The Road To Wigan Pier is still a good read, in that vein.

I've read these. The only ones I didn't care much for were On The Road and Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Happy reading!

Glad to hear you're on the up and up, PB, though it does seem to make it more likely that you're ok with misogyny of that level of virulence., kinda a bummer. Polystyrene should kick your ass.

You're welcome Ayah,

However I must ask if you really think that people are jaded, or have resigned themselves to it?

btw, there is an interesting article about the death of the internet that is a great read because it concerns all of us.
http://www.alternet.org/story/14454/

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - READ
Naked Lunch - READ
Animal Farm - avoid
A Clockwork Orange - read
Catch 22 - read
The Grapes of Wrath - read
Brave New World - AVOID
Fahrenheit 451 - avoid
Notes from the Underground - haven't gotten to it yet, but by judging Dostoevsky's other work, READ
A Confederacy of Dunces - read
The Catcher in the Rye - read but don't expect a masterpiece
To Kill a Mockingbird - AVOID
A Million Little Pieces - avoid
Last Exit to Brooklyn - read

I've read 25 of this list. What I am, amused, about is that no one asked what the hell is this list? Why do you HAVE to read it? Obviously this invokes some notion of school... and no school of any repute would have you read this jumble of titles?

Several dissed Confederacy of Dunces (ayah? whose cool and removed perspective and critical engagement in this cyber fast food board I most admire). I thought it was a brilliant work... but I have this sense it was read when I was much younger, and may not hold. I remember re-reading Fowles The Magus a decade or so ago... it was a book that a great impact on me when I was a teen... and it was total drivel.

So, in a sense you are asking about the idea of these books...not the books.

you should read all the books ever.

I agree this is a very school-y list.

The next person who doesn't recognize the genius of Confederacy of Dunces is going on my list of cocksuckers-to-haunt-after-I'm-dead.

I disagree. While some may smell of the hallowed halls of school, there's a reason for such. Some of them simply put are great literature. The thing is though, I would probably point to Gatsby or Huck Finn before I would say a school was preaching Confed. of D. Also, I doubt many high schoolers would be on a reading level to even comprehend some of these titles. Perhaps college? I stand by the same statement.

Where are the Ayn Rand books btw?

i've read a bunch of these, but only have comments on a few.

Brave New World - i liked it, but could find how people would find it terribly boring. i think huxley has a lot to say and covers much of it very well.

The Catcher in the Rye - i haven't read this since high school. if you don't like it within the first twenty pages, i think you can set it aside.

High Fidelity - this is excellent. it blows the movie away.

A Long Way Down - i just read this a month ago. it took awhile to get into, but it came off alright. the more i thought about it and then discussed it with other people, the more i liked it. i wouldn't've read it unless i liked nick hornby, though. it's not really essential at all.

Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture - it's just a bunch of thurston moore's friends' mixes from over the years. a lot of them don't even look very good. this is one to skim over at borders or your library for five minutes.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - this dies near the end, but is pretty good up until then.

Me Talk Pretty One Day - the first half is some of the funniest non-fiction i've ever read.

To Kill a Mockingbird - i haven't read it since high school, but i liked it a lot. i think the movie's better, though.

Last Night a Dj Saved My Life - this book was tremendously influential on me. i often use the playlists in the back as a reference. and i try to read a section once in awhile. if you're at all interested in the history of any genre highlighted, it'll be worthwhile solely for that.

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs - a few funny/interesting commentaries, but goes downhill at the end.

American Psycho - outrageously graphic, at times. i'd say it's bret easton ellis' best.[/quote]

But there's also a ton on there that are on my reading list.

and add brothers karamazov on there. best book ever. period.

you've got a lot of great books listed. i've only read the above books and the only one i didn't love was fast food nation, not for any reason in particular, it just wasn't my favorite.

i see that you have trainspotting on your list. when you're done with that, definitely check out welsh's porno. not only does it tell the story of the trainspotting guys nine years later, it's also a much easier read. welsh has mercy on his readers and alternates chapters with scottish phonetics and english.

