I'm going to assume this is a well-read crop of Young Americans (and I think maybe two Brits), and I'm curious to know what some of your favorite books are.

Children's books count, by the way.
Michael Moore does not, unless there's another soucre on your list.
I kid. Tell us what you like, and why.

Hmm. My picks aren't very original. My favorites are probably Gone With the Wind, Brave New World, and the Great Gatsby.

If children's books count, then I'll definately have to add The Polar Express to my list.

I enjoy:

Lolita - Vladmir Nabakov. There's not a lot of sex, like people think. The way a Russian man uses English as a second or third language is amazing, and I can still remember passages when I haven't read it in years.

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk - Legs McNeil. I picked this up after a reccomendation by Ray Davies (not the MB member, the actual Ray Davies) and quite liked it. You learn interesting things, like Nico gave Iggy Pop his first case of the clap!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll. These are beautifully whimsical stories, but I believe to fully appreciate them, an annotated version is a good idea. Victorian jokes aren't that funny when you don't understand them.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee. This is one of the best American books ever, and the only one I had to read in high school that I thoroughly enjoyed. I still cry when I get to the last ten pages or so.

The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein. One of my favorite books as a child, and it's still in my Top Ten. I don't know why I love things that sometimes make me cry.

I am sure that I will have more to come, but these are all I can think of at the moment.

(Edited by MissSeptember at 2:18 pm on Dec. 13, 2003)

I'm slowly reading "Porno" by Irvine Welsh right now. I only like books that don't make me think. And it helps if there's explicit sex, profanity, drug abuse, english dialect, and more sex.

The only Irvine Welsh book I've read is Marabou Stork Nightmares, and I really wasn't all that impressed. I think the three narratives were interesting, but it was kind of hard to get into, in spite of all the violent sex, drug use, accents, and swearing.

for me to poop on!

Oh come on, I thought you of all people would have a field day with this topic...if there's anything you like, it's showing off how smart you are!

well, i was just making a reference to your "I kid."

Regardless, I just got a copy of Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look at the Right" and it's really fucking hilarious. Chapter 2 is entitled "Ann Coulter: Nutcase" and chapter 3 is entitled "You Know Who I Don't Like? Ann Coulter."

favourite novels:

The Stranger -- Albert Camus
The Lord Of The Rings -- J.R.R. Tolkien
Crime And Punishment -- Dostoevsky
Dharma Bums -- Jack Kerouac

other favourites:

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
Bhagavad Gita
Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist 1968-1976

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
The Chronicles of Narnia (entire series) C. S. Lewis
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
A Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding
The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith

I just finished The DaVinci Code and enjoyed that a lot.
My favorites, however, are...

Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler. I could not put this book down. It's this great webbing of about 6 different people who live in NYC, and their lives. So good.
Anything by Douglas Coupland. My favorites are Generation X and Life After God and All Families are Psychotic.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. I think everyone should read this. It's a kid's book, & amazing.
Anything by Nick Hornby.
Anything by Mitch Albom.
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is really good, too. Book and film.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & The Glass Elevator.
Roald Dahl is genuis.

Is that the one about the old man who has to pass all memories and experiences to the "chosen one" because they live in a world where everything is controlled? I had to read that in psychology in high school and really enjoyed it.

I think we read that in 7th grade. I really enjoyed it.

yes.
it's been one of my favorites for a while. i think it's part of middle/high school curriculum ...
it has so many layers concerning action & consciousness, etc. i learn something new each time i read it.

Stuff I like:

Touching From a Distance - Deborah Curtis (Joy Division bio--of sorts)
Ripley Underground- Patricia Highsmith
Watership Down (not sure the author but I thought it a great book in 8th grade)
About A Boy- Nick Hornby
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory & The Great Glass Elevator- Roald Dahl
The Joy of Cooking- Rombauer & Becker ( gets me out of all sorts of cooking binds)
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

I'm lame. My real, true, and honest favorite work of literature (in its loosest definition) would have to be From The Ashes, a.k.a Uncanny X-Men #168-176 by Chris Claremont with art by Paul Smith and John Romita, Jr. Amazing stuff...to me...

Actual booky books would have to be Brave New World, The Great Gatsby, 1984, and Frankenstein...NOT!!

(Edited by DigsySlattery at 1:57 am on Dec. 14, 2003)

Marabou Stork Nightmares isn't the best place to start. Irvine Welsh is one of my favourite authors, and I love the way he uses his dialect to really put you in the mindset of the characters. The book I would recommend is Glue - it follows a group of 4 friends growing up and going through life - and also documents the progress of the friendships. I was absolutely captivated by the way the narrative progressed... from there, it might be a good idea to read Trainspotting. I haven't read the book actually (the shame) - I don't want to buy a copy that has the film poster front cover!!! And then from there, read Porno. It's amazing. And with Porno, it brings together the characters from Glue and Trainspotting. Now this is why I have fallen in love with Welsh - he has literally created an Edinburgh community that I feel like I know so well. I don't know how he does it, I really don't.

