Fifteen Books That Stick With You

My lovely college friend Kathryn tagged me on Facebook to ask me to quickly brainstorm “fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you; first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes” and this is what I came up with — what do you think?

1. Infinite Jest — David Foster Wallace
2. Wind Up Bird Chronicle — Haruki Murakami
3. V — Thomas Pynchon
4. The Crying of Lot 49 — Thomas Pynchon
5. Immortality — Milan Kundera
6. Bluebeard — Kurt Vonnegut
7. Pattern Recognition — William Gibson
8. Cryptonomicon — Neal Stephenson
9. The Sun Also Rises AKA Fiesta — Ernest Hemingway
10. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
11. Gravity’s Rainbow — Thomas Pynchon
12. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
13. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers
14. Tender is the Night — F. Scott Fitzgerald
15. Foucault’s Pendulum — Umberto Eco

Yes, Kathryn and I studied English in college — I majored in American Literature and Creative Writing — so I guess it shows…

Here are the rules:

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what books my friends choose (and looking for book suggestions).

And here’s Kathryn’s list:

In no particular order:

1. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
2. 9 Stories – J.D. Salinger
3. Forever – Judy Blume
4. A Separate Peace – John Knowles
5. Love Medicine – Louise Erdrich
6. A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing – Melissa Bank
7. The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton
8. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
9. Patterson – William Carlos Williams
10. The City in Which I Love You – Li Young Lee (poetry)
11. Black Ice – Lorene Cary
12. Exodus – Leon Uris
13. Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri
14. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers

Bonus: To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Tagged as: Arts, Crying of Lot 49, Foucault's Pendulum, Gravity's Rainbow, Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Literature, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Tipping Point, To Kill a Mockingbird