Books I'm Going to Read
-On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
[I loved this book. It was inspiring to me in many ways and I feel a little more confident in approaching writing larger works.]
-A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers
[I really enjoyed the style of writing in this book, as well as the brutal honesty told by the author.]
-Steps, Jerzy Kosinksi
[Really powerful, and beautifully eerie, short stories. A dark portrait of humanity.]
-Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard
[A writer looks back on his time in Greenwich Village just after the end of World War II. A fun little read.]
-Reading Like A Writer, Francine Prose
[A love letter to the pleasures of reading, says USA Today. This really was a lovely read. Prose, an apt name for a writer, goes over the fundamentals of constructing a great story by dissecting bits from her favorite books. The book is 268 pages, but I could have read 2,680 pages. I felt like I was in a strict, supportive writing workshop and I'm sad that it's ended.]
-A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
[I loved reading about Hemingway's days in Paris as a young man-- listening to him describe his writing techniques and how he creates a schedule and rhythm in his writing, smiling as he spoke of his visits with Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and the other great minds of his time, and feeling sad at the end because he cheated on his wife and wasn't able to experience Paris the same way again. Hemingway wrote Feast toward the end of his life, and you can hear the bitterness and regret in his voice when he said those days of being unknown, poor, and married were the happiest days of his life. Excellent read.]
-American Pastoral, Philip Roth
[A wonderfully sad read about the destruction of a seemingly perfect American family.]
-The Tao of Wu, The RZA
[Loved it so much I wrote an entire blog post about it]
-Dinners and Nightmares, Diane di Prima
[I read this is college and reread it while traveling back to Philly for Thanksgiving. It's a delightful collection of poems and prose by my favorite Beat.]
-The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
[Written from the perspective of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, this novel follows the couple's time in Europe rubbing elbows with literary greats (such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, et cetera), and the hills, valleys, and downfall of their marriage. Loved this book, which gave me a deeper understanding of Hemingway's artistic process, and a deeper respect for any woman who ever got involved with the man.]
-Bonjour Trieste, Françoise Sagan
[Hello sadness, is the English translation of the title of this short novel written by an 18 year old French girl. Sin, manipulation, lying, lust, detachment, and laziness are the key themes in this pseudo-coming-of-age tale. Hello sadness, indeed.]
-The Secret Sharer, Joseph Conrad
[Mildly disturbing short story told from the perspective of a replacement Captain of a ship and a secret stowaway whom our narrator befriends.]
-Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Hunter S. Thompson
[Terrifying and hilarious-- I squirmed in my seat while reading about a gang member who would pull the teeth of unsuspecting waitresses and then laughed out loud on the train when Thompson referred to it as "freelance dentistry."]
- Mysteries of Small Houses, Alice Notley
[Currently reading.]
- The Seth Material, Jane Roberts
- The Alienist, Caleb Carr
Books I Would Recommend
- Between The Acts, Virginia Woolf
- The Iliad, Homer [I want to re-read this, actually. It's been 10 years.]
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- The Shining, Stephen King
- Paradise Lost, John Milton [currently re-reading a text from the 19th century, with critical notes.]
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
- In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
- How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead, Ariel Gore
- The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem
- The Stranger, Albert Camus
- Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
- Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac
- American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
- Gang Leader For A Day, Sudhir Venkatesh
- The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
- Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson
- The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Fear of Flying, Erica Jong
- The Wu-Tang Manual, The RZA
- The Godfather, Mario Puzo
- Republican Party Reptile, PJ O'Rourke
- Dictee, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
- Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
- Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It, Geoff Dyer
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger [First read this when I was 12, when I should have been paying attention in math class. Then I read it in high-school. Then I re-read it in college.]
- Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- On The Road, Jack Kerouac
- Junkie, William S. Burroughs
Are there any books you would recommend? If so, please let me know-- I'd love to add more to my reading list!
-
[I loved this book. It was inspiring to me in many ways and I feel a little more confident in approaching writing larger works.]
-
[I really enjoyed the style of writing in this book, as well as the brutal honesty told by the author.]
-
[Really powerful, and beautifully eerie, short stories. A dark portrait of humanity.]
