Best Books

[justinbaily21]

Now that Summer has begun, I am looking for some good books to read in between my volunteer job with a hospital and my real one as a waiter. I am pre-med while at college, so I'm sick of reading about science and health. I'd prefer to pick up something with some social commentary by people like Chuck Klosterman or David Wallace. What are some good books about culutre that you would recommend?

I'm currently thinking about getting:

Infinite Jest

Consider the Lobster

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

Feel free to add any good books that you liked.

[seemeugly]

The Lucifer Principle

[apocalypse later]

Infinite Jest is a weird book, but I liked it.

Social commentary and books about culture? Hm...here's what I've read that I liked:

A Clockwork Orange (a classic, little explanation needed)

The Game (fantastic book about the secret society of pickup artists)

Things Fall Apart (another classic, lots about African culture)

Blood Meridian (fantastic author, beautiful prose, great themes)

A Game of Thrones (Probably the best fantasy series next to Lord of the Rings)

Atlas Shrugged (classic about intellectualism and thought dissapating in society)

Maybe get V For Vendetta, the graphic novel. I personally loved it and it's definitely a social commentary and I think it's better than the movie.

[sushijerk]

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. I'm rereading it right now as a warmup for Spook Country, and it resonates pretty neatly with the ideals of Superfuture.

[justinbaily21]

Thank you for the input so far, but I was leaning towards non-fiction social commentary.

[englandmj7]

Atlas Shrugged (classic about intellectualism and thought dissapating in society)

YES YES YES

[apocalypse later]

Thank you for the input so far, but I was leaning towards non-fiction social commentary.

You know that Infinite Jest is fiction, right? I guess I assumed that you wanted fiction since you listed fiction as some examples of books you were looking at.

Anyways, to be honest I haven't read much non-fiction social commentary. All I have really read is Orwell's non-fiction essays, like "Shooting An Elephant". I'd highly reccomend picking up an Orwell compilation book if I were you.

[justinbaily21]

I'm aware that Infinite Jest is fiction, but if I'm only in the market for one 1000+ page novel. Fiction recommendations are definitely appreciated for the future. Right now, I'm 70% looking for some non-fiction social critisism. Has anybody read "Consider the Lobster" or anything in that vein that they could recommend?

Apocalypse, I don't want to seem like I am brushing off your comments as unwanted. Thank you very much for the suggestions and I will be reading Atlas over winter break/next summer.

[Corbin Law]

i dont know about that england. i have serious beef with ayn rand.

[polishmike]

i dont know about that england. i have serious beef with ayn rand.

I'm pretty sure she was a witch.

[buffalocloud7]

Infinite Jest

this is a must...also really liked:

white noise-delillo

blindness-saramago (this book changed my life!)

[fortune]

Had to read an autobiography/memoir/biography for english and I picked up Cooked by Jeff Henderson. Only 280 pages long and not hard reading at all but I absolutely love his story and how he turned his life around. For those who haven't heard of him or the book, he goes from being a convicted felon serving 19 years in prison(served 10 or so) to head chef at Cafe Bellagio.

[jilla82]

I just finished reading Blink...really good book

I picked up Tuesdays with Morrie tonight

[Corbin Law]

im reading some east of eden. thus far its proved to be better than 98% of all books ive ever read.

[bee hee]

i dont know about that england. i have serious beef with ayn rand.

I like how she and all of her followers were chainsmokers because cigarettes were a sort of gift from the gods of business, and if you didn't smoke cigarettes, you weren't supporting business/capitalism, and if you didn't support business/capitalism you were anti-man/objectivism/capitalism and anti-life.

It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand, though it's a little dated, gave me a more objective view of objectivism, without totally disregarding her as a nut.

[aziz]

My Sister's keeper..

Judie Picoult is genius..

[STC]

might sound kind of non-intelligent like the other books i have seen here. but battle royale is what i read when im bored.

[airportlobbytx]

I wouldn't bother with Ayn Rand - it's just trash. Her writing is clumsy and little more than a collection of false cliches, and her ideas are just justifications for being cowardly and self-interested.

Summer is a good time to read something magical. Marquez, Calvino and Borges are all great for this. A good long book to get lost in is Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.

[GoSurface]

American Psycho

Glamorama

Kant

Who's Afraid of V. Woolf

[kert]

less than zero

american pyscho

acid house

starship troopers

the stand

[GoSurface]

Light In August

And I need to read more books by Flannery O'Connor.