Help Me Pick The Next 5 Books
Okay, maybe the title to this post is a little misleading. I’ve already picked three of my next five novels. But I’d love your help with the other two.
First, revisit Time’s list. Second, go ahead and mark off the following books. These are the three I have already picked to read, not necessarily in this order:
- Infinite Jest: This is a good friend’s (and blog frequenter) favorite book. After years of telling him I would read it, now’s the time. But I’m severely intimidated by this beast. And, yes, it is a beast.
- The Assistant: I haven’t heard of this book. That’s why I picked it. Got to read the obscure books at some point.
- Deliverance: You can hear the banjo now, can’t you? Yep, it’s that Deliverance. Can’t wait to read this novel.
So help me out with the other 2 in this next batch. Place your suggestion in the comments below, and I’ll read the two most frequently suggested books.
A few qualifiers: Don’t suggest any books longer than 500 pages. Out of each 5 books, I try and only read one seriously long one, and Infinite Jest already has that covered this time around.
Also, two books I won’t read yet: Ulysses will be Book #101, since it’s the only novel not on Time’s list. And I’m saving The Great Gatsby for later as well. I’ve already read it four times anyway.
So, what would you like me to read? Get your suggestions in sometime today.
Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret! (or Animal Farm). Both are pretty short books.
“Catch 22″ might be a bit longer than 500 pages, depending on the edition. But it’s easy and quick to read. A greast satire about war and espercially military bureaucracy.
Hi,
Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of my favorites, It’s beautifully written and absolutely heart breaking (I read it in Hebrew, I guess the original English version is much more powerful). And when you finish this list, try Morrison’s Bluest eye…
“Are you there God? It’s me Margaret” I am very excited about your review of this book!
I vote for Pride & Prejudice (and it can’t be the zombie version). But I’m also good with Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Pride and Prejudice not on the Time list, so I guess another vote for Judy Blume.
No competition. The world needs your perspective on: “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
I suggest Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine .
Don’t see that one on the Time list, but let me know if you have other suggestions. Thanks!
Sorry Bert, but I definitely think it’s time for you to read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Hey, at least it’s much shorter than Gone With The Wind!
This is just wrong. Everyone is ganging up on me with the Judy Blume book! I totally forgot about it. How uncomfortable a read that will be.
Are you there God…(I think you know the rest!) If you think reading it will be uncomfortable, wait until you have to write your review!
Revolutionary Road and Watchman…. both less than 500…. RR was a depressing movie, so I’m sure the novel won’t be realy uplifting either.
LOVE IT! my vote is…..
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) by Judy Blume
This was the book we( the 4th grade girls) secretly passed around to read! LOL
“Are you there, God? It’s me, Robert. Why did Judy Blume write this book and make it onto this list?” Just think of it as an adventure to an unknown land…
my faves from that list:
On the Road – one of my top 5 novels of all time
Cuckoos Nest – good read
The Sun Also Rises – classic Hemingway (not his best IMO, but still great)
Naked Lunch – like torture. I’ll be interested to see if you finish it. I gave up.
Rabbitt, Run – how’d you like this book? Depressing as all get out IMO
Agreed on On The Road. That’s an awesome book. Read it in college, and I’ll be re-reading for this project at some point.
Scared about reading Naked Lunch.
Rabbit, Run is indeed depressing. One of the saddest scenes I’ve ever read is in that book. Check out my review.
You will love Judy Blume’s, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
That’s the good stuff and you definitely need to read it next!
There are so many good ones on this list! I had a hard time picking just two of the ones that I’ve either read or wanted to read. The one I had no trouble choosing is Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. I love that book. It reads well on the surface, but there’s also so much symbolism and “hidden” meaning. I love that! So that is my ultimate suggestion.
Other books: You may as well get Beloved out of the way
. I’ve always wanted to read Atonement (or see the movie, either way). Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret has always been on my list of things to read. There Eyes Were Watching God is fantastic, but if you aren’t a fan of southern dialect, it may put you off a bit. Being from the South by heritage if not by birth, I breezed right through it (I also did a major author study on Hurston, so I also got used to it, LOL). Animal Farm was very good. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was my favorite book of Eleventh Grade English. I was supposed to read White Noise for a class but I didn’t get past the first fifty pages. If you could read it for me, that’d be great.
I could go on, but I think I’ve giving you a lot to think about.
Lots of good suggestions and insight. Thanks.
whoo-hoo! IJ still made the cut for the next five. i am excited. oh, and go buy you some judy blume.
For now. I opened it up yesterday, and, wow, that type is small.
IF you go with Are You There God…, you must make a note to read The Giver afterwards. It’s short and quick, but will leave you breathless.
My votes are for Ragtime (you can listen to the musical at the same time- enjoy!) or Atonement (for the sucker-punch it delivers).
Can I pick three?
Possession, AS Byatt , White Teeth, Zadie Smith, and The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene.
“Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
I read Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter last summer and loved it. The narrator/hero, Frank Bascombe, is unique, memorable, unforgivable and hilarious. Unfortunately, it’s not slim (450+ or so, I think), and it’s the first of a trilogy (which is only unfortunate because the other two books–Independence Day (a Pulitzer winner) and The Lay of the Land–are not on TIME’s list.
That said: Read Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer. Do it. Just read it. Don’t argue.
