# My list - modern lit



## Saponification (Mar 18, 2005)

Hm. Here's two lists, actually. My list of recommended titles as well as a list of titles I want (which also kind of count as recommendations, I guess). Some books appear in both lists... meaning I've read them from the library and want to buy them.

Oh... and if you can think of anything else that would fit on the list, let me know. It isn't big enough already... and my bank account balance isn't in the negative figures yet.

*Recommended*

_Fight Club_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Survivor_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Invisible Monsters_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Choke_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Lullaby_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Diary_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Fugitives and Refugees_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Non-Fiction_ - Chuck Palahniuk
_Trainspotting_ - Irvine Welsh
_Filth_ - Irvine Welsh
_American Psycho_ - Bret Easton Ellis
_Bridget Jones' Diary_ - Helen Fielding
_Only Forward_ - Michael Marshall Smith
_Spares_ - Michael Marshall Smith
_One of Us_ - Michael Marshall Smith
_The Straw Men_ - Michael Marshall Smith
_Vernon God Little_ - DBC Pierre
_Men in Black_ - Steve Perry
_Microserfs_ - Douglas Coupland
_Miss Wyoming_ - Douglas Coupland
_Hey Nostradamus!_ - Dougplas Coupland
_Life After God_ - Douglas Coupland
_The Beach_ - Alex Garland
_The Tesseract_ - Alex Garland
_Animal Farm_ - George Orwell
_1984_ - George Orwell
_Guards! Guards!_ - Terry Pratchett
_Men at Arms_ - Terry Pratchett
_Feet of Clay_ - Terry Pratchett
_Jingo_ - Terry Pratchett
_Equal Rites_ - Terry Pratchett
_Mort_ - Terry Pratchett
_The Truth_ - Terry Pratchett
_Soul Music_ - Terry Pratchett
_Good Omens_ - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

*Books to get:*

_The Contortionist's Handbook_ - Craig Clevenger
_1984_ - George Orwell
_Animal Farm_ - George Orwell
_Generation X_ - Douglas Coupland
_Girlfriend in a Coma_ - Douglas Coupland
_Miss Wyoming_ - Douglas Coupland
_Hey Nostradamus!_ - Douglas Coupland
_Life After God_ - Douglas Coupland
_The Rules of Attraction_ - Bret Easton Ellis
_The Coma_ - Alex Garland
_Reasons to Live_ - Amy Hempel
_At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom_ - Amy Hempel
_The Dog of the Marriage_ - Amy Hempel
_About A Boy_ - Nick Hornby
_High Fidelity_ - Nick Hornby
_Marabou Stork Nightmares_ - Irvine Welsh	
_Geek Love_ - Katherine Dunn	
_Syrup_ - Max Barry	
_Jennifer Government_ - Max Barry	
_Brave New World_ - Aldous Huxley  
_Catch-22_ - Joseph Heller	
_Spares_ - Michael Marshall Smith	
_One of Us_ - Michael Marshall Smith
_The Dumas Club_ - Arturo Perez-Reverte	 
_Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep_ - Phillip K. Dick
_Neuromancer_ - William Gibson
_Buffalo Soldiers_ - Robert O'Conner
_Fahrenheit 451_ - Ray Bradbury
_Neverwhere_ - Neil Gaiman	
_American Gods_ - Neil Gaiman	
_Satan Burger_ - Carlton Mellick III
_Teratologist_ - Edward Lee, Wrath James White
_The Tao of Pooh_ - Benjamin Hoff
_Perv: A Love Story_ - Jerry Stahl
_The Life of God_ - Franco Ferrucci
_Crash_ - J. G. Ballard
_Motherless Brooklyn_ - Jonathan Lethem
_The Fortress of Solitude : A Novel_ - Jonathan Lethem
_Girl in Landscape : A Novel_ - Jonathan Lethem
_Amnesia Moon_ - Jonathan Lethem
_Gun, With Occasional Music_ - Jonathan Lethem 	
_Catcher in the Rye_ - J.D. Salinger
_The Godfather_ - Mario Puzo
_A Prayer for Owen Meany_ - John Irving
_Requiem for a Dream_ - Hubert Selby Jr.
_Slaughterhouse-Five_ - Kurt Vonnegut
_Kiss Me, Judas : A Novel_ - Will Christopher Baer
_Middlesex: A Novel_ - Jeffrey Eugenides 
_A Clockwork Orange_ - Anthony Burgess


