Recommend me something!

[MilksABadChoice]

Hey, anyone want to pass out any recommendations? I'm 16, and am just discovering a love for literature, mainly stemming from my love of great films, my current English class, and from references found in my true love of music.

My favorite writers across any medium are Charlie Kaufman (favorite), Wes Anderson, Alan Moore, Dylan, Lennon and Macca, and Mark Twain. I've recently read a few great stories, but none of them have necessarily been a favorite. So far I've enjoyed things more rich with allegory than simple 'telling of events' stories.

Later in my school year I'll be reading Slaughterhouse-Five and A Catcher in the Rye, so refrain from them. I'm thinking I have a draw toward American Lit, because that's the main facet of my English class and I'm really liking the Hemingway, Bukowski, and Fitzgerald I've read, but nothing too gripping yet (expect Bukowski), as to say, The Royal Tenenbaums, High Fidelity (film), Adaptation., or Taxi Driver has been.

Fire away.

P.S.
If you want a taste of the lyrical style I've fallen in love with, here are a few songs. Maybe that will help as well.

Here's one. (http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/lawrencearms/100resolutions.html)
Another one. (http://artists.letssingit.com/lawrence-arms-the-lyrics-hey-what-time-is-pensacola-wings-of-gold-on-an-1p2dtmf)
...and one more. (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/In-Relief-lyrics-John-Frusciante/4EB99E920E4C058B48256E670010636A)

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

heh...hello fellow UGer! Give Fyodor Dostoevsky a try. Gripping stories, great messages. Almost any one on this forum could tell you that.

[MilksABadChoice]

heh...hello fellow UGer! Give Fyodor Dostoevsky a try. Gripping stories, great messages. Almost any one on this forum could tell you that.
Yeah, I've heard a few a few people suggest him, the book size of The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment kinda scare me away from now, haha. I've seen Kaufman reference Kafka a ton so I got The Metamorphosis, and my favorite musician's favorite novel is The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, which I also bought. More suggestions would be nice :yawnb:.

[slobone]

If you want to focus on American lit, and books that aren't too long, try We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackon, Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird if you haven't read them yet. Henry James also wrote some excellent short novels, they're a little harder to read, but try The Turn of the Screw.

And get a good short story anthology, it's a great way to sample really good writing without a big time commitment. The one edited by John Updike, called the Best American Short Stories of the Century, is terrific.

[Oniw17]

Ray Bradburry's Farenheit 451 isn't too long, is written by an American, uses lots of poetic language, and it's not at all hard to understand. I always think of that novel when I'm reading another that has someone running from a corrupt government. Other American novels that I'd recommend are Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, which features the entire life of a pre-revolutionary Chinese farmer, and Joseph Heller's Catch 22, which has lots of irony and is comedic and entertaining throughout the whole story.

[cfh]

joesef conrad can be great, keep a resource handy for some language that is obsolete, start with his first work Almayer's Folly. if you like it read Personal Record, one of his last published works kind of a autobiographical, gives insight to the actual characters and what was going on during his life of writing.

[Mariamosis]

Anything by John Steinbeck (American) I would start with 'The Grapes of Wrath'

I also read 'Fallen Angels' by Walter Dean Myers in high school and loved it (about Vietnam and a very good young adult book)

Margaret Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale'

Anything by Jules Verne (a science fiction icon)

I will second 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'Fahrenheit 451', and 'The Metamorphosis'

George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' or '1984'

Albert Camus, 'The Stranger'

'I am the Cheese' by Robert Cormier

'All Quiet on the Western Front' Erich Maria Remarque

'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe

'Night', 'Dawn' and 'Day' by Elie Weisel

'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley

'A Lesson Before Dying' by Ernest J. Gaines

and yes, Vonnegut Vonnegut Vonnegut!
Okay I am done now... :)

[wat??]

I don't really want to recommend anything, but I do want to say that Kaufman is an amazing screenwriter.

[wat??]

Oh, alright, I will recommend something.

Franny and Zooey : J.D Salinger
Nine Stories : J.D Salinger

Those both seem to fit your tastes and credentials.

[bounty]

since youre a twain fan, id say give a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court a whirl!

[five-trey]

If you like films, a few plays would be interesting reads:

Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
The Crucible by Arthur Miller


Two American plays that are really gripping.

[electricpenguin]

I'd agree with Oniw17 [above] and recommend Catch-22. It's a stunner!

EP xx

[wat??]

Franny and Zooey !!!

The Royal Tenenbaums is really a homage to Salinger you know.

[kelby_lake]

American Lit...maybe Kerouac? Or perhaps you should venture into American Drama?
I second these two:Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Easy to read and very worthwhile.

[Chell53]

You should read Albert Camus. The Plague and The Outsider (or The Stranger it's sometimes published as). Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Edith Wharton is brilliant (you might disagree I don't know but try House of Mirth, Ethan Frome etc. And if you don't like her try Henry James. I'm not a fan but a lot of people like him.) Or if you want to go down the American dream road there's Kerouac, Whitman, all the beat poets like Allen Ginsburg, then there's Bret Easton Ellis, Hunter S. Thompson etc. Oh and you should ABSOLUTELY read Donna Tartt's The Secret History, and The Little Friend. They're excellent. Hope that's enough ;-) Hehe!

[Don Quixote Jr]

Here's a bunch of recommended novellas:
Call of the Wild & White Fang by Jack London
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Candide by Voltaire
Cannery Row & Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
Recommended Novels: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Recommended fantasy writer: Neil Gaiman (well, you might wanna skip the stuff he's written for young kids but definitely check out The Sandman series)