Tuesday, March 9, 2010

When You Realise Who Has Power, Really, When You're Paid to Whip Men

'Whip Smart': Memoirs Of A Dominatrix

[cross post from *here*]

March 8, 2010
Audio for this story from Fresh Air from WHYY will be available at approx. 5:00 p.m. ET
Melissa Febos
Enlarge Caitlin Delohery,
Author Melissa Febos lives in Brooklyn.
Whip Smart
text sizeAAA
March 8, 2010
Melissa Febos' new memoir, Whip Smart, details the four years she spent working as a dominatrix. Febos enacted fantasy sequences, spanked grown men and verbally humiliated them for $75 an hour in a dungeon located somewhere in midtown Manhattan.

Febos, who writes that she got started in sex work to pay for a drug habit, tells Terry Gross that working in a dungeon felt like "being in a womb."

"Pretty much all of the dungeons were outfitted with some sort of coat rack-related thing that had all sorts of floggers, riding crops," she says. "We had giant coils of rope in our utility closet — like thousands of feet that we would just cut off when you needed it. There were gas masks and cages and a big hanging Inquisition-style cage in the red room. And there were mirrors along all of the walls, and they were really vast — and with all of the walls and the ceilings painted, it had a very specific effect."

That effect, says Febos, was creating a fantasy world for her clients — and for herself.

"In the beginning, it did feel pretty powerful to act out those roles, but after a little while it wasn't my fantasy in most cases," she says. "In a lot of ways, [enacting the scenarios] felt more humiliating to me than it did to them."

Febos currently teaches writing at SUNY Purchase College and the Gotham Writers' Workshop. She received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.
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Antifeminist Het FATHERS RIGHTS ALERT: It's HET FATHERS who want THE RIGHT to KILL HET GUYS--for doing what THOSE FATHERS ONCE DID. (It's not Radical Feminists)

Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy) - Rodney Atkins  

Lyrics:

The Declaration of Independents,
Think I could tell you that first sentence,
but then I'm lost, I cant begin to count the theories,
I've had pounded in my head, that I forgot,
I don't remember all that Spanish or the Gettysberg Address,
but there is one Speech from High School I'll never forget,
[Chorus]
Come on in boy sit on down and tell me 'bout yourself,
So you like my daughter do you now,
Yea we think shes somethin' else,
Shes her daddy's girl, her momma's world,
She deserves respect, that's what she'll get,
Ain't it son, now ya'll run along and have some fun,
I'll see you when you get back,
Bet I'll be up all night,
Still cleanin' this gun

Well now that I'm a father,
I'm scared to death one day my daughter is gonna find,
That teenage boy I used to be,
that seems to have just one thing on his mind,
Shes growin' up so fast it wont be long before,
I'll have to put the fear of God into some kid at the door,

[Chorus]
Yea come on in boy sit on down and tell me bout yourself,
So you like my daughter do ya now,
Yea we think she's somethin' else,
Shes her daddy's girl, her momma's world,
She deserves respect, that's what she'll get,
Now ain't it son, now ya'll go out and have some fun,
I'll see ya when you get back,
Probably be up all night,
Still cleanin' this gun

Now its all for show,
Ain't nobody gonna get hurt,
Its just a daddy thing.
And hey believe me man it works 

[Chorus]
Yea come on in boy sit on down and tell me bout yourself,
So you like my daughter do ya now,
Yea we think shes's somethin' else,
She's her daddy's girl her mommas world,
she deserves respect that's what she'll get,
Ain't it son, ya'll run along and have a little fun,
And I'll see ya when you get back,
Probably be up all night,
Still Cleanin' This Gun..HAHA...Now son ya'll buckle up and have her back by 10...lets say about 9..30...Drive Safe

*          *           *
I have known several het fathers of daughters, and all of 'em, yup, ALL of 'em say the same damned thing: that if they found out  their teenage daughter was dating someone like THEY used to be when they were younger, they'd shoot the fucker. And they don't look forward to the day when normal het guys date THEIR daughter, because, well, you know... all guys are DOGS. I've heard a het guy, not anyone who'd ever call himself "feminist" say this to me: "You know, all guy's are DOGS", and he was including himself in that group. And by dogs, he meant "no good, selfish assholes, who will take what they want from girls, even if it means fucking her and fucking her over. He meant that het guys cheat, one way or another. And he meant that het guys don't respect girls. THAT'S what he meant, and the reason I know is because I've asked the het guys who say this what they mean by it, to be sure I'm not filtering it and distorting it through "a radical feminist" lens. (Ahem.) Nope. I'm not. It's what het guys say about each other. I heard one het father talking to another in a grocery store aisle--one guy worked there, the other was a shopper, and they were comparing notes on their concerns about their daughters dating het guys. And they agreed, "I wouldn't want her dating anyone like how I was when her age!" And they meant it. And they weren't radical feminists either. So who is it that confuses het sex with rape? Read on, and then give me your answer.


By Pete Kotz in Heroes, assault
Thursday, Feb. 25 2010 @ 11:31AM


william-kelly_opt.jpg
UPDATE: There may be another reason why William Kelly shot his daughter's boyfriend in the balls. Randall Carter is 29; Amanda Kelly is only 18. Dad couldn't have been happy that his high-school age daughter was prancing around with a much older man... [click on title above for the rest]

See also: here, here, and here. And all that follows...these are all pieces, and they fit together neatly, if atrociously.

