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Great Literature

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Delphi
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 36
What kind of reads would you people suggest for a nice classic summer leisure list? I have a bunch of titles written down, and I have already started off fairly lightly. I just finished J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, which was a pretty sick start. Never knew it was so violent and dark. I'm moving on to the Louis Rhead version of Robin Hood and from there, I want to take on some Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wolfe, etc. What do you people love reading/re reading?
Mar 13 2009 12:20AM
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skier_boy26
Posts: 11295 - Karma: 502
don quixote is always an arduous but rewarding read.
and although not "literature," the odyssey has been a favorite of mine over the past few years. Practically the only damn thing I've read more than once in that span.
Mar 13 2009 12:27AM
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Dan.
Posts: 7201 - Karma: 1,126
I'm currently re-reading the divine comedy, if you want some insight into yourself and humanity
Mar 13 2009 12:30AM
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ski_ENDUB
Posts: 2535 - Karma: 86
I just finished The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins, pretty good book about the Carlisle Indian Football team in the 1890's to 1900's
Mar 13 2009 1:09AM
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Hugh_Conway_jr
Posts: 746 - Karma: 467

Try some Beat literature on for size. Maybe start with some Kerouac ... "Dharma bums", "on the road"...so on.  The Beat scene is huge and intertwined; it makes for a great literary and poetic undertaking. 

Mar 13 2009 4:27AM
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skithe49th
Posts: 2487 - Karma: 14
right now reading chuang tsu's Art of War...pretty sweet teaches technique and how to go about things and get what you want. It's more of a political look at leading people around that military strategy and stuff.
Mar 13 2009 5:55AM
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sarahskis
Posts: 1587 - Karma: 41
Jurrasic Park is a great read, as is Amazonia by James Rollins. He's a great author and really knows how to suck you in
Mar 13 2009 6:50AM
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Twaddler
Posts: 1197 - Karma: 109
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is good for the summer if thats what you're into
Mar 13 2009 6:54AM
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sarahskis
Posts: 1587 - Karma: 41

Its interesting, thats for sur3

Mar 13 2009 6:58AM
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pwdales
Posts: 132 - Karma: 12
Steinbeck is teh sickest author ever. Grapes of wrath, tortilla flat, cannery row, east of eden all must reads.
Mar 13 2009 8:39AM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are 2 authors you should most definitely read.
Mar 13 2009 8:56AM
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yelsel
Posts: 12967 - Karma: 3,451
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen-great book.
Mar 13 2009 9:09AM
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summersover
Posts: 5777 - Karma: 233
if Homer is considered literature then the Iliad and Odyssey are amazing
Mar 13 2009 9:19AM
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Dosh
Posts: 1818 - Karma: 14
Nabokov: Lolita
Proust: In Search of Lost Time
Joyce: Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses
Thomas Woolf: You Can't Go Home Again
Nikolai Gogol: Collected Tales
Alice Munro: Carried Away

Mar 13 2009 9:25AM
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Skavengers303
Posts: 964 - Karma: 192

definatly go with hunter s thompsons fear and loathing or hells angles, both are amazing books

also

gerogre orwell's-1984 or animal farm

lewis carals alice in wonderland/through the looking glass

aldus huxley's brave new word

into the wild, i forgot the guys name

between a rock and a hard place- definatly read that one

chuck what ever his last name is, prety much anything from him. choke and fightclub as my favs

neil strass-THe Game

i got more but those are probably my top

Mar 13 2009 3:23PM
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king.tubby
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 122
truth.  "desolation angles" is my fav by kerouac


Mar 13 2009 3:27PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
redwall books.

Mar 13 2009 4:41PM
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MagSeven
Posts: 1000 - Karma: 412

If it hasn't been said yet, Haruki Marukami is an author everyone should check out.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is one of the best novels I've ever read. And Norwegian Wood is a modern classic.

Mar 13 2009 4:54PM
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3mania
Posts: 2614 - Karma: 10,380
def read "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and " The Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway
Mar 13 2009 4:55PM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
I just lost.
Mar 13 2009 4:55PM
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poiuytrewq
Posts: 216 - Karma: 7
cool, i didn't know that.  I had thought about reading that, but i didn't really want to read a technical book about past war strategy.

Definitely read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'brien
Mar 13 2009 4:59PM
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MagSeven
Posts: 1000 - Karma: 412

I spelt it wrong, its Haruki Murakami.

