Book recommendations for a trip

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redbetta

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I will be leaving for a three week trip to Poland to visit family this Wednesday and Mom suggested that I take three books to read during downtime. So, background: I’m an 18 year-old girl. I don’t normally read for pleasure, but, that has been what I’ve been doing since graduation as I can’t have a summer job. I like the biological sciences; don’t recommend the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as I already read it. But, something along those lines woul be great. I would like to read more history. I’ve gotten a lot of American history in school and would like more classical history and European history, particularly Polish since that is my ethnicity. I’ll be in Italy, so, Italian history would work. Young Adult fiction is pretty hit or miss with me; I prefer classic novels, but not American novels. I also would like to read theological/philosophical/exegetical stuff (right now I’m on Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth series. I cannot stand romance. As you can see, I’m interested in reading a wide range of topics and that makes it hard to select books. So, any recommendations?
 
Redbetta

You ask about Polish writers. There are only two Polish-born novelists, I think, whose books are well-known around the world. One is Joseph Conrad. I must have read, at different times, just about everything he ever wrote, but these are the ones I liked best: Nostromo and Under Western Eyes.

amazon.com/Nostromo-Seaboard-Classic-20th-Century-Penguin/dp/014018371X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_6_mas?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827273&sr=1-1

amazon.com/Under-Western-Eyes-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141441941/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827358&sr=1-1

Conrad wrote in English, of course, but Sienkiewicz wrote in his native language. Quo Vadis is probably the world’s best-known novel originally written in Polish:

amazon.com/Quo-Vadis-Henryk-Sienkiewicz/dp/0781805503/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827097&sr=1-2
 
BartholomewB said:
Redbetta

You ask about Polish writers. There are only two Polish-born novelists, I think, whose books are well-known around the world. One is Joseph Conrad. I must have read, at different times, just about everything he ever wrote, but these are the ones I liked best: Nostromo and Under Western Eyes.

amazon.com/Nostromo-Seaboard-Classic-20th-Century-Penguin/dp/014018371X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_6_mas?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827273&sr=1-1

amazon.com/Under-Western-Eyes-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141441941/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827358&sr=1-1

Conrad wrote in English, of course, but Sienkiewicz wrote in his native language. Quo Vadis is probably the world’s best-known novel originally written in Polish:

amazon.com/Quo-Vadis-Henryk-Sienkiewicz/dp/0781805503/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434827097&sr=1-2
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I asked about books on Polish history. Thanks for the recommendations, though.
 
Can’t help wrt Polish History as I am not Polish and, in fact, have never been there.

For biology though, how about The Hot Zone?

Bon voyage and ICXC NIKA
 
Hey redbetta:),

If you’re into biology books, you might dig The Three Pound Universe, by Judith Hooper. I reread it recently, and although it’s quite old for a science book, in my view it’s held up extremely well.🤷 At the very least, it’s well written and thoroughly engaging. Also, may I ask, what kind of lit are you mostly into?

amazon.com/Three-Pound-Universe-Judith-Hooper/dp/0874776503
 
Exiled_Child said:
Hey redbetta:),

If you’re into biology books, you might dig The Three Pound Universe, by Judith Hooper. I reread it recently, and although it’s quite old for a science book, in my view it’s held up extremely well.🤷 At the very least, it’s well written and thoroughly engaging. Also, may I ask, what kind of lit are you mostly into?

amazon.com/Three-Pound-Universe-Judith-Hooper/dp/0874776503
Click to expand...
Well, my favorite English class has always been British Literature. My least favorite has been American Literature. Probably because American literature has gotten kind of predictable: once upon a time, someone came up with the idea of The American Dream and ever since, the mark of The Great American Novel has been to beat the **** out of the idea of the American dream. I like satire and dry humor (everyone says I have a really dry sense of humor). I hate romance. I am into supernatural things, but, supernatural as in Dracula stuff, not Twilight stuff. I have enjoyed some books by G.K Chesterton, but, I’ve never read any of his fiction. It is really hard to p(name removed by moderator)oint what I like as I go through spurts of a lot of reading and long periods of not reading for anything other than school.
 
GEddie said:
Can’t help wrt Polish History as I am not Polish and, in fact, have never been there.

For biology though, how about The Hot Zone?

