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20th century American fiction
I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to this past year, and I'd like to get back into it. I've read quite a bit of non-fiction, but would like to get into fiction more. I'm going to start with 20th century American fiction and I really don't know that much about the genre, so I wanted some suggestions. I'm currently reading Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel and I like the romantic style. After that I plan a rereading of Kerouac's On the Road. I'm trying to avoid books that either celebrate or portray bourgeoisie culture because I don't find those books very interesting at all.
Anyone have a reading list for me?
Tom Wolfe is kinda pompous and is embedded in high culture. Why he can be clever and funny he is often annoying.
I know you'll like On the Road.
Anything and everything by Kurt Vonnegut.
Since you are a Chicago lad you should also check out Nelson Algren; Man with the Golden Arm, Never Come Morning, etc.
Anything from Tom Robbins; I am personally a fan of Still Life with Woodpecker and Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates.
Phillip K. Dick is also brilliant.
'heavens above, how awful it is to live outside the law - one is always expecting what one rightly deserves.'
petronius, the satyricon
Yeah, I heard that Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is really funny.
***
Also, I forgot, John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, etc.)
And Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and Joseph Heller's Catch 22 are two of my favorite books.
Skip On the Road and go to the source: On the Road: The Original Scroll. The "Scroll" shows Kerouac's prose in all its radiant beauty and wild energy. The 1957 bowlderized version is of secondary interest.
Other 20th century American novels worth reading:
An American Tragedy by Theodore Drieser, House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Wild Palms by William Faulkner, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Manhatten Transfer by John Dos Passos, Native Son by Richard Wright, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, From Here to Eternity by James Jones, If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes, Three Lives by Gertrude Stein, Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr., The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, A Flag For Sunrise by Robert Stone. For starters.
Good luck.
Ah, yes, that one is amazing as well.
'heavens above, how awful it is to live outside the law - one is always expecting what one rightly deserves.'
petronius, the satyricon
Yes, moreover, why do hipsters so often fancy Tom Robbins? Or is this not true?
I definitely recommend Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.
I haven't encountered it... but I would say probably because he is a brilliant author?
'heavens above, how awful it is to live outside the law - one is always expecting what one rightly deserves.'
petronius, the satyricon