Then maybe Waugh the satirist (he’s got two on there).
If you’re really set on something slim, though, if only to counter the cerebral heft of DFW, I’m pretty sure the Wilder, the West, and Pynchon’s Lot 49 are more novellas than novels.
And of course Vonnegut is always a quick–and funny and enlightening and refreshing–read.
(I have no idea what that Blume book is all about.)
Great suggestions. Being a huge sports fan, I’m very curious about The Sportswriter.
Lot 49 will be a re-read. I read it in college and remember enjoying it.
Sorry. Didn’t realize Vonnegut’s been read.
Sorry, too, for my obvious italicization issues.
This was such a hard decision. There are so many fantastic books on the list. My two picks are The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (my favorite author) and Native Son by Richard Wright (I just read this one not too long ago). It’s not on Time’s list, but sometime in the future you should also look into Black Boy by Richard Wright, if you haven’t already.
What about Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie ??
Hi there:
I’m new to your blog and loving it. I’m an English major and taking a senior seminar on Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. For my class we just read A Passage to India followed by Mrs. Dalloway. My suggestion to you is that you flip it and follow Mrs. Dalloway with A Passage to India.
Woolf and Forster had a really interesting relationship as colleagues so reading their novels back-to-back is great fun. I hope you’re enjoying Mrs. Dalloway, it’s really a wonderful book.
Thanks for stopping by. Even if I don’t read Forster next, I will get to it at some point in this list. Cool to know there’s a connection between Forster and Woolf.
If the criteria is to have something quick, then the obvious choice is the Judy Blume novel. How many of us decided to be writers from that novel alone is staggering. My other choices would be Animal Farm or Atonement.
I think I’m being sabotaged with the Blume book. Haha. Lots of people want to see a 35-year-old guy squirm. Another vote for Animal Farm and Atonement as well.
Judy! Judy! Judy!
My votes are for The Berlin Stories and Watchmen. I’ve been contemplating reading both and would be interested in comparing notes.
Another vote for Watchmen.
My recommendations are:
–Animal Farm by George Orwell because it isn’t too long, it is seriously amusing and/or amusingly serious, and it has been influential.
– One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest is a powerful story that also has amusing elements, but they never get in the way of the plot. The ending is magnificent. Unforgettable!
– A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is impossible to forget either, but it is so deeply disturbing you may sometimes wish that you could. Absolutely astonishing in it’s brilliant creativity, ACO is also challenging because it has an invented vocabulary that you will need to check often in the list supplied, but it is worth it.
Come to think of it, none of these are terribly long novels.
Jodi
Good ones. At this point, I think Animal Farm might get one of the two slots. Several votes. I read it in high school, but that was awhile back.
Loved Clockwork Orange when I read it in college. Takes awhile to get the hang of the nadsat language. Will be rereading it at some point.
Being both a Greene and Forster fan, I’m going to vote for The Heart of the Matter and A Passage to India. I remember reading The Heart of the Matter in college. I haven’t read A Passage to India, but did read Forster in a British lit class. Howard’s End comes to mind.
Second vote for A Passage to India.
“A passage to India” and “Portnoy’s complaint”
Make that the third vote for Passage to India.
My votes are for The Bridge of San Luis Rey, which I read in high school and remember writing a particularly moving book report for and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – I saw the movie years ago and am embarrassed to say I can’t quite remember if I read the book. I think I did, but at a time when my thoughts were all wrapped up in the film’s imagery, so it’s all blended together in my head. Looks like I need to put it on my list.
And maybe I should start Ulysses (for the 6th time) so that maybe I will actually finish it before you start reviewing it (reading it always makes me feel like someone is slowly spinning my chair in circles).
And like a big dummy, I posted this comment in the wrong place before!
If you’re reading Malamud (and I’m so glad you are — the Assistant is a very fine book), you should read the Roth and the Bellow. They work together beautifully — each writer masterfully captures the American Jewish experience. And then you can consider whether Roth was right when he described Malamud as “some quaint remnant of the Old World ghetto, an out-of-step folklorist pathetically oblivious of the currents of literature and society.” Ouch. And not true, as it turns out.
I’d go for Day of the Locust and The Moviegoer. Neither is very long. The Moviegoer is a great book, and Day of the Locust is interesting perspective on 1930′s Hollywood culture. It feels a little like Raymond Chandler, although it’s not a mystery. And good luck with Naked Lunch, whenever you decide to tackle it.
Looking for to The Moviegoer. I might put it on the list for the next group after this five.
I’m glad you’re attacking Infinite Jest: hopefully you’ll inspire me!
I’ll do my best!
Animal Farm: very short, it can be read in a day. I found it awesome and gut-wrenching (a bit like Lord of the Flies)
To the Lighthouse (even though a bellyful of Woolfs can be hard to digest, in such a short time ^.^): I read it when I was 16 years old for a school essay and I hated it. I re-read it for pleasure at 22 and now it’s one of my favourite books.
Agreed about Woolf. I’ve got to take a break from her before I read To the Lighthouse. I actually forgot that one was on the list.
Judy blume lol
Because it’s HILARIOUS, Judy Blume. But I guess I can’t not vote for The Watchmen either. God that is an amazing book.
Birdsong Sebastian Faulks or Jazz Toni Morrison or Coming Through Slaughter Michael Ondaatje.