I just want to thank you of all the kind comments, feedbacks, observations and favorites on [link]

Please forgive me for not responding to every one of them, but be sure that I have read them all and appreciate them a lot!

Cheers to you all and thank you again.

Wolf

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Books, Books and more Books!

I was going to create a list of my all time favorite books...and then I noticed I have read way too many of them and it would be like comparing oranges with apples far worse to choose between them.

I also know these days majority of people are on the internet, prefer watching TV over reading books and even enjoy shorter and faster stories (almost as fast and short as Music Videos on MTV) than a classic film...but I still like the classic dramatic writings...where many little elements actually matter .

I finally decided to make the list anyway but not with my all time favorites but simply some of my favorites . It's easier and more practical.
Therefore I went after some my favorite authors and rated their work on this website and ended up with the following list...top 200 of the books of these few authors which all have got at least score of 6 in the scale of 1-10.

(Please note that I have avoided considering any technology, Science, Mathematics, Engineering, History, Psychology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, Cinema or Politic related books to keep the list fun and more approachable).

I hope that you enjoy the list.


2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke
2010: Odyssey Two (1982) by Arthur C. Clarke
A.B.C. Murders, the (1936) by Agatha Christie
Across the River and into the Trees (1950) by Ernest Hemingway
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the (1884) by Mark Twain
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the (1876) by Mark Twain
American, the (1875) by Henry James
Amerika (1927) by Franz Kafka --------------------------------------------------10
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy
Antony and Cleopatra (1623) by William Shakespeare
Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) by Jules Verne
Assassination Bureau, Ltd., the (1963) by Jack London
Autumn of the Patriarch (1975) by Gabriel García Márquez
Banco (1973) by Henri Charriere
Big Sun of Mercury, the (1956) by Isaac Asimov
Black Swan, the (1953) by Thomas Mann
Black Tulip, the (1850) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Bleak House (1853) by Charles Dickens
Brothers Karamazov, the (1879) by Fyodor Dostoevsky -----------------------10
Cabbages and Kings (1904) by O. Henry
Call of the Wild, the (1903) by Jack London
Carrie (1974) by Stephen King
Castle, the (1926) by Franz Kafka -----------------------------------------------10
Chamber, the (1994) by John Grisham
Cherry Orchard, the (1904) by Anton Chekhov
Christ Recrucified (1948) by Nikos Kazantzakis
Christmas Carol, a (1843) by Charles Dickens
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981) by Gabriel García Márquez ------------10
Client, the (1993) by John Grisham
Comedy of Errors, the (1623) by William Shakespeare ---------------------- 10
Cossacks, the (1862) by Leo Tolstoy
Count of Monte Cristo, the (1845) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky ------------------------ 10
Da Vinci Code, the (2003) by Dan Brown
Daisy Miller (1878) by Henry James
David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens
Day of the Jackal, the (1971) by Frederick Forsyth
Dead Souls (1842) by Nikolai Gogol
Death in the Clouds (1935) by Agatha Christie
Death of Ivan Ilyich, the (1886) by Leo Tolstoy
Death on the Nile (1937) by Agatha Christie
Deceiver, the (1991) by Frederick Forsyth
Devil in the Belfry, the (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe
Devil's Alternative, the (1980) by Frederick Forsyth
Divine Comedy, the (1321) by Dante Alighieri
Doctor Faustus (1947) by Thomas Mann
Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes
Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker
Dreamcatcher (2001) by Stephen King
Duellist, the (1846) by Ivan Turgenev
Earthlight (1955) by Arthur C. Clarke
East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck
Elective Affinities (1809) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Emma (1816) by Jane Austen
End of the Affair, the (1951) by Graham Greene
Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) by Thomas Hardy
Farewell to Arms, a (1929) by Ernest Hemingway
Father Goriot (1834) by Honoré de Balzac
Fathers and Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev
Faust I (1808) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ------------------------------- 10
Faust II (1832) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Firm, the (1991) by John Grisham
Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) by Jules Verne
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway
Foundation (1951) by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Earth (1986) by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire (1952) by Isaac Asimov
Gambler, the (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Garden of Eden (1986) by Ernest Hemingway
General in His Labyrinth, the (1989) by Gabriel García Márquez
God's Pauper: St Francis of Assisi, a Novel (1953) by Nikos Kazantzakis
Gods Are A-Thirst, the / The Gods Will Have Blood (1924) by Anatole France
Gods Themselves, the (1972) by Isaac Asimov
Grapes of Wrath, the (1939) by John Steinbeck
Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens
Great Gatsby, the (1926) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Green Mile, the (1996) by Stephen King
Guns of Navarone, the (1957) by Alistair MacLean
Hamlet (1603) by William Shakespeare
Hard Times (1854) by Charles Dickens
Heart of the Matter, the (1948) by Graham Greene
Henry VIII (1623) by William Shakespeare
Hound of the Baskervilles, the (1902) by Arthur Conan Doyle
Hours, the (1998) by Michael Cunningham
House of the Dead, the (1862) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Hunchback of Notre Dame, the (1831) by Victor Hugo
