FIRST ADULT BOOKS READ

[buckjohnson]

On another thread i saw posted a picture of Dick Gregory's book NIGGER. I thought a very positive thread would be a list of the first adult (non-porn) books a person read. My first five were:

Malcolm X
Nigger
Godfather
Exorcist
In Cold Blood


Now some might say those are the AKA'S of a few posters on this forum. Any person who Pseudonyms these titles resemble..it is just coincidental and not meant to portray any real life person

[trish]

I assume you mean the first serious literature that you read but weren't assigned to read. In high school I was a nerd and read of lot science on my own and a lot of science fiction. I didn't really open up to serious literature until I was about seventeen. These are among the very first serious books I read on my own initiative:

The Plague by Albert Camus,

The Immoralist by Andre Gide,

Notes from the Underground by Feodor Dostoyesvsky,

Also Sprach Zarathustra by Frederick Nietsche,

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

[trish]

I assume you mean the first serious literature that you read but weren't assigned to read. In high school I was a nerd and read of lot science on my own and a lot of science fiction. I didn't really open up to serious literature until I was about seventeen. These are among the very first serious books I read on my own initiative:

The Plague by Albert Camus,

The Immoralist by Andre Gide,

Notes from the Underground by Feodor Dostoyesvsky,

Also Sprach Zarathustra by Frederick Nietsche,

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

[Dirky]

I read Notes From the Underground and the Plague while I was in high school too. The first book I read from Camus was the Fall. I remember reading Naked Lunch too at an early age even though I didn't quite understand it. The first adult novel I read was Richard Price's The Wanderers.

I was a SERIOUS kid back then.

[Nicole Dupre]

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane - Laird Koenig
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Hollywood Babylon - Kenneth Anger
Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi
The Wild Boys - William S. Burroughs

[buckjohnson]

ND

Hollywood Babylon - Kenneth Anger was so campy and gay..before it time.

Helter Skelter wasay too scary and freaky. I prob read it too young. But i am skeptical about the basic premise. the so call "Helter skelter race war motivation" and that Charlie Manson was some sort or uber Svengali

[buckjohnson]

Trish

Never heard The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

When you get a chance, can you post a basic summery. I don't want to google. I trust your synoposis.

[rockabilly]

I was a horror fan so ...
1. The Shining - Stephen King
2. The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker
3. Dracula - Bram Stoker
4. The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
5. IT - Stephen King

[trish]

Lawrence Durrell writes beautiful, graceful prose. The Quartet is four volumes (on the order of 300 pages per volume) called Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea. It’s an entangled romance with lots of great characters, set in modern Alexandria and told from four different perspectives (hence the four volumes named after four of the main characters). It’s been some years since I read it now, so I’m hazy on the details, but I do remember being thoroughly entranced. Durrell was an diplomatic (I believe English, but not sure) and he wrote a number of travelogues. I’m not much of a travelogue person, and I never got through any of them. He did write a scifi book about a female robot named something like Nunquam. It didn’t wow me. But the Alexandria Quartet is a definitely significant achievement.

[trish]

Stranger in a strange land was fun. I not sure if I was ever able to fully grok it.

[Nicole Dupre]

ND

Hollywood Babylon - Kenneth Anger was so campy and gay..before it time.

Helter Skelter wasay too scary and freaky. I prob read it too young. But i am skeptical about the basic premise. the so call "Helter skelter race war motivation" and that Charlie Manson was some sort or uber Svengali

Kenneth Anger was "campy"? lol

Was Charles Manson "campy"? ;)

[Quiet Reflections]

these may not be my absolute first but they are about as close as i can remember. I read most of these when I was pretty young.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Stranger by Camus
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

[Quiet Reflections]

these may not be my absolute first but they are about as close as i can remember. I read most of these when I was pretty young.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Stranger by Camus
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

[Quiet Reflections]

these may not be my absolute first but they are about as close as i can remember. I read most of these when I was pretty young.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Stranger by Camus
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

[Quiet Reflections]

these may not be my absolute first but they are about as close as i can remember. I read most of these when I was pretty young.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Stranger by Camus
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

[Dirky]

The more I think about it, Helter Skelter could be the first adult book I read. I know I was very young when I read it. In 7th or 8th grade, we had to do a written essay on a book of our choice and I picked Helter Skelter. The teacher always looked at me funny after that.