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## Scratches (Mar 23, 2005)

Saponification said:
			
		

> _Microserfs_ - Douglas Coupland
> _Miss Wyoming_ - Douglas Coupland
> _Hey Nostradamus!_ - Douglas Coupland
> _Generation X_ - Douglas Coupland
> ...



I Love Doug. I think I've read all of his books now, save _God Hates Japan_, written only in Japanese. I can second the recommendation of all of the above, especially _Miss Wyoming, Microserfs_ and _Hey Nostradamus_. (_High Fidelity_'s cool too, man.)


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## demonic_harmonic (Mar 24, 2005)

*shivers with joy*


oh god... trainspotting... 


LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!


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## Stacy (Mar 25, 2005)

> Middlesex: A Novel - Jeffrey Eugenides



This is a great book. You'll love it.  "The Virgin Suicides," also by Eugenides, is another must read.


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## Saponification (Mar 25, 2005)

demonic_harmonic said:
			
		

> *shivers with joy*
> 
> 
> oh god... trainspotting...
> ...



That's one of the few books that's ever successfully headfucked me. In fact the only others I can think of now are _Only Forward_ and _Survivor_.

I'm reading _Filth_ now and loving it. Different to _Trainspotting_, but you can tell it's by the same author. It's a lot less alienating as well... altho' I suspect Welsh intended for _Trainspotting_ to be alienating like that to non-Scots.


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## gohn67 (Mar 25, 2005)

Saponification, you influenced me to get Trainspotting.  I just bought the book cause i couldnt find it at the library.

I did see the movie, but I couldnt take the accents.


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## Saponification (Mar 25, 2005)

gohn67 said:
			
		

> Saponification, you influenced me to get Trainspotting.  I just bought the book cause i couldnt find it at the library.
> 
> I did see the movie, but I couldnt take the accents.



You can't take the accents but you're going to read the book?

Oh dear...


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## gohn67 (Mar 25, 2005)

](*,)   Why does the book have accents in it?  I havent looked at the book yet.  

I wathced the last half with subtitles  And the movie was much better.


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## gohn67 (Mar 25, 2005)

OK, I just looked at the book.  [horrified look on face] I wish this book had subtitles as I don't understand what is going on.  I read like 7 pages.


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## Saponification (Mar 25, 2005)

You'll get used of it. Once you do I recommend going back and reading from the start.


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## demonic_harmonic (Mar 26, 2005)

yeah, you get used to accents and dialect quickly.

just like in a clockwork orange. hehehe.... whooo...

is filth the sequel to trainspotting? the one where they have the porn shop? or is that a different one?


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## Saponification (Mar 26, 2005)

demonic_harmonic said:
			
		

> yeah, you get used to accents and dialect quickly.
> 
> just like in a clockwork orange. hehehe.... whooo...
> 
> is filth the sequel to trainspotting? the one where they have the porn shop? or is that a different one?



Newp, you're thinking of _Porno._

_Filth_'s about a cop who's bordering on being a sex addict and has been given the task of solving the murder of a black man, even though he's probably one of the most racist, sexist, homophobic pricks of a character ever to exist. 

It's also occasionally narrated by his tapeworm, who fairly quickly begins to realise that he has an awful lot in common with his beloved Host.


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## gohn67 (Mar 26, 2005)

Is Filth written in the same stlye as Trainspotting?
Cause it sounds like a story I would enjoy reading.

Saponification, is your avatar the bird from Lullaby
?


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## Saponification (Mar 26, 2005)

Yep, it's the bird from _Lullaby._ US cover.

