Works of history.
Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War
Urofsky - Louis. D. Brandeis: A Life
Rakove - Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution
Appleman - East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea
Fisher - Paul Revere’s Ride
Murphy - Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas
Akbar - Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan
Massie - Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
OMG wasn’t he wonderful. One of my favorite, favorite, favorite books ever.
This is fake because I’m not Brazilian, but Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, by Jorge Amado. A masterpiece of good humor and understanding of people.
It depends on the book. Stay away from Mein Kampf, and Ayn Rand, and Chariots of the Gods; stay away from Thomas Sowell, and Catcher in the Rye, and The Scarlet Letter; focus, instead, on Shakespeare, Austen, Woolf, Rex Stout, Michael Connelly, Elmore Leonard, Donald E. Westlake, Isak Dinesen, and other minor and disputed worthies.
The original. You will still miss much of what the author meant; but in translation, you won’t even be ABLE to catch those hints and nuances that mean so much to original speakers of the language. Those hints and nuances will leave without a trace.
Ayn Rand is good for that; Thomas Sowell; can’t think of any others offhand
I’ve been reading Virginia Woolf’s essay, How it Strikes a Contemporary, and she speaks of the book there: “Ulysses was a memorable catastrophe - immense in daring, terrific in disaster.” The essay was first published in 1925, and Ulysses was first published in parts from 1918 to 1920, and fully in 1922.
I don’t know how Woolf’s comment will strike you, but I use it to justify my ongoing refusal to reconsider reading it. I’ve started it a few times, and never get very far.
Good luck, though.
Yes, that’s a good one
I was very affected by Thucydides’ comment that the first effect of civil war is that your language is redefined… to oppose acts previously thought imprudent is now evidence of cowardice and unfitness for leadership
I seem to vaguely remember it… I’ll look for it. Thanks!
He seems to understand something about people that other very successful authors do not. He sees the whole problem from a different angle. I do appreciate it.
Really?? Obviously, I must look into that! Thank you.
I threw it out a few weeks ago, including a few books I had only just bought the week before. So far haven’t missed it at all.