Whenever I'm in a book store I always write down titles that catch my eye and add them to a list when I get home. I thought it'd be interesting for us to share our reading lists (because I know I'm not the only one that does this). If someone has read something on your list, let's hear your thoughts on it, is it worth it? Here's mine (part of it anyway):
A Game of Thrones — George R. R. Martin
Black Swan Green — David Mitchell
Desert of Souls, The — Howard Andrew Jones
Diviner’s Tale, The — Bradford Morrow
Don’t be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies — Guillermo Del Toro
Door to Lost Pages, The — Claude Lalumiere
Embassytown — China Miéville
Fluke — Christopher Moore
Galapagos — Kurt Vonnegut
Gideon’s War — Howard Gordon
Ghostwritten — David Mitchell
Great Gatsby, The — F Scott Fitzgerald
Half Made World, The — Felix Gilman
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — Susanna Clarke
Les Misérables — Victor Hugo
Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, The — Christopher Moore
Mariette in Ecstasy — Ron Hansen
Northern Lights — Philip Pullman
Number9Dream — David Mitchell
Quantum Thief, The — Hannu Rajaniemi
See Under; Love — David Grossman
Silent Land, The — Graham Joyce
Slaughterhouse Five — Kurt Vonnegut
Stardust — Neil Gaiman
Stupidest Angel, The — Christopher Moore
Watchers — Dean Koontz
Watership Down — Richard Adams
Wyrd Sisters — Terry Pratchett
13th Hour, The — Richard Doetsch
Children’s Books:
Magician’s Elephant, The — Kate DiCamillo
Serendipity Market — Penny Blubaugh
Tombs of Atuan, The — Ursula K. LeGuin
Un Lun Dun — China Miéville
When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Grace Lin
let me start with Watchers. I hate Dean Koontz. I LOVE the Watchers. Highly recommended.
And...does everyone already know about my creepy love affair with Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby??? They should. Not only should you read that book, you should STUDY that book. Notice his use of color in his descriptions. Daisy describes her childhood as being white, meaning empty, vapid and void. The girls at the party wear matching yellow dresses - yellow the color of excess, of gold, and allthe greedy little things.
And his use of the dash is epic. Also, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg.
Okay. Done. for now
Yes, Gatsby is...well I'm part of that cult. *ahem* I mean club.
Kurt Vonnegut- Slaughterhouse 5
Albert Camus- The Stranger
Upton Sinclair- The Jungle.
William S Burroughs- Junkie.
Dante- The Inferno. (I keep failing to finish it.)
Adolf Hitler- Mein Kampf
James Joyce- Ulysses (Also fail to finish.)
The last couple Dark Tower books.
Raymond Chandler books.
Alexander Dumas- The Three Musketeers.
Ernest Hemingway- The Man and the Sea.
Beowulf.
Canterbury Tales.
Ken Kesey- One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.
Tom Wolff- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
Just author names I haven't read enough to commit them to my permanent memorized list:
Frank Bill
Richard Brautigan
Craig Davidson
Joe Hill
Mat Johnson
Thomas McGuane
John O'Brien
Tom Piccirilli
George Saunders
David J Schow
Mona Simpson
Mein Kampf was more than frightening to read. My junior year history teacher assigned it as extra credit. When I say it's frightening, I mean on two levels. One, the entire holocaust is outlined in the book, so it's eerie in that aspect. Two, and more frightening, when you read pieces of his ideology you find yourself nodding and agreeing, which i believe is truly disturbing. Definitely move that to top of your list.
Fitzgerald works magic with words. He uses them to cast spells. Read This Side of Paradise, Averydoll. He takes the simplest of words and paints masterpieces with them.
I'll be reading:
The Poems of Dylan Thomas
Theater Illuminata 1
a book about writing
The Great Gatsby
Variant
probably another book on writing
All's Quiet on the Western Front
By this time it should be February, which means I'll be picking up
That New Book By Anne Rice With Werewolves and Shit
That New Book BY Dan Wells That Uses Way Too Many Commas But I'm Gonna Read It Anyway
probably another book on writing.
There are others, but I can't remember their names atm. I'll update later on when I'm not in the office.
I've read This Side of Paradise!! Love it. Fitzgerald was a master. I can't agree more.
