My Reading List (english guyz plz)

[desolutionist]

I was supposed to read two of these over the summer:

Cry the Beloved Country (Alan Paton)
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Ishmael Beah)

The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)

Shogan (James Clavell)
Tai Pan (James Clavell)
Bangkok 8 (John Burdett)
Bangkok Tattoo (John Burdett)
The Last Samurai (Mark Ravina)

Cicero (Anthony Everitt)
Augustus (Anthony Everitt)
The Odyssey (Homer)

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini.)
The Life of Pi (Yann Martel.)
Alive and Well in Pakistan (Ethan Casey)

Whirlwind (James Calvell)
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (Queen Noor)

The Stories of Eva Luna (Isabel Allende)
Who Killed Palomino Molero (Mario Llosa Vargas)

Are any of these good/worth reading?

[Ephraim]

I have read three of the books on that list and I enjoyed two of them.  The Odyssey is definitely a worthwhile read.  I would recommend it highly.  I liked Crime and Punishment, but it isn't for everybody.  If you get any recommendations from other people, you might take them instead.

I would urge you to steer clear of Shogun by James Clavell.  A lot of people will tell you that it's a good book, but it completely falls apart at the end, in my opinion.  It's like the author got bored and decided to wrap up all of the great story arcs that he was developing in the most half-assed possible way.

[LordHomerCat]

I've read Things Fall Apart (multiple times actually, in HS and College).  Its a good book in the manner that it is well written and an excellent literary work.  Its not exactly a book I would read for pleasure, but it definitely is easy to write a paper about, if that is what you're looking for.

[The Atog Lord]

As a classics major, I am obligated to tell you that the Odyssey is a fundamental work in western literature, and very much worth reading. It is a glimpse into a much older time and mindset. In fact, most classicists believe that the work predates written record and that it was passed along orally until finally recorded in text. It is a fundamental story of man against man, and of man striving against the divine. If you read it, you will see its shadow looming over much of the subsequent literature in the western tradition.

[Smmenen]

The Kite Runner is a great modern classic.   The Metamorphosis is a really quick and nice read.   

[Necrologia]

Out of the list I've read:

Cry the Beloved Country (Alan Paton)
The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)
Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)
The Odyssey (Homer)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini.)

Metamorphosis is short but definitely odd. It seems to come up in almost every English class I've ever had at college though so it might be worth reading it just to get it over with. The Odyssey is a great read but pretty lengthy.

Cry the Beloved Country and The Kite Runner are both interesting views into different parts of the world. Neither is really my cup of tea but they aren't bad books at all. Both are fairly short and easy reads.

Last is the Historian. I read it for pleasure a while ago and enjoyed it greatly. It's similar to the Da Vinci Code in that it's fiction that does a good job of portraying itself as something that might have very well happened. At the very least it's about vampires so it gets major points for that as well.

[Purple Hat]

I couldn't make it through the kite runner earlier this year, parts of the book are just down right brutal.  The odessy is very good, you should read the original for sure, but there are also many summarized versions, etc that can help with the sometimes archaic language as I recall, although to be fair I haven't read it since 9th grade.  I think I've been meaning to read "a long way gone" but I havent' gotten around to it, it's probably a very interesting read though if it's the book I'm thinking of.  I think it's about the author's experiences in the civil wars in africa in which the various factions were simply sweeping up 10 or so year old boys and arming them and forcing them to fight.

[lewismd]

I've read Crime and Punishment and The Odyssey, both are well worth reading.

[Shock Wave]

I highly recommend Crime and Punishment. It is the best book I've read to date. I've recently read the following as well:

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

Out of those four, I enjoyed Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein. I had heard a lot about The Alchemist and The Celestine Prophecy, but I wasn't impressed by either of them. I would go as far as to say that The Celestine Prophecy was poorly written and rather hokey. The Alchemist was a decent little tale, although trite and predictable. Currently, I am reading "Che Guevera: Writings on Politics & Revolution". I am not even halfway through and I'm quite sure that it will join Crime and Punishment amongst my favourite pieces of literature.

[Godder]

Dracula (Bram Stoker) is a classic, not only for its exploration of various vampire mythologies, but also for its unique story-telling - each chapter is an entry into a character's diary, and different characters' points of view are all presented throughout the book.

[Illissius]

Metamorphosis was required reading here (albeit in Hungarian), and it's the only book so far in my life which I actually hated, and regretted having read. I know others haven't had the same visceral reaction, so I'm just sharing my experience. From my somewhat limited knowledge of literature, it's like Beckett crossed with E.T.A. Hoffmann and a twisted sadistic streak.

[nataz]

Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)

Are insta-stand outs for me. Ditto I suppose on Odyssey. Whats the goal here? Are you looking for brevity, story, themes, etc? Are you looking for a top 2 for a report/paper? I mean, in one way or another there are quite a few books on the list worth reading - time constraints aside.