Antifeminist Father kills both his daughter and her boyfriend after finding them in bed together. See story here.

And when the father is white and U.S., him killing his two daughters is blamed on medication, not his patriarchal culture, like the Afghan father.

Here's a story about a father who kills his wife and his children, to spare them HIS shame of being in financial ruin. NOT, apparently, due to cultural practices, like the Afghan father.

How much murder of wives, girlfriends, boyfriends of one's daughter's boyfriend, and the rape of one's own daughter has to happen before we call it part of his patriarchal cultural norms?

*          *          * 
Question [from *here]
Help answer this question below. 

If you got home and someone was rapeing your daughter and had a gun to her head. would you A use your cell and call the cops frist. B threaten to kill them with a gun.then call 911 are C Kill them without them knowing you were there then call 911?

Answers. 29 helpful answers below.

  • by Froggy on July 17th, 2009
    Froggy
    Kill them with a clean shot to the head will cause him to release his gun, then bury him in the backyard. Who wants to waste many days and hours in a courtroom because of a scumbag. Oldtime justice prevails!
    • Like (10 people like this.)  

    • by That Guy Again on July 17th, 2009
      That Guy Again 
      BANG! 
      rapist gonads fall to the floor...
      30 long seconds for him to wonder what life will be like without scrotum....
      Then...
      BANG!!!
      Rapist has third eye centered above the other two...
      Dial 911
      I yell...
      "STOP OR I'LL SHOOT!!!"
      Then BANG!!!
      I hang up the phone so the dispatcher doesn't have to hear the second two shots.
      No comments. Post one | Permalink

       
    • by Arisztid in a COAT of Rromani awareness on August 22nd, 2009
      Arisztid in a COAT of Rromani awareness
      First, I would come up behind him and remove the gun. I can move very quietly and know how to disarm and knock out an attacker. Then I would start.

      He would be begging to die by the time I was done with him. I wonder exactly how much of his own gun would fit up his arse. I think I could get quite a bit up there.

      I always keep a roll of duct tape on hand which would take care of that noisy screaming problem. The duct tape would be handy for immobilization uses because I would check my daughter first and take care of her before I started on the rapist.

      His body would not be found. I know about American "justice" and I know he would get off with nowhere near what he deserved.

      911 would not be involved and his body would be deposited in bits over a multi state area.
      No comments. Post one | Permalink

       
    • byGreekgodon July 17th, 2009
      Greekgod
      bang your dead
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • by sprky777on July 17th, 2009
      sprky777
      I could imagine I would take that gun from him so fast and beat him with it. he would be begging me to shoot him with his own gun.
      but I can reason that it would be better to shoot him with mine first for legal reasons.
      Now consider this. Your daughter is being raped, then she has a man killed right over her. would she be comforted by that result? Either way you have some work to do now to keep her mind straight.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • bySunshine in a COAT of Sunshineon July 17th, 2009
      Sunshine in a COAT of Sunshine
      Try to kill them and then call the Police....Wow what a question! +5
      Makes ya think.....But it is your child!
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byScrappyon July 17th, 2009
      Scrappy
      C. Why take a chance on him killing her while waiting on police. I would then plead insanity.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byThe Chiefon August 31st, 2009
      The Chief
      You describe a circumstance, but the devil is in the details. EXACTLY what I would do depends entirely on those details.

      I was once DR'd in a similar question for stating this, but it IS true.

      I cannot say for sure that I would shoot the guy. Because the details of the encounter may prevent that.

      I cannot say that I would call 911 right away, because the details may also preclude that as well.

      One thing I CAN say is this:

      Given an opening, I WOULD use deadly force.

      Paraphrasing the definition the darkvox gave in his answer (obviously military in origin, as it's the one I learned many years ago), deadly force it that which maims or kills. (The Weapons Officer at my first command smiled at me when I gave him that definition and made me look up the official one and memorize it!)

      The applicable circumstance which 'authorizes' the use of deadly force in this situation is the threat of serious bodily injury or death of my daughter.

      Now, given the choice, this is what I would LIKE to happen:

      1. Call 911 FIRST. Backup is essential. And if this guy gets away, he's a danger to others as well. Calling for help lets others know what's wrong in case the situation goes even further wrong. Otherwise, I risk total failure should I be killed. Then my daughter has absolutely NO hope. And I will put the phone down after the original information is passed, maintaining the connection so the police can hear and be kept informed as they approach.

      2. If I can take him down without him seeing me or knowing I'm there, and have a reasonable chance of doing so without him harming my daughter, I will. "Take down" means with all the force I have available to me in as deadly a fashion as I can. I will NOT be shooting at his knees or gun hand as a method of taking him down.

      3. If I cannot take him down without being seen, then I will have to put myself in the best mindset I can. Because I'm a damn good shot and if I can take a squirrel in the head with my pistol, then I can take this guy without hitting my girl. He can't hide behind her completely.

      4. This may sound strange. But I will risk a non-life threatening injury to my daughter by me in order to stop a certain death to her by him.

      I once had this discussion about the use of deadly force with my wife, many years ago. She does not agree with me and thinks I should shoot the bad guy in the knee or something. I do not, and CANNOT agree with her.

