Your favorite books — Page 2

Favorite novels: WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte for the sheer beauty of its language and the parallelism of the two generations.

MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather for the brilliance of its description of rural Nebraska and also for the beauty of its language.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee because of the common sense displayed by its central character, Atticus Finch and the keen observations of the children.

It may or may not be fiction: ANGELA'S ASHES by frank McCourt. Some people are saying he made up much of this, but it is a harrowing depiction of a dysfunctional family and possibly a dysfunctional segment of our society.

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I forgot about TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD! It's one of my favorites. But it's probably on the reading list for next year. I remember I had to read it over the summer between my sophomore and junior year, write a book report, and a character analysis.

I chose Boo.

1984 was a really interesting read. There are a lot of parallels with today.

Question: Has anyone read Naked Lunch? And if so, how does one read it?

I really want to read it because my sisters girlfriend is always talking about how much she liked it, and it sounds interesting, but I've tried to read it multiple times and I just get horribly confused each time.

I tend to read and love a lot of dystopian fiction, especially Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood (they're loosely related to each other). I also loved Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Cormac McCarthy's The Road is also fantastic, albeit not so much dystopian as it is post-apocalyptic.

I'm currently reading the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin and I am obsessed.

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Dream Boy is a beautiful novel. The movie is pretty bad...

CJ I read Naked Lunch as a teen and didn't get it. I still don't.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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CJ,

One more thing you need to consider: the time one spends in "empty calorie" reading is that much less time one could have spent reading something to enhance or enrich one's life. Once that time is gone, there's no getting it back. Time is precious; it needs to be spent wisely.

Therefore, why choose scrub terrain when a beautiful landscape offers itself before you? Beauty is truth, that's what we are told, and it's true. There's more beauty in a page, a paragraph, a line of Proust than in a hundred volumes of "popular fiction."

And if you're short on time, I'd say turn to poetry. A simple quatrain of Robert Herrick suffices to know enchantment.

So don't listen to those who would steer you away from beauty. Go out and experience as much as you can.

Updated On: 10/15/12 at 06:48 PM

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Why, thank you, CJ. I take that as a compliment.

Except I don't have a Welsh accent. :)

CJ,

Saki's short stories are easy to read, and very enjoyable.

In any event, I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to read.

I'd say Naked Lunch is a fabulous read. Also, Gone With the Wind is a wonderful book.
Have you read Tom Wolfe's non-fiction pieces? (His fiction isn't as compelling. Bonfire of the Vanities is doable but his non-fiction short stories are great. He also wrote a book about the beat generation called The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test that is very good. It's based on Wolfe's experiences traveling with the minds of the beat generation.)

You might enjoy On the Road, too.

Also, since you like horror-have you read much true crime? I find that scarier than King even. I read tons of true crime books. Ann Rule's book The Stranger Beside Me is really great-it's about her experience working alongside Ted Bundy (yes, alongside-he worked on a crisis hotline). She's a Seattle detective who writes prolifically about cases she's worked on. She really is a terrific writer-you can't put her books down.

There are classic true crime books-Helter Skelter is considered a classic of sorts. The author is Vincent Bugliosi and he was the prosecutor in the Manson trials. And someone else mentioned In Cold Blood.

I also like John Douglas-he's a forensics expert with a specialty in profiling. He worked on the Ramsay case in Colorado, and has written a bunch of books about cases that haven't been solved and criminal profiling.

Finally, in current events, the Green Beret Murderer is headed back to trial it looks like. The original book "Fatal Vision" by Joe McGuinness provides rather damning evidence against the person. However, a new book, "A Wilderness of Error" by Errol Morris has uncovered new evidence that claims to disprove the original conviction.

Anyway, just my suggestions.

The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper is excellent, and it heavily features flashbacks to high school.

Add Bel Canto-that book is one I cannot put down.