Mar 13 2009 5:08PM
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dbstar
Posts: 2038 - Karma: 20
the book ``The Fountainhead`by Ayn Rand is a pretty heavy read if thats what your into, its a book that kind of introduces the author`s philosophy called objectivism... it is a masterpiece of a book.
Mar 13 2009 5:19PM
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Delphi
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 36

I try to stay away from Kerouac, I can't stand his stream of consciousness style

Mar 13 2009 5:54PM
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P4LSkier103
Posts: 235 - Karma: 16
take a look at Hemingway's Nick Adam Stories, if your looking for some good work from him. He has plenty others though

or michael savage: liberalism is a mental disorder. great book, and he does a fair amount of criticism to both sides.
Mar 13 2009 7:35PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,143
You can't just do this "great literature" thing on a whim. If you're looking for a good book to enjoy, that's one thing. If you're trying to obtain a greater appreciation of the bes English Literature has to offer, you have to take university level courses. In that case, actually, you'd probably want to start by reading the Bible (not for its own sake but for the sake of pretty much everything coming afterwards).

That being said, judging by the fact that you're starting with Peter Pan and Robin Hood, you're probably just looking for a good page-turner from a couple hundred years back, for which purpose I always suggest to non-English-majors "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins. It's fun.
Mar 13 2009 7:43PM
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miker92
Posts: 621 - Karma: 36
these arent remotely what i would call "light summer reading" but theyre all books everyone should read. ive read all the ones listed and i threw in really quick generalizations of their topics.

-Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut. Unconventional WWII story- main character randomly travels through time, experiences horrors of war from a strange perspective. Culminates with the brutal fire bombing of Dresden, Germany by the Allies, which Vonnegut witnessed. Very complex book, impossible to describe both briefly and accurately.  It's a book that really forces you to think about different perspectives, what matters in life, etc.

-All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque. The classic war novel. You were probably forced to read it in school. If you did so without experiencing some kind of drastic, horrible epiphany about war and human reality in general, you should read it again.

-1984. George Orwell. A look into the future of totalitarian government. This book should scare you shitless. Once again, hard to describe accurately here. I'm starting to get lazier as this post goes on.

-READ THIS ONE-Brothers and Keepers. John Edgar Wideman- True story about life in Pittsburgh's impoverished Homewood section. The author relates how his brother, Robbie, became disillusioned by his lack of opportunity, became entangled in the drug and crime scene, and ended going to prison for life for murder. A really deep exploration of the poor black inner-city experience of the '70s, which really hasn't changed much. Probably the single most important work for every naive rich asshole in the world to read. Once again, there's much more to it than I've said here.

-READ THIS ONE-The Confessions of Nat Turner. William Styron. Very long but doesn't seem so if you enjoy reading. Ridiculously well written, it is a complete psychoanalysis of the leader of the only successful slave revolt in American history. Displays all imagineable facets of the institution of slavery. I used to think some black jokes were funny before I read this book. Now I'm ashamed of myself for having never recognized the true meaning of racism, no matter how base its application. The manliest of manly men should cry at some point during this book. Don't attempt to read it if you are abnormally immature.

Others fully worth reading but that I don't feel like describing:
Huck Finn, Fahrenheit 451, Winesburg Ohio, Anthem, Peace Like a River, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tale of Two Cities.

There are plenty more, and of course scores more that I have yet to read. These should be a good start though.




Mar 13 2009 10:29PM
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poh_money
Posts: 609 - Karma: 66
we read nine stories by j.d. salinger in school and the stories are axtually dope, they all have a connection
Mar 13 2009 10:43PM
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seemeski
Posts: 4210 - Karma: 124
The Fixer - Bernard Malamud
Mans Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl (about a doctors time in Auschwitz, fascinating stuff.)
Mar 13 2009 11:02PM
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BigRodRiley
Posts: 1265 - Karma: 36
Salman Rushdie - Midnights Children
Mar 13 2009 11:19PM
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kylecross
Posts: 251 - Karma: 12
If you are in to philosophy and the sort, The Alchemist is the only book you would ever really need to read. (forget the bible)  And it's a short read at that!

Otherwise Ender's Game is my favorite book that I have read to date and I would suggest it to anyone especially if you're going for a fun read.
Mar 13 2009 11:26PM
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emopoppins
Posts: 3996 - Karma: 269
i dont read a lot of books but the last two i read happened to be bangers. 1984 by george orwell was just a fascinating fiction that examines oligarchy at it's finest. Malcolm X (the autobiography written by alex haley narrated by Malcolm X) is captivating in how it reveals the true human being behind the misrepresented "hatah". really, i had no clue malcolm x struggled like he did, and transformed from a man filled with contempt and hate to an understanding human being, only to be assassinated, when the metamorphosis had been completed. check it out dug.
Mar 13 2009 11:31PM
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ax_murderer
Posts: 3322 - Karma: 30
DUNE by frank herbert. must read best sci-fi ever written probably.
ender's game is a fun and easy read, sick book
great gatsby for sure as intro to fitzgerland, my dad just got me a full works of fitzgerald im stoked.
seperate peace, easy read but one of my favorites
robert ludlum writes great action books easy reads very good

Mar 13 2009 11:33PM
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ax_murderer
Posts: 3322 - Karma: 30
halfway through, its goood
Mar 13 2009 11:40PM
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speedy29
Posts: 868 - Karma: 10
Anything by hemingway expecially garden of eden sadly unfinished but a great read also the sun also rises one of his most famous.