Bon voyage and ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
My AP Biology teacher once recommended that book and it was one of the ones we could read and analyze for extra credit. I generally liked what she recommended. Thanks for reminding me of that one.
 
redbetta said:
Well, my favorite English class has always been British Literature. My least favorite has been American Literature. Probably because American literature has gotten kind of predictable: once upon a time, someone came up with the idea of The American Dream and ever since, the mark of The Great American Novel has been to beat the **** out of the idea of the American dream. I like satire and dry humor (everyone says I have a really dry sense of humor). I hate romance. I am into supernatural things, but, supernatural as in Dracula stuff, not Twilight stuff. I have enjoyed some books by G.K Chesterton, but, I’ve never read any of his fiction. It is really hard to p(name removed by moderator)oint what I like as I go through spurts of a lot of reading and long periods of not reading for anything other than school.
Click to expand...
Actually, people have described my sense of humor as dry, too.🤷 But, anyway, your in luck! I have the perfect novels for you! You should read The Golem first, and then afterwards The Green Face, both by Gustav Meyrinck. He’s one of my favorite novelists, and I suspect you would probably really like him. His autobiography is rather amusing. When he reached a certain point in his youth he decided to commit suicide by blowing his brains out. While he was sitting in his rented room with a revolver to his head, a door-to-door salesman forcefully slid an advertisement under his door for a set of encyclopedias dealing with the occult. He took this as a sign from God and decided not to blow his brains out after all. So, he buys the occult encyclopedia set and immerses himself in it. Soon afterward he somehow manages to gain backing and open up his own bank, but is promptly driven to ruin because of taking financial advice from the spirit realm, aka using seances to unwisely invest his customers money in idiotic ways. So, a spectacular failure in all things financial, he turns his attention to literature and finds huge, huge success. Nobody really knows his name now, but he was very well known in his day. Kafka, a fellow Jewish writer who also lived in Meyrinck’s Prague at the same time, was utterly unknown, in stark contrast to Meyrinck’s Stephen King-like popularity. Nowadays the situation is completely reversed - everyone knows Kafka, but no one’s ever heard of poor Gustav. Anyway, his books are so, so beautiful! If you give him a try I bet he’ll steal your heart! Trust me, Meyrinck is lovable as lovable can be.

amazon.com/Golem-Dedalus-European-Classics/dp/1873982917/

amazon.com/Green-Face-Decadence-Dedalus/dp/0946626928/
 
Lucky you going on a trip to Poland. I love it there - stayed in Krakow for 7 weeks in 2007. I would recommend a book on Polish history - The Polish Way by Adam Zamoyski.
 
Exiled_Child said:
Actually, people have described my sense of humor as dry, too.🤷 But, anyway, your in luck! I have the perfect novels for you! You should read The Golem first, and then afterwards The Green Face, both by Gustav Meyrinck. He’s one of my favorite novelists, and I suspect you would probably really like him. His autobiography is rather amusing. When he reached a certain point in his youth he decided to commit suicide by blowing his brains out. While he was sitting in his rented room with a revolver to his head, a door-to-door salesman forcefully slid an advertisement under his door for a set of encyclopedias dealing with the occult. He took this as a sign from God and decided not to blow his brains out after all. So, he buys the occult encyclopedia set and immerses himself in it. Soon afterward he somehow manages to gain backing and open up his own bank, but is promptly driven to ruin because of taking financial advice from the spirit realm, aka using seances to unwisely invest his customers money in idiotic ways. So, a spectacular failure in all things financial, he turns his attention to literature and finds huge, huge success. Nobody really knows his name now, but he was very well known in his day. Kafka, a fellow Jewish writer who also lived in Meyrinck’s Prague at the same time, was utterly unknown, in stark contrast to Meyrinck’s Stephen King-like popularity. Nowadays the situation is completely reversed - everyone knows Kafka, but no one’s ever heard of poor Gustav. Anyway, his books are so, so beautiful! If you give him a try I bet he’ll steal your heart!

amazon.com/Golem-Dedalus-European-Classics/dp/1873982917/

amazon.com/Green-Face-Decadence-Dedalus/dp/0946626928/
Click to expand...
I googled the two novels. They sound interesting. Hmm, for some reason I have this strange mental association between writers and blowing one’s brains out. I’m not sure if it’s a thing or just me.
 
redbetta said:
I googled the two novels. They sound interesting. Hmm, for some reason I have this strange mental association between writers and blowing one’s brains out. I’m not sure if it’s a thing or just me.
Click to expand...
No, it’s a thing. For some reason I seem to gravitate to Jewish and Irish novelists, and suicidal depression seems to be the norm for a certain percentage of them. It’s sad, but their novels at least provide their readers with happiness.🤷 I dunno. Hey, but if you happen to try either of those novels please let me know what you think.
 
A trip to Poland sounds great! Some of my ancestors came to America from Poland in the 1880s, though that side of my family was originally from Germany (part of Poland’s long legacy of occupation :().

A history recommendation, though this might not interest you, but my son enjoyed The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution, by Alex Storozynski, about the Polish general of the American Revolution.

Safe travels!
 
redbetta said:
My AP Biology teacher once recommended that book and it was one of the ones we could read and analyze for extra credit. I generally liked what she recommended. Thanks for reminding me of that one.
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YVW.

Another possibility, although in all likelihood, long out-of-print, might be The Medical Detectives.

ICXC NIKA
 
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