These eight books are my favorite books of all time. It's small list and I am definitely missing a bunch, but these are the books that kept me reading for hours and hours without paying any attention to reality. Read my summaries and see if you'd like to check them out yourself!
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: If you have yet to read this book, then you are a fool. This is my favorite book of all time. I read it my senior year of high school for a project a instantly fell in love. Nabokov is such a fantastic author. It takes serious talent as a writer to make something so creepy and unpleasant sound so damn beautiful. Nabokov uses the most precise language in the most beautiful way to describe this haunting love affair. I am sure you know all about the disturbing relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita, so I will spare you on the plot summary. All you really need to know is that Lolita better be at the top of your reading list.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides: This is the most recent addition to my list of favorite books. Written in 2011, The Marriage Plot is fresh and new which is why I took to it so well. The story follows three Brown graduates as they head into life after graduation in 1982. Eugenides switches the point of view between the three, which I lovelovelove. This variation in point of view allows readers to understand the story from every angle. If you are or were an English major, I urge you to read this book. It appeals to the pretentious college smart ass within me. You will find yourself Googling every single obscure reference. The Marriage Plot challenged me in much the same way that my favorite teachers challenge me, and that is why I was able to connect with this book on such a deep level.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Wow. The Road is in its own league. It is a simple read. McCarthy doesn't waste any time on drawn out syntax or elevated language. Usually, I wouldn't pay any attention to such bland style. However, this style works so well for the depressing post-apocalyptic journey that you read about in this book. You follow a father and his young son as they journey for the sea in a gray and dismal world. Since there is an emptiness in the world, there is a matching sense of emptiness that the bland prose creates.You will read this and want to punch yourself in the face for not being thankful enough for the life that you are living. I wouldn't recommend this for just anyone because it can bore some readers and just make them sad, but it's worth a try!
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: Everyone should read Vonnegut at least once in their life. Vonnegut is out there, but he knows things and this is exemplified in Slaughterhouse-Five. The novel follows time-traveling WWII soldier Billy Pilgrim. I will admit that I didn't always know what was going on, but non-linear time travel can do that to you. I was surprised to find a couple illustrations throughout the book. Weird, right? Like a present for sticking with the book, you get a nice picture of some boobs towards the end. Sure, it's not detailed at all, but it's boobs, nonetheless! Slaughterhouse is goofy, sad and witty and it's such a great combination. Please, please, please read this book!
1984 by George Orwell: If you haven't read this book by now, then I am sure you dropped out of school in the eighth grade or something. Teachers assign this book like crazy and for a good reason. It is a dystopian novel that will freak you the fuck out. If you didn't fear for the future after reading this, then I have no idea what's wrong with you. I'll spare you the plot summary on this one because I'm sure we all know it well. Nevertheless, I read this book early on in high school and my thinking was drastically altered after doing so. 1984 is important in both a political and literary sense. Read this and read it right now! Big Brother says so!
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: I read this in seventh grade and I became obsessed with it. I knew the characters well and I considered them friends of my own. I had a gigantic crush on Johnny and I found myself very angry with the world that he didn't exist. I'm serious. It was creepy of me for sure. I wouldn't call this a literary masterpiece by any means, but that is not why it is so dear to me. After all, S.E. Hinton wrote the book when she was only sixteen out of frustration for the lack of worth-while reads for girls her age in the 60's. That in itself is pretty awesome to me. If you haven't, please read The Outsiders. You'll feel pretty damn tuff after doing so.
Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk: Snuff has got to be the most raunchy novel ever publish and I love that. This is one for the perverts! The book follows a group of characters as they all participate in the effort to make Cassie Wright the record holder for most fornication in one porn movie. The book is absolutely hilarious but absolutely troubling. Palahniuk is a crazy guy, but he knows how to tell a story that holds a readers' attention. If you read this, which you should, you will find yourself surprised. As the story unfolds, the character relationships will blow your mind. It's a little something like finding out that your best friend's cousin sat next to you in kindergarten, but it is a whole lot more interesting because you have sex and depression thrown into the mix. If you are modest and innocent, please don't touch this book. However, if you aren't squeaky clean, please read this! Your friends will ask you what you are reading, and it will be both fun and awkward to explain that you are reading a book about one porn star's journey to have sex with 600 guys in one movie. A weird moment for sure, but it will be worth it!
Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne: You may have seen the movie, but I promise that it hardly does the novel any justice. Youth in Revolt is a picaresque novel written in epistolary style following Nick Twisp, a smart ass on the verge of puberty and a world of impending trouble. His world is shaken up when he meets Sheeni Saunders, a gem of intelligence, beauty of sexuality. Throughout the course of the book's 499 pages, Nick gets himself in more trouble than any one individual ever could and it's all so that he can lose his virginity. Nick is such a great character, full of wit teenage angst. C.D. Payne writes with personality and pizazz that makes the 499 pages fly by like the years of your youth. Reading this will make you feel like that awkward tween that you once were. I urge you to read this because Nick Twisp is a character worth loving and his adventures are worth going on!
Well, there you have it, folks! I hope you found at least one new book to read!
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