At the moment, I am in a big John Steinbeck mode. He's another author that is so talented in the way he creates Californian communities that you end up really caring for. I'm hoping to go to San Francisco later this year just to go to the Steinbeck museum! The Red Pony is the first book to make me cry, which I guess is what made me realise what a superb author he is. Usually when books are set in the past I find them difficult to get into because I have no idea what the culture was like - but that's not a problem with Steinbeck. He is so illustrative... I can't put down East of Eden at the moment

And if I could choose one book in the world? Probably Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Or maybe Cannery Row/Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck. Hmmm, I think I'm due another read of Rebecca...

one more thing.... I love reading music biographies too. One of my favourites was Manchester: England by Dave Haslam. I think the reason I loved it was the first 10 or so chapters were actually about the history of Manchester, and that sets you up nicely in understanding why the music that came out of Manchester is so eclectic, and it also helps you to understand the disposition of the music too.

...richard adams

i'd say my two favorite books are "a picture of dorian gray" by oscar wilde and "crime and punishment" by dostoevsky, though i may love the former a tad more. a few others i enjoy: "a separate peace" by john knowles, "the great gatsby" bye f. scott fitzgerald, and "are you there, god? it's me, margaret" by judy blume. i am ashamed of my lack of out of school reading. i have no excuses for myself.

Have you ever heard of or read Laughter in the Dark by Nabokov? We've passed that book around my house last year, and everyone who read it loved it. It was set in 30's Germany...anyway, very interesting, but it's one of his "lesser" novels.

What is another one of his novels?

The Defense
Glory
Despair
The Gift
Invitation to a Beheading
The Eye
The Enchanter
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
"Ultima Thule"
Bend Sinister
Pnin
Pale Fire
Ada
Transparent Things
Look at the Harlequins!
The Original of Laura

And various other poems and short stories

Not to mention the numerous translations of French and English works he did into Russian.

My favorite book is The Essential Rumi. It goes with me on every trip. My absolute favorite poet/thinker. What a beautiful soul and way ahead of his time. I am currently half-way through several books-The Moon and 6 pence, The Godfather, The Celestine Prophecy and I think that is it right now. I rarely read for pleasure during college but I did finish Organic Chemistry Principles, Theories of Personality, and Practicing Physics among many other textbooks. It is nice to read literature again.

I'm not really sure why any of you waste your time with books. You'll just drive yourself mad. Read a cigarette and smoke a book, you'll live longer. That's what I always say.

My favorite books are:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Faraway, So Close by B. P. Fallon
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

But although I've been a voracious reader for over two decades, I consider myself but an infant in the world of literature. There's so much I haven't read.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 12:39 am on Dec. 15, 2003)

I like Jane Austen "crap" as you guys have all called it before. Whatever, it's fun, witty dialogue.

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

Anything by JD Salinger, especially Franny and Zooey

Tess of the D'urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, both by Thomas Hardy

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is my favorite short story (Tolstoy)

I see that, on the whole, people feel the need to italicize book titles in a way that doesn't move them with films... for shame.

In any case, in order:
1. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
2. The Stranger - Albert Camus
3. The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain
4. Lolita - Vladmir Nabokov
5. Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
6. 1984 - George Orwell
7. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
9. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
10. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien

Admittedly, this is a "safer" list than it should be, but these are my favorite "established classics" I suppose. Some in the next selection may well graduate up to this. And I'm reading Ulysses next summer if all goes well, so that may change things (or it might not).

Favorite books of the past few years include:
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
You Shall Know Our Velocity! - Dave Eggers
How to Be Good - Nick Hornby
After the Quake - Haruki Murakami

The Eggers book is great, but avoid the paperback version, because it has some significant changes that I feel insult the intellegence of the reader and lessen the intensity of the book, almost as though Eggers doesn't trust the paperback audience.

Favorite short story author would have to be Haruki Murakami... all of his stuff is just excellent. It make me wonder where other Eastern authors are in this country... the slight ideological differences bring it to life. Roald Dahl is a close second. So many of his short stories are just amazing, and so unlike his children's lit (also good).

Willl

(Edited by Wiyum at 3:18 am on Dec. 16, 2003)

wow.
i think this the least strongest of Hornby's work.
have you read Songbook yet?

