One of the best collections of myths and fables around. There are three volumes: The Age of Fable (concentrating on Classical Mythology and Norse Mythology), The Age of Chivalry (concentrating on renaissance mythology and the Arthurian Legends), and The Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages (Concentrating on the middle ages and European mythology). The author draws examples from classical literature to illustrate the myths. Not entirely complete, but very good for the individual seeking a guise to the more common myths. Many versions have all three volumes bound into one. Be sure to look for an unabridged copy.
These are my two all time favorite books. Cannery Row is about a group of ne'er-do-wells who lived down in the cannery distric of Monterey, California, back in the thirties and forties. The characters find themselves in several odd situations. Many of the stories revolve around the character Doc Ricketts, based on Steinbeck's good friend Ed Ricketts. Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row. I think I prefer this book over Cannery Row because Steinbeck develops the characters a little better and gives more structure to the plot. The stories and characters in these two books are loosely based on actual events and people who lived on Cannery Row, then known as Hovden Way (after one of the prominent canneries on the row), during Steinbeck's life. Those interested in visiting Cannery Row may do so, but will probably be dissappointed by what they find. The canneries are gone, replaced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and several shops designed to attract tourists. Some of the original buildings are still there, including "Lee Chong's Heavenly Grocery" and "Pacific Biological", Doc's old lab. Many of the other buildings were destroyed during a huge fire that devastated the row. As you can see, I have a certain passion for these stories.
There are a total of four volumes to this series which are titled, respectively, Primitive Mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology, and Creative Mythology. To be honest I haven't even finished the first volume yet, but I'm absolutely mesmorized by what he has to say. Joseph Campbell was one of the foremost folkloricists of his time and wrote several books about myths, folklore, and their meaning. These are not collections of myths but, rather, works that compare the myths of several cultures, looking for links through common psychology, proximity, etc. He does talk about several specific myths by means of example, but those looking for a myth encyclopaedia would probably be better off buying the aforementioned Bulfinch's Mythology or something like the Larouth Encyclopaedia of World Mythology. Those interested in comparative world mythology, like myself, will find this book fascinating but amazingly dense. He pulls on a lot of examples from psychology, anthropology, etc. to illustrate his ideas and the actual wording may confuse many, but if you can wade through all that it is a fascnating book written by a fascinating man (I have the entire "Power of Myth" PBS series with Campbell and Bill Moyers on tape. If you can get a hold of this at a library or something, be sure to watch it. It's incredible!).
Jack Kerouac is celebrated as one of the founders of the "Beat Generation". In fact, the term "beat" is attributed to him from an interview he had around the time On the Road came out. All of his books are part of a larger series he called "The Legends of Duluoz" which he meant to be similar to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Unfortunately, due to problems with the publishers, the names he uses are false and are inconsistent from book to book. He planned to go back someday and fillin all of the names with the real names and then set them on his bookcase too look at, but he passed away before he could. On the Road is probably the most important to read out of the three of these simply because it's the most widely read of his books and is the one most often referred to.
If you get this book find an unabridged copy, preferably one written in verse since it originally was a poem. If you understand Latin really well, go get a copy in the original Latin and read it. I've read this three times: twice in english, once in Latin and I'll be reading it again in Latin before I graduate as required by one of my courses. It is a ltin poem written entirely in dactylic hexameter. It's about Aeneas, the fabled founder of Rome (the other story of the founding of Rome involves the twins Romulus and Remus who were raised by a she-wolf). It is about "Arms and a man who came first from Troy and then to Italy, a fugitive of fate and the wrath of angry Juno." (This is from memory so the actual wording may be incorrect, but you get the picture) If you read this you'll understand such phrases as "She is the Dido to my Aeneas." Actually, maybe not. This is supposed to mean that she is my girlfriend or something, but Aeneas ditches Dido because the fates are calling him to find Latium and, eventually, Rome so Dido kills herself. Go figure. Well, anyway, this was written during the time of Caesar Augustus, who claimed Aeneas as an ancestor. In Ancient Rome one's power and greatness was largely determined by one's ancestors. Virgil, hoping to gain favor with Augustus, wrote this epic which glorifies Aeneas and, in many ways, reflects the wisdom and political forthrightness of Augustus, as seen by Virgil. Can get boring and drawn out, but it's a good story that is referred to often in literature and media.
