Some of you know, I am an avid collector of books. I do not purchase paper’d backed trash. Those I use to heat up the logs in my fireplace. I only buy first edition classics, or leatherbound works of art. Since one of you requested a non-finance recommendation list of fine literary works, I thought I’d use this venue to share my favorites.
For those of you saddened by the absence of a movie recommendation, go see THE BIG SHORT. I heard it was really good.
Over the past two years, I’ve been obsessed with the Robber Barrons. This happened after I visited the quaint town of Newport, RI, and got to bear witness to the monuments those lunatics built for themselves. A similiar home of quality and size can be found at Frick House, NYC, which is now an art museum.
What fascinated me about the Newport crowd wasn’t the enormity of their wealth, but how they lost it. To me, the homes didn’t represent grandeur or eloquence, but instead arrogance, narcissm and careless regard for the safekeeping of wealth.
The old Commodore Vanderbilt built an empire that should have lasted a thousand years. Instead, it was squandered in less than 50.
Some of my favorite books this past year, on this topic, include: Fortune’s Children, Farewell to Fifth Avenue and When the Astor’s Ruled NYC. I’ve read many more than those three; but those were my favorites.
My favorite books of all time, without question, are:
The Count of Monte Cristo
Rum Diaries
The Great Gatsby
The Sun also Rises
War and Peace
Scaramouche
Without a doubt, Dumas is the best writer of all time. His prose is both easy to read and eloquent. No one tells a tale like him. Speaking of tales, Dickens is no slouch either. But the issue that I have with Dickens is that his stories tend ot drag on, especially towards the end. He was a master in the english language and an authority on how writers should approach a story. But, for some of you half illiterates out there, he might be a bit too much for you to handle right now.
Start off with Dumas, Fitzgerald and Hemmingway. You’ll thank me later.
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Anything under 400 pages?
Gatsby
Fly, your list comes quite close to matching mine. If you haven’t read it, Lord Jim by Conrad is a masterpiece worthy of your list.
Dumas is the best. Hugo, too, especially Notre Dame de Paris. In more modern stuff, I’m a fan of Saramago, Rushdie and Bolanos. Libraries are important. We just built a beach house, thanks to Mr. Market, and I put in a floor-to ceiling library.
that’s awesome. Books are expensive. I have a great spot that doesn’t gouge near me.
The best used bookstore is Shakespeare & Co in Paris, near Notre Dame. I lived in France for 12 years, and was always desperate for books in english. S & Co was an oasis, where I would spend hours. eBooks are OK, but there’s nothing like the feel of paper, and the comfort of being surrounded by books. Any valuable editions are pure accidents – I buy them to read, reread, and lend to friends.
Oh, yeah, Shakespeare the author is pretty good, too.
And I bet they are free (or close to it) on a Kindle and other e-readers.
And if you have a leather bound first edition and you are done reading it, one could hollow out the middle to hide the wi- fi router.
http://lifehacker.com/5914873/hide-your-ugly-wi-fi-router-in-a-book-cover
And I am sure you can print out a nice copy of a picasso too.
This logic of yours demonstrates that you’ve lived amongst the orange groves and wild animals for too long. You have little appreciation for the arts and have morphed into a back country rube.
Ha! My Dad (a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago) would probably agree.
On another note, we sold the house with the 3 acres, bears (our realtor said we didn’t have to disclose the bears), and orange trees.
We have cashed out (market was ripe) and downsized in preparation for retirement (moved to a small town to the east in Deland).
I am having a tough time with seeing my neighbor’s homes. And my wife tells me I just can’t go outside and pee when I feel like it. Something about HOA (never lived with an HOA before) jail.
Good luck in this next phase, sir. You may also find that peeing indoors has its charms, plus – no bears.
Always enjoyable to hear your reports, TC
A little further south and you have the alligator thing to a much greater extent.
Have you heard of or read Once in Golconda? Its been recommended to me several times by friends in the finance field, I’m getting to it soon.
nope
Sorry to be pedantic, but must promote literacy: no possessive needed for Dickens. Thank’s.
oh the irony
Silly. Nothing by Edith Wharton.
Dumas wrote booms in french so his readability probably has to do with translations erring on the side of contemporary prose. Fitzgerald didn’t live too long ago so his writing is easier to read. The Great Gatsby reads as if it could have been written yesterday in both language and themes.
Fucking Dickens? Really? Agree to disagree.
You seem to really like Dumas, might enjoy this (I did): http://www.amazon.com/Black-Count-Revolution-Betrayal-Cristo/dp/0307382478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450568629&sr=8-1&keywords=the+black+count
What about “Fucking Dickens?”
Ease up there, killer. If you’re a fan of the serialized novel, I can’t hold it against you.
At least check out the Amazon link. I wasn’t a Dumas fan, loved the book.
Fucking Dickens is Fucking Great!