Speaking of serious novels and authors, any fans of Thomas Pynchon here? I could never get my head around his stuff. I see he has a brand new book out and I'll probably succumb and buy it and not understand that either.

[buckjohnson]

Lawrence Durrell writes beautiful, graceful prose. The Quartet is four volumes (on the order of 300 pages per volume) called Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea. It’s an entangled romance with lots of great characters, set in modern Alexandria and told from four different perspectives (hence the four volumes named after four of the main characters). It’s been some years since I read it now, so I’m hazy on the details, but I do remember being thoroughly entranced. Durrell was an diplomatic (I believe English, but not sure) and he wrote a number of travelogues. I’m not much of a travelogue person, and I never got through any of them. He did write a scifi book about a female robot named something like Nunquam. It didn’t wow me. But the Alexandria Quartet is a definitely significant achievement.

Trish..This is kind of deep for a teenager. What drew you to it?

travelouge/ what about Joni Mitchell.

Sorry about making this personal and private. But you intice me about what you have read.

[buckjohnson]

Trish..
Thanks

[Dirky]

The first adult book as in pornographic material I read was Henry Miller's Sexus which was part one of The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy. That led me to Anais Nin's Delta of Venus which also made quite an impression on my perverted little mind.

Henry Miller was also a very close friend of Lawrence Durrell.

[trish]

Henry Miller was also a very close friend of Lawrence Durrell.

I did not know that Dirky. How close is close, I wonder?


Trish..This is kind of deep for a teenager. What drew you to it?

It was their covers, buck :) It was a time when the whole world just seemed to be opening up to me for the first time. I wanted (and I still do want) to investigate everything, read everything, listen to everything, work on every problem (alas, time is short, my talent is too thin and I’m too easily distracted). So I was in this omnivorous mood, and there they were, the four volumes of the Quartet, in the bookstore, sitting like four tasty morsels on the shelf.


The Stranger by Camus…

President Bush also read The Stranger while he was in office. He was getting such a bad rap for being a non-reader, I think he read it just to improve his press. Wonder who chose The Stranger for him and why?

[Dirky]

Henry Miller was also a very close friend of Lawrence Durrell.

I did not know that Dirky. How close is close, I wonder?

Seems more like a mutual respect for each other than anything else.

This blog briefly touches on their relationship.

http://cosmotc.blogspot.com/2007/04/lawrence-durrell-on-internet.html

[buckjohnson]

These are great books. Much better than I expected. For first books, this says what about our public (or private) schools?

I can say honestly, none of my cats I went to school with read any of the books Trish, Dirky or QR read.

My ? is this. Have reading thses books enhance you in anyway, or just were wors on a page in a book. For example, I have read Henry Miller, and was bored. Brave New World and 1984 were school requirements ( I don't think I finshed 1984, I might have faked it, including the paper. My GF was very smart and in my English class) Same with Moby Dick, which nobody mentioned as one of their first books. Some of the classics were never classic with me.

[buckjohnson]

These are great books. Much better than I expected. For first books, this says what about our public (or private) schools?

I can say honestly, none of my cats I went to school with read any of the books Trish, Dirky or QR read.

My ? is this. Have reading thses books enhance you in anyway, or just were wors on a page in a book. For example, I have read Henry Miller, and was bored. Brave New World and 1984 were school requirements ( I don't think I finshed 1984, I might have faked it, including the paper. My GF was very smart and in my English class) Same with Moby Dick, which nobody mentioned as one of their first books. Some of the classics were never classic with me.