I, Robot (1950) by Isaac Asimov
Ice Station Zebra (1963) by Alistair MacLean
Icon (1996) by Frederick Forsyth
Idiot, the (1868) by Fyodor Dostoevsky --------------------------------------- 10
Iliad, the (-800) by Homer ------------------------------------------------------ 10
Importance of Being Earnest, the (1895) by Oscar Wilde
Interview with the Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice
Invisible Man, the (1897) by H.G. Wells
Island of Dr. Moreau, the (1896) by H.G. Wells
It (1986) by Stephen King
Ivanov (1887) by Anton Chekhov
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne
Julius Caesar (1623) by William Shakespeare
King Lear (1608) by William Shakespeare ------------------------------------ 10
Last Temptation of Christ, the (1951) by Nikos Kazantzakis ---------------- 10
Lawrence of Arabia (1963) by Alistair MacLean
Lord Jim (1900) by Joseph Conrad
Louise de la Valliere (1848) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Love (1995) by Pablo Neruda -------------------------------------------------- 10
Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) by Gabriel García Márquez ------------ 10
Macbeth (1623) by William Shakespeare
Man in the Iron Mask, the (1848) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Merchant of Venice, the (1600) by William Shakespeare
Metamorphosis, the (1915) by Franz Kafka
Michael Strogoff (1876) by Jules Verne
Midsummer Night's Dream, a (1600) by William Shakespeare
Misérables, Les (1862) by Victor Hugo
Moby-Dick, or, the Whale (1851) by Herman Melville
Moons of Jupiter, the (1957) by Isaac Asimov
Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf
Murder on the Orient Express (1934) by Agatha Christie
Mystery of Edwin Drood, the (1870) by Charles Dickens
Naked Sun, the (1957) by Isaac Asimov
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, the (1838) by Edgar Allan Poe 10
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) by Charles Dickens
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell ---------------------------------- 10
No One Writes to the Colonel (1957) by Gabriel García Márquez
Nutcracker, the (1816) by E.T.A. Hoffmann
Odessa File, the (1972) by Frederick Forsyth
Odyssey, the (-800) by Homer
Of Love and Other Demons (1994) by Gabriel García Márquez
Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck
Old Man and the Sea, the (1952) by Ernest Hemingway ------------------------ 10
Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey ------------------------ 10
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel García Márquez ------------ 10
Othello (1622) by William Shakespeare
Outcast of the Islands, an (1896) by Joseph Conrad
Papillon (1970) by Henri Charriere
Pebble in the Sky (1950) by Isaac Asimov
Pelican Brief, the (1992) by John Grisham
Penguin Island (1909) by Anatole France ---------------------------------------- 10
Pickwick Papers, the (1837) by Charles Dickens
Picture of Dorian Gray, the (1891) by Oscar Wilde
Portrait of a Lady, the (1890) by Henry James
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a (1916) by James Joyce
Power and the Glory, the (1940) by Graham Greene
Prelude to Space (1951) by Arthur C. Clarke
Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen
Queen Margot (1845) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene
Rainmaker, the (1995) by John Grisham
Rape of the Lock, the (1714) by Alexander Pope
Rings of Saturn, the (1958) by Isaac Asimov
Robots and Empire (1985) by Isaac Asimov
Robots of Dawn, the (1983) by Isaac Asimov
Romeo and Juliet (1597) by William Shakespeare
Rose for Emily, a (1930) by William Faulkner
Rose Madder (1995) by Stephen King
Round the Moon (1870) by Jules Verne
Runaway Jury, the (1996) by John Grisham
Salomé (1894) by Oscar Wilde
Sands of Mars, the (1951) by Arthur C. Clarke
Sea-Wolf, the (1904) by Jack London
Seagull, the (1896) by Anton Chekhov
Sense and Sensibility (1810) by Jane Austen
Shining, the (1977) by Stephen King
Shirley (1849) by Charlotte Brontë
Shot from the Moon, the (1952) by Arthur C. Clarke
Siddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse
Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, the (1927) by Ernest Hemingway
Sorrows / Sufferings of Young Werther, the (1774) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Sound and the Fury, the (1929) by William Faulkner -------------------------- 10
Spartacus (1951) by Howard Fast ----------------------------------------------- 10
Stars, Like Dust, the (1951) by Isaac Asimov
Sun Also Rises, the (1926) by Ernest Hemingway
Tale of Two Cities, a (1859) by Charles Dickens
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) by Edgar Allan Poe
Talisman, the (1984) by Stephen King
Taras Bulba (1835) by Nikolai Gogol
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) by Thomas Hardy
Thais (1890) by Anatole France
This Side of Paradise (1920) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Three Musketeers, the (1844) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Three Sisters, the (1901) by Anton Chekhov
Time Machine, the (1895) by H.G. Wells
Time to Kill, a (1989) by John Grisham
Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding -------------------------------------------10
Trial, the (1925) by Franz Kafka ----------------------------------------------- 10
Twelfth Night (1623) by William Shakespeare
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) by Jules Verne
Twenty Years After (1845) by Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Two Gentlemen of Verona, the (1623) by William Shakespeare
Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce
Uncle Vanya (1897) by Anton Chekhov
Vampire Lestat, the (1985) by Anne Rice
War and Peace (1869) by Leo Tolstoy ---------------------------------------- 10
War of the Worlds, the (1898) by H.G. Wells
Where Eagles Dare (1967) by Alistair MacLean
White Fang (1906) by Jack London
Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë
Zorba the Greek (1946) by Nikos Kazantzakis


