Posted on 08/21/2011 6:24:57 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
The 75 Books Every Man Should Read
An unranked, incomplete, utterly biased list of the greatest works of literature ever published. How many have you read?
The 75 Books Every Man Should Read
I respectfully disagree, having read both. The entire 20 book set by Patrick O'Brian is brilliant. His first (Master and Commander) was the toughest to read because it tried to approximate the English spoken at the turn of the 19th Century.
LS, I have read your book. I purchased the paperback originally, (which is still on my shelf), and then when my wife bought me a Kindle last Christmas, in the interest of saving square footage in the house, I bought the Kindle version, too.
An outstanding read, an outstanding effort on your part.
The list is 90% from the last 100 years, with 10% or so from the century before that.
Nothing important was produced in the several thousand years before that?
“I’ve read the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find...”
That story has the best last line EVER...
Esquire attempted to cause economic mayhem by publishing at least one false story that a book had been cancelled and would not be released. "Right on! Power to the people!" says Saul!
Tons of advanced copies of the book had been ordered and paid for. At one point if I remember correctly the book was number one (or damn close) in sales before its release date!
Mother Jones another Rules For Spoiled Brats adherent claiming to be "professional journalists" applaud attempts to do economic damage to political opponents. The Left CANNOT compete otherwise -- look how they want the return of a kind of "Fairness Doctrine" for radio.
Saul would be proud, guys. Except this time you will pay dearly. $200 million I think it is.
Esquire is claiming that the news article was just a kind of joke. More lies more Rules For Spoiled Brats. "Bring it all down, man."
The defamed author and publisher are suing these skid marks on Journalism's shorts. I believe that attempts to cause economic damage has long been actionable.
“the Right Stuff” was pretty good.
Where is “starship Troopers”?
One of the best first lines I remember is from The voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia):
"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
I’ve read nine. Can’t believe Shogun wasn’t on the list.
I really enjoyed that one.
Stephen King? I didn’t know esquire was still around. Some things, and magazines, never change.
________________________________
Which ones and why?
It seems to be a very american list.
O’Brian is harder work but worth it. His story structure is sometimes a bit clumsy but his characters never are.
Forrester is a better story teller. And I like his spare prose style.
And now for something compleatly different...Winter’s Bone. The novel evokes the time and place and people of Winter Ozarks perfectly and Ree Dolly is heroic. At the end of the novel (and the movie) I nearly cried that I could not save her the pain of her victories.
Lame A** List, but what do you expect from ‘Esquire’?
I’ve also read about a third of the titles. Don’t see the need or desire to read the rest of what’s been selected.
Everybody knows that Tim O’Brien’s ‘Going After Cacciato’ is much better than ‘The Things They Carried’.
Cut my teeth on Hammett and Chandler. ‘The Continental Op’ is good. ‘Red Harvest’ is infinitely better!
Would rather stick hot needles in my eyes than read anything by Cheever, Ellison or Updike.
Robert Stone’s ‘Dog Soldiers’ is a great look at the looney left coast right as Vietnam was winding down. Great story! Even better film titled ‘Who’ll Stop The Rain’. The flip side of the much heralded and loved ‘Forrest Gump’.
Read ‘The Naked And The Dead’ when I was twelve or 13... Meh!
Much prefer P.J. O’Rourke over Hunter Thompson. ‘Hell’s Angels’ can’t touch P.J.’s ‘Republican Party Reptile’ or ‘Give War A Chance’!
Herr’s ‘Dispatches’ was and will always be over rated claptrap. Tell me the grunt jumping out of the Huey on the book’s cover doesn’t have a magazine in his M-2 carbine!
Prefer Vonnegut’s ‘Sirens Of Titan’ over ‘Slaughter-House-5’.
Same with Le Carre’s ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy’ and its trilogy over ‘The Spy Who came In From The Cold’. Great film, though.
Also Bernard Cromwell’s ‘Sharpe’ over Patrick O’Brian’s Lucky Jack Aubrey. Though the latter is one of Peter Weir’s best films.
Stephen King’s best work was ‘Salem’s Lot’ for scaring the BeJeebus out of the reader. Everything after seems lukewarm and tame.
No one can touch Tom Wolfe for social commentary. Though ‘The Right Stuff’ is a great read. ‘Radical Chic And Mau-Mauing The Flak Catchers’ is absolutely scathing!
Jack.
20
Here is a regularly published list whose heritage goes back to a pamphlet created in 1932 by the National Council of Teachers of English. This particular version is from 1990.
Notice anything significant?
Not an Elmore Leonard book on the entire list.
The bold apologia: “Muslims ...”
Much better list . 45/101 here. Guess I have some reading to do.
If a “man” is getting his reading list from the likes of Esquire...well, I’m sure your boyfriend is proud of you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.