      If the circumstances arise where I am considering the use of deadly force, it's because I truely believe SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE IF I DON'T! That said, it's him or me: once I pull a weapon under these circumstances, it will be with the full intent and purpose of taking his life as the ultimate solution. I cannot afford any half measures on this, and if I'm not willing to do this...I might as well never pull my weapon out.

      Other options which don't include guns are also available. And I'll use them if required.
      6 comments | Post one | Permalink

    • by Anonymouson July 17th, 2009
      Click, click, boom, he's dead.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byguitar_player_92on July 17th, 2009
      guitar_player_92
      well if had agun to her head and threatened to kill her if i came any where near her. I would not call the cops. I would hand him over that easily. Because if i ever caught him.
      No comments. Post one | Permalink


    • by-Icy-on July 17th, 2009
      -Icy-
      i would kill them first but then i have a license to do this.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byShemarq feels like changing it upon July 17th, 2009
      Shemarq feels like changing it up
      He'd be dead. Period.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • bydarkvoxon August 8th, 2009
      darkvox
      Deadly Force is the force in which a person uses for the purpose of causing, or that a person knows, or should know, would create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily harm. The use of Deadly Force is justified only under conditions of extreme necessity as a last resort, when all lesser means have failed or cannot reasonably be employed.

      Check Self defense or the defense of others.
      Nope Defense of assets involving national security.
      Check Defense of assets not involving national security, but inherently dangerous to others.
      Check Protection of public health or safety.
      Check Prevention of serious offenses against persons.

      My check list says he is one dead guy.       What would have stopped him from killing her if you came home later? He could be holding one of your guns.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byAnonymouson August 31st, 2009
      Kill them dead....
      No comments.Post one | Permalink


    • byBrianon August 31st, 2009
      Brian
      C.
      A and/or B would give the rapist a chance to kill her
      No comments.Post one | Permalink

       
    • byJadeon August 31st, 2009
      Jade
      Assuming that his gun will not discharge due to the impact:
      I would quietly call 911 and immediately shoot him, then tell the 911 operator where the coroner can pick up his body. Of course, my youngest daughter is a 4th degree black belt (trained in many styles of martial arts and weaponry) so the guy would probably already be in small pieces or begging someone to please arrest him when I got there.
      No comments.Post one | Permalink


    • byAnonymouson August 22nd, 2009
      Anonymous
      i would grab him by the hair with my gun to his head
      tell my daughter to get out of the room and booom
      ps if i had a daughter
     [Click *here* to see the rest of the answers.]
    *          *          *
I offer proof above and below that it is nonfeminist HET FATHERS who want het guys dead, for fucking and/or raping females, not radical feminists. And it's het fathers who routinely, regularly, threaten to kill guys for fucking girls, not radical feminists. And it's het fathers who worry, A LOT, about their daughters getting raped by boys, not radical feminists. And it's het fathers who regularly say "I know how I was at that age!" meaning, he wasn't respectful of girls' boundaries and feelings in obtaining sex. Meaning, the line between sex and rape was so slim, that he'd want to KILL any boy who does to a girl what HE once did to girls.


Now, why is it that those P.R.I.C.K.s who are always quoting a dozen sentences from radical feminists as "irrefutable evidence" that some women HATE men, including and especially Valerie Solanas, who, I'd argue, was not a radical feminist... why is it that they DON'T quote regular ol' antifeminist-misogynistic HET FATHERS--THE ONES WHO WANT ALL THOSE RIGHTS--who want to KILL het men??? 

DO FATHERS' RIGHTS GROUPS SUPPORT FATHERS' RIGHTS TO BEAR ARMS AND USE THEM TO KILL GUYS WHO FUCK THEIR 14 AND 15 YEAR-OLD DAUGHTERS? Why not? If "the issue" is fathers having rights, and fathers being allowed to "protect" their daughters from harm, and if they view guys having sex with girls as not okay, what's the problem with letting het father's blast the brains out of those boys? Isn't this an issue for the National Rifle Association and Father's Rights groups???

There are WAY more of them than there are radical feminists, and those het men have a lot more access to guns and know how to use 'em, than do radical feminists, as a group. So who is the danger, the threat, to the lives of het men? Radical feminists? No. Het men? Yup. Read on... if you care to read the truth. Some of it is grotesquely, if unremarkably misogynistic, referring to girls as sl*ts and wh*res, but never referring to boys and guys that way. Surprised? ... Me neither.



Postby Scott123 on Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:18 pm 
         Reako wrote:
AgoniesCreep wrote:Obviously there needs to be some form of protection from the "to catch a predator" freeks who surf the web looking for virgins to deflower but, we really take it too far sometimes. The only chics that are still virgins at 17 are the ones who are so ugly that they couldn't get laid in a kennel or a prison. There's alot of girls who've been with 5 guys or more by the time they're 15 & I don't think we should throw a guy in prison over a chic who'll be screwing someone else two days after he's gone. An awfull lot of the blame is the parents fault for not keeping a better eye on the little slut anyway.
I chased high school girls till I was 26 & only stopped after a close call with parents who were living in total denial over what a slut their little girl (16) was. My own 13 year old daughter scares me to death cuz she's a mirror image of myself so I keep a very close eye on her but, I'm not stupid enough to think she'll be wearing white on her wedding day. We talk alot & I've told her not to be a whore about it & make sure she gets on B.C. before she does anything stupid. I or her mom moniter all of her computer activity & I suspect that she'd already have lost it if not for dad's watchfull eye.  
America was founded by puritans & we are way more anal about sex then they are in europe because of it. I didn't lose my virginity till I was 17 & I hated it & totally felt like a freek because I wasn't slick enough to get the ball rolling sooner. I probely would have done better in school if I wasn't obsessing over sex as a 14 year old & up. I was so sad, very much like the guys in "American Pie". As a father I'd totally high five my 14 year old son if he was nailing a hot teacher.[/quote]

Not for nothing but chasing high school girls at 26 is creepy and sad. When I was in high school there was this 23 year old creep chasing after my GF. She was 15 I was 17. I caught that creepy pedo and beat his ass.
What if a hot teacher was was nailing your 14 year old daughter...would you high five him?

