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You know, when you read Moby **** the second time, Ahab and the whale become good friends.
What are you into non-fic wise? I was the same way as you but I loved history and got into fiction through some classic war novels.
Agree, big fan. My List:
I first read Kundera in college. Actually followed my reading Nietzsche.
Ha, botched that post big time.
Totally agree on every point. Wilde is the other author that really shaped me. While in a very different way. Wilde could say more in a sentence than most could in a chapter all while being funny, insightful, indulgent and cynical all at the same time.
This is a confession, I picked up Unbearable Lightness of Being in the book store because I thought it looked very literary and intellectual and that was the image I was trying to rock at that time. Turned out to be about the best thing I'd ever read and I devoured everything of his I could find.
I've read some of the plays (loved The Importance of Being Earnest) but sadly never seen them performed. The moral I took from this was:
Way ahead of his time. People weren't ready for him as a person or artist at the time. He's also the most quotable person in history. Sometimes I like to highlight books when I read something profound or funny. With Wilde, you can't. It's just all so good. No one could say more with less so often.
Thanks for reminding me to read Confederacy. It's been on my list for awhile and I keep overlooking it.
Highly overrated, IMO. Is it just me, or is humor in novel form like the toughest art form to nail? I guess humor is just so highly subjective that one man's classic (or many men's) like Confederacy is another man's meh (Herb)
Confederacy gets really political, too. And religious. And it sort of focuses on a slice of America that some of the people on the board would get way more than I ever would. To me, it's about voyeurism to another time and place, and the political/regional/religious questions are all a part of the humor. It's not everyone's cup of tea. I loved it in my twenties. But I just laughed out loud thinking of the letters Ignatius and Myrna send back and forth, so I'm sticking with it. I just love it, though I may not get all of it.
