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Your Favourite American Novels?

ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
edited March 2010 in All Encompassing Trip
What are they?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • CHANGEinWAVESCHANGEinWAVES Posts: 10,169
    Steinbeck's - East of Eden
    "I'm not present, I'm a drug that makes you dream"
  • eyedclaareyedclaar Posts: 6,980
    Abbey - Desert Solitaire
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  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    Sinclair - The Jungle.
    7/2/06 - Denver, CO
    6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
    8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
    9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
    9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
    9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
  • Black DiamondBlack Diamond Posts: 25,107
    American Pastoral - Philip Roth
    GoiMTvP.gif
  • keeponrockinkeeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    No Country For Old Men
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • merkinballmerkinball Posts: 2,262
    edited March 2010
    American Gods ~ Neil Gaiman (Yeah, he's british, but it's definitely an American Novel).

    Edited to add: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, or Hell's Angels ~ Hunter S. Thompson. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas is a great book, but I like these two more.
    Post edited by merkinball on
    "You're no help," he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could.

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  • IwasBit10IwasBit10 Posts: 646
    Anything by the non-navigator, Ken Kesey.
    He floated back down 'cause he wanted to share, his key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere.
  • -Buru--Buru- Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 1,292
    hmmm... probably

    A Confederacy of dunces - John Kennedy Toole


    I also love Steinbeck.
    I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream...
    If I knew where it was I would take you there.

  • One Song GloryOne Song Glory Posts: 710
    Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    Kerouac: On the Road
    Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
    Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Paul Auster's New York Trilogy
    2003: Toronto
    2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
    2006: Toronto 1 & 2
    2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
    2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
    2010: Buffalo
    2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
    2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle
    2016: Toronto 1 & 2
    2022: Hamilton/Toronto
    2023: EV Seattle 1&2
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    not my favourite cause id have to give that some thought but yep one here for one flew over the cuckoos nest. def being in the top 5. so glad ive not managed to ever see the movie.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    One Song Glory wrote:
    Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    Kerouac: On the Road
    Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
    Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Paul Auster's New York Trilogy

    Nice list. I need to read some Jonathan Safran Foer. I started 'Everything Is Illuminated' way back when but got distracted and didn't finish it. I'll add it to my list of things to do.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    Byrnzie wrote:
    What are they?

    well???? what are yours?
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • ZiggyStarZiggyStar Posts: 14,328
    Byrnzie wrote:

    Nice list. I need to read some Jonathan Safran Foer. I started 'Everything Is Illuminated' way back when but got distracted and didn't finish it. I'll add it to my list of things to do.

    I just started Everything is Illuminated two nights ago. I also borrowed Eating Animals....you posted the clip on
    Facebook about that, yeah?
    ★ 1995 - Brisbane ★ 1998 - Brisbane ★ 2003 - Brisbane ★ 2006 - Brisbane ★
    ★ 2009 - Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Christchurch ★
    ★ 2011 - EV Newcastle, Melbourne 1, Melbourne 2 ★
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    edited March 2010
    In no particular order:


    Midnight Cowboy - James Leo Herlihy
    The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehardt
    Dispatches - Michael Herr
    One Flew over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey
    The Western Lands - William S Burroughs
    Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson
    The Catcher In The Rye - Salinger
    Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me - Richard Farina
    Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
    Chump Change - Dan Fante
    Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller
    Post Office - Charles Bukowski
    Big Sur - Kerouac
    The Adventures of Huck Finn - Mark Twain
    The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
    Post edited by Byrnzie on
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    ZiggyStar wrote:
    I just started Everything is Illuminated two nights ago. I also borrowed Eating Animals....you posted the clip on
    Facebook about that, yeah?

    Yeah. But at the time I didn't make the connection, though I knew I'd heard the name before.
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    edited March 2010
    I still need to read 'Sometimes a Great Notion' by Ken Kesey, and 'Feast of Snakes' by Harry Crews.
    Post edited by Byrnzie on
  • -Buru--Buru- Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 1,292
    Kerouac and Bukowski are definitely favorites too.
    I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream...
    If I knew where it was I would take you there.

  • One Song GloryOne Song Glory Posts: 710
    Byrnzie wrote:
    One Song Glory wrote:
    Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    Kerouac: On the Road
    Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
    Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Paul Auster's New York Trilogy

    Nice list. I need to read some Jonathan Safran Foer. I started 'Everything Is Illuminated' way back when but got distracted and didn't finish it. I'll add it to my list of things to do.

    I would definitely recommend Extremely Loud... As much as I loved Everything Is Illuminated, I think his second novel was a thousand times better. Although some people take issue with it.
    2003: Toronto
    2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
    2006: Toronto 1 & 2
    2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
    2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
    2010: Buffalo
    2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
    2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle
    2016: Toronto 1 & 2
    2022: Hamilton/Toronto
    2023: EV Seattle 1&2
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    One Song Glory wrote:
    Byrnzie wrote:
    One Song Glory wrote:
    Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    Kerouac: On the Road
    Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
    Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Paul Auster's New York Trilogy

    Nice list. I need to read some Jonathan Safran Foer. I started 'Everything Is Illuminated' way back when but got distracted and didn't finish it. I'll add it to my list of things to do.

    I would definitely recommend Extremely Loud... As much as I loved Everything Is Illuminated, I think his second novel was a thousand times better. Although some people take issue with it.