Reako-Seriously dating a 15 year old at age 17? No offence man but couldn't you find any girls your own age? If my daughter (when she's 15) brings home a 17 year old....Someones gonna get there ass kicked!
Scott123
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Postby Reako on Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:21 pm
Scott123 wrote:
What if a hot teacher was was nailing your 14 year old daughter...would you high five him?

Reako-Seriously dating a 15 year old at age 17? No offence man but couldn't you find any girls your own age? If my daughter (when she's 15) brings home a 17 year old....Someones gonna get there ass kicked!
Think you need to go back and re-read the post Scott. I did not say I would high 5 my son though your edit of it almost makes it look like I did.

And yes OMG, 2 high school kids dating is so out of wack!!!!!.
Reako
Posts: 1443
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Postby Scott123 on Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:31 pm
Reako wrote:
Scott123 wrote:
What if a hot teacher was was nailing your 14 year old daughter...would you high five him?

Reako-Seriously dating a 15 year old at age 17? No offence man but couldn't you find any girls your own age? If my daughter (when she's 15) brings home a 17 year old....Someones gonna get there ass kicked!
Think you need to go back and re-read the post Scott. I did not say I would high 5 my son though your edit of it almost makes it look like I did.

And yes OMG, 2 high school kids dating is so out of wack!!!!!.
The high five comment was meant for the original poster...The 17 year old dating a 15 year old was meant for you. I think it's a lil lame...just my two cents.

I'm sure you crushed tons of ass.

Oh yeah-I didn't edit anything...I Highlited.
Scott123
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Postby AgoniesCreep on Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:10 pm
Reako wrote:
AgoniesCreep wrote:Obviously there needs to be some form of protection from the "to catch a predator" freeks who surf the web looking for virgins to deflower but, we really take it too far sometimes. The only chics that are still virgins at 17 are the ones who are so ugly that they couldn't get laid in a kennel or a prison. There's alot of girls who've been with 5 guys or more by the time they're 15 & I don't think we should throw a guy in prison over a chic who'll be screwing someone else two days after he's gone. An awfull lot of the blame is the parents fault for not keeping a better eye on the little slut anyway. 
I chased high school girls till I was 26 & only stopped after a close call with parents who were living in total denial over what a slut their little girl (16) was. My own 13 year old daughter scares me to death cuz she's a mirror image of myself so I keep a very close eye on her but, I'm not stupid enough to think she'll be wearing white on her wedding day. We talk alot & I've told her not to be a whore about it & make sure she gets on B.C. before she does anything stupid. I or her mom moniter all of her computer activity & I suspect that she'd already have lost it if not for dad's watchfull eye.  
America was founded by puritans & we are way more anal about sex then they are in europe because of it. I didn't lose my virginity till I was 17 & I hated it & totally felt like a freek because I wasn't slick enough to get the ball rolling sooner. I probely would have done better in school if I wasn't obsessing over sex as a 14 year old & up. I was so sad, very much like the guys in "American Pie". As a father I'd totally high five my 14 year old son if he was nailing a hot teacher.
Not for nothing but chasing high school girls at 26 is creepy and sad. When I was in high school there was this 23 year old creep chasing after my GF. She was 15 I was 17. I caught that creepy pedo and beat his ass.
Looking back on it, I agree. However, you show me a 26 year old who dosen't think high school girls are sexy & I'll show you a homosexual. I should have known better but, I met her through a 28 year old buddy who was nailing her so it's not like I tricked a sweet little virgin & deflowered her.
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Postby CopperHeart on Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:12 pm
With that said, a 17-year old boy dating a 15-year old girl (as terrifying as that is to me as a parent) is actually within the realm of "normal".
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Postby Reako on Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:21 pm
CopperHeart wrote:With that said, a 17-year old boy dating a 15-year old girl (as terrifying as that is to me as a parent) is actually within the realm of "normal".
When you consider I was a junior who just terned 17 recently and she was a sophmore soon to be 16 yeah. I think we were like a year and 3 months apart. Hard to remember ALL the details as that was literally 20 years ago. As a father (which I am not) I would be mortified that my teenage daughter were dating anyone no matter their age laugh.
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Postby Reako on Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:24 pm
AgoniesCreep wrote:
Looking back on it, I agree. However, you show me a 26 year old who dosen't think high school girls are sexy & I'll show you a homosexual. I should have known better but, I met her through a 28 year old buddy who was nailing her so it's not like I tricked a sweet little virgin & deflowered her.
Oh Im sure she wasnt. Its still a bit creepy. Its one thing to look at a 16, 17 year old girl and see an attractive female its another to actually do something *shrug*.

