The Writer's Life 11/2 - 80

Here's another list, The 80 Books Every Man Should Read, which recently ran in Esquire. Such lists are usually interesting, confounding and infuriating. Given the title, I assume it's geared toward males, which seems silly, although I suppose the magazine caters chiefly to men. One woman did crack the list, however. The oddest aspect is that only one writer appears twice, Cormac McCarthy. I haven't read any of his work, but he fared better than the literary heavyweights. I have never heard of about 20 of the books. I've read about 25, and I'll comment after each of those.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville - Great idea, well-executed. The humor is surprising.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - I suggest an abridged version that eliminates the burning issue of the day aspects.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - A masterpiece, as are his other major works.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - The great American Novel. All others are vying for second place.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - I found it a tough read.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Dubliners by James Joyce
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett - Great fun, polished writing.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner - Haunting imagery.
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller - I prefer Tropic of Capricorn, which is set in Brooklyn rather than France, and has a lot more sex.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Great portrayal of the Okies who headed west to escape the Dust Bowl.
Native Son by Richard Wright - Solid.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - It taught me how to extend a theme throughout a novel: "Any man's death diminishes me..."
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene - No recollection of it.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee
The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren - One of the few great political novels.
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer - Uncompromising look at men in war.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - My favorite on race relations.
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow - The highest praise I can bestow on a novel is that it gets life right. This is spot on.
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - The author is for people a lot smarter than me.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor - Short story collection. The title piece is chilling. I remember being surprised a woman wrote it. She died in 1964.
The Professional by W.C. Heinz
The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Rabbit, Run by John Updike - Serious, solid look at the human condition.
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - May be the only case where I think the film better than the book.
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley - Excellent.
Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
A Sense of Where You Are by John McPhee
A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter
A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut - Imaginative work from a fertile mind.
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Deliverance by James Dickey
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Great Bridge by David McCullough
Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - Gettysburg fictionalized to wonderful effect. What to do when out of ammo - charge!
Dispatches by Michael Herr
The Shining by Stephen King
Women by Charles Bukowski
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Legends of The Fall by Jim Harrison
Sophie's Choice by William Styron - Heartbreaking.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - Didn't get it. One of those critically praised books that make me feel dumb.
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
The Good War by Studs Terkel
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - It expertly captures what settlers faced. A masterpiece.
The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Going Native by Stephen Wright
American Tabloid by James Ellroy - Novelization of the JFK assassination. Great read, but is it what the author believes happened or just fiction?
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Underworld by Don DeLillo
Affliction by Russell Banks
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Let the Great World Spin: A Novel by Colum McCann
Savages: A Novel by Don Winslow
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel by Adam Johnson
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: A Novel by Ben Fountain
    Copyright 2009-2014 Shane Sherman

My thanks to gentleman who purchased four classics today on Bay Parkway.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/