In case you are wondering...I used to read between 3000-10000 pages per month between ages of 8 to 19.
Now a days if I finish one decent size book every 10 days I'll be happy.
I have read most of them at least couple of times and some of them more than half a dozen times.
I know it sounds kind of nerdy...but since I used to sleep less than 3 hours before age 25 I had enough time to read and have a normal life at the same time, plus I'm a fast reader.
Anyway I hope that you enjoy the list. Please feel free to leave feedbacks. I'll update the list eventually .

I'm really looking forward to get some suggestions for newer books since I haven't had a chance to get familiar with new authors during last decade or so.
If you have read (seeing the films doesn't count! : ) ) at least 30-40 titles of above, then you can guess my taste and it would be a great help to introduce me to these new great authors and their books. Thank you very much.


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Films, Films and more Films!


At the middle of a blinding migraine I thought about films and cinema...again as usual.

I mean after thinking a little bit and remembering all the major ups and downs of my adventurous life I noticed one of my biggest pleasures always
has been watching films...when I was down or happy or simply wanted to relax or even get inspired to create. Of course I used to write about
films and Cinema for few newspaper and magazines as well so I used to watch a lot of films which I didn't like .

Therefore I created one of those free accounts that you can rate films ...then I noticed I have seen more than few thousands films and remembering all of them could be impossible! So I decided to share my top hundred choice of the first one thousand films that I have rated.

They are almost in order however these films all have received A+, A or A- so really they are still pretty mixed up....but I guess who cares!

I'll update the list once I have rated 2000 films and so on. I still haven't had a chance to rate some of best European films.

