Well, The Jungle is pretty much required reading for most high school American Literature courses, so it's hard to argue that he doesn't get much love. I just don't think he's considered much of a stylist. He's a journalist who ended up writing timely novels on important subjects in a journalistic fashion, whereas you have someone like Hemingway who was a journalist who wrote novels and elevated the style into something fresh and unique.

In all honesty, though, I haven't read Sinclair in ages. I should probably revisit him.

It has been some time for me as well , but while reading World War, I realized I was having the same feeling as I hD while reading East Of Eden, almost like I had been living the book while I was reading it.


Thanks for the reply.

Now when you talk East of Eden, you're talking my language. My thesis was on Steinbeck. ;)

Let's see:

History and Future of the Roman Liturgy by Crouan
Comfortably Numb: Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Blake
Seeds of Contemplation by Merton
Elements of Philosophy by Wallace
Cognition: Epistemological Inquiry by Owens

If you're in your 40's and love a good romp full of 80's pop culture, grap a copy of "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and it is fantastic.

Just finished a good short techno-thriller series, Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez.

Pink Floyd and Catholicism. Nice.

Ready Player One really is a great read.

Did you ever read "When SysAdmins Ruled the Earth" by Doctorow? If not, you can read in html here:
http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cor...the_Earth.html

Can also be dl'd free in a variety of formats here:
http://craphound.com/overclocked/download/

You'll really like it.

I've been reading The Republic of Pirates: Being the True And Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates And the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard.

Pretty interesting. I did not realize just how closely many of the pirates were affiliated with one another.

Never wrote a thesis (never been to college) but if I had to write one I'd pick Mark Twain or Steinbeck. I like Mark Twain a little more but no one creats a character like Steinbeck. I feel like I know the Cannery Row characters better than I know a lot of the flesh and blood people in my life.

I'm eyeballing a couple of Doctorow titles. Too bad "For The Win" isn't available as an Audible title. I mostly listen to books during my commute.

...same with Winter of Our Discontent.

I don't know what the hell I'd do without audible.

Probably read more print. But still, I'm the odd bird who prefers to listen to books rather than music when driving/running/cycling/walking and even gaming.

I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Athiest - Turek & Geisler

Got assigned Moby Dick and Invisible Man for my last serious college class as an undergrad. I have to sign up for a Mark Twain class because school cancelled Philip Roth and Jewish Literature at the last second, but the Mark Twain class is online so I don't think it's going to be too strenuous.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is my favorite Twain book.

For the people who like Cory Doctorow you may want to read a short story called Escape From Spiderhead. You can read it on the New Yorker's website I think. Buck, if you like Vonnegut, you'd like it, too.