What narrative can I learn? (Literary Cannon)

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Hmm, the Catcher in the Rye was pretty dumb, don't read that.

Spoiler

Old Holden was such a goddamned phoney and all. I hated every second of reading that book and I wanted to shoot the little bastard.

But I would really recommend The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. All great books.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Hmm, the Catcher in the Rye was pretty dumb, don't read that.

Spoiler

Old Holden was such a goddamned phoney and all. I hated every second of reading that book and I wanted to shoot the little bastard.

But I would really recommend The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. All great books.

Hey give credit where credits due. Catcher was like the first book to really cover Teenaged Angst.

 

[Mr Wednesday]

If you wanted to learn story telling why did you become an English major?

Wouldn't becoming a Creative Writing Major have made more sense?

 

[SwimmingRock]

The Irish trinity: James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien. All brilliant and different styles.

Also try The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse. Don't know how many fictional biographies you've read, but it's an unusual style and a very interesting book.

Anything by Oscar Wilde is gold. If you want to learn how to write, he's one of the wittiest men to ever live. I really enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray in particular. If you want to read a play, The Importance of Being Earnest is also brilliant.

For good horror, I recommend H.P. Lovecraft.

Oh, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is also fantastic. It's one of my favorite books.

NEVER READ ANYTHING BY JAMES JOYCE IF YOU VALUE YOUR SANITY. I'm a Lit major, and I hate him with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

But I really like Joyce ... Then again, I hate Wilde. Yeah, uncalled for, but it made me feel better. Oh, well. To each his own, right?

 

[Mr Wednesday]

If you wanted to learn story telling why did you become an English major?

Wouldn't becoming a Creative Writing Major have made more sense?

A Creative Writing major is an English major, usually by definition.

I am an English Literature Graduate. I know my subject. There is a difference between studying some one's creative writing, that is, literature, and studying how to write fiction.
I don't know, perhaps things are different where you are. How is the weather on Neptune at the moment?

 

[FinalHeart95]

Brave New World and Lord of the Flies are personal favorites when recommending these sorts of books. Brave New World is interesting in that it swaps the protagonist half-way through the story without really pointing the switch out. In fact, I didn't really notice the switch until I though "hey... whats-his-face hasn't been in the book for a while...".

Lord of the Flies is a perfect example of symbolism in literature (as is Animal Farm apparently, but I haven't actually read that). Also, sometimes the story causes you forget that these are CHILDREN doing all of these things. Loss of innocence at its finest.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Hmm, the Catcher in the Rye was pretty dumb, don't read that.

Spoiler

Old Holden was such a goddamned phoney and all. I hated every second of reading that book and I wanted to shoot the little bastard.

But I would really recommend The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. All great books.

Hey give credit where credits due. Catcher was like the first book to really cover Teenaged Angst.

It wasn't really teenaged angst, it was more of a teenager acting like a complete hypocritical bastard the whole time. I don't normally think these things, but I was kinda hoping he'd drink himself to death.

 

[Busdriver580]

You cant go wrong with Stephen King, mainly cause he does a decent job at wide ranges of story.

I'd also suggest The Outsiders.

I couldn't disagree more.

Heart of Darkness - Best Symbolism and Allegory EVER

 

[spartan231490]

So!

I am an English major, and recently have been really getting my ass handed to me as far as class goings and what I actually. In truth, i'm rather annoyed with my current standing with school because although I've learned a lot about how to write, I have not learned much as far as storytelling elements. And quite frankly, thats what I'm must interested in. In fact, I feel almost that I've learned more just reading TV Tropes all night then I have 2 semesters at University all night when it comes to telling stories.

Coming up I'll have a whole summer off, and an whole semester where I'm not doing any English-related courses. I'd liked to fill that gap by reading the greatest works of literature that I can. by that I mean any obvious ones that you can list off the top of your head (Catcher In The Rye, Moby Dick for examples). I'll even go ahead the step and say each serious one suggested, I will read and review here on The Escapist forums. Just list away, I seriously doubt you'll hit something I've read before and even then I'll read and review it again anyway.

