“The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
In short: “What does this have to do with the world that I know?” But after delving into it, I came to realize just how relevant it is; and not only in the negative sense.
Gerard Manley Hopkins—Poems
Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in Essex in 1844 and died in 1889. Since the publication of his work in 1918, he has been recognized as one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century.
“The Odyssey” by Homer
I was nineteen and taking an English class at a local university when I read Homer’s epic for the first time.
D.H. Lawrence: the Good and the Bad
Author D.H. Lawrence (1885—1930) is best known for his worst novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. But he also wrote some genuinely fine works of fiction, including the short story, “Tickets, Please”.
“Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton
But for me, Wharton’s rendering of this material transcends any of its shortcomings. Even the depressing elements attain a grim beauty (Ethan’s search for Mattie after their failed suicide is a heartbreaking example).
Edgar Allan Poe: Stories and Poems
Poe shared with Nathaniel Hawthorne a distinctively American vision of darkness. And yet this vision was rendered artfully, not in a merely negative or pessimistic manner.
“The Guide for the Perplexed” by Moses Maimonides
His most famous and influential work, The Guide for the Perplexed, was written for people who felt baffled or discouraged by the contradictions between the science of that time and the religious beliefs of Judaism.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I have this idea for a movie. It concerns the difficulties a Tarantinoesque director experiences while trying to film yet another adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous novel.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Three fateful choices were made for the modern world during the 1800s; and those choices can be represented by three exceptionally brilliant writers: Marx, Nietzsche, and Dostoyevsky.
Two by Camus
Albert Camus (1913—1960) was one of the most distinguished writers of the twentieth century. Almost everything he wrote is worth reading, but two works stand out for me: The Stranger and “The Adulterous Woman”.
LATEST
MUST READ
Carmine’s Italian and Virgil’s Real Barbecue
Carmine's Italian and Virgil's Real Barbecue--Two Great Sister Restaurants
