Tell me what to read.
I realized recently that in the past six years, I have pretty much completely stopped reading challenging books. I’ve known this on some level, of course, the whole time, but it’s only just now becoming unacceptable to me. I think the catalyst is probably the fact that I read the Twilight series in a week last November, and then just read all 4.5 books again last month. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed them quite a bit (probably far too much, seeing as how the quality of the writing is pretty much at a third grade level). The best explanation I’ve read is from Cleolinda on Livejournal, who points out
I’m not going to defend them any more than I’m going to defend Twinkies–you go and get yourself a Twinkie when you have a very specific kind of craving SUGARRRRR!. If you want gourmet pastry, or even a homemade cake, you know where to get that. If you’re eating a Twinkie, you clearly know what you want and why you’re eating it, and you know that it’s not good to eat very many of them, but… you know… sometimes you just want one. And then when you’re done you read it all over again.
So, there’s that. To offset my sudden and intense Twinkie/Twilight consumption, I am putting together a list of books that I want to add to my brain and my shelves.
What I have so far:
- The Handmaid’s Tale: A Novel Margaret Atwood
- His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
- American Tabloid: A Novel James Ellroy
- The Miracle of Mindfulness Thich Nhat Hanh
- I, Claudius Robert Graves
- The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
- Catch-22 Joseph Heller
- QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter Richard Feynman
- Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared M. Diamond
- A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson
- Made in America Bill Bryson
- The Art of Looking Sideways Alan Fletcher
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan
- Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
- A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments Roland Barthes
- Parliament of Whores P.J. O’Rourke
- The Alienist Caleb Carr
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
- The Conquest of Happiness Bertrand Russell
- Ishmael Daniel Quinn
Ok! So…any further suggestions? Or is any of that list up there utter crap? Plz to enlighten me, kthx.
Curious Incident…GREAT book. I wouldn’t categorize it under challenging, but it’s an excellent read nonetheless.
Well, freakin’ Green Eggs and Ham is challenging compared to Twilight, so…I have low standards at the moment.
I still think you need to read the Chronicles of Narnia, if only to be a counterpoint to Pullman. There are talking animals, like lolcats but with proper spelling.
You might like “How the Mind Works” by Stephen Pinker. It’s pretty dense at points, but right up your alley. Also, I have a book of essays by PJ O’Rourke you can borrow, if you’d like.
I second Slamber’s recommendation of “The Curious Incident…”. I read my Mother-in-law’s copy a few years back when she was out of People magazines. If you like that, “Flowers for Algernon” is a classic with a similar narrative style.
Catch-22 is overrated. Slaughterhouse-five is not. And if you buy “The Demon Haunted World” I call dibs on borrowing it as soon as you finish.
Oh, and has anyone read The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris? I got hooked on True Blood last summer, then our free trial of HBO ran out. Are the books as good as the tv series?
My roommate’s favorite book is Guns, Germs, and Steel – so that’s an excellent choice. I myself have gotten caught up in reading “twinkie” books and am making a list too! “Mountains over Mountains” by Tracy Kidder is one that I’m in the middle of (good read). Some I’d like to read include: Three Cups of Tea, Eat Pray Love, and Wicked. Have you read Reading Lolita in Tehran yet? Or anything by John Updike?
The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso
She’s my favorite poet right now and I was delighted to hear that she wrote a book recently.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
This is the kind of book that I’ve always wanted to write.
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
My favorite of his books.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Smart and a lot of fun.
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace (his graduate thesis and probably one of the most accessible plots of all his stories)
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
He also wrote a really good one about libraries.
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery…a recent reread for me, but even better now that I’m older. Did you know that it’s one of the most read books ever? It’s like up there in the list of the bible and such. Seriously. Wikipedia it if you don’t believe me.
If you’re interested in Mindfulness, I highly recommend:
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-zinn
which completely changed my ideas about meditation. Also check:
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
More sciencey approach…but also awesome.
The Mind at Night by Andrea Rock
If you’re into dreams, but want to know what’s fact and what’s myth about their purpose.
Hope that’s not too much.