Hope this helps!
The Big Short is OK. The various devices used to explain all the technicalities are pretty good, inventive and funny. My wife who has no interest in finance enjoyed it a lot. She also really liked Margin Call.
All the Wall Street/Countrywide characters are only lightly sketched in which is too bad. I would have liked to see more of a David meets Goliath type story.
Apparently the real Michael Burry is actually in the movie, as one of the guys in his office.
Cool feedback thanks.
Sadly, showtime is know where to be found. Busy trying to finish The Outsiders novel. Go poneyboy
Dickens published in weekly papers and dragged his stories out in order to maintain cash flow. I think Dumas did, too, but – either way – that this site continues to attract sorts possessed of such high taste in literature is a testament to the host’s own facility with a pen.
I loved “The Count” too and it was also one of my grandfather’s favorite books. I was looking up the books on the list and Tolstoy started writing War and Peace in 1805 and finished the rough draft in 1863. Lol, that’s 60 years. Thank you for the post! At the very least Scaramouche is sliding into my queue.
I’m currently reading:
Left of Bang- Van Horn (combat profiling)
Conflict Communication- Rory Miller (managing conflict)
Every Good Endeavor- Tim Keller (on the protestant view of work)
None of which (unfortunately) would interest you.
Milton’s Paradise Lost is the greatest text ever written in the English language.
Milton’s paradise, eh? You’ve stoked my interest.
Just looked it up: religious nonsense.
No thanks. I don’t read fairytales anymore.
Paradise lost is referenced in Animal house, so there ya go…
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Thank me later. Slaughterhouse Five is a must read too. Le Fly, let me know if you are looking for any First Edition in particular, it’s a hobby.
So its pretty gay
so “what’s” pretty gay? Learn how to write to get your point across moosh. Are you retarded (sorry to anyone that is retarded out there)?
I can’t reply to your comment. Probably due to your gayness. In all honesty, it was just a guesstimate on your fagdome.
Hemingway had his moments:
“… to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
Only a married man could come up with a line like that.
.
I’ve got some old original release (pristine) … “R. Crumb” comics I have been holding on to for OVER 40 years !!!
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Anyone interested ???
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SIGH … most of the “youngsters” that post here have NO CLUE who “R. Crumb” is !!!
.
Very nice alf, you should hold onto them. I have ample memories from that era. Good to still be alive.
McMurtry. No better writer of our times. Steinbeck was a overrated communist that wrote depressing shit. The fucking ‘Red Pony’ was a disease that children were made to read in school. “The Last Picture Show’. ‘Lonesome Dove’ . ‘Horseman, Pass By’. Larry McMurtry classics all. Even ‘Texasville’ would be good for the fascist millennials to read and find reality. The authors do not all have to be from bygone days.
‘Duane’s Depressed’ by Larry McMurtry. Way ahead of its time. A men only book but it was supposed to be. For you thinkers out there.
You should read Neil Stephenson
Real men read Cormac McCarthy. One of the best wordsmith’s ever. Try Spartina by John Casey. Biographies of Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy. Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig if you want to read something that makes you think about your miserable life. Everyone on the planet read it in 1974.
On “hippie” books, it is hard to beat The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a massively depressing book. You’re better off with “Zinn and the Art of Bike Maintenance.”
One more.. The Tender Bar by Moehringer. You MUST read this book.
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon and Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce. I challenge you to get through them without developing an aneurysm.
The Confederacy of Dunces deserves a mention here…an American classic and comic masterpiece.
Richard Rhodes’ “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” is a fantastic book. The first half tells the story of how the structure of the atom was discovered by using nothing more than some vacuum bottles, a fluorescent screen and perhaps a few bits of tin foil. The second half goes through the process of actually creating an industry bigger than the whole automobile industry leading up to the creation of the bomb itself.
The book focuses on the people which makes it so fascinating.
Excellent synopsis. Makes me want to read shit. Good post le fly.
Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey
‘The Arms of Krupp’. William Manchester’s finest work. My binder is cracked to pieces and the pages are falling out. No further comment on books.
I actually read War&Peace. All of it. Its highly overrated, just as Great Gatsby (great book about nothing).
Try this:
Jack London (everything except Martin Eden)
O’Henry
Ayn Rand
Jules Verne (after you finished with Dumas)
Ludlum and Crichton (on a beach only)
In case you have a taste for Russia, forget about Tolstoy – russians themselves don’t read’m. Chekhov is a must in prose and Pushkin in poetry (or Esenin)
“Prisoners of Geography” Tim Marshall (October 2015)
One other thing:
You experience with Dumas will depend greatly on chosen translation. Avoid old ones. When 200 years old french language reworked into 100 years old english – modern reader gets gibberish instead of “eloquence”.
For example, go for Pevear translation of ‘Three Musketeers’. Then you will know what you are thanking Mr. Fly for…