I used to brag to all my friends that I had the best major in the whole world, because I got to spend all my time reading really freakin' awesome books, and who doesn't love that? All the bragging backfired, of course, when I had to tell them I couldn't go out on a Wednesday because I had an epic paper due the next day (that I totally hadn't even started yet), and they'd just look at me like "don't you just read really awesome books all the time? where's the work in that?" It was challenging work sometimes, but the payout was, sadly, not a lucrative claim to the job market, but exposure to some pretty incredible works of literature. I'm fairly certain it was fair...right?
1. The American, by Henry James (1877)
Christopher Newman is "committed to nothing in particular," and, feeling something is genuinely wrong with him and his place in the harsh realm of American business, takes himself off to Paris to learn how to live life passionately. Soon he finds himself enamored with a lovely woman named Claire, obsessed with the juxtaposition of new money versus old, and floundering in the world of art. It's a heartbreaker, mostly because I'm still not sure Mr. Newman has a heart at all. Social commentary, some humor, failed romance.
2. Le Morte D'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory (~1470)
The quintessential tale of King Arthur and his knights. The story of Camelot (the one without any Kennedys) and the round table and Guinevere's betrayal. If you're an Arthurian legend junkie like myself, you've got to read it; this is considered the massive forerunner of all the musicals and cable shows and reimaginings of the tale that have come since. If you're looking for the romances (and Lancelot's public shaming), try Chretian de Troyes's Arthurian Romances.
3. My Ántonia, by Willa Cather (1918)
3. My Ántonia, by Willa Cather (1918)
"Prairie books" have never been a particular favorite of mine, so the thought of reading and enjoying Cather's tale of the lovely, free-spirited Tony and friends in Black Hawk, Nebraska, never occurred to me. Enter my American Lit teacher junior year, who called me crazy and told me I'd be graded on it. Worked like a charm. My Antonia (pronounced Ann-toh-nee-ah, not An-tone-eeya) is one of Cather's Prairie trilogy in which the narrator Jim actually makes farm life interesting. Go figure.
4. Paradise, by Toni Morrison (1997)
4. Paradise, by Toni Morrison (1997)
The story of a town, Ruby, Oklahoma, a convent, and a group of women whose personal memories and experiences tell about a great struggle. It starts with one of Morrison's most famous lines - "They shoot the white girl first" - and opens with a massacre scene that sets the soul-crunching, heart-wrenching, emotionally-soggy novel rolling. I loved Beloved when I read it in high school, and after Paradise I went on to read all of Morrison's books because nobody since James Joyce could handle anti-punctuation stream-of-consciousness quite like she can. I re-read it whenever I feel like I need another hole ripped open in my heart.
5. American Splendor, by Harvey Pekar (1976-2008)
Gosh I love Harvey Pekar, that lovably sullen comix jerk! An anthology of his comic strips (for lack of a better word) was presented to me in a class on memoirs; they tell the story of an average man living an average life in Ohio, complete with his quirky girlfriend and his mid-life crises. Each installment is written by Pekar, about Pekar, but is illustrated by a different artist in order to capture the theme/emotion/point. I don't think there are too man comics I could write a twenty-nine page thesis on, but Pekar gives enough that I was able to do it for him.
6. Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett (~1953)
5. American Splendor, by Harvey Pekar (1976-2008)
Gosh I love Harvey Pekar, that lovably sullen comix jerk! An anthology of his comic strips (for lack of a better word) was presented to me in a class on memoirs; they tell the story of an average man living an average life in Ohio, complete with his quirky girlfriend and his mid-life crises. Each installment is written by Pekar, about Pekar, but is illustrated by a different artist in order to capture the theme/emotion/point. I don't think there are too man comics I could write a twenty-nine page thesis on, but Pekar gives enough that I was able to do it for him.
6. Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett (~1953)
The play in which nothing happens...twice. The height of absurdism. Interpret from it what you wish.
7. Prufrock and Other Observations, by T.S. Eliot (1920)
Never have I loved a poet with such fervor as I love T.S. Eliot. I'm not a big poetry person, usually because my take on the works have never been my professors' takes on them, resulting in poor grades or the insistence that I explain myself better. The best thing about Eliot, in my opinion, is that there is no need for explanations; it's all dark and dreary and romantic, like London under fog. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is my favorite (though "Hollow Men" is a close, close second) and it gives us such oft-quoted lines as "...have known evenings, mornings, afternoons, / I have measured my life out in coffee spoons," and "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Read the title poem from this collection here.
7. Prufrock and Other Observations, by T.S. Eliot (1920)
Never have I loved a poet with such fervor as I love T.S. Eliot. I'm not a big poetry person, usually because my take on the works have never been my professors' takes on them, resulting in poor grades or the insistence that I explain myself better. The best thing about Eliot, in my opinion, is that there is no need for explanations; it's all dark and dreary and romantic, like London under fog. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is my favorite (though "Hollow Men" is a close, close second) and it gives us such oft-quoted lines as "...have known evenings, mornings, afternoons, / I have measured my life out in coffee spoons," and "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Read the title poem from this collection here.
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