I won't argue the merits of On the Road but I can see how it fits on the list... kinda maybe.

He's thinking about cutting it considering it has the least relevance, apparently.

Seriously?

I've always enjoyed your tastes in music and literature, so I'm baffled why you would consider On the Road a throwaway?

It was probably the most spontaneous novel of its generation and ignited scores of teens to seek out new experiences and turned a nation of youths to rebel, enlighten, and blow out their minds. It inspired a generation to write, to start rock bands, to travel the world, listen to jazz, and to really know what it means to appreciate the beauty of simplicity.

Not to mention, the entire novel is filled with creative youthful ramblings:

"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was — I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds."

Of course, there is his most famous paragraph from the novel:

"They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn..."

I'm not sure about you, but I remember the electric joy of reading it for the first time and how I couldn't put it down. It's not for everyone, but it is without a doubt, the undeniable tome of the Beat Generation. It's a must read for any literature class. That is how I discovered it- from a teacher. And because of that, I rediscovered a love for reading a very long time ago.

"So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it... and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear?"

As did I. It didn't seem in the same vein as the previous two. So hollywoodized.




Someone mentioned Room earlier, anyone read it? THe cover design got me to read about it. Sounds interesting.

Cosmic: I like the book, and I agree that it's an important work from a cultural standpoint. It doesn't really match the craft of the other works though. It's not that it's inferior: it's that it is a different type of work. I'm on my phone or I'd try to be more verbose in my explanation.

I think he was just saying it didn't fit the theme. Well shit I dunno, guess he would be best qualified to speak for himself. I'll shut up.

This.

In that case, I would agree with you. I'm just defending the fact the novel should be included in every high school's English curriculum.

About to start reading Connie Willis' Blackout and All Clear. Not usually a fan of historical (science) fiction, but I really loved Doomsday Book.

That's pretty awesome right there...

I agree on Watchmen, Slaughterhouse 5, and Dr. Strangelove. Haven't read the rest, but you seriously like "the Wasteland?"

Actually i can't say I've read that. Bad?

That depends on whether or not you feel that making repeated, and often obscure, cultural references so often that even Family Guy thinks it's over the top would make for a bad 400+ line poem.

Im reading this novel called the "Hanging of Angelique" I don't reccommend anybody to read it. It's based on a true story. If you could handle depression, go right ahead and read it then. But the title of novel speaks high volumes on what kind of a read it is.

As always, I'm juggling a ****ton of readings. Most prominently this week it has been:

Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner
Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey - Robert V. Camuto