[Dirky]

Oh yeah, reading the books I've read has definitely enhanced me and molded me into the person I am today. That's not to say I grasped every word that was written but when the author did click with me, he or she clicked in a big way. It's an awesome feeling when that happens.

[buckjohnson]

Dirky..

Great psychoanalysis.

[Quiet Reflections]

I was greatly influenced by the books I read growing up and I still am to some extent. I wish people read more in general even if its just a respectable daily paper. Damn Buck i wish my school had required the books I was reading. I was in honors classes and the "classics" my teachers picked out were mostly very boring, relevant to the lessons but boring none the less.

[Quiet Reflections]

Oh yeah, reading the books I've read has definitely enhanced me and molded me into the person I am today. That's not to say I grasped every word that was written but when the author did click with me, he or she clicked in a big way. It's an awesome feeling when that happens. +1

[buckjohnson]

QR,

My parents and a great neigbor, a college professor, indoctrinated me into reading.

I also have a picture, taking when I was 3 years old, holding the NYT. Don't know if I was reading it though.

My school, other than the classics, motivated me to read more.

As a matter of fact, myself and others complain about reading books and plays by dead white men so we wrote, with the help of a professional playwright, our senior class play.

[buckjohnson]

QR,

My parents and a great neigbor, a college professor, indoctrinated me into reading.

I also have a picture, taking when I was 3 years old, holding the NYT. Don't know if I was reading it though.

My school, other than the classics, did not motivate me to read more.

As a matter of fact, myself and others complain about reading books and plays by dead white men so we wrote, with the help of a professional playwright, our senior class play.

[Quiet Reflections]

QR,

My parents and a great neigbor, a college professor, indoctrinated me into reading.

I also have a picture, taking when I was 3 years old, holding the NYT. Don't know if I was reading it though.

My school, other than the classics, did not motivate me to read more.

As a matter of fact, myself and others complain about reading books and plays by dead white men so we wrote, with the help of a professional playwright, our senior class play.
thats pretty awesome i have to say. Being surrounded by people that care while growing up is one of the best head starts a kid can get. I too was lucky enough to have a great group of adults thats showed me the power of words both good and bad

[manbearpig]

I'd be here all day so I'll list my favorite: Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.

[Quiet Reflections]

I'd be here all day so I'll list my favorite: Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku. that is a great book

[buckjohnson]

manbearingpig
I went to the Amazon site and read the reviews on this book. The author writing seems to make the subject matter tolarable and understanding. Physics is difficult to understand and quite frankly have too much, esp around the authors, cult followings that makes unbias reviews hard to follow. I also like the detailed footnotes. Good choice and I will get the book from the library and let you know how it worked for me.

[Bobzz]

Confederacy of Dunces

Through a Distant Mirror

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The Book of Five Rings

Atlas Shrugged

Catcher in the Rye

[buckjohnson]

Loved catcher in the rye. Did not understand Holden's defiance when I first read as a child. Totally ID with it later as a young adult when I re read it.

[Nicole Dupre]

Dosen't The Catcher in the Rye always wind up being discovered in the possesion of serial killers and/or nut jobs? Didn't both Mark David Chapman and Hinkley both have copy close by when they were arrested? I think David Berkowitz might have to.

[buckjohnson]

It is a very common book for the disenchanted and disillusioned.

Very good point.

[Bobzz]

It is a very common book for the disenchanted and disillusioned.

Very good point.Have anyone of you seen "Igby goes down"? It has received pretty favorable reviews as an updated paean to Catcher in the Rye's disillusioned and disenchanted youth.

As for the serial and mass murderers, they've also found the Bible, The White Album, as well as perhaps, Mastering the Art of French Cooking to be a source of murderous inspiration, so I doubt that Salinger's pithy tome is that much of an influence.

[Nicole Dupre]

For my money, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was a far better book about growing up. Maybe it has something to do with Francie, the protagonist, being a girl/young woman.

