Deebee - re never thought there could be a correlation between personality type and taste in books:

I just had a hunch - and The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic seemed to clinch it - this work of imagination on top of the variety of topics that seemed to link in to trying to understand the world in all its variety seemed to fit with an INTJ personality as I have come to understand it.

Not much is said about INTJ's imagination, but an East European 16 personality type theory, Socionics, describes their version of the MBTI INTJ as having "an imagination of the intellect". To me this means an imagination attached to reality, but almost hyper reality - how things might be rather than how they are actually perceived by most people. I think this is linked to our preceived ability to see things others can't, and some INTJ's (apparently) being able to predict the future....

To me Kafka's fictional world is the illustration of this imagination of the intellect, a world not quite in synch with the one we know, but one which helps illustrate our world in some way which we can't do using purely empirical information.

Not sure what the link is or how this all works, but it sure is a fascinating subject.

Didn't want to hijack your thread with this, but hope you don't mind me placing my thoughts here..!

skrevet af zenomax kl. 11:03 am (EST) den Jul 18, 2008

Hi deebee1,

Thanks for the compliment! I'll also have to look at your library. You have some authors on your favorite list that I'm not familiar with, so I'll definitely be looking at them. I just finished "Death at Intervals" by Jose Saramago, which was superb. It hasn't yet been released in the US; I bought it from Foyles (London) online.

skrevet af kidzdoc kl. 6:25 pm (EST) den Jul 16, 2008

Hi there,
As it turns out, I haven't read Blindness, but I do intend to at some stage! I bought Seeing after being really interested by the premise of the blurb, but didn't find out until much later that there was in fact a previous book. I don't think it interfered too much with the storyline though, and I enjoyed it enough to try Saramago again. I might try The Double next!

skrevet af Killeymoon kl. 4:28 pm (EST) den Jul 16, 2008

I love the quote. The whole sentence didn't go through. *smile*

skrevet af Kirconnell kl. 12:12 pm (EST) den Jul 13, 2008

Hi deebee. Thanks for adding me to your interesting libraries list. I am very flattered. I the quote in your profile. I have lived by it for years. Lol.

skrevet af Kirconnell kl. 12:10 pm (EST) den Jul 13, 2008

Hi deebee,

I really enjoyed Los Premios - it had been sitting on my TBR shelf for about 15 years, since I was at university, and I'd always been put off because it looked quite dense. It was, but in the end it didn't matter because I loved the story, and the way Cortazar portrays all the different characters. It's set on a ship, on board which the passengers have all won a cruise - but it turns out not to be quite what they expected. The novel is an examination of how they react, collectively and individually, to the circumstances in which they find themselves (I don't know if you've read The Plague by Camus, but it reminded me of that - people from all social classes thrown together in a closed environment; some bury their heads, some fight). I hadn't read anything of his before, but I'm keen to try more now - maybe Rayuela (Hopscotch).

Hope you enjoy it if you decide to read it!

Rachel

skrevet af rachbxl kl. 3:20 pm (EST) den Jul 4, 2008

i'm currently digging into absalom, absalom!... i'm having to use a pick and the going is slow. that is some dense writing! thanks for adding me as a friend. i'll be going through your library soon.

skrevet af Banoo kl. 4:37 am (EST) den Jul 4, 2008

i haven't read Blindness yet but it is now on my list of books to pick up next time i go shopping. i read the synopsis just now and it looks like this may be an author i'll have to explore. thanks for sharing that with me.

skrevet af Banoo kl. 8:44 pm (EST) den Jul 2, 2008

Hi, I'm on the third chapter of Development as Freedom. So far, I'm really impressed, though I have to admit it's a little more academic than I had expected. I´ve studied enough economics that I don't feel lost so far, but I can see it'll limit the recommendability of the work. (If recommendability is a word.) I do find his arguments pretty persuasive so far. This chapter in particular seems to be doing a good job of laying down a rigorous framework on what the goals of development should be.

skrevet af CarlosMcRey kl. 9:56 pm (EST) den Jun 6, 2008

Thanks s'much.

I like to read books that I believe I will enjoy... and will be worth my time. Since I'm young, there are so many genuinely great books out there that I've yet to read. For that reason, I don't spend much time reading just mediocre novels. (That is unless they happen to strike my fancy. Like I said, I read what I think I'll enjoy... ha)

I read through the chronicle of your 75 book challenge, and it looks to me that you're reading some really great books as well. I don't believe I've read any on that list- but there are many there that I plan to read (especially Marquez and some of those pesky 800-page Russian novels).

Thanks again,
Sarah

skrevet af idyllicmelody kl. 10:40 pm (EST) den Jun 3, 2008