Good books

[strudey]

"one hundred years of solitude" by gabriel garcia marquez

Loved this. Some absolutely astounding moments.

The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger might just about fit your criteria, although I've got to say it seems a bit of an odd set of criteria to limit yourself so, brilliant books aren't always so easily pigeonholed.

I'd also not recommend Catch 22, interminably long way to relate what should be a fairly simple idea. But do carry it in case of muggings to fend off any attackers, you may even be able to stop a bullet with it if necessary.

I think it's amazing. It's one of the few books that consistently makes me laugh out loud. I reckon there's a lot more to it than just the 'catch-22' idea, not that I'm saying I understood all the references etc.

Just browsing wiki's quote page, I want to read it again!

"I'll tell you what justice is. Justice is a knee in the gut from the floor on the chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning."

"You have no respect for excessive authority or obsolete traditions. You're dangerous and depraved, and you ought to be taken outside and shot!"

 

[titchard]

It's just that if people recommend books I have no interest in reading then I'm not going to read them.

Thanks.

How do you know you have no interest in reading them - if you have never read them?

It's like me saying I hate the Beatles having never listened to them.

Rich

 

[semi-pro waster]

I think it's amazing. It's one of the few books that consistently makes me laugh out loud. I reckon there's a lot more to it than just the 'catch-22' idea, not that I'm saying I understood all the references etc.

Perhaps I wasn't being entirely fair but I've read it twice now (a 12 year gap between readings to see if I'd matured) and didn't really get on with it either time, it isn't a bad book as such but it is overly long and I don't think it is worthy of the classic status that it has.