But imo Holden Caufield was not much of a character to admire. The book is written well, but I still think the implied message was weak, and the protagonist was struggling with maturity issues

Francie, on the other hand, was not a rebel without a cause, and her character was not wrestling with anything but circumstance.

[Nicole Dupre]

It is a very common book for the disenchanted and disillusioned.

Very good point.Have anyone of you seen "Igby goes down"? It has received pretty favorable reviews as an updated paean to Catcher in the Rye's disillusioned and disenchanted youth.

As for the serial and mass murderers, they've also found the Bible, The White Album, as well as perhaps, Mastering the Art of French Cooking to be a source of murderous inspiration, so I doubt that Salinger's pithy tome is that much of an influence.

The Bible has influenced more people to mindlessly murder the innocent than probably any other book in recorded history.

The White Album only influenced a few dozen acid heads.

[ALYSINCLAIRxxx]

Nice topic, Buck. :)

The first book I really enjoyed is Heart of Darkness. It was what drove me to become an English major. And, I am thankful for it.

My favs:
Moby-Dick; Or the Whale, Dante's Inferno,The Art of War, Aristotle, Faust, Wallace Stevens, Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri, Beowolf, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Robert Frost, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Golden Bowl, The Prince, Bartleby the Scribner, Heart of Darkness, The Stranger, Follow Me Down, Harvey Pennick Collection, William Blake, The Great Gatsby, Siddhartha, Ethan Fromme, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Waiting for Godot, The Tell Tale Heart, William Wordsworth, Billy Budd, Washington Irving

[Nicole Dupre]

The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha was another great book which I read at a fairly young age. In fact, I probably need to read it again. Too bad I will never make it through the original Spanish version though, as I'm sure that's the best one of all.

[Nicole Dupre]

Nice topic. :)

The first book I really enjoyed is Heart of Darkness. It was what drove me to become an English major. And, I am thankful for it.

My favs:
Moby-Dick; Or the Whale, Dante's Inferno,The Art of War, Aristotle, Faust, Wallace Stevens, Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri, Beowolf, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Robert Frost, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Golden Bowl, The Prince, Bartleby the Scribner, Heart of Darkness, The Stranger, Follow Me Down, Harvey Pennick Collection, William Blake, The Great Gatsby, Siddhartha, Ethan Fromme, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Waiting for Godot, The Tell Tale Heart, William Wordsworth, Billy Budd, Washington Irving

Great list! :)

The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, and a bunch of Poe's short stories and poems are the things that I am glad I had to read in school.

[Alyssa87]

yeah. great topic.
i remember my transition to 'chapter books' and how excited i was.

off the dome, i remember

Sounder
Indian Captive
Lakota Woman
The Giver

[Alyssa87]

my favorite was

http://www.geocities.com/gotefridus/andersen2006/images/0045140992hecate.jpg

but i think thats still considered a 'kid' book.
but it was my first chapter book. i was really excited about it. i still love it so much.

[ALYSINCLAIRxxx]

Thanks Nicole! Yea, how great is Mark Twain. As respected as he is, he is still underappreciated.

The Edgar Allen Poe house is here in center city. I can't believe I haven't visited it yet. I'm such a slacker. When you move back to NYC we'll go one day. :)



[quote=ALYSINCLAIRxxx]Nice topic. :)

Great list! :)

The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, and a bunch of Poe's short stories and poems are the things that I am glad I had to read in school.

[Nicole Dupre]

Thanks Nicole! Yea, how great is Mark Twain. As respected as he is, he is still underappreciated.

The Edgar Allen Poe house is here in center city. I can't believe I haven't visited it yet. I'm such a slacker. When you move back to NYC we'll go one day. :)




lol I know. I moved here four years ago, and I was saying then that I HAD TO go to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Augustine. But have ever been there? Noooooooo! lol

But, yeah. We should go. I would definitely dig that. Poe is one of my favorites; especially the poetry.

Speaking of poetry, I still get blown away when I hear Ginsberg's readings of Howl. I think it's a bit too contemporary to considered "classic" yet, but it eventually should be.

