Junky
Burroughs surely deserves more credit as a guerilla ethnographer than a literary author.
Literary Fiction
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Although it doesn’t have the charm of John Huston’s film, its exploration of the psychology of greed—and how repeatedly succumbing to such avarice can lead to the corruption and destruction of both the individual and society—is worthy enough on its own merit.
The Red Pony
Jody’s experiences are often unforgiving, and like many of John Steinbeck’s books, this one is full of sadness, pain, and regret.
Lolita
Nabokov creates new words and organizes others into phrases that were likely never uttered before.
The Orchard Keeper
Gritty in detail, creative in structure, delightfully verbose; McCarthy’s grasp of the English language is breathtaking.
The Sound and The Fury
piecing together these fractured thoughts imparts more than the family melodrama that provoked them.
As I Lay Dying
By presenting the journey from varying perspectives, the circuitous story weaves a robust, if messy, emotional tapestry.
Go Down, Moses
It is purposefully not an easy read, but it is rewarding for those who put in the effort.
Light in August
Mellifluous, polysyllabic, and archaic words sometimes mask a tenderness toward the novel’s afflicted human subjects, but Faulkner’s consummate artistry is worth the emotional distance.
The Portable Faulkner
You won’t understand each reference the first time you read a story, but eventually the world starts to take shape.