The Big List of Books To Choose From
The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams
Part autobiography, part cynical observation of politics and progress. An insightful and at times darkly humorous exploration of both a remarkable man and the tumultuous age in which he lived.
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
The Alienist, by Caleb Carr
House of Sleep, by Jonathan Coe
The Devil's Larder, by Jim Crace
Available Light, by Ellen Currie
A book so good I tracked down her scant short stories. A woman, a man with a saxophone. Romantic, Irish again. Finding your place in the world after mistakes. Beautifully written and affecting.
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
Hard Times, by Charles Dickens
In our discussions in Literary, a number of people said they'd like to read Dickens, either because they never had or because they'd only read Great Expectations in high school, which is a good way to learn to loathe Dickens. (It's a great book, but perhaps not something to tackle in the 9th grade.) Hard Times is a relatively short work that explores Dickens' social concerns and the affects of an abusive system on both the abused and the people who profit from their work.
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
Very long (my copy is about 875 pages), but a relatively fast read. Young man on the make gets job at factory owned by wealthy uncle, dates fellow employee with tragic results.
Louisiana Power and Light, by John Dufresne
Rides of the Midway, by Lee Durkee
Growing up Southern, teen boys, beautifully rendered. Also a ghost from a baseball mishap.
Jaran, by Kate Elliot
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
Mister Sandman, by Barbara Gowdy
Mariette in Ecstasy, by Ron Hansen
Into the Forest, by Jean Hegland
The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
Girl in Landscape, by Jonathan Lethem
If Not Now, When?, by Primo Levi
Stranger Things Happen, by Kelly Link
Mary Reilly, by Valerie Martin
Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore
Like Life, by Lorrie Moore
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Enchanted Castle, by Edith Nesbit
At Swim Two Birds, by Flann O'Brien
One of the great comic novels. Irish to the very very core. Told in parts as a scathingly hilarious account of a scholarly ne'er do well, and then leavened with big chunks of Irish lore, told beautifully and comically.
My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki
Vineland, by Thomas Pynchon
Mating, by Norman Rush
The Sparrow, by Maria Doria Russell
…And Ladies of the Club, by Helen Hooven Santmyer
A big bestseller in the mid-'80s (and a bit of a cause celebre, because the author was also in her 80s -- at least -- and it was the first novel she'd published in over 50 years). A group of young women in a small town in Ohio in 1868 form a "women's club" to pursue intellectual endeavors. The novel follows the life of the town -- emphasizing the club members and their families -- from 1868 to 1932. Won't endorse the author's politics (economic laissez faire), but a fascinating study of a small Midwest town during a certain era.
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, by David Simon
Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard
Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
The Warden, by Anthony Trollope
The Loved One, by Evelyn Waugh
Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor
Dirt Music, by Tim Winton
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
Say Goodbye: The Laurie Moss Story by Lewis Shiner.
It is kind of a melancholy rock and roll journal. I liked it very much.