Over the years I have come to appreciate reading. It is a pastime that allows me to escape and become enmeshed into the worlds of others. From the time my father gave me my first book, I must have read hundreds of books. But only a few of them have managed to make a lasting impression. Here are 10 must read books that will make you think.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is one of my all time favorite books. It encompasses a family's struggle for survival by trying to remember their history. The isolated town of Macondo, founded by the Buendias, eventually falls prey to the introduction of other neighboring towns. The lives of the Buendias bring births, deaths, marriages, and love affairs. In the course of a hundred years, we see the changes that began with Macondo being isolated and ending with the erasure of the Buendia family and the town.
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
The novel revolves around the friendship of Stingo, an aspiring writer, Nathan Landau, and his lover Sophie. Upon moving into a building in Brooklyn, Stingo quickly befriends Nathan and Sophie, who is a survivor of the concentration camps of World War II. Nathan and Sophie have a turbulent relationship mainly because Nathan is schizophrenic. The story progresses with Sophie telling Stingo of her turbulent past and a decision that will ultimately lead to tragedy.
Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov
This book is intriguing, witty, yet disturbing. Nobokov nearly burnt the book halfway through writing it because of the scandalous material. The book deals with Humbert Humbert's pedophiliac obsession with a young girl, Dolores Haze. It's written in a way to keep you engaged, but so alarming, you're not quite sure what to make of it.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
While the movie was portrayed very well, the book is substantially better. It is a story about inmates in a mental institution. The narrator of the story, Chief, tells accounts of the happenings inside the institution. Through his eyes we get a sense of the inhumane treatment of patients. Kesey actually worked in a mental ward while writing this story, which gave the story a base for being able to see what took place inside these types of institutions.
A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Like a Shakespearian love story, this one ends in tragedy. It is told through the voice of Lieutenant Frederic Henry during World War II. Henry meets Catherine Barkley, a nurse's aid, and a romance blossoms between the two. Despite the war, a capture by police, and an escape, Henry manages to find his way back to his beloved Catherine where they escape to Switzerland. But their happiness together are abruptly cut short.
Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy
This book disturbed me for a few days after reading it. Jude Fawley is a young man who wishes to one day become a scholar at Christminster. Instead Arabella Donn manipulates him into marriage. After his failed marriage, Jude moves to Christminster, where he falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead. She ends up marrying another man, but soon realizes she is unhappy and leaves him for Jude. They end up having children out of wedlock, and tragedy ensues. This book was considered so scandalous, that it was publicly burned in 1895. Hardy never wrote novels again, and stuck mainly to writing poetry thereafter.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
This is a novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It deals with Okonkwo of the Igbo tribe in the clan of Umuofia. Okonkwo rose to a high stature proving that one can become a great person if you strive to overcome your hardships. He tries hard to live by his custom that man is master of his own destiny, only to be proven wrong.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
I loved this book as a kid. The idea of being on an island without adult supervision was a great thought. But what happens to those kids when chaos becomes their way of life? Without guidance and structure, society inherently returns to savagery, all hell breaks lose, and childhood innocence is lost.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Alex is a teenage monster who speaks a special nadsat. He and his band of droogs (hoodlum buddies) love running amok on the town. Eventually Alex is caught by authorities and made an example of through Reclamation Treatment. He is then conditioned to hate the sight of violence or the sound of his beloved Beethoven. But the experiment fails because what is good without a bit of evil?
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
If you can get past the fact that this book is 1200 pages long, then it is well worth the read. Jean Valjean is an escaped convict who can't escape his past. He manages to make good with his life by changing his name and becoming a wealthy factory worker. He saves the daughter of one of his factory workers, and assumes the role of being father to the child. As Cossette becomes a young lady, she falls in love with a student named Marius during the Paris uprisings. This is a wonderful novel, and Hugo weaves his words with such poeticism.
