<p>Ok. So I am a lover of literature. Like totally obsessed. My college essays were about it, my college counselor has emphasized it to the Yale admissions officers on more than one occasion, and I get in, it will in part to that.</p>
<p>I figure books tell a lot about a person. So what are some of your favorite books?</p>
<p>Here are some of mine:
War and Peace--Leo Tolstoy
One Hundred Years of Solitude--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Anna Karenina--Leo Tolstoy
The Sorrows of Young Werther--Johann W. von Gothe
Vanity Fair--William Thackery
Song of Solomon--Toni Morrison
The Red and the Black--Stendhal
The Sound and the Fury--William Faulkner</p>
<p>Fiction schmiction. I'm reading The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House by John Harris right now. I just read Lyndon Johnson and the American dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I like to try and read about all sorts of topics. I just read something on game theory, a book on theology by Michael Shermer, and Maestro about Alan Greenspan by Bob Woodward. I agree though that the types of books people read or their lack of reading can tell a lot about a person. </p>
<p>Sidenote Doris Kearns Goodwin is the best author period. Representing the hometown!</p>
<p>i thought Anna Karenina was excellent. Conrad's Heart of Darnkess is also amazing (I'm reading that one now), as is The Karamazov Brothers by Dostoevsky. </p>
<p>A great nonfiction book for those interested is Truman by McCullough - very long, but won't seem like it (after the first 80 pages).</p>
<p>I love Catch 22, it made me crack up laughing almost the whole way through. Another personal favorite is The Great Gatsby, because Fitzgerald is a sweet writer when it comes to style. Has anyone else read The Sparrow or Children of God by Mary Doria Russell? They are absolutely haunting. Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseni is another favorite. And The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is fascinating, if highly disturbing.</p>
<p>As for nonfiction, I read Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama. Amazing. I'm fairly liberal, which may have had something to do with my opinion of it, but it's more about race relations and poverty and family relationships than it is about politics. And it had a transcript of his keynote speech in the back... beautiful.</p>
<p>Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
Emma - Jane Austen
Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (and pretty much everything else by Wilde, because the man is brilliant)
The Odyssey - Homer (love his long descriptions)</p>
<p>When it comes to nonfiction, I read a lot about WWII - I'm in the middle of a book called "Armageddon", about the last year of the war in Germany, that a friend lent me. Also enjoyed "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", though it was a bit difficult to get through.</p>
<p>Not sure if it qualifies as Literature, but a perennial favorite is the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman.</p>
<p>Count of Monte Cristo--best book IMO.
All Quiet on the Western Front, a close 2nd.
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Crime and Punishment; Les Mis; and countless more...</p>
<p>Rough unranked list:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Papillon by Henry Charriere, aka Papillon
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Animal Farm by George Orwell
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (oh, why should I bother to list the authors?)
All these books made me cry or boil with rage or fly into some sort of passion somewhere midway thru. My bad I never got round to any Shak. or Dickens or Hugo, but their books are thick and cost a load. Hey, this is Vietnam, $4.99 is quite a burden all right:(
And a couple of modern classics:
The Da Vinci Code
Harry Potter
(yeah, don't go and tell me they're not sophisticated enough. I can lecture your <em>whatever</em> off about the arts involved in them;))
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. Just a stroke of luck the book got into my hands. A very good read, I assure you.</p>
<p>I understand that most of the classics listed above are in your reading list at HS. Um...so will anyone be kind enough to tell me what other books do you read for school, so I can catch up with you American pals:)</p>
<p>The Picture of Dorian Gray -- just beautiful imagery!
Pride and Prejudice -- Mr. Collins is too funny!
Generally anything by Kerouac -- the pages practically buzz w/ life
Hemingway -- i love the rhythm of his novels...if that makes any sense
Feynman -- yep he's a physicist but he has some great stories to tell</p>
<br>
<blockquote>
<p>right now, I'm reading Everything is Illuminated. It's hilarious and I'd recommend it to anyone! & the Know-It-All...it alternates between funniness and snobbery.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Life of Pi by Yann Martel
1984 by George Orwell (actually, anything by Orwell)
Metamorphoses by Ovid
The Decameron by Boccaccio
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy (it's nonfiction, but still very good)</p>
<p>I used to be obsessed with fantasy books, and some of my favorites were
The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce
The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip</p>
<p>And I'm in love with Douglas Adams. He wrote the only SciFi books I ever finished. </p>
<p>ooh I loved wuthering heights, I did it for a research paper last year. And the best part about it is that it works for practically any topic on the ap exam. always good</p>
<p>
[quote]
And the best part about it is that it works for practically any topic on the ap exam
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Totally correct. I took P&P junior year, and in the final exam I had to write about the theme of love in general and not only from the book. Wuthering hights was first that came in mind.</p>