Yeah to McKay's in Chattanooga. They are also in Knoxville, Nashville and two places in North Carolina.

Only read Mitchell’s first 4 books (Ghost, #9, Black Swan & Cloud) and Ghostwritten was by far my favorite as well! Cloud Atlas gets all the buzz, with the movie tie-in too (didn’t see it), but he really nailed with his first novel. About to start Bone Clocks too

When I was charitably giving The Great Gatsby another chance I got up from the chair in the middle of one or another conversation in it to go do something more gratifying and when I did my knee hurt a terrific lot. And I began to feel a migraine whilst re-reading Vanity Fair. That's a seriously weird concidence, given that all the characters in the novel have heads.

Gunnar's Daughter, another book by Sigrid Undset. It really resonated with me the first time and it still does. I feel the main character's emotions every reread.

I've read books that were so emotionally devastating that I refused to ever reread them again.

I have a profile at Bookcrossing that I have used to track my reading since 2004. I list my books by the year. I wouldn't possibly remember all I've read otherwise! My only regret is not starting my list sooner in life.

It took me years to read Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table. I knew I’d love it; he’s my favorite author. I knew that once I’d finished it, there wouldn’t be this treasure of an unread Ondaatje book out there.

When they meet up in the Grove was always big for me

Yes they absolutely count! I definitely remember that book.

I think I'll edit the post so people are aware 🥰

I'm absolutely befuddled as to why no one will say what the title of the book in question is (it's The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner btw).

The older stuff I recommend the lieders by alma Mahler. Female composers suppressed by time, truly exceptional.

Please post 'Should I read X book''What do I need to know before I read X' questions, in our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

1Q84 is the bizarrest love story I’ve ever read

Reading is great, but experiencing is even more impactful. You can read about racism, for example, but when you actually meet Black people, spend time with them, talk and eat with them, worship with them, listen to them, it has a bigger and longer lasting effect. It's like learning languages, you can Rosetta Stone all day, but get on a plane and actually go to the country and immerse yourself. Then you'll get it, often even without it being explained.

It’s definitely wild. It’s magical realism so to us many things that happen are strange, but in-world it’s just part of life. You never know what the rain may bring.

It’s among my favorites, I think I’ve read the first nine. Norwegian Wood is my favorite so far, that one does not have the bonkers world to contend with. Elegiac would be the word to describe that one.

I agree

Do books read many years ago when I was an angsty teen count? If so then " The Summer of My German Soldier " is right up there for me.

It must be nearly twenty years since I read it, yet little details have stuck in my head.. guess that's a positive thing, but I do remember it being a little bonkers

Yeah I linked the wrong link. It's updated now to include the books that are ~higher level also. There are a few what would be considered classics on there like Brave New World and The Bluest Eye.

I'd definitely recommend SPQR as a starting point then, it really helped me put the pieces together later when references to Roman history came up in what I was reading, and there's a lot about the politics in it.

Religion as you mentioned above, a lot of writers in the Western canon are coming from Christian traditions, from Chaucer's corrupt and model religious officials in The Canterbury Tales, to vice, virtue and hypocrisy in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, to Dickens' redemption of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, to Trollope's examination of different approaches to Christianity in The Barchester Chronicles and also some of the Palliser series (which is more about the contemporary political structure. Trollope himself had tried to become a MP). Honestly, if you read just Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey, which is pretty short, think about how Agnes relates to contemporary ideas of Christian virtue (Anne especially is interested in these ideas, her sisters less so but it's still an aspect, they were the daughters of a clergyman) and about women's role, I'd guarantee you'd learn more than Peterson will ever teach you about how women actually lived (if reading fiction, don't forget to notice lower class women, who may not always feature prominently. Men too).

Life of Pi is a contemporary novel that's significantly about faith and its importance to people, and very quick to read - it can also be interpreted in terms of Jungian archetypes. Jungian models are much better for analysing literature than real people, though. I'm going to see the play streamed to cinema next month, and there's also a movie adaptation.

The plot is definitely bonkers. While I do intend to finish Kafka on the Share, I just wanted to know whether I was dumb or the plot was simply that complex. Especially because it’s my first book of this genre and the language used is definitely having me take more time than usual.

I’ll definitely add that to my TBR.

? I don’t like Peterson or his conclusions. But I agree that the questions he is asking are important. I think that’s giving him more credit than you’re going to find from most in this thread.

Also, throwing my intelligence out there ?? OP asked for advice on writers who approach similiar themes as peterson etc. I gave him one and the reasons why. That should be the point of this thread.

Oh, shit...yeah...lol...I got it. Like I said, I try not to think about it, pretty much blocked it out, lol.

And Colonel Sanders apparently