-
[A writer looks back on his time in Greenwich Village just after the end of World War II. A fun little read.]
-
[A love letter to the pleasures of reading, says USA Today. This really was a lovely read. Prose, an apt name for a writer, goes over the fundamentals of constructing a great story by dissecting bits from her favorite books. The book is 268 pages, but I could have read 2,680 pages. I felt like I was in a strict, supportive writing workshop and I'm sad that it's ended.]
-
[I loved reading about Hemingway's days in Paris as a young man-- listening to him describe his writing techniques and how he creates a schedule and rhythm in his writing, smiling as he spoke of his visits with Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and the other great minds of his time, and feeling sad at the end because he cheated on his wife and wasn't able to experience Paris the same way again. Hemingway wrote Feast toward the end of his life, and you can hear the bitterness and regret in his voice when he said those days of being unknown, poor, and married were the happiest days of his life. Excellent read.]
-
[A wonderfully sad read about the destruction of a seemingly perfect American family.]
-
[Loved it so much I wrote an entire blog post about it]
-
[I read this is college and reread it while traveling back to Philly for Thanksgiving. It's a delightful collection of poems and prose by my favorite Beat.]
-
[Written from the perspective of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, this novel follows the couple's time in Europe rubbing elbows with literary greats (such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, et cetera), and the hills, valleys, and downfall of their marriage. Loved this book, which gave me a deeper understanding of Hemingway's artistic process, and a deeper respect for any woman who ever got involved with the man.]
-
[Hello sadness, is the English translation of the title of this short novel written by an 18 year old French girl. Sin, manipulation, lying, lust, detachment, and laziness are the key themes in this pseudo-coming-of-age tale. Hello sadness, indeed.]
-
[Mildly disturbing short story told from the perspective of a replacement Captain of a ship and a secret stowaway whom our narrator befriends.]
-
[Terrifying and hilarious-- I squirmed in my seat while reading about a gang member who would pull the teeth of unsuspecting waitresses and then laughed out loud on the train when Thompson referred to it as "freelance dentistry."]
- Mysteries of Small Houses, Alice Notley
[Currently reading.]
- The Seth Material, Jane Roberts
- The Alienist, Caleb Carr
Books I Would Recommend
- Between The Acts, Virginia Woolf
- The Iliad, Homer [I want to re-read this, actually. It's been 10 years.]
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- The Shining, Stephen King
- Paradise Lost, John Milton [currently re-reading a text from the 19th century, with critical notes.]
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
- In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
- How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead, Ariel Gore
- The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem
- The Stranger, Albert Camus
- Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
- Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac
- American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
- Gang Leader For A Day, Sudhir Venkatesh
- The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
- Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson
- The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Fear of Flying, Erica Jong
- The Wu-Tang Manual, The RZA
- The Godfather, Mario Puzo
- Republican Party Reptile, PJ O'Rourke
- Dictee, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
- Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
- Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It, Geoff Dyer
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger [First read this when I was 12, when I should have been paying attention in math class. Then I read it in high-school. Then I re-read it in college.]
- Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- On The Road, Jack Kerouac
- Junkie, William S. Burroughs
Are there any books you would recommend? If so, please let me know-- I'd love to add more to my reading list!
7 comments:
1. A Heartbreaking Work of A Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers.
2. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer
3. David Sedaris ( Everything he has ever written)
4. Breakfast of Champions- Kurt Vonnegut
These are some of my favorite books.
I love Breakfast of Champions! I should add that to my list. And I read "Heartbreaking Work..." last year and was blown away. I'll check out your other suggestions!
Siddhartha by Hesse
The Stranger by Camus
Nausea by Sartre
Thanks, Matt! I have read the first two-- I love The Stranger.
You'd better get on that wu-tang shit!
American Pyscho terrified me, but it's a good read, extremely disturbing, I attended a Bret Easten Ellis book signing last year and got his John Hancock on my copy :)
Keep reading, I, like you, mix in writer's advice/self-help with pleasure reading.
1.Smile When You're Lying by Chuck Thompson 2. The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevera 3. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau 4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 5. The Princess Bride, the good parts version by William Goldman
Thanks for all the great suggestions! Keep em coming!
Post a Comment