Exquisite Corpse was beyond horrible. Not horrific enough for a horror story, not gay enough...well, no, it was quite gay enough thank, probably too gay...for some reason a lot of goths consider Poppy Z. Brite mandatory reading...but maybe it's those "I'm so emo" types.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

here's a one brief review of the ones i have read

Private Parts - lame
On The Road - overrated
1984 - good
Animal Farm - good
Slaughterhouse-Five - great
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - excellent
Catch 22 - kinda boring
The Metamorphosis - excellent
The Grapes of Wrath - maybe my favorite on this list
Notes from the Underground - very good
The Acid House - good
A Confederacy of Dunces - decent, but vastly overrated
The Catcher in the Rye - excellent
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - tedious, but not unrewarding
Me Talk Pretty One Day - how long was i asleep?
To Kill a Mockingbird - outstanding
The Stranger - excellent
The Sun Also Rises - excellent
Fast Food Nation - very good
American Psycho - least favorite on this list. i don't like people who like this book.
[/quote]

i will add that 'maribou stork nightmares' is an excellent irvine welsh book and i will disagree with the dude who likes 'porno.' i also believe that there are books on your list that you should read immediately, such as 'mockingbird, 'grapes of wrath,' and ' sun also rises.' i would check out more steinbeck if you haven't, too.

come get me, motherfucker. i say it's unpublishable without the suicide. decent at best!!!

Naked Lunch - A difficult, but ultimately rewarding read

1984
Animal Farm - Both of these Orwell books are still terrifyingly applicable today.

Slaughterhouse-Five - Vonnegut at his best.

A Clockwork Orange - I had a hard time getting through it. It's undoubtedly a work of genius, but be prepared to travel back to the glossary a lot to get definitions of the words you're reading. Takes a lot of patience.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Inspired.

Catch 22 - One of the funniest, most scathingly insightful books ever.

A Confederacy of Dunces - One of the funniest books ever

The Catcher in the Rye - It's everything you've heard it is. Depending on your age, you'll get different things from it.

Me Talk Pretty One Day - Laugh out loud funny

To Kill a Mockingbird - You'll fly through this one. One of my all-time favorites.

A Million Little Pieces - My wife just devoured this book. "Who gives a shit whether or not he made some of it up. It's all true -- whether it happened to him or not. You can't make shit like that up."

I don't need to read it when I live it.

I like 'Notes From The Underground' (the first few pages especially resonate with me) but I think a lot of it is down to what translation you have. I have the Jessie Coulson translation at home but I recently looked at a different translation in a 2nd hand book shop and thought 'Hey, maybe this is why most people don't like this book..."

these are the ones i've read

On The Road- definitely worth it, surprised you haven't read it yet
Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas- ditto

1984- ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. this is definitely one of my all time favorite books and is just so deep, so scary. completely messes with the way you look at everything. ESSENTIAL

Animal Farm- pretty good. probably more fun to read when you're younger.

Slaughterhouse-Five- don't get people who don't like vonnegut. he's my favorite author and if you haven't read "cat's cradle" at that to this list immediately. you should read at least these two by him just to get a taste of his style.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- definitely read this. very entertaining.

Catch 22- honestly, not a big fan. i've never finished it but i've read the beginning parts many times and just can never get into it

The Grapes of Wrath- steinbeck is good.

Brave New World- very necessary in my mind. this, 1984, and vonnegut's player piano are an important triumverate of future-governments-that-are-scary books

Fahrenheit 451- a surprising meh. lot of hype; thought i would love it, but no

Fight Club- pretty good. pahlaniuk (sp) is interesting enough. good entertaining book and i like a lot of the way he did things in the book much better than the film

The Catcher in the Rye- another one i'm very surprised you haven't read yet. kind of an important book and contains some great passages.

High Fidelity- entertaining read but not terribly good. i'd put hornsby in the same category as pahlaniuk...that is to say good fun entertaining modern authors, but nothing groundbreaking by any means


Me Talk Pretty One Day- very funny, good light entertaining stuff. i saw sedaris speak once and he was very engaging. highly recommended.

To Kill a Mockingbird- another very important book definitely worth reading

The Stranger- awesome. awesomer in french, bien sûr. there's a recent translation that is much better than that which existed in the past. essential french lit.

Stupid White Men
Fast Food Nation
The Gospel According to The Simpsons
Dude Where's My Country

the above four i'm going to lump together as not very substantial, somewhat entertaining. everything else i've described here is much more worth the time than these.

A Tale of Two Cities- this i found INCREDIBLY boring. couldn't finish it. hardly read any of it.

very much disagree that the concepts are dated. the idea of newspeak and the linguistic depths into which he plunged in the appendices are so interesting and really get one thinking about just how easy it would be to control the consciousness of the populace through these sorts of vocabulary limiting tricks. if anything, the idea that "big brother" and corporate speak are things that we are all familiar with and that aren't really shocking anymore are shocking in and of themselves. it makes you realize just how scary the present is in that these things that orwell tries to make seem so futuristic and horrible are part of our lives now and it doesn't really bother us.

Good lord, read Cuckoo's Nest as soon as possible. Amazing book that has been overshadowed by a great movie and locked into Jack Nicholson's image. That book has it all...

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