One more thing, not that I have a personal bias, but I only want fiction from the plain text medium. No manga, American graphic novels or such.

I strongly suggest "Sword of Truth" series, by Terry Goodkind, if you have any attraction to fantasy. I think it's at least as well written as any classic I've ever read, and my friends have the same opinion, one of whom is a lit major, and all of us have read at least half-a-dozen to a dozen "classics." It's long, 11 large books, so pick something else if you're in a hurry, but i think it's well worth it.

 

[Najos]

Trying not to mention anything someone else has said, but here's a list of some of my favorite novels. These are books I feel everyone should read at some point, possibly excluding Battlefield Earth and Dune...and maybe Ishmael.

Catch 22
Ethan Frome
My Antonia
The Great Gatsby
On The Road (And every other Kerouac book, he's one of my favorites!)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ishmael
Dune
Battlefield Earth
Wheel of Time series (I'd suggest waiting until it is finished just to avoid frustration)

 

[Srrrh]

^ So glad someone mentioned Catch 22, was beginning to wonder what was wrong with people.

I am a huge Stephen King fan, but his writing style is so unique and so obviously him in all his books that I would suggest maybe reading just one of his famous ones (The Stand is a good choice) - if you're looking for different narrative styles there's just no point in then going on to read, say, 'Salems Lot or Cujo.

Having said that, try The Long Walk, written under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman. Or heck, all the "Bachman Books" have different writing styles. Add to that "Dolores Claiborn" and that should round you up on the Stephen Kings.

Ben Elton is another with a very unique writing style so again I would suggest reading one of his. "Dead Famous" is probably the most famous. Having said that, although they're all written in a similar manner you should still read all the Eltons you can get your hands on because they're awesome.

I've recently been reading Tom Holt. "You Don't Have To Be Evil To Work Here, But It Helps" was the first one I read, loved it. Very tongue-in-cheek and it flows beautifully, despite large bits of made-up science!

All of that is modern fiction of course, so throw in Dr Faustus for some Elizabethan fun and then go right back to Women of Troy to see how the Greeks liked their stories. Actually Women of Troy is probably a bad idea, the Odyssey would be better.

 

[Mr Wednesday]

If you wanted to learn story telling why did you become an English major?

Wouldn't becoming a Creative Writing Major have made more sense?

A Creative Writing major is an English major, usually by definition.

I am an English Literature Graduate. I know my subject.

Apparently not. To take a Creative Writing degree is to study in an EngLit department, and most certainly doesn't exempt you from studying literary analysis. At least not in any part of North American academia I've ever heard of. What school are you studying at, or did you study at?

That's bollucks. Your implementation is a blanket term, not a subject. I also took part of my course in Philosophy, part of the humanites department. I do not have a degree in humanities. I'm not exactly sure what your point about being exempt from literary analysis is. It may be an element of the course, but English, as the term is generally used, is a distinct discipline from Creative writing.

Also, Lancaster.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

The only book I've read that really falls into that category is 1984 and it's amazing. If you like history, particularly from 1939 onwards you would especially like that. Another book which I would recommend is the Peace and War Omnibus by Joe Haldeman. If you don't mind sci-fi and (again) you like history I would consider these books a must-read. The Forever War and The Forever Peace are a commentary on the Vietnam war and provide different perspectives as one was written during the war while the other was written in the 90s.

 

[fooddood3]

I'm appalled by the lack of Kurt Vonnegut.
But yeah, everything by Kurt Vonnegut. Namely, Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five

 

[ImSkeletor]

I'd also suggest The Outsiders.

Why the Outsiders? I have read it and besides that Jesus Christ metaphor is was just a pretty lackluster poorly paced novel to me. So Im kind of curious to why you put it as one of the greatest novels ever.

OT:I have to say to Kill A Mocking Bird is pretty good.