Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:55 am Posts: 4213 Location: Austin TX Gender: Male
i'm always looking for new stuff to read, hoping to get some ideas from folks thoughts here. here's mine, best i can tell, in no particular order.
Blood Meridian - McCarthy
The Brothers Karamazov - Doestoevsky
The Road Home - Harrison
Lonesome Dove - McMurtry
The Stranger - Camus
Dharma Bums - Kerouac
Cats Cradle - Vonnegut
Catch-22 - Heller
Cannery Row - Steinbeck
The Return of the King - Tolkien
_________________ Pour the sun upon the ground stand to throw a shadow watch it grow into a night and fill the spinnin' sky
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 5428 Location: The Juicebox Gender: Male
Grapes of Wrath
As I Lay Dying
Resistance, Rebellion and Death (essays by Camus)
The Sun Also Rises
Gatsby
Kitchen Confidential (Tony Bourdain)
Everything is illuminated
Breakfast of Champions
Anyway, top o' the noggin:
Lord of the Flies - Golding
civilized literature, indeed.
Empire Falls - Russo
Russo's probably my favorite contemporary writer. Apart from the obvious, what I loved about this book is its knack for being literary without being tedious.
Invisible Man - Ellison
Who knew that the best coming-of-age book I ever read would come disguised as a book about race?
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence - Pirsig
Read with a pencil. Write in the margins.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Eggers
His second book, You Shall Know Our Velocity!/Sacrement , is also quite good.
The Downtown Diaries - Carroll
Carroll's poems are his bread and butter, but his entry while watching the NBA all-star game is aterial writing.
Hamlet
Everyone should read Hamlet for pleasure at least once. I almost left it off because it's too easy to include a token Shakespear to appear well-read, but no, it'd belong on the list even if Horatio Alger wrote it.
A Long Way Down - Hornby
High Fidelity & About a Boy are also worth a read, but i think he hit this one out of the park.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon
It's an obvious pick, but around the time I was reading the last couple pages, I couldn't help but feel like this is a book everyone who grew up in America should read.
nine's good for now. i haven't been reading much lately. Flannery O'Connor and I just don't play nice together for some reason.
_________________ i was dreaming through the howzlife yawning car black when she told me "mad and meaningless as ever" and a song came on my radio like a cemetery rhyme for a million crying corpses in their tragedy of respectable existence
Last edited by knuckles of frisco on Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I am in the middle of Catch-22, it's just taking me freakin forever, but I expect it to go towards the top of my list once I'm finished.
i had an audio copy of that and I lasted maybe one disc. I don't know if it was the reader's fault (hello, nasal) or my fault.
_________________ i was dreaming through the howzlife yawning car black when she told me "mad and meaningless as ever" and a song came on my radio like a cemetery rhyme for a million crying corpses in their tragedy of respectable existence
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
Yikes, hard question. I'll try my best though.
Cat's Cradle-Kurt Vonnegut
Steps-Jerzy Kosinski
1984-George Orwell
Underworld-Don DeLillo
For Whom The Bell Tolls-Ernest Hemingway
The Stranger-Albert Camus
Farhrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury
Ham On Rye-Charles Bukowski
Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card
The Naked & The Dead-Norman Mailer
Honorable mentions: Brave New World, Things Fall Apart, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, White Noise, The Martian Chronicles, many more
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:55 am Posts: 4213 Location: Austin TX Gender: Male
Orpheus wrote:
Yikes, hard question. I'll try my best though.
Cat's Cradle-Kurt Vonnegut Steps-Jerzy Kosinski 1984-George Orwell Underworld-Don DeLillo For Whom The Bell Tolls-Ernest Hemingway The Stranger-Albert Camus Farhrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury Ham On Rye-Charles Bukowski Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card The Naked & The Dead-Norman Mailer
Honorable mentions: Brave New World, Things Fall Apart, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, White Noise, The Martian Chronicles, many more
nice see that's what i'm talkin about, a few in there i've not heard of and in total have only read like 5 of them. the DeLillo stuff is on my short list.
upon further reflection 1984 should have been in my top 10. that book changed a lot about the way i think, and i also have fond memories of it because i recall a great discussion about it (in the midst of a nice little mushroom trip) with a couple of buddies shortly after reading it. i need to read it again.
_________________ Pour the sun upon the ground stand to throw a shadow watch it grow into a night and fill the spinnin' sky
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
I've read 1984 about four times and it never fails to amaze me. Simply one of the best books ever written. I'd have put Brave New World on the list too but it's not as good of a novel. They're both equivalent to a sultan's feast in terms of food for thought though.
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am Posts: 91597 Location: Sector 7-G
In no particular order...
1 Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut
2 Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
3 Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
4 Story Of B - Quinn
5 1984 - Orwell
6 MacBeth - Shakespeare
7 The Hobbit - Tolkien
8 Welcome To The Monkey House - Vonnegut
9 Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck
10 Catcher In The Rye - Salinger
This could change as soon as I think of better ones.
_________________ It takes a big man to make a threat on the internet.
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:55 am Posts: 4213 Location: Austin TX Gender: Male
Orpheus wrote:
I've read 1984 about four times and it never fails to amaze me. Simply one of the best books ever written. I'd have put Brave New World on the list too but it's not as good of a novel. They're both equivalent to a sultan's feast in terms of food for thought though.
it doesn't approach the greatness of the book but have you ever seen the movie? its quite well done imo.
_________________ Pour the sun upon the ground stand to throw a shadow watch it grow into a night and fill the spinnin' sky
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:52 pm Posts: 6822 Location: NY Gender: Male
I'm not going to list 10. But I'm going to list a few books that aren't literary classics, but are still highly enjoyable. I feel that diversity is absolutely necessary. There's only so much "seriousness" one can take. So mix these in:
"The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World", A.J. Jacobs - Possibly my favorite book ever. Highly entertaining.
"The Areas of My Expertise", John Hodgman - Parts of it drone on, but it's worth it.
"Yes Man", Danny Wallace - Fabulous, hilarious read, and could possibly change your life. I'm currently searching out the rest of his books.
Anything by Nick Hornby. I think "Long Way Down" is my new favorite. However, if you've seen "High Fidelity" in film version, the book will please you.
"Mountains Beyond Mountains", Tracy Kidder - Best non-fiction book I've read in quite awhile. I was expecting to hear this doc interviewed during the whole TB patient scare and was disappointed he wasn't.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum
