My friend Gina from A Sad Day for Sad Birds just sent a link to an article published in The Times Magazine: The New York Times just published a list of their writing staffs' Five Favorite Novels. A task indeed. To choose just five of all of the books that I've ever read is daunting, as there are so many novels that I love for all of a million different reasons. Yet if the very well-read folks at The Times can do it, so can I.
1. Catch 22, by Joseph Heller -- Such complexity; I've read this over and over again.
2. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy -- The most beautiful and haunting language ever. Ever.
3. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath -- Perhaps the most honest and beautiful book. Slim, but far from simplistic.
4. The Comfort of Strangers, by Ian McEwan - Never have I been so emotionally impacted by the ending of a book.
5. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler -- I could never praise Chandler enough for writing Philip Marlowe.
6. The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis -- Bret Easton Ellis as a person? Meh. As an author? ♡
... except for that I cheated and chose six. And I'm apparently especially drawn to books that start with "the". I'd love to know what your five - or even six! - favorites are!
Photo: Valitova, on Flickr
Posts
11 comments:
1. The Secret History- Donna Tartt
2. Atonement- Ian McEwan
3. The Book of Ilusions- Paul Auster
4. New York Trilogy- Paul Auster
5. Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow- Peter Hoeg
6. Rebecca- Daphne Du Maurier
You're right, it's difficult to narrow it down.
Oh gosh! I'd completely forgotten about "Smilla" - I love, love that book!
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. The Brothers Karamazov
3. Great Expectations
4. The Book Thief
5. (Pending) but likely, The History of Love (currently reading, but totally loving it)
What a good idea! I would love to make my list, but all my books are on the other side of the country at the moment, and I know if I tried to do this without them I would forget one or two. :)
I've always wanted to read Catch 22. I need to get on it!
it's always fun to make a list! have a nice day :)
I love Catch 22, get book :D
Xoxo
Sarah
My favs are:
1) Where the Red Fern Grows (first book I cried through)
2) Memoirs of a Geisha
3) Rich Dad, Poor Dad
4) The Glass Castle
5) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
1. the time traveler's wife
2. unaccustomed earth
3. extremely loud and incredibly close
4. life of pi
5. middlesex
i have only read 2 of the books on your list!
i loved the road so much. so much! east of eden is one of my favorites. i also love the professor and the madman. and so many others, but i am having trouble thinking of them!
the glass house (mentioned above) is so super. so is all the pretty horses. and a fun and sweet book called "a girl named zippy" is pretty much unforgettable.
oh god. the rest of the day i will think of more books to add to this list, but i promise not to come back and leave 400 comments listing them! ;)
^^ Leave away!! It was so hard for me to narrow down my list - I kept thinking, "But what about this one? And this one..." and forever on!
Post a Comment