Literature Anyone?

[Brisco Bold]

I actually read a ridiculous amount, there are times when I've read about 400 or so books a year. Lots of "high literature," I guess you could call it.

I'm going through that phase now. This summer I've read like 11 books.

And, enigmajelly, I'm loving Huck Finn. Maybe I'm weird or somethin'.

So, I finally read it at the beginning of this year, and wow. It changed my life. What a brilliant, brilliant work it is.

I have a friend of mine who's been bugging me to read this for the last four years. As I worked my way through it, I felt as though I was seeing a different side of my buddy, as if I'd found a way to peer into his brain.

It is quite fantastic.

Anyone read Gulliver's Travels?

[Cowutopia]

Yes, and it's pretty good. But I'm not a big fan of Swift, he was too serious. The other satirists are much more fun....except for Pope.

[enigmajelly]

If you like satire, or pastiche more appropriately, read Thomas Pynchon. Hes got some really insightful stuff, and it's all quite funny. I'd start with "The Crying of Lot 49".

On a side note, if you're a big fan of Radiohead, you'll know they use the term W.A.S.T.E., anyway, that comes from 'Lot 49'.

[Regus]

I'm one of the few people that hated Catcher in the Rye, it just felt like one big rambling waste of time. I guess I'm not angsty enough.

[enigmajelly]

I don't know why, but I've never taken even thought about reading Catcher in the Rye. I don't even know what it's about. It's been read by tons of famous assassins and serial killers though...I guess I don't know what to think of that.

Also, 'The Idiot' is getting much better. Apparently the first 300 pages were just an intricate setup to events that are just now starting to happen.

[Nick]

Maybe it's because of all the bad 80's action movies I'd been forcefed, or because the book partly inspired John Lennon's killer, but I was kind of disappointed that Holden Caufield didn't end up going ballistic.

[avatar]

Deliver the Vote by Tracey Campbell. Really interesting look at americas history of voting.

[Saint of Killers]

Oh, and Huck Finn sucks.

No.

Deliver the Vote by Tracey Campbell. Really interesting look at americas history of voting.

I don't know what thread this belongs in, but it's not this one.

[enigmajelly]

I don't know what thread this belongs in, but it's not this one.

[Razor Ramon]

arthur miller arthur miller arthur miller
one of the most important authors EVER.

Miller wrote actual books? I was always under the impression that he only wrote plays. I do have to read Death of a Salesman, though. My old college professor says he won't take anything I write for the newspaper seriously only because I haven't read this book.

If you want a truly great read, Dante's Divine Comedy can't be mentioned enough. I've read Inferno dozens of times and still enjoy it. One of these days, though, I'll have to finish the entire book. I've stuck on the Inferno since high school.

The Iliad, as long and confusing as it is, does have somewhat of an entertainment value. Frankly I think it's wordy as fuck. I also think Achilles is an asshole that shouldn't be made a protagonist in any book. But a lot of people swear by it. I'll take the Oddessey over the Iliad any day, though.

Ralph Ellison's Ivisible Man is a staple in American culture. This book is important for everyone to read no matter what your background is. Ellison's brilliance in this book reminds me of Guns N' Roses: the book was so great it casted a shadow over his career and he was never able to release a decent piece of work again.