1) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand- This is more because my buddy Dan read it, and we have had more than a few legitimately intellectual conversations about books lately. I like it and- when done- am looking forward to another one. Plus, it's supposed to be a stellar novel that hits close to home.
2) 1984 by George Orwell- A fan of the whole anti-Big Brother thing, so I think that this will be a good one to dive into.
3) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton- I think I've had a desire to read this book since high school and just never got around to it (4 years as an English major and two years of grad school will do that to ya)...suffice it to say, it makes the list of soon-to-be-conquered novels.
4) Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- Already working on this one. The fictitious worlds where censorship and domineering governments are in power are interesting because- as recent Acts of Congress will show- we're always one step away from such regimes...and so it may be that we take for granted the liberties and freedoms that we have. That said, it's a good idea to check out a world where those liberties are not omnipresent... since it's sooooo far-fetched.
5) Ulysses by James Joyce- I'd like to try to hack through it again without the help of a supplementary reading guide. This is probably the toughest thing I've ever read through (never made it through Finnegan's Wake, sorry to say), and I'm sure Joyce is laughing in his grave over the masses who struggle to readily understand what the hell he's saying (or not saying...that fiendishly clever bastard).
6) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky- Flew through it without really looking to grasp what was going on. To this day, it remains one of few marks I'm not proud of in my English course career, since I fared well on the report, but really didn't give it a good effort; it was a shallow effort to explain a book that I did not readily understand.
7) Iliad/Odyssey by Homer- Classic. Should probably get through that if I am to properly defend Star Wars as the best epic of all time...I won't entertain a debate on the subject until I actually read it. So save up arguments.
8) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain- Along with Tom Sawyer, this is another book that has been LONG overdue in my "to-read" list. This classic literary tale is oft-referenced, but while I know the source of the references, I do not have any clue as to what goes on throughout the book or how it ends...tragic, eh?
9) Freedom From Fear by David Kennedy- The most definitive and celebrated book about Depression-era U.S. History seems most appropriate at this time, as we've smack dab in the middle of a shitty situation. Lessons to be learned?
10) Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut- Just to see what all the pretentious fuss is all about.
Honorable mention: The Yankee Years by Joe Torre; Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
I give myself one year to finish these books..that's about one a month, and does not include all of the books that are currently sitting in my room with no shelf space to sit on...or the ones in boxes in the basement aching for me to get my own place....
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