    Cool. I'll check it out.
  • HinnHinn Posts: 1,517
    On The Road
    Slaughterhouse 5
    Of Mice and Men
    115 bucks for half a haircut by a novice? I want my money back!
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    The Celestine Prophecy
    On The Road
    Jitterbug Perfume
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • cdp1223cdp1223 Posts: 1,131
    Edit for me being a dummy and skimming over the "American" part of the thread title. :roll:

    Absalom! Absalom! (Faulkner)
    A Confederacy of Dunces (O'Toole)
    Portait of a Lady (James)
    The Marble Faun (Hawthorne)
    Light in August (Faulkner)
    The Moviegoer (Agee)
    The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
    Blood Meridian (McCarthy)
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    cdp1223 wrote:
    Blood Meridian (McCarthy)

    Good book. Though I think 'The Crossing's better.
  • cdp1223cdp1223 Posts: 1,131
    Byrnzie wrote:
    cdp1223 wrote:
    Blood Meridian (McCarthy)

    Good book. Though I think 'The Crossing's better.

    We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. :D
  • CorsoCorso so poor I can't afford to comment on the PJ forum Posts: 201
    edited March 2010
    House Made of Dawn - N. Scott Momaday
    Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
    Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie
    On the Road - Jack Kerouac
    Moby Dick - Herman Melville
    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
    Post edited by Corso on
  • musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    on the road
    anything steinbeck
    been reading alot of dave eggers lately. the guy is maybe my favorite living author. you shall know our velocity blew me away. it scared me. not in the horror movie sense.
  • musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    oh and i agree about extremely loud and incredibly close. the guys writing style reminds me of eggers. so many mind blowing and goose bump inducing moments in that book. as crass as it seems to say it, it may be my favorite book on the tragedies of 9/11. i read that thing oh i would say almost a year ago and it remains on my mind, and i talk about it with others often.
  • StarfallStarfall Posts: 548
    Too many to mention, but a few that stand out:

    Bernard Malamud - The Natural
    F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
    John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
    To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
    William Peter Blatty - The Exorcist
    "It's not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it's yours, and then be willing to let it go." - Neil Gaiman, "Stardust"
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    edited March 2010
    I forgot to mention ''Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me' by Richard Farina. A great book about the 60's counterculture.

    And 'Dispatches' - Michael Herr
    Post edited by Byrnzie on
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    I still wanna read this:

    'Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps' by Emmet Grogan

    Review

    “The best and only authentic book written on the sixties underground.” –Dennis Hopper

    “Of all those activists, Hopper thought the most interesting was the late Emmett Grogan, who ran the Diggers, a group that gave away food and clothing. Hopper thinks that Grogan's romanticized autobiography, Ringolevio, is the best book dealing with the '60s. The title was a New York street game ‘of life and death.’ ‘Grogan thought that anybody who ever played that game would learn their position in life,’ Hopper said. ‘He was out of New York, studied film making with Antonioni. He was a jewel thief, a heroin addict and then came to San Francisco and started the Diggers. He had a lot of charisma.’” –The San Francisco Chronicle

    “Emmett Grogan was a wonderful storyteller, and Ringolevio is a great book.” –Jerry Garcia

    “It wouldn’t be surprising if Emmett Grogan–‘60s underground hero, prime mover of the Digger movement in San Francisco–were to come back to life. To know Grogan–a wild phenomenon who made the world his stange and could strut more in a month than Olivier played in a lifetime–was to entertain such possibilities.” –The Boston Globe

    “A kind of case study that reappraises the '60s unapologetically but honestly, noting the mistakes and excesses, but also acknowledging some of the things that came from it that we should be proud of. Most people are afraid to admit how much fun it was." –Peter Coyote

    Grogan was “the underground superstar of the counterculture, a young man whom everyone who was hip had heard of but whom no one could ever find…Wherever it was happening in the 1960’s, Emmett Grogan was there.” –The New York Times

    “This autobiography is at once an amazing example of romantic self-mythologizing and a broad history of the hippie movement of the late nineteen-sixties…Mr. Grogan writes so clearly that he almost convinces us that the whole story could be true.” –The New Yorker

    “Grogan…who blends idealism with cold-blooded nastiness, sets forth in this playback not only his own life and times–but also what it means to be on the other side of the barricades, away from the hearth where the bowls aren’t always full…Grogan’s chronicle of his life in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco…is most interesting.” –The New York Times Book Review

    “The autobiography of a sometime saint…an astonishing mass of raw experience. It blows myths, settles scores and leaves one pondering the invisible rules by which history and individuals impinge upon one another.” –Life

    “Superman of the Underground.” –The Times (London)

    “Emmett Grogan is the nom de plume of a youthful author whose autobiography Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps will likely cause a stir when it is published.” –Publishers Weekly

    A “lengthy, indulgent but intermittently fascinating autobiography of head Digger Emmett Grogan.” –The Washington Post

    “The story of the San Francisco Diggers, pioneers of the Haight-Ashbury scene, told engagingly by the head Digger himself.” –The San Francisco Chronicle

    “[The San Francisco Diggers] combined Dada street theater with the revolutionary politics of free. Slum-alley saints, they lit up the period by spreading the poetry of love and anarchy with broad strokes of artistic genius. Their free store, communications network of instant offset survival poetry, along with Indian-inspired consciousness, was the original white light of the era. Emmett Grogan was the hippie warrior par excellence. He was also a junkie, a maniac, a gifted actor, a rebel hero, …and above all a pain in the ass to all his friends. Ringolevio [is] half-brilliant.” –Abbie Hoffman
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