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I used this list and the list from my sister, an english professor as well as a reading list by Jordan Peterson to come up with approximately 100 books on my reading list (probably delayed until retirement, but, before death... ;they are sitting in my bookcase). I have read a few classics and a lot of non-fiction. I should have read more...
I've read a little over a quarter of the books on that list, and smile at the hubris involved in making an "ultimate" list.
"Star Maker" was one of the first true science fiction novels, which used sci-fi to explore social constructs and mankind and ultimate goals and gaols. It got lost in time.
Most anything written by H. R. Haggard informed E.R. Burroughs and others in that genre. Florid adjective driven scene setting.
Love em or hate em, Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have a stridency that is worthy of examination (play Shostakovich in the background).
Jules Verne - nuff said
Twain's "Innocents Abroad" is technically a novel, I think. Well worth the read.
Dan Simmons "Hyperion" has a staggeringly brilliant expose on language and communication starting around 185 pages in. It is rude, crude, broken and flawed, and probably needs to be framed in every classroom of English literature.
I mostly read non-fiction, and in particular I like business books and some textbooks.
The novels I've read and truly enjoy are all speculative fiction/alternative history/sci-fi which is not everyone's cup of tea. But in no particular order, I've really enjoyed:
Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson
Anathem, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, Zodiac, The Diamond Age: or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies by Richard Morgan
I guess my tastes don't gibe with those of most people, because I absolutely hated The Catcher in the Rye. Totally boring narrative featuring an intensely annoying protagonist. Once was far more than enough. Oh well, I vastly prefer non-fiction anyway.
I felt the same way about CITR. Years later my daughter read it in high school and loved it.
I've read a little over a quarter of the books on that list, and smile at the hubris involved in making an "ultimate" list.
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If you read the article he did not really "make an ultimate list." He took several other Top 100 lists and used a data driven method to come up with the books that were most often mentioned on the other lists.
I'll add Taylor Caldwell's Testimony of Two Men, Allen Drury's Advise and Consent, and William Faulkner's Light in August; also James Jones' From Here to Eternity, John O'Hara's Ourselves to Know, Brice Courtenay's The Power of One, and Richard Jessup's The Cincinnati Kid.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 05-29-2023 at 10:49 PM..
I am putting this thread here instead of in the Books sub-forum because I am looking for suggestions of novels I might have missed that are not recent novels, as well as getting an idea of what kind of books current Retirement posters like. These are books that you enjoy and have read at least twice, and might not necessarily be those novels you think are "best". (But, of course, the Mods are free to move this thread.)
My list would include (in alphabetical order):
Captains and the Kings - Caldwell Colony - Siddons Dead Zone - King Devil Water - Seton East of Eden - Steinbeck Forever Amber - Winsor Pillars of the Earth - Follett Pride and Prejudice - Austen Rebecca - Du Maurier Shell Seekers - Pilcher Speak to Me of Love - Eden To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
Thanks in advance!
All the authors I love plus many more of the older writers. They were so good and could do dialogue so well. Dont see that much these days. Going to be a wonderful thread, I just know it ! LOL
On average, I have bought at least one book a month since I graduated from high school. Just about every book I own I have read at least twice. Since I attended my 50th high school reunion last year, this means I have a whole passel of books.
I tend to buy authors who I enjoy. Consequently I have the complete works of:
John Steinbeck (plus 'the Intricate Music', a biography)
John LeCarre'
James Lee Burke (my homeboy)
James T. Farrell (we are much alike)
James Ellroy (he's nuts)
Elroy Leonard
James Jones
Walter Moseley
Herman Wouk (another homeboy)
E.L. Doctorow (should've got the Nobel)
Sinclair Lewis (got the Nobel)
James O. Killens
Alan Sillitoe
Wm. Penn Warren
Mackinley Kantor
Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen (just for fun)
"Kiss Me Again, Stranger " a collection of short stories by DuMaurier which includes "The Birds"
And a raft of biographies.
At my high school reunion, one classmates laughed when he reminded me that I read "The Story of O" in football summer camp in the sixties. I reminded him that (in addition to keeping Grove Press afloat on my own) I've always been literate.
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;they are sitting in my bookcase). I have read a few classics and a lot of non-fiction. I should have read more...