The Divine Comedy is divided into three volumes: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradisio. I've always thought that The Inferno would make a cool ride at Disneyland, but something tells me they wouldn't go for people mucking around in pools of excrement. The whole comedy is an allegory of Dante's journey to find God, religion, and himself. He starts off in Hell and goes through the many circles until he finally meets up with Dis (Satan) and leaves Hell to enter Purgatory. He again goes through many circles in Purgatory until he reaches Paradise, or Heaven, and meets with the angels and saints and with God Himself. The fanous phrase "Abandon all hope ye who enters here" comes from the comedy, as do many other famous references. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Expect a movie version of this book to come out soon. It's been made into a movie once before, but they plan on remaking it. Also, be sure to get an unabridged version so that you don't miss any of the "dirty" parts. Those of you who were eagerly keeping track of the whole Amy Fisher/Joey Buttofuoco affair probably remember hearing Fisher being referred to as the "Long Island Lolita". This is where that came from. This is a book about a man who is sexually attracted only to prepubescent girls and actually gets married just so he can be close to one particular girl, who happens to be name Lolita. Yup, a pretty disgusting book. The book never really gets too graphic when describing sexual situations, but it leads the mind in the right direction. Just when you think the guy is OK and is not such a sicko he says or does something that completely throws you off. A very good book, much better than the first movie (the second movie was just recently casted, as far as I know).
I'd catch a lot of flack from my friend John Tchoe if I didn't add this book to this list. It is the first book by the author and may only be available in the Bay Area, but if popularity for the book grows count on finding it everywhere. If you aren't in the bay area you may need to get it ordered, but it's totally worth it. It's the journals of ficticious teenager Nick Twisp. He's fourteen years old and goes from being regular, horny, non-descript teen to cross-dressing fugitive. I read it because it got pretty good reviews in the local papers. I found it to be one of the most hilarious books I've ever read. If I weren't afraid to write down my own sexual fantasies and if my mother were like his (the descriptions of his father, while a bit different, are very similar to my descriptions of my own father) then the first third of this book would probably be very similar to my own journals from when I was 14. He talks about sex, drugs, rock and roll, divorce, crummy step-parents, and many other things. He burns down half of Berkeley, helps a friend fake death, and is responsible, directly and indirectly, for several other events that are, ultimately, beyond his control. I'll warn you, if you are easily offended this may not be the book for you. He spend a lot of time talking about his erections and sexual fantasies in full graphical explainations, but the context is usually hilarious and it all fits into the feel of the book. I dare you to read the first two paragraphs and not feel a need to continue.
As you probably know by now, John Steinbeck is my favorite author. He was born in Salinas, CA in 1902 and died in 1968. He led a facinating life (as far as I'm concerned) and this book chronicles it well. Parini gives un an inside look into the making of a Puliter and Nobel prize winning writer. If you like Steinbeck or just want to read a good biography, this is a must.
A fascinating look at the life of a man who had "a ringside seat at some of the century's most vital moments." I picked it up because recent events have caused me to take a different way to direct my
life, namely from engineering to journalism. Bradlee was the executive editor at the Washington Post for several years. He was in the Navy for a while, spent time as a press attache for the American embassy
in France, and worked as a writer and editor for Newsweek. During his time at the Post two writers, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, investigated a break-in at the National Democratic Party Headquarters
in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. The writers turned that break-in into national news almost overnight and the information that came out of the stories they wrote and the trials that followed led to the
disgraceful resignation of then-President of the United States Richard Nixon. In the movie "All the President's Men," based on Woodward and Bernstein's book of the same name (This book is mentioned in the next entry), Bradlee is portrayed by the actor Jason Robards, who won an Academy Award for his performance. I think anyone, whether interested in journalism or not, could benefit from reading this book. Bradlee led a fascinating life and is a fascinating man as a result. If you are considering journalism as a career, this book is a must read.
When I started this whole journalism thing a lot of people gave me suggestions of things I should do or read or, particularly, movies I should see. "All The Presiden't Men" was one of the movies suggested to me. It stars Robert Redford and Bob Woodward, Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein, and Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee. I was fascinated by the movie and, the next day, found myself working my sources a
little harder for information. It inspired me to become a more aggressive reporter and made the whole journalism thing that much more appealing to me. I read the book, as I usually do after I see a good movie based on a book, and was even more fascinated. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. The men had bugging and other surveillance equipment that they were installing in the room. On two of those five men were address books, each containg a reference to a staff member at the White House, then controlled by the republican Richard Nixon administration. Woodward and Bernstein were eventually both placed on the assignment and began an invesitgation so indepth that even the FBI didn't dig up as much information as they writers had. They found a cover up leading all the way to the top of the Whitehous, though Nixon used his executive privilege to keep information that could have implicated him in the burglary from getting out to the public. Woodward and Bernstein's persistance eventually led to Nixon's resignation, the only time in American history when a president has had to resign in disgrace. Another must read for any potential journalist. It's a fascinating inside look into one of the most famous inestigative reporting ventures in the nation and gives readers a good look at what real journalism is like.
As I remember them or read more books I'll add other pieces of great literature to this list. Not everyone will enjoy all of these books, after all I'm quite a unique individual, but I hope you do find something to your liking in this list. If you do and want to discuss the literary merit of the book, drop me a line at rzazueta@uclink.berkeley.edu and we'll chat.