Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP:

I am so tempted to tell you which to avoid in my opinion...but I won't unless you ask.

Clockwork Orange was nearly impossible to read. It's got a glossary in the back and fake words throughout. The movie is really disturbing.

Joseph Conrad LOVES to describe shit. Seriously, I think heart of darkness has two pages devoted to describing a hill with a tree on it.

I found some books that I hadn't read. Secret History looks entertaining.

The "fake words" in A Clockwork Orange are almost all Russian words or variations on them.

Anonymous wrote:Here are my comments for what they are worth, lol:


Didn't Read, No opinion:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend -- I also didn't read, sorry
Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy -- depressing as hell, there's an early 80's movie
The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse -- haven't read this but he wrote terrific comedies, also movies and Broadway shows including Anything Goes (along with Cole Porter)
Middlemarch, George Eliot -- long but great
The Secret History, Donna Tartt -- haven't read but The Goldfinch, which she wrote, is amazing
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons -- there is a movie if you don't want to read the book, which is hilarious
Dune, Frank Herbert -- absolute classic, also a classic sci-fi file
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K Dick -- this is what Blade Runner was based on
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler -- another great book that is also a great movie with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Dangerous Liaisons, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos -- haven't read the book but I hope everyone has seen the movie!!
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP:

I am so tempted to tell you which to avoid in my opinion...but I won't unless you ask.

Clockwork Orange was nearly impossible to read. It's got a glossary in the back and fake words throughout. The movie is really disturbing.

Joseph Conrad LOVES to describe shit. Seriously, I think heart of darkness has two pages devoted to describing a hill with a tree on it.

I found some books that I hadn't read. Secret History looks entertaining.

Anonymous wrote:Here are my comments for what they are worth, lol:

Read and Agree:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

I should probably read:
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
1984, George Orwell
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (My husband loves this book)
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie (My husband also loves this book)
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Read and didn't really care for (but probably because I was forced to read in school):
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

Didn't Read, No opinion:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend
Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse
Middlemarch, George Eliot
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Dune, Frank Herbert
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K Dick
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
Dangerous Liaisons, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a good place to start. Especially if you don't recognize most of the titles.

I like this list of novels by modern library. A bit more varied.

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

Varied? It is almost entirely a list of books by white men.

Ok, so that's your definition of varied, I suppose. I'm not threatened by the idea that a lot of white men have written really good books. Why are you?

I'm not, I've read most of them, but let's not pretend that is a variety of literary voices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Love Kundera and Dostoevsky. I could spend hours pondering one gorgeous sentence. Also, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a good place to start. Especially if you don't recognize most of the titles.

I like this list of novels by modern library. A bit more varied.

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

Hmmm. There are some good ones in there but I think that list lost credibility with me by listing three Joyce novels. I’d rather stick pins in my hand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Of course! Unbearable Lightness of Being was so good. As for the Russians, Turgenev was always my favorite, but he's less-well known. Fathers and Sons was beautiful.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)