Only the ones I’ve read, for brevity (bolding omitted):
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* The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
* Brave New World
The Canterbury Tales
* The Catcher in the Rye
* Catch-22
^ Cryptonomicon — I like his other books. Shallow, but fun, good summer reading. This book sucks. To make matters worse, everyone assumes I must like it because I’m a mathematician.
^ David Copperfield
* Dubliners
^ Eats, Shoots & Leaves — Aside: Lynne Truss is a blight upon society and a shining example of England’s continued butchery of the English language. I counted 3 grammatical errors on a single 2-page spread from this supposed treatise on grammar. Anyone who believes that having this book on their shelf “makes them look smart” shouldn’t have dropped out of high school before passing 10th grade English. See also the New Yorker’s excellent, scathing review of this book.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
* The Hobbit
The Iliad
The Inferno
Life of Pi — Again, this makes you look smart? What the hell? A mediocre piece of pulp fiction, popular only because Americans can’t decide how they want to feel about religion.
* Lolita
* Love in the Time of Cholera
Middlesex
The Odyssey
On the Road
* A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present — My (marxist) US History teacher made us read this. I am forever grateful.
* A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — The most influential book of my adolescence.
The Prince
The Satanic Verses
* Slaughterhouse-five
A Tale of Two Cities
* Ulysses
****** The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Best novel yet written. Period. I honestly can’t conceive of a universe in which a better novel exists.
^ Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance — A girlfriend made me read this book because she thought it was great. I broke up with her because of it.