California Dreamin’
Big Sur
(Jack Kerouac)
The Confession of Max Tivoli
(Andrew Sean Greer)
The Crying of Lot 49
(Thomas Pynchon)
Daughter of Fortune
(Isabel Allende)
Devil in a Blue Dress
(Walter Mosley)
East of Eden
(John Steinbeck)
The Grapes of Wrath
(John Steinbeck)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
(Dave Eggers)
House of Sand and Fog
(Andre Dubus III)
The Joy Luck Club
(Amy Tan)
L.A. Confidential
(James Ellroy)
The Maltese Falcon
(Dashiell Hammett)
The Mark of Zorro
(Johnston McCulley)
Mildred Pierce
(James M. Cain)
Oil
(Upton Sinclair)
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
(Joan Didion)
Tales of the City
(Armistead Maupin)
Two Years Before the Mast
(Richard Henry Dana)
White Oleander
(Janet Fitch)
Anya: It's lovely! I wish it was mine! Oh like you weren't all thinking the same thing. Giles: I'm fairly certain I wasn't.
'The Killer In Me'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
megan walker - Oct 31, 2010 5:31:10 pm PDT #12794 of 28293
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Amy - Oct 31, 2010 5:32:03 pm PDT #12795 of 28293
Because books.
For Religious Characters, I'd add Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen. Beautifully written.
-t - Oct 31, 2010 5:40:48 pm PDT #12796 of 28293
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz for Religious Characters and Settings
Ooh, also, Lamb by whatshisname. Christopher Moore
I want to put Ken Kesey's The Last Roundup in California Dreamin',but I'm not positive that's right.
Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, Tortilla Flats, just about any Steinbeck but those are my favorites.
Dana - Oct 31, 2010 5:42:14 pm PDT #12797 of 28293
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
For bookish, I'm not sure if Anne of Green Gables might work?
megan walker - Oct 31, 2010 5:45:25 pm PDT #12798 of 28293
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
I'm not sure if Anne of Green Gables might work?
Since I haven't read it, I'm not either.
This is why I ask the hivemind.
And if something looks like it wouldn't fit a category, please let me know. A lot of this is going on brief Wikipedia or Goodreads descriptions.
Dana - Oct 31, 2010 6:02:09 pm PDT #12799 of 28293
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Well, my instinct is that it would, but she's not a traditional bookish introverted character.
megan walker - Oct 31, 2010 6:10:25 pm PDT #12800 of 28293
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
How could I have forgotten Lamb ? It's one of the salonista'a favorite books.
Steinbeck is the reason for the California theme. When people selected authors of focus, Steinbeck, Greene, and Dickens were the most popular. But I think reading just one author will not work as well with the salon concept. Russian authors was our least succesful topic, mostly because it meant we dissected books like in a book club, rather than discussing the general theme. So I basically chose themes that thos eauthors could fit into fairly easily.
megan walker - Oct 31, 2010 6:11:44 pm PDT #12801 of 28293
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Well, the "book" books are pretty centered on reading or writing.
Dana - Oct 31, 2010 6:12:46 pm PDT #12802 of 28293
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Oh, for war, "The Things They Carried"? If you also do nonfiction, there's "Achilles in Vietnam", which is good paired with The Iliad.
Ginger - Oct 31, 2010 6:13:42 pm PDT #12803 of 28293
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Are you only looking for fiction?
For war, what about the World War I poets, particularly the ones who died in the war? There are a lot online: [link] [link] Also, Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads.
There are also Kipling's poems on colonialism, including White Man's Burden; Mandalay; Recessional; and Padgett, MP, which I like mainly for:
The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth-point goes.
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.