James Joyce, Ulysses - Most difficult novel I've ever read, even on a second go round. Understood about 10% of it, yet it inspired me to write mine own stream of conscious novel, which will be my last book, scheduled for less than two years from now - if I make it that far.
Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow - Not as hard as Ulysses, but still tough. Recall a scene involving Mickey Rooney and Winston Churchill at a party that had me laughing out loud.
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury - I remember liking it but not much else than the family dysfunction at its core.
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita - Another tough read, but a story about a man obsessed with a girl not yet 13 is easily remembered.
Toni Morrison, Beloved - Presents a sound argument about the lingering psychological effects of slavery even in the present age. Although I was/am skeptical, the argument is intelligently rendered.
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse - Another tough stream of conscious novel. No recollection of the characters or story.
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man - Excellent. I have great respect for its racial balance.
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises - My least favorite of Papa's works. I remember only the running of the bulls segment and a fishing expedition.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Not a stream of conscious work. I don't remember anything about it.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby - I like it, but don't think it's a masterpiece.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness - Read it because it inspired Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). Didn't like it.
Joseph Heller, Catch 22 - Loved it. Still remember a lot of it, especially Yossarian's "Them!"
George Orwell, 1984 - Respect it because it dared to skewer totalitarianism at a time, 1948, when many were unsure about communism.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath - Great.
Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer - Pales in comparison to Tropic of Capricorn, which takes place in Brooklyn rather than Paris, which reveals my bias.
Jack Kerouac, On the Road - Didn't relate to it.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World - Still recall "soma" and other aspects.
Richard Wright, Native Son - Solid despite the author's belief in communism.
Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust - Didn't get it.
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five - "Unstuck in time" - brilliant concept.
J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye - The standard in books about disaffected youth.
Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth - Don't remember any of it.
Phillip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle - Forced myself to read it despite not liking the premise of What if the Nazis had won?
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange - Still remember some of it. I would not call it great.
Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead - Gritty portrait of WWII way ahead of its time. It doesn't go as far as Platoon (1986) but in a similar vein.
Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy - Solid from start to finish, although, like the Grapes of Wrath, it tends to state that those at the bottom have little hope of rising. I've never believed that about America.
If I were to make a list of my 100 favorite novels, few of the above would be on it. Even though I'm a writer, I would not feel confident enough to dub the entries the greatest. That is for time to decide.
From Yahoo's Odd News, edited by yours truly: A Grand Rapids, Michigan couple welcomed the birth of their 14th son. They have no daughters. The mom was one of 14 children herself. Here's a recent pic of the family minus an 18-year-old. The oldest is in his 20's.
Since it was only drizzling for most of today's session of the floating book shop, the scaffold kept everything dry. The rain didn't pick up in intensity until I began packing up. The best aspect was the absence of wind for the first time this week. My thanks to the Latino gentleman who rode up on his bike and overpaid for Lincoln the Unknown by Dale Carnegie, and to Ira, who bought How to Clean Practically Anything by The Editors of Consumer Reports. He was one of several passersby who mentioned the passing of Bruno Sammartino. To my amazement, Ira believes wrestling was not choreographed back in the day. I didn't argue. He has been my best customer, all of his buys non-fiction.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
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