9/21/08

Desert Island Novels

While I'm at it, allow me to post my top five desert island novels. Feel free to do the same on your blog! Let's start a dialog.

1. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
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If you mix a post-apocalyptic storyline with Vonnegut's humanist compassion and humor, the result is a literary goldmine that bears re-reading.

2. The Watchmen by Alan Moore.
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This graphic novel is the be-all, end-all of the superhero genre.

3. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1
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Well, it contains Beowulf, Shakespearean Sonnets, Milton, Sidney's Astrophil and Stella sonnets, and Jonathan Swift, plus a lot of boring stuff that I would probably get around to reading if I had nothing else to do besides spear fish and crack coconuts. Or else, I could use it for kindling.

4. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
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Ignatius Reilly is arguably the most comical character of American literature. His consistent application of medieval philosophy (Fortuna's wheel) would probably help me cope with the bad luck of being stranded.

5. Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass by Steven King.
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My favorite book of the Dark Tower series...enough said.

1 comment:

Chris Freeman said...

I've tried to read Confederacy of Dunces twice and not gotten into it.. Maybe I'll give it a third try one day.