[buckjohnson]

ALYSINCLAIRxxx

Heart of Darkness was a great book and I don't know why it not required reading in high school. I thought the idea of imperalism was/is so relevant. There are slso so many other factors the grabs the reader, like the symbolism, etc..
As an English major, what contemporay novels do you recommend? Your list sounds so...European and classical.

not being critical, but I got some free time and want to read a couple of contemporary novels. Working and raising a family the last couple of years has slowed my reading crawl. Chasing HA's hasn't helped either.

By the way, I don't think I know anyone that has read the "The Harvey Pennick Collection". What is it, short stories about golf? Between that and bagger Vance that was on your list, I assume you are a golfer?

[ALYSINCLAIRxxx]

What you stated about Heart of Darkness is exactly why it's not read as much today. Imperialism, social ambiguity, racial discrimination, murder, rape of environment and it's people are all subjects that today's youth are only allowed to be exposed to through television or through their own curiosity in understanding a complex situation. Sure, there are some that figure all these dark subjects out in their own way and time. Unfortunately, it seems, a disturbing amount do not.

I'm sure you have seen that education has been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator for some time. Subtracting Heart of Darkness from the reading list probably wasn't high on the book banning agenda. Though, as you said, it didn't make the list for most required reading courses. Case in point, the Happy Potter series was encouraged, and even required, in some counties I have seen. For shame.

You are right in your classifications that I tend to prefer the "Classics". I enjoy trying to relate to an earlier time and place. I prefer, what I perceive as, the "simplicity of the time" and how the characters, and even the author, interacted with and understood their surroundings.

Modern literature has it's moments for me, but pales in comparison. Though, there are of course, some great writers of all era's and a few of my preferred modern writers are:

Nathan Englander For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
Shelby Foote Follow Me Down
Mary Gaitskill Two Girls, Fat and Thin
Louise Erderich Last Report Series
Charles Johnson Dreamer


How about your favorite modern authors? I could use a new book too.
:) Cheers Buck! :)

[Nicole Dupre]

I tend to like "the classics", myself. I'd be lying if I said that Shakespeare was not high on my list, conventional as that choice may seem.

Beyond that, I usually stick with "classic" Beat Generation poetry. Imho, few can touch either Burroughs or Ginberg. The Naked Lunch is a book about "20th century sex 'n' drugs" on only the most superficial levels.

[buckjohnson]

ALYSINCLAIRxxx
The Door in the Floor by John Irving and Jodi Picault nineteen minutes were books I recently read.

[manbearpig]

I just finished all of the True Blood books. They were surprisingly good. Gonna be hell waiting for season 3 lol..

[SarahG]

On another thread i saw posted a picture of Dick Gregory's book NIGGER. I thought a very positive thread would be a list of the first adult (non-porn) books a person read. My first five were:


Night
Catcher in the Rye
Romeo & Juliet
Catch-22

In that order. I'm not sure what my 5th "adult book" was outside of school.

[buckjohnson]

I never understood the hype of the Catcher in the Rye. It was so unreadable that I put it down in high school and read the condensed version of it and wrote my term paper on that version

[SarahG]

Yea I was quite disappointed with it. With all the outcry people have over it I was expecting something very different from what I found.

[buckjohnson]

Catcher in the Rye..though I understood the effect it could have on surburban teeangers, it never really connected with me . A lot if my surbuban friends were really influence by them, but it also influeced a generation of really disturbed folks.

[SarahG]

I was really hoping that with all the people who want it banned that it would at least be entertaining.

But it did open my eyes to how easily people will call for banning books that, frankly, aren't anything to get excited about. Some books, I can understand why some groups wouldn't like them. I.e. its logical that racists aren't going to like Native Sun or To Kill a Mocking Bird. But for others its like... this is so tame I'm really lost about what the big deal is.

Of course, I could say the same thing about radio & TV censorship.