<p>My high school senior son is taking an open-ended “Great Books” class (one gb+in depth analysis, or a selection, etc); he’s a bright kid, likes to read, faves include Confederacy of Dunces, Ellison’s The Invisible Man, The Kite Runner, The Things They Carried, Watch for me on the Mountain, Life of Pi, … Any suggestions on really gripping, savory titles? For example, is Faulkner going to be a turn off/on? Shakespeare and Milton would probably be too tough a sell. Nabokov? Cather? Pass on the Russians? Any thoughts or recommendations would be quite welcome!</p>
<p>Catch-22 jumped to my mind. Other possibilities: Dubliners, Bel Canto, Song of Solomon or other Toni Morrison, Pride and Prejudice (if he can get over that it’s “girly”), Tolstoy (I’ve only read Hadji Murad, which isn’t one of his more typical works), A Sweet Hereafter, Dickens if he likes the style or has never read any, Hemingway if he likes the style or has never read any, Brave New World, The Great Gatsby if he hasn’t read it, Mark Twain if he hasn’t done that yet, dramas if he likes them or has never read any (Death of a Salesman, Glass Menagerie tend to be in English classes), Watership Down, All Quiet on the Western Front, Oscar Wilde… There are tons of books out there. I tried to name off books that 1) I’ve read, 2) I’ve liked, valued in some way, or I know people who liked them, 3) are school-like, and 4) I think fit in somewhat with the books you mentioned. I looked at the books he liked, and all of the ones that I’ve read I’ve also liked, so I figure we must have somewhat similar taste.</p>
<p>Suggestions from my 17-year old S who seems to enjoy similar books as your S - Don Quixote, Faust, Siddhartha, Travels with Charlie, Frankenstein, the His Dark Materials Trilogy, The Dark Tower Series by King, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Animal Farm, and The Road.</p>
<p>I think Catch-22 was about the only book Mathson had to read for school that he liked. I loved Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick and War and Peace in high school. Never got into Siddartha, but I did like Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game. Rifles for Watie is an old Newbery winner about the Civil War. It’s one of those good for all ages books. Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne might be worth exploring. Hemingway is very readable - just skip the Old Man and the Sea. I loved Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise. I also really enjoyed a number of Somerset Maughm novels when I was young - in particular Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge.</p>
<p>War and Peace</p>
<p>I liked Peace, but War was too much. Never finished the book…</p>