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Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#171

Post by ComputerGuru »

henrikeh wrote: post #112
ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

This is going to sound weird, but... I remember your comment from four years ago (!) [0] and it really stuck with me. However, I could never find the thread, so when I saw this thread, I simply had to check if you wrote a comment again; and here we are! I recently began reading it and is really enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation! [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12245036

Nothing is weird when you’re on HN, thanks for making me smile! I felt a little silly repeating myself when I typed that comment out earlier, but I didn’t realize it had been for years... time flies!

Enjoy!

(Also, thanks for the link to the earlier comment. I had forgotten about the unabridged bit!)

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#172

Post by danesparza »

vo2maxer wrote: post #170

I’m intrigued by the scarce mention of Spanish authors, particularly those from the Golden Age. Other than Cervantes, I haven’t seen any of his coevals listed: Lope de Vega, Francisco Gómez de Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, Calderón de la Barca and many others. What are the reasons for this phenomenon, which is not unique to HN? Are the the works too archaic for modern taste? Are the translations just not good enough to c…

I'm convinced it's just lack of exposure.

Amazon or Barnes and Noble don't feature their books, librarians don't mention their works, and most folks have probably just never been exposed to them (even in college).

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#173

Post by danesparza »

onion2k wrote: post #78
senjindarashiva wrote: post #73

It's been mentioned before but meditations is great, but I would also like to add "How to live on 24 hours a day" by Arnold Bennett https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274 In fiction Sherlock Holmes and the Three Musketeers is some of my favorites.

Sherlock Holmes and the Three Musketeers I wish that was one book.

WOW. That book would be amazing.

Much better than "The Hardy boys and Nancy Drew" mashups that were actually a thing.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#174

Post by oyebenny »

vo2maxer wrote: post #170

I’m intrigued by the scarce mention of Spanish authors, particularly those from the Golden Age. Other than Cervantes, I haven’t seen any of his coevals listed: Lope de Vega, Francisco Gómez de Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, Calderón de la Barca and many others. What are the reasons for this phenomenon, which is not unique to HN? Are the the works too archaic for modern taste? Are the translations just not good enough to c…

It's be great if you linked us to their essays. It's a lack of exposure and education.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#176

Post by ComputerGuru »

ggambetta wrote: post #132
ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

I love this book too. Funnily enough, I also picked up the French version, and forced myself to read it despite not knowing French (but my native language is Spanish, so being familiar with the story, I could follow relatively well). Something that really stood out for me was the description of the finances of the characters. It's like back then everyone understood that the goal was to live off investments, and that…

It’s funny, the financial aspect stuck with me as well! I appreciated that different characters made their money in different currencies (and that everyone could convert between them) and how some currencies were more often associated with per annum revenues than others.

I’d say it’s a pendulum that’s swung too far in correction, imho. It’s a good thing to make money off of honest hard work (a lesson TCMC does not skimp on) as compared to inheriting your riches via the aristocracy, but it definitely isn’t the end goal.

I’ve learned long ago not to watch movies of books I love, it’s far too painfully disappointing and takes away from the world-building a great author triggers in your mind’s eye. (I’ve only ever watched one movie rendition of a classic and found it not only adequate but even superior to a book, and that was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, probably because the book was intentionally incoherently written to reflect the works as seen through Chief’s delusional eyes.)

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#177

Post by ComputerGuru »

wensheng wrote: post #149
ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

2 years ago, I replied a similar question by saying The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book in my youth. I finished reading the Chinese version on one day when I was 16. Since that comment my son was given the book (English) at the same age for his English class last year, he finished it in more than 1 month. I think I have failed as a parent (by not forcing him to learn to read).

I’m curious if it was an unabridged translation? TCMC is some 1200-1400 pages long in English depending on the binding and the translation, but there are some much shorter versions. I pretty much paused my life once I picked it up, but it took me around three or four days to complete it. (Of course I purposely took my time, cherishing every page and not wanting it to end.)

I ask only because you owe it to yourself to read the real deal, just in case the Chinese translation you read was one of the much more common shorter versions.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#178

Post by ComputerGuru »

Hoasi wrote: post #142
ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

Congratulation on learning French. The reason you did it makes it an even more beautiful achievement.

Thank you. Unfortunately as a result my comprehension of spoken French sucks as compared to everyone I know that learned French so they could watch foreign films :)

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#179

Post by ComputerGuru »

ainiriand wrote: post #113
ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

A masterpiece to live through the ages. The first time I read it I was impressed that I could read something as long in such a short time.

I remember that feeling well, although I’d some prior experience with surprisingly short/not long enough books (Gone with the Wind is sometimes described as “the shortest long book ever” for similar reasons).

Les Misérables is probably my second favorite but that took me so many times longer to make my way through, probably because of Victor Hugo’s unfortunate tendency to go so off track, interjecting with two hundred page history lessons describing his favorite scenes from Waterloo.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#180

Post by TheGallopedHigh »

nindalf wrote: post #68

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius has been mentioned 5 times in this thread so far. I endorse it as well. This book is the private diary of the Roman Emperor. He doesn’t say anything about politics or much about other people, just exhorting himself to do better and be better. This man walked the walk.

To follow up your recommendation: he was more than a Roman emperor, he was arguably one of, if not the most powerful people on the planet. Some might argue that any Roman Empror was, but his reign I believe was near the zenith of Rome’s Empire in terms of territory (please correct me if I’m wrong).

Therefore you’re reading his diary, realizing his own worries, all the while being this person.

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