i'm not going to make this painfully long- just the book, author and a line or two about why i think it deserves a place on my list (which isn't really in any particular order).
1. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov. one of the greatest authors of all time, lolita is arguably nabokov's most famous book. it's beautifully written, creepy, sad, funny and everything else you want a book to be. pedophilia as a love story. the villan as a victim. it doesn't get better than this. and if that doesn't convince you then the opening chapter should:
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.
Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, a certain initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, a certain initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
2. The Stranger, Albert Camus. apart from being one of the best books written by one of the best authors of all time this book has the honorable distinction of having a Cure song written about it ("Killing An Arab"). one of two books that i consider to truly capture my sense and idea of existentialism in prose form. drenched in camus' ideas about the absurdity of the human condition (and existence) and a universe devoid of consequence or meaning, this book shows me new things each time i read it.
3. The Dark Is Rising (sequence), Susan Cooper. this is a series of 5 books (yes, they're children's fantasy books) that is one of the best i've ever read. the books weave in and out in terms of main
characters, place and time, ultimately culminating in a combination of complex story lines that you wouldn't have expected. cooper is so amazing at weaving in heavy references to authurian legend, celtic legend and just good old fashioned good versus evil that i defy even the most cynical of adults to not enjoy these books.4. his
dark materials, philip pullman. (that's right, i've already lost the will to use caps). i'm sure everyone heard about the film, 'the golden compass' that came out and was based on the first in this trilogy of novels. i saw the film and it in no way did this series justice. the books are about (yes, of course) the battle between good and evil but they're also about the purity of love, the infinite nature of the universe (or universes), the human condition, the nature of the human soul, death, the afterlife, innocence and sacrifice. they are action packed, entertaining, touching and i have never known anyone who has read them and not liked them.5. the curious case of the dog in the night-time, mark haddon. i'm not really sure how to des
cribe what this book is about or why it had such an impact on me. it's a sort of mystery story told from the perspective of an autistic boy... but his autism isn't really the focus of the book (although it clearly plays a major factor). this isn't 'flowers for algrenon'. the book is funny and engaging, not only in the way that it allows you into the boy's mind but in terms of the plot and development of the story itself. mark haddon came out of nowhere with this (his first) book and i think it's honestly one of the best i've ever read.6. the interpreter of maladies, jhumpa lahiri. perhaps you've seen (or read) lahiri's second work, 'the namesake'. if so then you know that she is capable of telling sublimely beautiful stories that
resonate with the reader to the very core. interpreter of maladies is actually a collection of short stories, all of them about what it is to be indian in both india and the states. some of the stories focus of 2nd generation indians who have grown up in the states and the distance they feel from their rich and colorful heritage, some are about life on the streets of bombay. regardless of the setting, the characters are so well developed and the scenes set so perfectly that you can see the dark browns and oranges of the henna and you can smell the masala as you're reading. regardless of your feelings about india, this book will make everyone realize that there is a connection within you to where you came from-- even if you've never physically been there.
7. venus in furs, leopold von sacher-masoch. ahh... leopold. the masochism to the marquis' sadism. i'm not saying that this is the best novel in the world but if you write a book and when people read it they name a sexual deviancy after you, it deserves to be on the list. i do have to say that i actually did enjoy it though. it's part of an epic series but this is the only part of it i read (thanks, lou reed).
8. titus groan/gormenghast, mervyn peake. these are actually the first two books in a trilogy. the final book, titus alone-- well, let's just say that you can skip it. these first two though are sheer genius. the first book, titus groan, tells of the birth of the son of the 76th earl of groan. the whole story is set within the walls (the rocks, the stones) of a place called gormenghast, a series of castles and turrets and buildings and huts that make up a fantastical, gothic earldom. there is seemingly nothing outside of
the stones. all that you see is gormenghast. the cast of characters in both titus groan and gormenghast are quite stunning. there is young titus himself (who does not really fugure in all that much until the 2nd novel as he is only 2 at the end of the first), the mysterious steerpike, whose cunning and charm make him quite the adversary, the daughter of the earl, fuchsia who is lost in her own world of fantasty and dreams... i could go on for ages. these books are classics for their amazing descriptive passages and character development alone (but they are so much more). i might add that this is another one of my selections that The Cure has written a song about ('The Drowning Man'). ahhh, robert. how much you have to show us.
9. marabou stork nightmares, irvine welsh. this book is insane. literally. it's told on two levels, one in a first-person, past tense narrative and the other in a weird stream of consiousness present-tense freak out narrative (here it must be mentioned that our narrator is in a coma). the book is fascinating, scarry, an interesting read and...let's be frank...when the man who brought you 'trainspotting' decides he's going to show you what crazy is, you read it.
10. lanark, alasdair gray. h
ow does one even begin to explain lanark? first of all, it took gray 30 years to write. secondly, it's written in four 'books' but they are out of sequence (purposefully, of course). we begin in book 3, where we meet lanark (who isn't even sure that that is his name). he has just awoken on a train. all he has with him is a bag. he has just awoken on a train. he has no idea how he got there or who he is. he arrives in unthank, a post-apocolyptic version of glasgow where the sun never shines and people disappear and turn into demonic creatures. by the end of book 3 we are so enthralled, confused and locked in wide-eyed wonderment that we cannot help but keep reading. once we've passed through the mystifying world of book 3 we enter the world of book 1. book 1 is the story of a young boy named duncan thaw living in pre-war glasgow. the narrative in books one and two (the order is book 3,1,2,4) is straight-forward and not fantastical as it is in books one and four. i'll let you climb into this one before i give anything away. is duncan thaw lanark? is lanark dead? is unthank hell? is glasgow hell? this book is considered to be one of the most brilliant and insightful works concerning the psyche of the scottish peoples in the 20th century (anthony burgess himself said that gray was the best scottish novelist since walter scott)-- not to mention it's just well-written and damn cool. 11. mysteries, knut hampsun. an interesting book about a traveller who enters a small town and begins to befriend all of the locals, including a mysterious dwarf whose story is unclear at be
st. little is known about the traveller but all who see or meet him are somehow drawn to him. the novel itself is really quite amazing but almost eclipsed by the insanity of the man who wrote it. knut hampson was- not to put too fine a point on it- an absolute fucker. he was a scandinavian writer of nazi propoganda and a virtual hermit. apparently, at one point hitler went to meet with hampsun. upon leaving his company, hitler said that he never wanted to see that crazy bastard again (i'm paraphrasing). his horrible personal life aside, mysteries is actually a very engaging and surprising book that shows that even people that madmen think are mad can create art that is beautiful.
st. little is known about the traveller but all who see or meet him are somehow drawn to him. the novel itself is really quite amazing but almost eclipsed by the insanity of the man who wrote it. knut hampson was- not to put too fine a point on it- an absolute fucker. he was a scandinavian writer of nazi propoganda and a virtual hermit. apparently, at one point hitler went to meet with hampsun. upon leaving his company, hitler said that he never wanted to see that crazy bastard again (i'm paraphrasing). his horrible personal life aside, mysteries is actually a very engaging and surprising book that shows that even people that madmen think are mad can create art that is beautiful. 12. pride and prejudice, jane austen. yea, i know. you've seen the movie (or, at least one of the 50,000 versions that have been made). thing is, it's a proper love story. austen really does bring us to rural england, to london, to the pits of hatred and the heights of love. it is moving, the language descriptive and the writing enchanting. this is the one that redeems the romance genre as all of the crappy romance novels that have been written since have tainted it.
oh yeah, and just because i've had a crappy day...we'll end with some much needed eye-pleasure-- 
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