I think that most readers like me prefer novels of 300 to 450 pages. Also, most publishers won’t accept novels over 100K to 120K words. I know there are exceptions, like James Michener whose novels average 900 pages. Therefore, it forces writers to create trilogies or a series to cover all the plac...

I have re-read in my old age and NOT liked these books that I loved as a teenager:

Leon Uris' fiction
Worldly Philosophers
Stranger in a Strange Land
Foundation
Ringworld

But, in the spirit of this thread, I still love the Horatio Hornblower books I first read in elementry school.

_Birches_ is my favorite Frost Poem. There is so much to see, so much to ponder. Yes, Frost wrote in regular meters and rhyme but his work requires as much ruminating to understand as any modern poet.

Edgar Allen Poe. I am cheating a bit. Poe is in my top five, Frost is my number one, but Poe my son's fav and has been for at least 20 years.

I am a bit late to this party but will attempt, once again, to get through The Divine Comedy. I have failed several times before. The Tony Kline translation (transliteration?) looks more accessible than anything I have tried before. I seem to remember that Dante had some axes to grind with his conte...

Another vote for Barbara Tuchman as a favorate non-fiction author. Although I give the edge to "Guns of August" one of the few non-fiction books I have read more than once.

Oblivion's discription of "Evil in Modern Thought" makes me want to read this book. I hope we can find a space for it here.

It's true. A good example, i think, is our new friend the FTL neutrino. That was a shocking bit of news. But the one instance is not enough for us to go overboard on the new ultimate cosmic speed limit. We need confirmation, and vetting, and peer review experimentation. But, I have to admit, I am r...

In fact, what else of the fiction Twain wrote has profound themes at all? As he shows us in the "Notice" to HF, Twain was a reluctant "deep" author. That question bears some thinking about. My first inclination is to examine his short stories, which tend to be sardonic morality ...

I just finished reading this. I interpret the short story as a serch for social place in a heavily structured society. I like Gogol better than Tolstoy. The latter seems more concerned with morality. Gogol is crazy and fun and magical. I am pretty much with you, reader. Gogol was know as a critic o...