Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Big Sur - Jack Kerouac
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
Short Stories - Paul Bowles
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon (very long and complex)
Anything He's Ever Written - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Pulp - Charles Bukowski
Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski
if you feel like venturing outside of America, just give the word. Some real incredible stuff out there in that big bad world.
So, after Catcher in the Rye (pretty good), I was going to try something from this list, but my shitty library had basically nothing on the list, except for a lot of Vonnegut stuff. So I played it safe and will read Slaughterhouse Five next.
Anyone can feel free to add something that is considered "classic" or "timeless". Fiction/non-fiction and foreign authors welcome. Thanks, pals.
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad; the basis for Apocalypse Now
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey; way different than the movie, and way better
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway; sums up the mentality behind manhood
1984 - George Orwell; really gets a bad reputation because of the indie kids that like it so I thought I'd hate it, but I loved it
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald; if you haven't read it since high school, it is nothing like you remember