I’m a caucasian, American male, almost 20 years old, planning on majoring in English with a minor in history, and I have some reading to do.
I want to start out on a decade and a life of reading- a Reading Plan, if you will, but more haphazard. Let’s assume I major in English- I’ll almost certainly be reading the basics like A Farewell to Arms or Frankenstein. Basic searches bring up the Modern Library’s list and lifetime reading plans such as this one.
I want to start a big posting train of books that you guys recommend, but let me specify. As I’ve pointed out, there are a lot of lists of famous and critically-acclaimed books, and I’ve compiled what I’ve found in a few old posts; the reccomendations I’m hoping for now are for books that are great and unique and bizarre and so on, but that most people may never know about- a treasure to be missed out on. If you care to navigate the above lists in all their awkwardness, you’ll see that I’m aware of quite a lot of recommendations you might have to offer, so please browse those first.
But I really want to know what else you have to add! Years ago I didn’t know of the alternative history writing of Harry Turtledove, or that a murderer wrote a sick bit of fantasy called Killer Fiction, or that a paralyzed man wrote Diving Bell and the Butterfly one letter interpreted at a time! I want to know the type of culty or obscure books (just books, not comics) that have fascinated you and that I probably never will know of.
It’s not obscure, exactly (it won the Pulitzer Prize a few years back), but I’ll recommend The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay because I don’t see it on any of your lists and because I don’t personally know another soul who has read it.
I don’t know if it’s the Great American Novel, but it’s the closest I’ve seen to it.
There’s this other one you’ve probably never heard of. And most people might not have heard of it. It’s about this person half the size of human beings. (they also live a bit longer than humans) He gets given this ring by an old man with a pointy hat. The old man tells him to take the ring to a place where people with pointy ears live. But when he gets there (with some of his friends) a big argument happens and to stop the argument he says he’ll take the ring to the big mountain with fire inside.
I’m a fan of Aimee Bender. Her only two books, AFAIK, are
An Invisible Sign Of My Own, by Aimee Bender
and
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, by Aimee Bender
Quick reads, but a very honest stream-of-consciousness style that I love.
Anything by Jose Saramago. A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, but not as well known as he should be.
Empress of the Splendid Season, by Oscar Hijuelos.
John Barth’s The Sot-Weed Factor is a strong candidate for the Great American novel, too, and seems to be more obscure than any of the other candidates mentioned so far. Barth fell from critical acclaim soon after (though I find all his books amazingly good), and I suspect the length of The Sot-Weed Factor keeps it from being taught in college (as the bawdiness keeps it from being taught in high school). A truly great book, however.
Replay by Ken Grimwood.
Davy by Edgar Pangborn
Only Begotten Daughter, Towing Jehovah, and This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow.
It is a great book, I suppose, but after reading it the only thing I can actually remember is how squicked out I was over the brutal pirate mass rape-slaughter.
But then I’m such an idiot I had to plow through Gravity’s Rainbowthree times before anything would stick with me besides the shit-eating scene, the disgusting English candy scene, and “You never did the Kenosha Kid.”
Question: How godawful Gothic is this book? I think I have a copy somewhere in a to-be-read pile, but I’m currently in a non-Gothic phase. Is this one of those books where you really have to be ready to indulge in a hefty dose of goth?
And to contribute to the thread: The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson is one of the more fantastic books ever written. Also, I can highly recommend almost anything ever published in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
I’m not at all sure why Lives of the Monster Dogs has attracted so many negative reviews on Amazon, because although it’s a minor book, it has stuck with me through many years long after more “important” works have faded from memory. It’s odd, poignant, and not what one would expect from the premise.
This one is on one of your lists, but I thought I would draw attention to it anyway. I was mildly surprised to find it there.
Anyway, Fifth Buisiness by Robertson Davies. Here’s the Amazon.com link for it, but this one for the trilogy gives a much better feel for the book. It’s not necessary to read them all in the trilogy, as I found the last book to be a bit weak, but I do recommend Fifth Business.
