You should enjoy The Poetics. I first read it in university because I had a test, I read it in a night. It is a great thing to know about, especally if you are interested in drama. It's one of those works that I always have to have nearby, and I find myself referring to it a lot.
Did you ever find yourself reading voluminous numbers of books so that you simply can't refer back and re read? I am always torn between rereading parts of plays, dramas and essays in order to gain higher understanding or reading something new as I recognize my ignorance and want only to expand my readings. I already know Seneca doesn't approve of my reading so many different titles, but I cannot help myself to stop and reread. If you had this problem, how did you overcome it? Or did you just, "do" it?
Interesting; I have only read a bit of political philosophy by Aristotle, which is odd, since I'm very familiar with all his philosophical proto-scientific work from my scientific history classes. His writing (or at least the translation) was a lot more clear and concise than I expected it to be. (Especially compared to a Plato) I wonder what he had to say about dramatic theory...
I honestly find it very hard to overcome. I have much the same problem, especally with poetry and philosophy. I've read The Divine Comedy three or four times in the past few years in a few different translations, just because I can't help myself. I have to go back to it. It gets very heavily in the way of my reading new things, and that is not even out of choice. My record, though, is the number of times I have reread Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I must have read it about fourteen times.
I often have no trouble going back and rereading things, for various reasons. It could be that I really enjoyed a piece of writing, and want to enjoy it again, either for the storyline or for the language used (in the latter, it makes even more sense to reread, because it's easier to remember a general storyline than specific images used by a writer). I also find that when one consumes large numbers of books, it sometimes becomes more difficult to remember what happened in them, especially if I read them a long time ago, and I might just remember bits and pieces of a book, enough to remember that I liked it, or that I'd like to read it again. I find that if a book speaks to me enough, or if I really enjoyed it, I'll want to go back and reread it, which is certainly not true of every book I read.
This afternoon I shall be polishing off Iain Banks' Stonemouth and proceeding with The Great Outsider: David Lloyd George by Roy Hattersley. Not often I look forward to reading a political biography, but in this case it should be fascinating.
I'm about half way through Kirpal Singh's The Mystery Of Death and am quite pleased with this essay thus far. He explains life and death in a somewhat religious context but with exemplifies these ideas in scientific/factual comparisons, if you're into existential texts I think you'd enjoy this essay.
Read a short novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, entitled Olalla. It's an early work of Gothic horror, a vampire story written 10 years before Stoker's "Dracula". While it's fast-paced and engaging, like all of Stevenson's stories, the ending is very unsatisfying, proving no real punchline, resolution, or point.
In terms of both books and movies I consume, I love mixing it up. Variety is the spice of life. Thus, after finishing Farmer's science fiction classic, I am indulging in a "garbage read". Namely, a book called Controversy Creates Cash, which is about a man called Eric Bischoff, the head of a major wrestling company in the late 90s. Now, I don't care at all for pro wrestling shows, but I am genuinely fascinated with all the shit behind the scenes. How they decide on who wins and loses, the backstage politics, how it's choreographed, that's the truly exciting tale, now what happens inside the ring itself. Plus, I figure it's a quick read.
My current e-book is is The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. Book 2 of the Wheel of Time. I read book 1 earlier in the year. It's probably about the most prominent Fantasy series I'd not got round to trying.- I'm definitely enjoying it so far, though I've heard it starts to lose its way round about book 6. On Paper I'm reading The Storm Caller by Tom Lloyd. Also a fantasy novel, but then that goes for about ninety percent of what I read. It seems fine so far, I haven't entirely got into it properly yet though.
I just picked up 'Jar City' (Reykjavik Murder Mystery 1) by Arnaldur Indridason. I love Scandinavian noir.
I'm hitting the style guides, mostly. It's about time. In my down-time, I'm making another attempt at The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan. When I first tried reading it, several months back, I was in the middle of a downturn and couldn't give it a fair shot. I seem to be tolerating it better this time round, although I seem to be critiquing it more than reading it. I wouldn't call it a page turner—it's taking a bit of effort to get through it—but, I'm not hating it. Whether I go on to read the sequel remains to be seen.
Thanks to my 3 English classes (and some personal interests) I'm reading a ton of short stories by the likes of Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, Earnest Hemingway, and Sherman Alexie. As for books I'm reading Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney; 1984, by George Orwell; and Enemies and Allies, by Kevin J. Anderson, kinda all at once... with more to come soon enough. I'm really having a good time with Beowulf, and 1984. And Enemies and Allies is a novel featuring Superman and Batman and I am intrigued to see how well these characters translate from the visual comic book to the novel format.
I really liked 1984 when I read it in high school. I want to re-read, though, as an adult to see if I'll understand it even better. I know it is one of the books that I still remember quite a bit of the gist of it and seeing how it relates to society now. Same thing with Brave New World another one I'm dying to re-read as an adult. This year I've started to give eBooks a chance but I still read paper books. What I've been doing is reading one paper book and one eBook at a time. I try to pick different genres or at least different time periods so I don't get plots confused. Right now in paperback I'm reading the second book of Ford Maddox Ford's tetraology HBO made into Parade's End. The style seems really stream of conscious almost as it bounces back and forth. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's an internal thought vs. dialogue. I just finished A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn and am about to start Sultana by Lisa J. Yarde. Looking forward to a much different time period and culture that I haven't read before.
@DH Hanni I am really liking 1984, the story is great and Orwell's style is Superb. I started working on The Lord of the Rings before class started, but there's too much to that book for me to try throwing it into the mix! My friend read 1984 and insisted I got too it, but it was right after book reports and I had just read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I am finding the tones of the books very similar, which is why I didn't jump to 1984 right away. And I am actually going read "The Toughest Indian in the World"tomorrow morning. I really enjoyed his story, "What you Pawn I will Redeem". I find his characterization of Jackson Jackson very interesting. I love how he infuses a little bit of Native American culture (or an issue they faced) into his stories.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of my favorite novels ever. I've read it about 14 times now, I'm glad you enjoy it.
Starship Troopers, Speaker for the Dead and 1984. And I'm still trying to get through a sluggish epic by Steven Erikson... ugh. Why is the first of everything usually so good and sequels not so much???
I'm about to finish Wool, by Hugh Howey and recently started Theft of Swords, by Michael J. Sullivan. I really like the setting for Wool although it's a bit depressing. Theft of Swords is actually two novels, so I suppose I'm actually reading The Crown Conspiracy. It's light, a bit cliche, but entertaining for the most part so far.
I'm reading "Gone with the Wind". So much better than the movie and the movie was great. Needless to say, one of the best books I have ever read.
I just received Seymour Chatman's Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film from Amazon. It looks pretty dense, but I'm going to dip in and see if there's anything about the hard theory of narrative that means something to me. I hope there is - I paid money for this book!
I'm doing a book review for J.C. Valentine - received reviewers copy of Surrender Love. Seems to be an easy breezy read. Don't you just love getting free books for review?
