May 14, 2003 12:41 PM
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(Updated May 14, 2003 02:30 PM)
This is a rather contentious topic. A lot depends on what you like or dislike at your age. if I would have written this in my early teens then I would have suggested books by Wodehouse, Alistar Maclean and Mark Twain. Some of them still remain my favourites but I've changed a lot since then and the books that have in some way or the other helped me change(for better or for worse is controversial in itself!) or which have really made me think or just plain entertained me are a diverse set of writings. Currently I'm aiming at reading everything readable in the Top 100 list of the best books of the last century. I've got to 28 and I'll be reaching the 30th mark pretty soon. A small note about this Top 100.there are two ratings.one by the teachers and academicians and another by students.I suggest that you go by the student's rating. Here's my list of 5 best books to read and some other recommended reading. These are not in any order and I also suggest going to the net and finding more about these books before going for them.
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller: Heller was once asked'You haven't written anything as good as Catch 22.' and he replied'Has anybody else written anything as good?'. This novel is set in an air force base somewhere in Vietnam during the war. Read it for its humor(you'd never read sth so hilarious!), read it for it's commentary on the real meaning of war and for it's dark side which leaves you thinking, laughing and crying at the same time. Yossarian is a pilot who has had enough of the war and he wants to be released but there is a catch and that catch is CATCH 22. To find out more.grab a copy.
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger: A cult classic.Lennon's murderer carried a copy of this before he shot the ex-beatle. But that was his fault. This is really a very funny book but if u go deep down then that's your fault too! It's about Holden, a 17 year old kid who can't fit in anywhere.he gets kicked out of every school he attends and he considers everyone phony.'Phony' is the most used word in the book. The profound observations that Salinger makes about childhood, the loss of identity and the sufferings of a kid who has lost his moorings are all deliberately subdued by the pervasive dark comedy.
Famished Road by Ben Okri: Winner of the booker prize and all that crap notwithstanding, this is a book about hope and about faith and all those things that you'll get in a thousand self-help books infesting every nook and cranny of the bookshop windows but this is different.it's about a family in a small village in Africa. The story is so big and encompasses so many vivid characters that it's not possible to really tell you much about it. I can tell you how I felt.I felt really happy(that's rather simple but that's all we need!)after reading this.
The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: I read this book.said hmmmm.fine it's good but what's so great? and then it struck me.the subtle hints Hemingway leaves throughout will make you think and may change the way you think. On the surface a hopeless love story in the backdrop of a Spanish holiday. Beautiful.sheer poetry!
I, Claudius by Robert Graves: Historical fiction.I always thought it would be boring but the story of how Claudius, a lame weakling goes on to become the emperor of Rome was enlightening and entertaining at the same time.this is a rare achievement and Graves does it without sacrificing on the facts. One more thing.you'll read this and discover that human nature has not evolved at all.we're still in the same web of conspiracies and complexities.
Recommended Reading:
The Great Gatsby by Fitzergald
Razor's edge by Maugham
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Anything by P.G Wodehouse with Jeeves and Wooster in it.
Arthur Fieldman and Other Stories by Bernard Malamud.
Franny and Zooey by Salinger.
The Collected plays of Henrik Ibsen esp Ghosts and The enemy of the people.
Lolita by Nabaakov.
Smilla's sense of snow(this is a detetive novel.i can't remember the author's name).
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.
Dubliners by James Joyce.
Cartoons: Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts and Dilbert.
The Alchemist by Paul Coeleho.
