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i need to write an essay -

pick a book and describe why u would want to live during it...or something like that

any good ideas for books?

By Savedbythebell7 (Savedbythebell7) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 08:21 pm: Edit

Great Gatsby

By Calston (Calston) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 08:59 pm: Edit

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!

Hee hee.

By Pookdogg (Pookdogg) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 10:08 pm: Edit

1984 - Futuristic setting, and it requires no independent thought! In fact, independent thought is double-plus-ungood!

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Berkeley, CA represent!

The Great Gatsby - Rich white people everywhere!

The pamphlet for Viagra - everyone seems so happy! And a very happy Mrs. back home!

By Qwert271 (Qwert271) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 10:48 pm: Edit

100 years of solitude. im surprized no one has said it yet.

pookdogg: that's Enzyte, not viagra. but it's cool.

By Calston (Calston) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 10:52 pm: Edit

You could always try 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' as well. If this for a college admission essay though, it might not be the greatest choice, but it'd probably catch an eye or two. Heh.

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 10:53 pm: Edit

While the "Great Gatsby" is undeniably well written, I always found it rather shallow.

By Melissamelissa (Melissamelissa) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 12:45 am: Edit

thanks guys

what do u think of brave new world...and then focus on 'ignorance is bliss'?

By Tropicanabanana (Tropicanabanana) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 01:25 am: Edit

The Great Gatsby is shallow how? The characters?

By Phantom (Phantom) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 01:27 am: Edit

I'd say that Harry Potter has a darn good setting (Hogwarts that is, not 4 Privet Drive).

By Seleucus26 (Seleucus26) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 01:42 am: Edit

Mt favorite setting was in A Seperate Peace. The vermont (?) winter at lepper's house is what i picture in my mind's eye for the tranquility of nature, especially compared to the turmol of leper's mind.

but, looking at the question, the time was bad (WWII) and i wouldnt want to live during it. 1984 would be a horrible time to live in. And why would u want to live with a abunch of -shallow- rich white people in Gatsby?

I have always wanted to live in the setting of The Giver, even without the type of love that the young giver (name?) wants. it seemed perfect to me when i read it. seeing that it is a utopia, it is perfect. imperfectly.

watever - if u want well written settings, i think that seperate peace would be good. but if u want a setting in which u would want to live, id choose Giver.

but wat about Middle earth. that would be cool.

By Savedbythebell7 (Savedbythebell7) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 06:32 am: Edit

The people in the Great Gatsby were sophisticated and had class. Imagine being put into that world and how they would react to rap music and subwoofers!! You could wreak havoc on their world.

By Onnihs (Onnihs) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 07:05 am: Edit

do poems count?

paradise lost, john milton

it takes place in Eve. sure would like to see what happen there.

By Vancat (Vancat) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 11:44 am: Edit

Brave New World.

By Poison_Ivy (Poison_Ivy) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 11:53 am: Edit

Harry Potter... Hogwarts is the place you would love to live.

A Separate Peace


I admit.. I have a thing for boarding schools.

By Calston (Calston) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 01:34 pm: Edit

William Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch' might be doable. It's a literary classic. Interesting setting and so on. Well, good luck on your essay, regardless what you pick.

By Melissamelissa (Melissamelissa) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 01:49 pm: Edit

thanks a lot every1

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 03:57 pm: Edit

I find the "Great Gatsby" shallow in the way that it doesn't signify anything of importance, its primary focus being on style rather than substance. Then again, I am drawn to books with grand implications towards our world and the way we view it, such as "The Stranger" and "Siddhartha". It's a personal preference.

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 05:34 pm: Edit

Isn't the entire point of Great Gatsby to show a not-so-subtle disdain for that material culture by provoking the reader to have Candi's exact reaction to it?

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 05:38 pm: Edit

The problem is that it doesn't evoke within me disdain for this society, as other standard muckracking authors from different time periods have, but the inherent failure of the book to do what it intended. Societal commentaries are supposed to have the effect of polarizing your attitudes towards said society, this book just doesn't do that.

By Calston (Calston) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 08:57 pm: Edit

Oh, I agree w/you Candi, Siddartha's outstanding. I like to read it in combination it w/Kerouac's 'The Dharma Bums' to make my semi-Buddhist experience complete. Anyhoo, that's beside the point.

On 'The Great Gatsby' I see it as more of a capture of the 20's era more than anything else (although, admitedly, a really techincally well written capture). It seemed like a classic, formulaic tragedy except with rich New Yorkers. I dunno, it was never my favorite but to each his or her own, eh?

Oh, but the billboard w/Ecklburg (sp?) was pretty cool.

By Savedbythebell7 (Savedbythebell7) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 09:00 pm: Edit

The eyes.........................muahahahaha

By Craigk10 (Craigk10) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 09:11 pm: Edit

Siddartha's good but so ... didactic.

By Gidget (Gidget) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 10:46 am: Edit

I second Harry Potter

If you want to catch some eyes, do the Land of Narnia from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe

By Foreignboy (Foreignboy) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 11:03 am: Edit

Gerald's Game (Steven King).
Wife tied to bed, dog eating dead husband.

By Elizabeth22 (Elizabeth22) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 02:15 pm: Edit

Another vote for Harry Potter- it doesn't get any better.

By Vancat (Vancat) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 02:33 pm: Edit

Dante's Inferno. ;)

By Calston (Calston) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 03:46 pm: Edit

Dante's Inferno? I hear it's a hell of a read. Hee hee.

By Emily_Uk (Emily_Uk) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 03:55 pm: Edit

Jon McGregor - If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

or
Life of Pi

By Kiwee (Kiwee) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 04:50 pm: Edit

The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Wright... or Great Gatsby

By Calston (Calston) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 10:59 pm: Edit

Oh man, Foreignboy, Gerald's Game was freaky. It's not one of my favorite King novels. I'd reccomend the Dark Tower series, Eyes of the Dragon, The Stand, for King. I'd not want to live in any of those situations though. Especially not 'The Stand.'

By Melissamelissa (Melissamelissa) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 09:03 pm: Edit

i thin i like the Giver..

so i will focus on ignorance is bliss and what you dont know cant hurt you.

should i maybe not do this tho? i have another idea- focus on 'beauty is imperfection- and pic a book that has a diverse world with many flaws?

By Takiusproteus (Takiusproteus) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 09:08 pm: Edit

Captain Hornblower, by CS Forester

Setting: Napoleonic Wars aboard one of his Britannic Majesty's ships with Captain Horatio Hornblower in command. Very exciting and very very good.

By Hayden (Hayden) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 11:45 pm: Edit

"The Tempest". With everything going on right now, a mythical island looks pretty good.