1. Bleak House. Charles Dickens is my hero. This book is his masterwork, in my opinion. The opening paragraphs are absolutely the best prose I’ve ever read. One critic more famous than I said this book was high up on his list of books because he was amazed anyone could write it. Read it.
Everything Else, in no particular order.
2. The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien. Is this great literature? Dunno. Has it resonated with me throughout my life? Yes. I count the trilogy as one work of fiction. The most important mythology of our time.
3. Ridley Walker. Russell Hoban. Post-apocolyptic world, invented language, amazing. I’ve probably read this book all the way through more than any other.
4. Moby Dick. Herman Melville. One wag said “this is the most famous book nobody you know ever read.” They should have.
5. The Periodic Table. Primo Levi. The holocaust and great writing in one book. Sadly, the author took his own life.
6. Little, Big. John Crowley. I barely know how to describe this book. I have recommended it on my blog more than once. Full of love and magic.
7. The Milagro Beanfield War. John Nichols. One of the funniest, laugh out loud books I ever read, and wonderful human story to boot. The movie did not do it justice, in my opinion.
8. The Wind in the Willows. Kenneth Grahame. I loved this book as a child and I don’t think I’ve gotten over it yet.
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book lives up to its hype.
I am always looking for reading suggestions. I’m going to try Little,Big. Thanks. I left Tolkien off of my list. I still love the Hobbit the best. Ridley Walker is just so different than anything else, it’s hard to describe to people. I don’t think Hoban wrote anything else comparable after that. Too sad for us.
By: philosophool on August 11, 2008
at 2:34 pm