I cant say much maybe, my current GF is 11 years younger then I am (Im 37, shes 26) She teases me all the time when I talk about jobs, events whatever I did in the 90s she always tells me her age at that time.
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Postby BringUFCtoDetroit on Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:25 pm
Reako wrote:
CopperHeart wrote:With that said, a 17-year old boy dating a 15-year old girl (as terrifying as that is to me as a parent) is actually within the realm of "normal".
When you consider I was a junior who just terned 17 recently and she was a sophmore soon to be 16 yeah. I think we were like a year and 3 months apart. Hard to remember ALL the details as that was literally 20 years ago. As a father (which I am not) I would be mortified that my teenage daughter were dating anyone no matter their age laugh.
I did the same thing. I was 17 and the girl was fifteen but there was only a year and some months between us. Not a big deal. Until I got her pregnant. My daughter is 8 now, but I would be psychotic if my daughter brings home a 17 year old boyfriend when she is fifteen. Not because of the age but because I know what I did and there is only one thing a 17 year old boys thinks about.

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*          *          *

Now I ask you: do fathers maintain the right to kill boys--or men--who date their daughters? And do they exercise the right to kill whoever they want, including their wives? And do they exercise their right to fuck whoever they want, including their daughters? Yup, they do. And did Valerie Solanas kill anyone? Nope. And did Andrea Dworkin, Robin Morgan, Germaine Greer, and Catharine MacKinnon, and other white radical feminists kill anyone at all or argue for the right to maintain their ability to? Nope. So WHAT THE FUCK do you think the explanation is for MEN quoting FEMINISTS who don't respect men's power to fuck and fuck over girls and women? And NOT quoting each other for doing THE SAME THING. Well, not exactly the same thing. For one thing, radical feminists don't have the power to do harm that fathers do. And for another, the HET FATHERS and OTHER ANTIFEMINIST MEN think MEN DO IT NATURALLY AND INEVITABLY. Radical feminists don't. So why don't these stoopid het male P.R.I.C.K.'s go after EACH OTHER on their blogs and message boards? I'll tell you why. Because they're dick-whipped and cower before each other in fear. They don't have THE FUCKING BALLS to call each other out on what THEY do, not what radical feminists (don't) do.
Posted by at 6 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

One Piece of a White Patriarchal Puzzle: We are what we read

 
[illustration of Tolkien's Ring image and quote below are from here]
"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."

This prophetic utterance comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of The Rings.
From this site, we have a list--many lists, of people's top five books. I don't know where these folks live. Only what they read. I will ask you to scan the lists and note: how many are books by men, by women, by whites, by people of color? How many are by white het men? Which "demographic" is most represented? Which demographic is the least represented. And "LOTR" is Lord of the Rings, written by a white het guy.

In my scan, the most, by far is U.S. and Euro white het men. The least is Indigenous women and other women of color. White women are far behind white men too. But men of color don't fair much better. And gay men?A few: James Baldwin, Evelyn Waugh, E.M. Forster. A very few white lesbian writers made one person's list. And there's the person who lists "The Bible" five times. Which bible? Oh, the one used by white het men to maintain white het male supremacy?? THAT bible? And wouldn't listing it once suffice? I guess not. Apparently Jesus wants to be mentioned five times in one list: NOT. Both Lolita and a work by de Sade is mentioned, and a few of the lists are reported as offensive and have been deleted. One can only wonder...

So, here's the list. And I'm putting pieces of a puzzle together here, and other posts are other pieces, including the next post, especially. If you note something about this list, please offer a comment. And something beyond "Well of course most white people will mention white/English-speaking writers!" Because I suspect the lists of white het men show up in societies that aren't white, also. And that men outrank women, on just about every list everywhere. We can note that it appears to be women who lost only women writers. Why is that?


Your Top 5: Books
Sír Díck Hannay
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:44
Here is a chance for the cerebrally elite to shine by showing others just how tasteful they are with their literature. My top 5 is (in no specific order);

1) The Mortdecai Triligy - Kyril Bonfiglioli
2) The Complete Richard Hannay - John Buchan
3) The Leithen Stories - John Buchan
4) Bad Luck & Trouble - Lee Child
5) For Your Eyes Only - Ian Fleming (5 Bond short stories)
Sír Díck Hannay
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:47
Report as offensive
trilOgy, obv.
Franklin
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:47
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Mainly Proust dabble in Kundera.
Selwyn Froggitt
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:48
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The Hungry Caterpillar
SizzlerCheeseToasts
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:48
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Heh. My top five (fiction and non-fiction) for now in no particular order:

1) If on a Winter's Night a Traveller... (Italo Calvino)
2) A River Runs Through It and other stories (Norman Maclean)
3) Dispatches (Michael Herr)
4) Persuasion (Jane Austen)
5) I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
Sartorialist
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:54
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Harry Potter: 1
Harry Potter: 2
Harry Potter: 3
Harry Potter: 4

runners up

Harry Potter: 5
Harry Potter: 6
Harry Potter: 7
Gates of Morpheus
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:55
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several rofers are currently deciding which harry potter books they'd live without if they absolutely had to
Gates of Morpheus
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:55
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heh

*high fives sarters*
Sartorialist
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:57
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Heh, couldn't resist.

They do not, I should point out, make my top 5.