Quite possibly one of the worst books I've ever read. Can you tell me why you enjoyed it? It won so many awards, and I just can't figure out why! I hated the way she played on stereotypes... I hated the way she tried to challenge racism by mentioning it in every bloody action anyone did. I hated her style of writing, I found it too long and convoluted. The book could've been 200 pages shorter. And that ending, oh that ending. It was comical. Nah, I didn't like it!

And while I'm on a rant, what's the deal with Catcher in the Rye?

*ducks flying bottles*

I did really enjoy it... once I started it I couldn't put it down. But I think I'm missing something in it being rated a 'classic' :/

I was going to read Catcher in the Rye, then I decided against shooting a President or a musical genius.

agreed.
high fedility is still his best. although i havent gotten to Songbook yet. ive heard its just a bunch of short essays on his favorites songs though. and even if they are great little paragraphs, i really doubt they wouls hold up against such a great book as high fedility.

they dont, but it's a nice eclectic collection, indeed.

Oooh, I agree about How to be Good not being Hornby's best. I just did not get into it at all. I am reading You Shall Know Our Velocity now, but am just not getting into it like I got into A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I think I'm just not in the mood for Eggers's style right now.

...i've attempted that one, and just haven't been feeling the style yet either. it's the beginning... i'm not sure if i should read it or not, if i want to or not, etc. i hear such acclaim about it though.

House of Leaves is on my Christmas list.....I've read some of it, and it was extremey engrossing. I'm looking forward to finishing it.

How to Be Good is just his most recent, so I brought it up. I liked it alot, probably as much as High Fidelity and a little less than About a Boy.

White Teeth is just my kind of book. I like the look at the four different characters and timeframes, and the pseudo fatalistic way that the past has unforseeable ramifications on the future. Structurally it engaged me, and her "off-the-cuff" style grabbed me from the first page. Her books also read in a manner that ignores the potential for film adaptation (not that it isn't possible; I want to see the BBC miniseries; I'm just saying it isn't a concern in the writing), which is refreshing in a sea of modern literature that almost seems to be written solely so that the author can sell the screen rights.

On that note, Murakami is a genius, and the real gem of my modern picks. The Elephant Vanishes and After the Quake are both short story collections that are a good introduction. The Elephant Vanishes includes my favorite of his short stories, "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning," and After the Quake is great because all six stories deal with the sense of loss that a nation has after a great tragedy (it was written after Japan's Kobe earthquake, but fittingly published in the US in the first months of 2002, when 9/11 was still heavy in the air). Unlike most "tragedy" books, however, most of the characters in the book weren't directly affected by the earthquake. Instead, Murakami meditates on those in a country that has suffered a tragedy that instead have a collective sense of the tragedy. Funny at times, charming at others, but almost always poignant and touching. Highly, highly recommended.

And the Eggers book was a blast for me, but I'm a streamofconciousness fan.

Will

(Edited by Wiyum at 6:01 am on Dec. 17, 2003)

I think it's just not as good of a book. I still really enjoyed it, but it was a lot more one-dimensional than HWOSG. HWOSG had more poignant and personal moments and more interesting interrelated characters, whereas YSKOV is mostly only about one relationship. I think it's worth finishing, though. But then again, like Wiyum, I'm a whore for the stream of consciousness. Hell, I'm one of two people I've ever met who count Kerouac's Visions of Cody as a masterpiece.

A beautiful and ugly book at the same time. It is one of my favorites.

"I wrote at the start that this was a record of hate, and walking there beside Henry towards the evening glass of beer, I found the one prayer that seemed to serve the winter mood: O God, You've done enough, You've robbed me of enough, I'm too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever"

Graham Greene is fantastic.

Just had to say it.

oh.... Naked Lunch by William "tell" S. Burroughs.

I've never read anything by Greene, but that's lovely. Sounds like I need to start.

Read The End of the Affair first...don't see the movie (ever), unless you want to see Ralph Fiennes and nasty Julianne Moore groping each other every 2 seconds. Plus, it'll ruin an interesting twist that is so much more enjoyable to read than to watch.

I've asked for The Sketch Book by Washington Irving for Christmas. Always loved Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle..bet there are some other good shorts in there too...

I've asked for The Sketch Book by Washington Irving for Christmas. Always loved Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle..bet there are some other good shorts in there too...

I bought The Power and the Glory a while back and thought I'd start there. Bad decision, I guess?

That's the first G.G. book I read. It isn't quite as accessible as The End of the Affair, however it is still quite good.

tentative:

DeLilo- White Noise
Rhys- Wide Sargasso Sea
Wolff- The Night in Question

anything by Toni Morrison
Faulkner
Steinbeck
Fitzgerald

I like storytellers.