Man's Best Friend
by Rachel Reynolds
Groucho Marx once said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. And inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." Below you’ll find a list of books that I’ve found to be fascinating, hard to put down, or just plain funny.
In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh. A novel in which a young anthropologist traces the forces of globalization that began in the late medieval period in Egypt, and continue to deeply affect all of our lives in the present (i.e. gulf war).
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert's complex, bitter and wicked sense of humor surprised me as an 18 year old, when I had yet to understand that adults, too, feel outrage and bitterness over the pettiness of others.
The Epic of Son Jara (edited by Johnson) and The Nibelungenlied. These are both extraordinarily lengthy oral tales passed along in performance for generations. The former is from West Africa and the latter is from north-western Europe. Both are full of magic, wit, battles, fantasy lands, etc., but unlike fantasy fiction they are part of a collective composition and transmission process. They are both suspenseful, and both can scare the tar out of you, too.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. This is a post-apocalyptic novel that I cannot do justice to in descriptive terms, so I won't try (it is designed to mean many things to as many different readers). It is the single most amazing thing I have ever read.
Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant. After reading this, I began to see for the first time how race and politics intersect in the United States, and why we need to understand it. (Note: this is the only non-fiction book on my list!)
Woman on the Verge of Time by Marge Piercy. A feminist utopian sci-fi novel that's very fun, even though it’s often sad.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. Complex and funny.
A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Someone else has listed this as well, right? This is probably the hardest-to-put-down book I've ever read.
At Paradise Gate by Jane Smiley. This is a sad book about a woman whose husband is dying from a terminal illness. It taught me deeply about how to appreciate the time I have with those in my life.
Envy by Yuri Olesha. A satire of 1920s Russian bureaucracy where technology, the state and the hero come together. Super funny.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. A novel in which Satan visits Moscow. Anyone interested in the theatre or theology should read this.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. Again, bitter and witty. This is a play, but it makes a good read. Then check out Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in the movie of the same name.
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. This is 18th Century "confession" (fake) of a pick-pocket, thief and whore. Defoe is amazingly entertaining.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. Set in post-apartheid South Africa at the demise of the career of a white college professor. It shows the downfall of his daughter when her land is reclaimed by black South Africans.
A Sport of Nature by Nadine Gordimer. About the psychological disposition of a white South African who marries a black dissident.
Blind Date by Jerzy Kosinski. He also wrote Being There, which is a political satire that also belongs on this list. Blind Date is a novel about a wealthy sick-o.
Rachel Reynolds is an assistant professor of communication at Drexel University.