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Topic ClosedWhat should I read next?
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Poll Question: Which should I read next? P.S. I love sad stuff.
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Alitare View Drop Down
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    Posted: October 28 2011 at 19:46
Hit me with what you think is best. 

Seriously, beat me over the face with it.

Any 'other' suggestions will go into my 'to think about buying' list. The other 14 are books I currently own.

I love sad stuff that doesn't drag on forever. I like sad stuff that hits your heart without forcing you to read hundreds of pages of inane descriptions or instances of 'rich folks being rich (also applicable: upper-middle class folks being well off)'. That last thing is what killed these following books for me. (ratings included)

Catcher in the Rye (5/10)
The Great Gatsby (4/10)
The Bell Jar (5/10)

So I didn't care too much for those books.
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Points: 67381 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 19:51
I haven't read any of these. Shocked

You should read Carson McCullers.
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Points: 16952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 19:53
Hemingway
Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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Points: 12294 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 19:54
Pale Fire, because it's on my list.
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Points: 65760 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 19:54
Horton Hears a Who
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Points: 17995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:03
One thing I'd say is that McCarthy's pony books aren't very interesting, you're better off with his murdering people books.

I'd probably go for the Faulkner or Hemingway, but I haven't read either of those works in your poll.

I also recommend to you and everybody else Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:04
^Love the drama in that one. Seuss could keep you on the edglewhoo of your seatakin. What a whapsipsnipperff of a social-comment-dairy.

@Vompatti: I read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, but it didn't light a fire in me for some reason. The main character was really sweet, but then there were all these other people slowing things down.
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Vompatti View Drop Down
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Points: 67381 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:05
^ omg k
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:08
Originally posted by Triceratopsoil Triceratopsoil wrote:

One thing I'd say is that McCarthy's pony books aren't very interesting, you're better off with his murdering people books.

I'd probably go for the Faulkner or Hemingway, but I haven't read either of those works in your poll.

I also recommend to you and everybody else Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

I kinda got scared off of Faulkner. I read As I Lay Dying, but it bored me. Okay, here's 20 pages about building the damn coffin or baking pies to sell at market, or getting a good deal on eggs. Okay, here's 50 pages about travelling to town with the neighbours, slopping the pigs, maintaining the farmstead, cooking breakfast, and talking about relatives. Okay, here's 50 more pages about chickens and being upset but not telling anybody, oh...now we switch to somebody else. 

I respect him for what he was trying to do, but I couldn't connect with any of the characters, especially not Addie or those in direct grieving of her. Hey, I'm picky. 
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Points: 13298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:22
Originally posted by Horizons Horizons wrote:

Hemingway

*vomits*
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Triceratopsoil View Drop Down
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Points: 17995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:26
Austin's bluffing, anyway, he can't read.  But I like Hemingway
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 20:35
I also have yet to read The Sun Also Rises. I tried digging into Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground, but got burned real quick. I'm afraid to try Dickens, and even Hardy, I'm sceptical over. 

I really liked Kafka's The Trial, I just wish he'd been given more time to finish up the unintentional messiness of it. I may get The Castle, sometime. But JD Salinger is totally lost on me. I've read both Nine Stories and Catcher - I remain utterly unimpressed. 
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Triceratopsoil View Drop Down
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Points: 17995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 21:13
I recently read The Sun Also Rises.  I like it, but most people might find that not enough goes on
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Points: 16952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 21:36
Originally posted by Triceratopsoil Triceratopsoil wrote:

Austin's bluffing, anyway, he can't read.  But I like Hemingway

Ouch
Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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dreadpirateroberts View Drop Down
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Points: 952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 22:03
Marquez

- but from the 'other' section, I dunno what you think of Haruki Murakami? These are two of my favourite books of his - both quite different from each other

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - some surreal stuff mixed with a bit of a detective story

Norwegian Wood -  shorter than Wind-Up Bird but more 'straight-forward' in some ways


I too struggled with 'As I Lay Dying.' I hated every character except Cash and really, really wanted the book to end. I did think his choice of 15 POV characters was interesting, almost gave it a cinematic effect. Too bad I didn't enjoy the story but.
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 22:10
Norwegian Wood is actually already on my 'to purchase' list. Here it is, my 'to purchase' list:


-The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro
-Child of God, McCarthy
-Last Exit to Brooklyn, Selby Jr.
-Portnoy's Complaint, Roth
-The Double, Saramago
-The Year of the Flood, Atwood
-Amsterdam, Ian Mcewan
-The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
-Kite Runner, Hosseini
-Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini
-Norwegian Wood, Murakami
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Points: 8543 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 22:28
Read the latest Star Trek novel, or howzabout a good mystery or thriller novel?  If you want classics, toss in some Asimov or Clarke.  Or some Christie.  something entertaining. 

Your list sounds like a good cure for insomnia. 
I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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Points: 5148 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 22:49
Pynchon.
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dreadpirateroberts View Drop Down
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Points: 952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 23:54
Originally posted by UndercoverBoy UndercoverBoy wrote:

Pynchon.


'The Crying Lot...' was good from memory
We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
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dreadpirateroberts View Drop Down
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Points: 952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 28 2011 at 23:58
Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Norwegian Wood is actually already on my 'to purchase' list. Here it is, my 'to purchase' list:


-The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro
-Child of God, McCarthy
-Last Exit to Brooklyn, Selby Jr.
-Portnoy's Complaint, Roth
-The Double, Saramago
-The Year of the Flood, Atwood
-Amsterdam, Ian Mcewan
-The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
-Kite Runner, Hosseini
-Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini
-Norwegian Wood, Murakami



Very cool!   I haven't read 'Year of the Flood' but I've been meaning too, it does sound like it could be good.

Hosseini I was going to read but I thought they might be a little too sombre
We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
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