I don't feel I've have read enough to have a top 5.
SizzlerCheeseToasts
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:59
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"several rofers are currently deciding which harry potter books they'd live without if they absolutely had to"

HPs 2 and 5 of course.
St John
Posted - 08 March 2010 12:59
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The Talented Mr Ripley
Naked Lunch
The Compleet Molesworth
The Atrocity Exhibition
Gulliver's Travels

If I could only have one it would be the Molesworth.
Merckx
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:01
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catch-22, joseph heller
catcher in the rye, jd salinger
the rider, tim krabbe
the stand, stephen king

still thinking about no 5
Sír Díck Hannay
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:02
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Oh yes, The Stand, hmm, wish it was a top 6 now...

How do you like that happy crappy?
Cernunnous
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:03
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1) The Female Eunoch - Germaine Greer
2) The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
3) The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
4) Intercourse - Andrea Rita Dworkin
5) The Big Book of Breasts
SizzlerCheeseToasts
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:05
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Oooh, the Handmaid's Tale is a good one.
Franklin
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:07
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Scoop - Waugh
Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky
Homage to Catalonia - Orwell
Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Most Chandler books.
Weally Been
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:10
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thought that catch 22 was quite overrated really

most of mine would be russian but hemingway and something french might get in
Cyprian
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:19
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1. The Hardy Boys: The Shore Road Mystery
2. The Hardy Boys: The Clue of the Broken Blade
3. The Hardy Boys: The Flickering Torch Mystery
4. The Hardy Boys: The Sign of the Crooked Arrow
5. The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk


Lord Halifax
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:21
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Prayer for Owen Meaney
Handful of Dust
Unbearable Lightness of Being
Yeats: complete poems
Updike: Rabbit Books
lightfantastic
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:22
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Franklin- Good choices.


Mine:

Love in the Time of Cholera (and also 'one hundred years of solitude)- Gabriel García Márquez
The Sun Also Rises- Hemmingway
Giovanni's Room- James Baldwin
Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe
Paradise Lost- Milton
minkie
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:28
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1. Mme Bovary - Flaubert
2. Portnoy's Complaint - Roth
3. A man in Full - Wolfe
4. Accordion Crimes - Proulx
5. Jude the Obscure - Hardy
Merckx
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:33
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updated

catch-22, joseph heller
catcher in the rye, jd salinger
the rider, tim krabbe
the stand, stephen king
the leopard, giuseppe tomasi di lampedusa

apols for spelling of the last author, can't be arsed to google it

faod the main selection criterion is that i must have read the book at least 5 times
minkie
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:34
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Oo yes The Lepoard! Did you ever see the film as well?
Merckx
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:36
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naah. i never see the films of books i really like.
Wangobangobongo
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:36
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1 - LOTR
2 - It, Stephen King
3 - Without Remorse, Tom Clancy
4 - Die Trying, Lee Child
5 - The complete discworld series, Terry Pratchett
minkie
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:38
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I know what you mean but you really should - is by Visconti. Ravishingly beautiful with Burt Lancaster & Claudia Cardinale
struandirk
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:39
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Which Tom Clancy is Without Remorse? Is it one of the Jack Ryan novels? I thought I'd read all of them?
mighty celt
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:40
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These come to mind, so they are probably my faves:

L'etranger - Camus
One hundred years of solitude - Marques
Don Quixote - Cervantes
All quiet on the western front - Remarque
Catch 22 - Heller
Wangobangobongo
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:40
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Sort of - it's the flash back to how John Kelly becomes John Clark
struandirk
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:47
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Ah. I remember now. I read it when I was about 12, and I was ready to kill those drug smugglers myself by the end of it.

I really liked Debt of Honour/Executive Orders/Red October though (especially when I was still young enough not to realize that it was thinly veiled Republican propaganda)
Franklin
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:47
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I really hated Catch-22, which dissapointed me. Made me feel dim, as if I'd missed the point.

Jane Austen has a special circle of hell reserved for her.

A Month in the Country and the Go Between are quite nice in a hot British summer kinda way.

I'm surprised all you folks read modern books, I always find I've got more classics I fancy.
Wangobangobongo
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:51
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"especially when I was still young enough not to realize that it was thinly veiled Republican propaganda"

You say that, but I thought he had some pretty sensible ideas:

- solution to the israeli/palestinian conflicts over jerusalem (triumverate of an imam/rabbit/patriarch of constantinople ruling, backed up by swiss guard)

- sending real people into the senate rather than career politicians

- simplifying the tax system etc

I do wonder if he inadvertantly gave Al-Q the idea for 9-11 though...
etruscan
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:51
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Oswald Chambers asked me to relay his list:

1. THE BIBLE
2. THE BIBLE
3. THE BIBLE
4. THE BIBLE
5. THE BIBLE
Showgers
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:53
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1. Any Human Heart, William Boyd
2. The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller
3. Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

having trouble with spots 4 and 5, will revert
Scarlatti
Posted - 08 March 2010 13:55
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1. England, England - Julian Barnes
2. The Magus - John Fowles
3. Flashman at the Charge - George MacDonald Fraser
4. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
5. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood

(and prob some more, too)
♥Lula Fortune♥
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:01
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1. The Power of One and Tandia by Bryce Courtenay (Tandia is the sequal)
2. Any Human Heart by William Boyd
3. Chocky by John Wyndham
4. The L-Shaped Room trilogy by Lynn Reid Banks
5. Edward Trencom's Nose: A Novel of History, Dark Intrigue and by Giles Milton
Chad Michael Murray
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:02
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great Fowles shout

top of the head

- Margaret Drabble, the Ice Age
- HG Wells, the History of Mr Polly
- Joseph Heller, Something Happened
- Don de Lillo, White Noise
- John Kennedy Toole, a Confederacy of Dunces
SizzlerCheeseToasts
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:02
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"Jane Austen has a special circle of hell reserved for her."

