Top 5 Books (Fiction)
Submitted by Parable on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 03:33
Tags:
- 1. Beautiful Losers - Leonard Cohen (1966)
- 2. 1984 - George Orwell (1949)
- 3. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (1899)
- 4. The Stranger - Albert Camus (1942)
- 5. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (1951)
love the list, though i have only read a small amount in my life (under 20 novels) i love the ones you have posted and i will order the Leonard Cohen book today.
i guess i listen to music and do not read much because i can listen to music while working out, working, eating, doing homework, driving...just about anything and i have to cut all those things out of my day to read...do you have a similar problem or are you a book worm? i am currently working, slowly, through Gravity's Rainbow, which is probably not a book for me to read when i have a week vocabulary.
what other literary works do you like? my favorites are Daniel Orozco's Orientation and Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
I'm by no means well-read. Most of my reading over the last 20 years has consisted of Anne Rice novels and Dilbert comics. I'm slowly working my way through the 20th century classics, or at least those that interest me. I'm currently reading On the Raod by Jack Kerouac, but I doubt I'll have the time or inclination to finish it.
"i guess i listen to music and do not read much because i can listen to music while working out, working, eating, doing homework, driving...just about anything and i have to cut all those things out of my day to read...do you have a similar problem or are you a book worm?"
Yup, I run into the same problem. I only began reading for pleasure shortly after my car broke down. I was spending around 4 hours a day on public transportation, so that left me a lot of time to read.
Just finished The Stranger - undeniable masterpiece! I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to check out the rest of your list. I'm surprised to see Beautiful Losers at #1, I've never heard of it before, is it indeed incredible?
"Just finished The Stranger - undeniable masterpiece!"
Isn't that book incredible? The second half is one of my all-time favorite pieces of writing, and the first half has grown more amazing to me over time.
"I'm surprised to see Beautiful Losers at #1, I've never heard of it before, is it indeed incredible?"
I can't say if you'd like Beautiful Losers or not. It's less of a novel than a series of wild hallucinations. It's manages to be both sacred (the book is structured as a rambling prayer to a 300 year old Mohawk saint) and profane. I would only recommend it to the adventurous reader, and even then, it's not for everyone.
Salut F., old and loud friend! I wonder if your memory will persist.
Catcher in the Rye seems like an anomaly for me. Sure it's a resoundingly influential book, but I found it to be artistically lacking. I can see it being a revelation if you live in a small town like half a century ago, but if not then it's quite forgettable. It pales in comparison to something like Heart of Darkness, which I think is quite excellent. It's not that Salinger is a poor writer, but Catcher in the Rye certainly doesn't convince me he was anything special.