I forgot Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground. And Huckleberry Finn.

Throw in Thurber’s 13 Clocks for the fun of it.

Moby Dick is cool.

Akmom 15 – yes, I wish that was substituted for Catcher in the Rye.

Thanks for all the ideas.

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The Opium War – Peter Fay
The Price of Glory – Alistair Horne
Gordon of Khartoum – Lord Elton
Adams, Truman – McCullough
Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra – Massie
The Age of Reconnaissance – Parry
Conquest of New Spain – Bernal Diaz
Mao – Chang & Halliday

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Other than the Bible and LOTR, none of mine are on the list. Many of my favorites are history. I would probably list a dozen, but nobody would be interested.

Some novels -
Far from the Madding Crown – Hardy
Treasure Island – Stevenson
Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness – Conrad
Kim – Kipling
David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities – Dickens

Got to go, that’s it off the top of my head.

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1984 George Orwell
Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Blade Runner, Alan E. Nourse
Alas Babylon, Pat Frank

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And for good science fiction literature I read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.

But I must also mention one of my husband’s favorite books by Scott Adams- The Joy of Work-Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-workers. Now that is THE definition of ‘literature’!

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I’d still like to hear anyone’s thoughts on what makes one book “literature” and another just a good read.

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As historical based writers, they become far too in love with their subject material. With Michelar’s multi-genreation nvoels such as the Covenant characterization is weak and stereotypical. Even in his Tales of the South Pacific, each soldier represent a particular facet of the American character that he admired. Uris reduces his material to simplistic us vs them narrative with very little nuances. And where he inserts personal inner conflicts, it seems contrived — see the Trinity.

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What makes one book “literature” and another just “fiction?” I mean more than the test of time. How would those of you who list those books most people would categorize as “classics” define what makes them so? HRW says Micheler and Uris are badly written, what about them makes them bad [surely it's not just because they're longer than the story needs them to be]?

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As a teen I loved Ayn Rand’s Anthem (I’ve since repented from this great sin). Also the Chrysalids and Brave New World.

Anything by Orwell. Graham Greene has a strange appeal to me — I’ve yet to know why I like his work.

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

The Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richeler.
As you can see CanLit is well used in high school English.

As for guilt ridden reading I prefer historical novels by Micheler and Uris. I say guilt ridden because its badly written but an entertaining way to learn the history of a particular region and event. Uris in particular is a cheerleader.

The above are all fiction but I usually prefer non-fiction Guns, Germs and Steel, A Short History of Progress, A Short History of Everything, Voltaire’s Bastard, The Shock Doctrine, A History of God are all good reads from the past decade or so. As for most influential in my life Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequality, Marx’s Theses on Fuerbach, Camus’ The Rebel, and Nietzsche esp The Birth of Tragedy.

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