There are no books one MUST read in their lifetime.
These are, however, the books that have meant the most to me.
Sun Up sun Down. First book I ever read in first grade. It was pretty short, but the pride and proto-orgasmic pleasure I felt reading it will never leave me.
The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Chad Stearns ccame up to me and threw The Hobbit on my desk in fifth grade in Mt. Vernon, Missouri and said 'Read it, you'll like it." I read it three times in one weekend. He was right. I blew through the other three books in short order, too. Times moved slower then, and money was scarce in my family at that point(1982) so I might have had to wait until Christmas to get the books.
Doctor Faustus: by Thomas Mann. This very modern novel traces the career of a syphilitic classical composer who sells his soul to become the greatest living composer. At the same time, his country sells it's soul to fascism. Resonates all the more with me as I'm an American and it's hard not to see parallels in Mann's depiction of the rise of fascist thought with elements in American society these past several decades.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. 11 year olds should not read this. I did, though and it messed me up for decades.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. As a work of literature it's probably inferior to the Grapes of Wrath. but I liked it better, at least at the time. At fifteen. I read the whole damned thing in one day for a school assignment. Mom let me stay home from school. It kicked off a sort of Steinbeck marathon for me. I read most of his works in the next year.
The Subterranneans. Once I wrote a poem that was based on my idea of how Jack Kerouac wrote before I had actually even read Jack Kerouac. When I read the Subterranneans I was impressed(with myself) that I had got the rhythm and style more or less right. I like this one and On the Road OK. The rest of his stuff that I have read kind of bores me though. He had good passages.
Shakespeare's Collected Works. The big-ass Penguin edition. Annotated, because the notes are fascinating. When I skipped class in college I was usually in the library reading this stuff. Rock 'n' roll.
Collected Poems by Kenneth Patchen. the one with the picture of Patchen looking like Marlon Brando on the cover. Had a profound effect on me.
Sula by Toni Morrison. Beloved is even better but I read Sula first. Damn it, I need to read the rest of her stuff. If there's a better author living, I'll eat my cap--which is like drenched daily in sweat from my seven km walk and is pretty gross and stinky. That's how firmly I feel about it.
A Song of Ice and Fire. I almost feel ashamed because it's so popular it's gotta be uncool at this point. But what can I say? As a piece of story-telling it's the most enjoyable thing I've read since the Lord of the Rings.
Parsival by Richard Monaco. Pure poetry. Poetic sex scenes, too. Probably fueled more masturbatory fantasies than any porn,which I've never actually really liked at all.
The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen. Absolutely hands down the ANGRIEST MOST RIGHTEOUS BOOK EVER WRITTEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment