "The Journeyer?"

Two good titles for you.

Water For Elephants

The Devil in the White City

Both are excellent reads.

Sea

No, I haven't read the Journeyer. It is one of many books that I am always intending to read, yet never get around to.

Fiction:
"Gilead"  Marilynne Robinson
Quiet and humble book with power and grace.

"The Darkness that Comes Before"   R. Scott Baker
The first fo a fantasy trilogy, but interesting insights.

"A River Runs Through It"  Norman Maclean
Another small, beautiful book.

"Where the Rivers Flow North" and
"Stanger in the Kingdom"  Howard Frank Mosher
I love his words and characters.

"The English Patient"  Michael Ondaatje
This has a bad rap from the movie, but I liked the book.

Non-Fiction:

"For the Time Being"  and
"Teaching a Stone to Talk"   Annie Dillard
Very powerful (for me) observations and her command of the language is exquisite.

"Wind, Sand and Stars"   Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The world from a very thoughtful person and from a different perspective.

-- Modified on 3/2/2008 1:44:32 PM

I like Augustin Borroughs
He's really quite funny and interesting.

I had no idea there were so many book lovers on TER!!!!

I don't know about Charlotte, but ya'll gave me a very long wish list the next time I head for Barnes and Noble (I try to stay away as much as possible, I can't walk out of there without spending half a month's income).

Hmmm......Maybe TER should consider a "book club" board

One of my favorites, partially due to my having spend time as a youngster, working on a ranch in that area. And, his non-fiction work "Young Men and Fire" is good.

Now That I am near my bookshelf, a couple more:

Fiction:
"Blindness"  Jose Saramago (or any of his books)
"The Chess Garden"  Brooks Hanson
"Little Big"  John Crowley
"Ishmael"  Daniel Quinn
"Short History of a Small Place"  T.R. Pearson



Non-Fiction:
"Blue Highways"  William Least Heat Moon
"Angela's Ashes"  Frank McCourt
"The Moon by Whale Light"   Dianne Ackerman
"Einstein's Dreams"  Alan Lightman


Too many books, too little time  {sigh}