Book suggestions

[angrybeaverclub]

I am not taking classes this summer, and plan be spending a lot of time reading by my pool, instead. I know that there are a lot of "must read classics" out there that were sadly never required by my public school education, and I also don't trust those "top 100" lists...too commercial

Comments

[power_puffs_lab]

Russian classics.
If you never read Little women that's a cultural refrence. Also Of Mice and Men.

[angrybeaverclub]

I just watched the 1994 version of that movie, so I'll definitely add Little Women to the list, along with Of Mice and Men. Do you have any specific Russian classics to recommend?

[power_puffs_lab]

The Brothers Karamozof.....it's really REALLY testostoroni but still VERY worth reading. It should last you a good portion of the summer too...

[sororbabylon]

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

[angrybeaverclub]

These wouldn't all happen to be related to your major, would they, you Masters Degree woman, you? :D

[bsingle]

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Never Cry Wolf, Farley Mowat

BONUS! Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman - obscure, but worthwhile

[angrybeaverclub]

Squee! A bonus! ;D

Thanks for the suggestions...these titles are all VERY interesting.

[solangenola]

Ooooooh, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Read The Yellow Wallpaper by WW and we could have a discussion about that one that last for hours (which is cool as it is a short story, not a book).

My list is all old classics. Definitely read Little Women (see if you can read through it without crying once, or at least getting choked up).

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is one of absolute favorites.

Any Jane Austen will allow conversation with either me or Urs that lasts hours.

George Orwell's 1984.

Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

I guess my high school english teachers were a bit more strict with the classics than yours. I remember reading one classic after another.

For some more modern books you may want to give Jostein Gaarder a try, especially Sophie's World or The Solitaire Mystery (I'm partial to TSM, myself).

[angrybeaverclub]

I guess my high school english teachers were a bit more strict with the classics than yours. I remember reading one classic after another.

My high school education was a joke. Thank goodness I had my Mom to teach me the ways of the Grammar Nazi! ;D

I'll definitely try to grab a couple of these so that we can have drunken deep conversations at WW.

[ursulagoddess]

Well my suggestions aren't very deep, or great classics, but they're stories that I enjoy reading and re-reading without finding them stale.

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tam
Fried Green Tomato's, Fannie Flag
The Other Boleyn Girl, Phillipa Gregory
Mama Day, Gloria Naylor

Ditto the Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice is my favorite of what I've read of hers' so far.

Also, most of these books have been made into movies and if you're looking to read the book, watch the movie and compare the differences, I'd start with these.

[angrybeaverclub]

I actually have a really old copy of GWTW of my Mom's, and I love to break it out every year or so to re-read.

I've seen the movies for your top four suggestions, and I really liked all of them; however, I've never seen a movie and read the same book and liked the movie better. The book always fleshes out all of the details and back stories that really make the characters interesting but can't be included due to time limits for movies.

Actually, I have to take that back. I LOVE the LoTR movies. The books were OK, but the movies were just so pretty.

And I don't want to spend the whole summer on books like War and Peace...fun reading is necessary, too! :D