pieces of paper stuck conveniently together
Sunday, May 02, 2004
i.e., books
Swiping an excellent idea found at Theo Panayides' site -- not to mention paranoiacally trying to make myself look well-rounded -- I'm now adding a section dedicated to literature, one of my other sick obsessions. While I always have a book with me, truth be told it's rare that I actually finish them. Stopping halfway through, however, has little to do with the quality of the book; I've inexplicably cut off everything from One Hundred Years of Solitude to The Long Goodbye to A Confederacy of Dunces (third time was the charm, though, on that monstrosity). Here, then, is not merely a list of books I've finished and fawned maniacally over, but -- again, a Panayides concept -- explanations and excerpts. Someday soon, I hope to get friends to contribute...erm, just like Panayides did. It's a brilliant idea, though, and what's that they say as imitation being the sincerest form of flattery? (That it provides an excuse for people to not dream up original ideas.)
Upper Echelon
* PICTURES FROM AN INSTITUTION by Randall Jarrell
* LUCKY JIM by Kinglsey Amis
* THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY by Patricia Highsmith
* CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
* LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
* THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene
* THE KING by Donald Barthelme
* THE INFORMATION by Martin Amis
* A SEVERED HEAD by Iris Murdoch
* HIGH FIDELITY and FEVER PITCH by Nick Hornby
* THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
* POOR THINGS by Alasdair Gray
* THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl
* DEEPER INTO MOVIES by Pauline Kael
A Notch or Two Below
* A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole
* TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
* INVISIBLE CITIES by Italo Calvino
* GOODBYE COLUMBUS by Philip Roth
* STEPPENWOLF by Hermann Hesse
* THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
* A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN by David Foster Wallace
* ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
* THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Maddox Ford
* OUT OF THIS WORLD by Graham Swift
* THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
* A WORKING STIFF'S MANIFESTO by Iain Levison
* ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris
* PASS THE CANNOLI by Sarah Vowell
