Favorite Books written after 1900 (no part. order)
Submitted by jenhowel on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:00
Tags:
- I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb(extraordinary, cried cause it ended.)
- The Diary of Anais Nin (in its entirety, or any section)
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (one of four books that has ever made me cry)
- Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (intense, great style/characters, better than the movie)
- The Pill versus the Spring Hill Mining Disaster by Richard Brautigan (best poem collection I've ever read.)
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac (captures a time and place, gives you wanderlust)
- Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger (Salinger's best mix of laughter and melancholy, craziness and banality.)
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Salinger's second best and always a guranteed laugh)
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (creates a hypnotic mood)
- Delta of Venus/Little Birds by Anais Nin (the best erotica I've ever read.)
- 1984 by George Orwell (retains its power to chill, even after the year has long passed.)
- Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham
- The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Animal Liberation by Peter Singer (the book about animal rights, if everyone read this, there'd be way more vegetarians and vegans in the world, a reasoned, well-researched account.)
- Stupid White Men by Michael Moore (Prepare to be shocked by how asleep at the wheel most of us have been. Not a great book, in literary terms, but if things keep going the way they are, it won't even be legal to write it soon!)
- The Stand by Stephen King (Man. I never knew what I was missing by not reading King's books. Along with It and The Shining, The Stand is my favorite. It is compelling, frightening, touching, spiritual and entertaining all at the same time. The characters are the type you hate to let go at the end of the book. I wish there were a sequel. )
Author Comments:
I read mostly older literature so this list is the stuff I've actually gotten around to in this century. It will be added to as I recall what I've read and check the dates.
I was interested by your comment that THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is one of four books that made you cry. (I haven't read the book, but the movie is superb, though it didn't draw my tears.) I can only recall having cried over one book. Its title is TEN RILLINGTON PLACE and it was written by Ludovic Kennedy. It isn't fiction. It tells the true story of a murderer who not only killed several women but let the husband of one of the women be tried and hanged for the crimes. When this miscarriage of justice was brought to light it played a large part in bringing about the abolition of the death penalty in Britain. A movie has also been made of this book; it starred Richard Attenborough.
Yes, the movie Remains of the Day didn't make me cry either. It just wasn't as good or as powerful, even with Merchant-Ivory at the helm and Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins acting. I think it may have been the writing in the last part of the novel. In the movie the end simply doesn't seem as poignant, as hopeless, as sad. I strongly recommend reading the novel even after seeing the movie. The end just GOT to me in a way few other books have. Night, I Know This Much is True, and Of Mice and Men are the others BTW. I'll definitely have to check out the book you spoke of when I have some time this summer. I am a student and shouldn't be reading anything but my work (ha ha.)