How come?

"L'Etranger - Camus": there's this great line in it, after the incident on the beach when the guys says something along the lines of "it was like knocking 4 times on the door of unhappiness", but erm, more eloquently than that.

Discworld: They're so samey though Wang. The best was "Guards ! Guards!" and he could have really developed those charcters but every subsequent Watch novel was all about Vimes being drunk and depressed. And there were ones that you just couldn't get through like the Hogfather.
Wangobangobongo
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:04
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the fact that you don't like some of them doesnt't really affect whether or not i do, sorry
Jetlagger
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:07
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1. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
2. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
3. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
4. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
5. The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie
SizzlerCheeseToasts
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:09
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I was engaging in a discussion (obviously with myself) not trying to change your opinion...
DawnHandbags
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:10
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Struggling to list just 5.

1. The French Lieutenant’s Woman - John Fowles
2. The Lord of the Flies - William Golding
3. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
4. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
5. Philip Pullman's - His Dark Materials Trilogy

6. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
7. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
8. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
9. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
10. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Weally Been
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:12
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Lots of shouts for Catch 22, but nothing for Crime & Punishment or Moby Dick??
Franklin
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:13
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"Jane Austen has a special circle of hell reserved for her."

How come?

Because all her books (I've read/attempted) are dull and clunky.

Someone above has reminded me how good Wyndham is.

Day of the Triffids is topclass.
Wangobangobongo
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:13
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I also didn't find catch 22 very funny.

My number 6 would be The Count of Monte Cristo
Cernunnous
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:15
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I found - and still find - Catch 22 very funny, but where I used to think Yossarian was an absolute hero, I now think he's just a bit of a prick.
Cernunnous
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:17
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1. Lolita - Nabokov
2. Pale Fire - Nabokov again
3. The Code Of The Woosters - Wodehouse
4. Swing Hammer Swing! - Torrington
5. New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

Probably. For now.
struandirk
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:22
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I didn't see the appeal of Catch 22 either.

As for Tom Clancy, I agree he had some very interesting ideas, particularly the Palestine stuff (and Ryan's idea in an earlier book - Debt of Honour I think about how to reopen the crashed financial markets after they were hacked - I won't give the spoiler away).

The rest of it - a flat tax instead of progressive taxation, real people in the Senate (because there were no career pols available) etc - is just so beyond the realms of practicality though..
Mr Ronald Coase
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:27
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What are the rules here please, you are all making lists of fiction, does it have to be fiction?

My top 5 books are

To the Finland Station Edmund Wilson
The Classical World Robin Lane Fox
The Pursuit of Love / Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford
The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis
Voyage to the End of the Room Tibor Fischer
Weally Been
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:31
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My daily working life is Catch 22 esque - crikey that sounds twatish! - but all I mean is that it feels like they're always adding in more missions whenever I get near where I want to be... The only hilarious bit was when he marched around the square holding his gun upside down!

No Dickens on the list either - Great Expectations or better still Tale of Two Cities ... surely worth a shout
Cernunnous
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:37
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Really enjoyed Hard Times, actually. The Dickens novel, not the ghey pron mag.

I also enjoyed Pride And Prejudice, though I failed to see the point in reading any other Jane Austen books after that...
Scylla 3.0
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:50
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Count of Monte Christo
LOTR
The River God
Interview with a Vampire
All quiet on the Western Front
Scylla 3.0
Posted - 08 March 2010 14:52
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*oh and Dangerous Liasions comes a very close 6
loo read
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:04
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1. Lolita
2. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
3. Herzog by Saul Bellow
4. The Zuckerman books by Philip Roth
5. The Rabbit books by Updike

plus

Rushdie
Burgess
gloria mundi
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:10
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"Master and Margarita" M. Bulgakov
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" G.G. Marquez
"Eugene Onegin" A. Pushkin
"Catch-22" J. Heller
"12 Chairs" I. Ilf and E. Petrov
west
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:46
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good call on IT and the stand.

anyone read shantaram?
mighty celt
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:53
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SCT. yes it was something like
"it was like tapping four quick times on the door of unhappiness"
wonderful stuff.

I loved Catch 22, but found Something Happened unbelievably tedious. An editor should have stepped in, saved Heller the embarrassment and us the pain.
Mr Ronald Coase
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:56
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oh yes I forgot Saul Bellow. Ravelstein.
Fat and Bones
Posted - 08 March 2010 15:56
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Lord Halifax Posted - 08 March 2010 13:21 Report as offensive

Prayer for Owen Meaney

top man
Scylla 3.0
Posted - 08 March 2010 16:21
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Shantaram = unmitigated pile of self indulgent wank.

If I hadn't been stuck in the middle of Africa with no electricity at the time I would have thrown it on the campfire as that would have enlightened me more.
Danny
Posted - 08 March 2010 16:33
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Roth (Joseph) - The Radetzky March
Jerome - 3 Men in a Boat
DeLillo - Underworld
Mann - Magic Mountain
Turgenev - Fathers and Sons



aceacebaby
Posted - 08 March 2010 16:34
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Genuine books i have enjoyed in my life:

1) How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis by Karen Salmansohn
2)Women and from Venus, Men are from Hell by Amanda Newman
3)Babies and other hazards of Sex by Dave Barry
4) Outwitting Fish: An Angler's Guide to Proving That the Smarter Creature Is on the Dry End of the Line by Bill Adler
5)Are Women Human?: And Other International Dialogues by Catharine A. MacKinnon

all have stretched my mind beyond belief....

Olaf Plori
Posted - 08 March 2010 17:06
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1. YOUR MONEY or YOUR LIFE by Dominguez and Robin (every lawyer should read it)

2. Serotic's The Only Way to Win At Lotto

3. Winnie the Pooh & The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne

4. Molesworth by Willans & Searle (the Complete)

5. Animal Farm by George Orwell (and "1984" natch)
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:17
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There used to be four things I kept re-reading-----Buchan’s Richard Hannay; Sherlock Holmes; AChristmas Carol; Highsmith’s Tom Ripley quintet

time has taken its toll though, in so much as Hannay and Holmes are now a bit stale after all these years, but its taken a very long time



So....the TOM RIPLEY five are the winners for me [I re-read every c. 4 yrs say]
DeadPartnerWalking
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:20
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no Wodehouse?
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:20
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of course every yr in late November I read again about wonderful old Ebenezer’s education at hands of dear old 7-yrs-dead Marley

a deeply life-enhancing read. every time. without fail
Zenpope
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:21
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If frequency of rereading is the criterion, then it would be the Adrian Mole books for me. They're like comfort food for me.
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:21
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Wodehouse I read all of at school, but it didn't capture me

prob because my old man loved all of it
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:23
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altho I watched Roderick Spode on Question Time at end of last yr

[thankfully sans his Black Shorts
!!
chimp_
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:25
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Eugene Onegin is a masterpiece; Tom Clancy should be fired into the heart of the Sun
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:30
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lots of interesting stuff for me to follow up on on this thread]

a couple ofbooks I came across again in house just recently after about 20 yrs

one- God’s Fifth Column, by William Gerhardie

and

two- The Private Papers of Henry Rycroft by George Gissing


they’d been niggling away in back of my mind since first read, so that must mean something too

oh. and nearly all Graham green of course ---wonderfully insightful entertainments all
Torchy
Posted - 08 March 2010 18:35
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a book every young person should read,in pursuit of getting an outrageous handle on what is possible, is MyLife & Loves, by Frank Harris [real life-affirming stuff, full of uber daring vitality and lies, but delicious lies! ---and it may all be true anyway....! who knows

and a book first published in 19sixties by ex-RAF chap called WMV Fowler, called Countryman’s Cooking ...it was republished a yr or two ago and Amazon had it

=fantastic fun
everyone seems to love it who tries it

[again, full of ego and vitality and the like
shinyhappyperson
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:14
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1. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
2. The Complete Richard Hannay
3. The Three Musketeers
4. The Prisoner of Zenda
5. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

And yes, I like my swash buckled. Flatland is an extraordinary book though.
Bentines
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:18
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1) beano annual 1977
2) beano annual 1978
3) beano annual 1979
4) beano annual 1981
5) homage to catalonia
lonesome cowboy bill
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:25
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Proust – Remembrance of things past
Celine – Journey to the end of the night
Camus – The Fall
Buroughs (lonesome cowboy bill) – Naked Lunch
Dostoyevsky – Crime & Punishment
DeadPartnerWalking
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:47
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random 5 in no particular order:
1. The Misfortunes of Virtue - Sade
2. Middlemarch - Eliot
3. Kim - Kipling
4. Anything - George MacDonald Fraser
5. The Wild Ass's Skin - Balzac

oh and Nana - Zola, Graham Greene, Le Carre, ........etc.
DeadPartnerWalking
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:49
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Read From Russia with Love (Ian Fleming) recently - good read but not a great book, superb period piece - the original brand tart and superb (and completely without irony) "sexism"
silence
Posted - 08 March 2010 21:51
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(1) Sentimental Education, Flaubert
(2) A Rebours, Huysmans
(3) Theft Act 1968, Parliament
(4) The Riverside Chaucer
(5) The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde
Rusty Shackleford
Posted - 08 March 2010 23:13
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One hundred years of solitude - Marquez
2666 - Boleno
The Testament of Gideon Mack - Robertson
Hard Boild Wonderland & The Edge of the World - Murikami
Midnights Children - Rushdie
Leetle Cat
Posted - 09 March 2010 00:52
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This thread has made me want to revisit some old favourites. Catcher in the Rye- yes, Catch-22 -also agreed, Onegin- definitely.

WHY do people rate Love In the Time of Cholera? 100 Years Of Solitude, maybe, but I wouldn't put that in any top 5.

I would definitely put Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke in my top 5.

And de Saint Exupery's Flight to Arras deserves a mention. As does Maupassant.

Never Let Me Go and The Alchemist got me though a horrid hospital stay once. Wouldn't re read them but they have a special place on my bookshelf.

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