_Filth_'s a lot easier to read than _Trainspotting_. Most of the time the dialogue still has an accent, altho' the characters are more... educated, for want of a better word. 

The descriptions and stuff still have a few accented words, but nothing that major. More than _Vernon God Little_, but nowhere near as much as _Trainspotting_.


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## strangedaze (Apr 17, 2005)

Hey, Sapp...

Fine fucking books you've got there. CMIII? Fan of the small press circuit? Love eraserheadpress.

Read much of those, want to read many more. 

DC is coming to my university for book signings and readings from Hey, Nostradamus! Going to be a fine show.

Clockwork Orange is swell. Kurt Vonnegut is liquid insanity. Post-Trainspotting Welsh has been disappointing, but I'm willing to give him another shot. 

Books to add?

The World According to Garp (saw Owen Meany on there), Nine Stories by Salinger, Naked Lunch, Breakfast of Champions, Fear and Loathing in LV, The Trial, Night, Ham on Rye, Notes from the Underground, Lolita, Pilgrim, Req. for a Dream (didn't want to screw up spelling), Alice in Wonderland...

Reading = orgiastic.


Andy


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## Saponification (Apr 18, 2005)

I've never read anything by Carlton Mellick. His titles and the descriptions of his books interested me. I went to Borders but could not find any, so I will have to order them in.


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## northerain (Apr 18, 2005)

Nice list man...alot of Palahniuk. One of my favorites, ploughing through his book atm. Read survivor,lullaby,diary and fight club. And non-fiction(interesting book). Looking forward to ''Haunted''.
Nice taste overall. Too much pratchett for my tastes...


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## EmuJenkins (Jun 18, 2005)

My favourite Welsh was Ecstacy. Even more than Trainspotting. Great list though. I'm printing it out to see what I can find cause what I have read on your list, I like.


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## strangedaze (Jun 19, 2005)

I'm not so sure about having Filth up there. Probably his worst work, I'm thinking, though he made quite the bounceback with Porno, I'm told.

Andrew


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## Saponification (Jun 19, 2005)

The Losers Club - Richard Perez
Love in the Time of the Apocalypse - Gregory Blecha
Blackbox: A Novel in 840 Chapters - Nick Walker
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
Loaded - Christos Tsiolkas
Nature Strip - Leonie Stevens
Angel Dust Apocalypse - Jeremy Robert Johnson
Bad Behaviour - Mary Gaitskill
Going Out - Scarlett Thomas
Number9Dream - David Mitchell
The Paper Eater - Liz Jensen
Fade - Robert Cormier
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
24/7: A Novel - Susan DiPlacido
The Motorcycle Diaries: A Latin American Journey - Ernesto Che Guevara
On Guerilla Warfare - Zedong Mao, Tse-Tung Mao
The Ice at the Bottom of the World - Mark Richard
The Anomalies - Joey Goebel
Sarah: A Novel - J. T. LeRoy
Dear Mr. President - Gabe Hudson









Some more books...


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## strangedaze (Jun 19, 2005)

How about...


_Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit_ - Jeannette Winterson
_Lost in the Funhouse_ - John Barth
_The Room_ - Hubert Selby Jr.
_Atrocity Exhibition_ - JG Ballard
_Hopscotch_ - Julio Cortazar
_Oryx and Crake_ - Margaret Atwood
_Kafka on the Shore_ - Haruki Murakami
_The Revolt of the Cockroach People_ - Oscar Zeta Acosta (of _Fear and Loathing_ fame)
_Naked Lunch_ - William S. Burroughs
_Breakfast of Champions_ - Kurt Vonnegut
_Nine Stories_ - JD Salinger
_The World According to Garp_ - John Irving
_Asthmatica_ - Jon Paul Fiorentino
_Barney's Version_ - Mordecai Richler


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## doctor (Oct 13, 2005)

Saponification- 2 books i felt were missing from your list(s): Shampoo Planet (my favorite Coupland novel), and Down and Out in Paris and London (my favorite Orwell novel.

Just happened to notice an affinity for these authors, but didn't see these great books on the list(s).


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