The Godfather
The Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) (Japan)
Vertigo
The Godfather Part II
Raging Bull
The Silence of the Lambs
The Shawshank Redemption
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Rear Window
Taxi Driver
Seven
Frida
Big Fish
Casablanca
Amelie (France)
Young Frankenstein
The Graduate
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)
The Third Man
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Mulholland Drive
Psycho
North by Northwest
Throne of Blood (Japan)
Red Beard (Japan)
Ran (Japan)
Last Tango in Paris
Wings of Desire (Germany)
Faraway, So Close (Germany)
Modern Times
City Lights
The Gold Rush
The Sting
High Noon
Platoon
Pulp Fiction
Batman Returns
Gladiator
Fight Club
Ocean's Eleven
The Fifth Element
Shrek
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Chinatown
Being John Malkovich
Dances With Wolves
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
About Schmidt
The Exorcist
The Professional
Forrest Gump
The English Patient
The Omen
Saving Private Ryan
Minority Report
American Beauty
The Matrix
The Wild Bunch
The Sixth Sense
Hero (China)
Blue Velvet
Tootsie
Annie Hall
M*A*S*H
When Harry Met Sally...
The Maltese Falcon
Lost in Translation
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
A Streetcar Named Desire
Goodfellas
Blade Runner
Braveheart
The Untouchables
Whale Rider (New Zealand)
Lawrence of Arabia
Finding Nemo
Monsters, Inc.
A Clockwork Orange
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Notorious
Alien
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Rain Man
To Live (China)
Raise the Red Lantern (China)
Heat
Once Upon A Time In America
L.A. Confidential
Bonnie and Clyde
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Great Dictator
Adaptation
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Spirited Away (Japan)
Citizen Kane

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I don't do this usually, since I'm a very private person.

But you people have been very nice to me so here is a little a bout me:


I grew up loving mathematics and still do. That was more than 28 years ago.
I think mathematics is the closest element/way for helping us to understand art, creations, music, universe, ourselves, people, colors, emotions and everything else. I can try to prove some of it or try to explain my point but it would be silly. Let's say it's my opinion.


I studied Cinema when I was barely a teenager hoping to be a film director. I used to write a lot and as soon as I was done with writing I could imagine how I could've been saying those stories visually and musically in a "good" film. But then life has played too much of games with me. I did make few documentaries but never got a chance to tell my stories the way I wanted to. That's how I started photography. A visual story in each frame. It was cheaper and more doable and you had and could tell a lot more per image which consequently would create some brain and heart stimulation. That was 16 years ago I think.


Meanwhile I got degrees in Engineering, Computer and Mathematics but never got the chance to work in those fields. Love of mathematics and physics took me through the schools but the actual fields were too different than the pure science itself.


So I had to keep the weirdest day jobs to continue doing photography and writing and during all this time I have become a little bitter with life.
I keep forgiving it on daily basis but not really from bottom of heart. I'm always out there to punish it. Day jobs...from being a successful stock broker to get busy with manual labors. You see I moved a lot between different countries so each time I had to start from zero or -3! The sad part is that I learned too late the amount of success depends on politics and "who you know" (at least 90% of time) instead of talents or heart. and even when I learned that, my pride and at times ego (!) never have let me to bend backwards for gaining a little break or extra success.


If I don't become successful enough, I won't be able to tell my stories to others which I used to think they were important. I mean I do photography and other arts because I can't stop doing them! I want to make the films for the very same reason. But then it's a "catch-22". I might not be myself when I am that successful and then the question is would I say my stories honestly yet? Would I even try to tell the same stories?


Today I'm a professional photographer in Fashion, Editorial , Journalism etc fields always after new assignments to make some living hoping one day to start making these three dusty scripts that I have written during last few years with all my heart. I've been published many times, have won 2-3 dozens of awards but disappointed more than that, ten folds.


I do film photography and don't do manipulation on my images because I like to keep the last links of art to photography instead of technology. I actually enjoy seeing a good manipulated image but with purpose and not just abusing the tools of trade to make a mediocre photograph acceptable for different men's magazines!


What is art? That is you. For some that means the essence of life or how we see it or want/choose to see it.


What is Love? That is yourself again. For some of us means looking for the lost part of ourselves or a better version of our lives puzzles.


It is one of those days isn't it?


I'm a mixture of everything I have done or wanted to do.
Of everything I have eaten and have produced.
I am what I have seen and heard and shown and said.
Who I am, I might never understand completely but maybe can be guessed by a mathematical formula .
I am whom I have loved and hated.
I am whom I have looked up to, or pushed down.
We are who we are but a better version of us could be obtained tomorrow, only if we want to...only maybe.