East of Eden by steinbeck is also a must read. Kinda long but definatly one of my favorites of all time.

Sherlock Holmes is a great read very entertaining but still keeps you thinking.

Catcher in the Rye a book that you will read quickly but very worth while.

The Good Earth a longer book but I found it very interesting. It follows the life of a Chinese pesant farmer from the time of a young adult to him becoming wealthy to the end of his life.

All things fall apart about the life of an African man and also how missionaries came in and trampled over the customs and belives of the Africans

The Pearl helped make stienbeck famous not my favorite but stilla good book.

There are so many great books you should just find stuff you like a keep reading alot.
Mar 14 2009 4:33AM
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Obama001
Posts: 12 - Karma: 10
Isn't Peter Pan like some disney kids' shit? Why don't you get back to us when you hit a high school reading level, bucko.
Apr 10 2009 6:49PM
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Pippin
Posts: 4846 - Karma: 661
predictably irration
Apr 10 2009 7:13PM
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Mr.Panda
Posts: 17711 - Karma: 564
Peter Pan is a classic novel like White Fang, Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, and Huck Finn....  go troll elsewhere.

Flags of Our Fathers
Band of Brothers
A Rumor of War
White Fang
Call of the Wild

all those books i can read multiple times and still enjoy them.
Apr 10 2009 7:16PM
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Peter.
Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,014
hahaha yes! they always make me feel so nerdy, but they are so amazing. finished one in a day last summer. But really, read The Edge of Never, it's about Kye Peterson
Apr 10 2009 7:20PM
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Dosh
Posts: 1818 - Karma: 14
A la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust is considered by many to be the greatest novel of the 20th century. You could spend all summer reading it at a fairly steady pace. It's a seven-volume book and has been the greatest piece of literature IMO that i have ever stumbled upon. I seriously get chills from the author's writing style. Lots of sections of the book and phrases that feel like Proust wrote them specifically for the reader. The books are as follows:
1) Du côté de chez Swann/Swann's Way
2) À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs/In The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
3) Le Côté de Guermantes/TheGuermantes Way
4)Sodome et Gomorrhe/Sodom and Gomorrah
5)La Prisonnière/The Captive
6)Albertine disparue/The Sweet Cheat Gone
7)Le Temps retrouvé/Time Regained

Read it in that order as well.
Apr 10 2009 7:44PM
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sklermang
Posts: 2981 - Karma: 1,954
check out native son by richard wright
Apr 10 2009 7:49PM
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Dosh
Posts: 1818 - Karma: 14
i really enjoyed that as well as Black Boy
Apr 10 2009 8:05PM
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saskskier
Posts: 4774 - Karma: 10,005
The Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy - Nordoff Hall
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Collector - John Fowles
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Apr 10 2009 8:30PM
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7840 - Karma: 22,121
last summer I read The Whale, aka Moby Dick, most of the time it was kind of boring and felt like work, but I had to finish it, cause it was exciting in kind of a roundabout way. I also read George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, which is now one of my favourite books, I read it on a rainy day and then wished there was more of it. I would also recommend pretty much anything by Alistair MacLeod, especially his short story collection As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and other stories. The Boughwolfen by Al Pittman is another good short story collection, very "readable". I always like reading Dickens, guy knew how to make a good story, if nothing else. I've pretty much finished my LitClaim for now.
Apr 10 2009 9:41PM
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GhostfaceKillah
Posts: 3398 - Karma: 10
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Republic by Plato (I haven't read it, but it is one of my goals to read through the entire work)
Apr 10 2009 9:44PM
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Mr.Panda
Posts: 17711 - Karma: 564
i read The Republic (all of it) for my Honors Lit Class fall quarter.  it was fucking hard, but was very, idk, thought provoking is the word right?
Apr 10 2009 9:50PM
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Alex=God
Posts: 2422 - Karma: 139
wild fire  and plum island by nelson demille
Apr 10 2009 9:52PM
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7840 - Karma: 22,121
I got a copy of that book for free and used it to make a modified book project for an art class. I filled it with chalk rubbings of different textures I would find around and then made drawing in it inspired by the rubbings
Apr 10 2009 9:52PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
Click for larger image
Apr 10 2009 10:05PM
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skeedle
Posts: 6156 - Karma: 628
solid choices.
and lolita.
Apr 10 2009 10:14PM
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selkirks
Posts: 1978 - Karma: 59
I wouldn't call it literature necessarily, but The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is a great read.

Other than that,

Mythology - Thomas Bulfinch
The Odyssey - Homer
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
Apr 10 2009 10:25PM
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