/lit/ - Literature

LAST 5:
HELL SCREEN BY AKUTAGAWA 4/5. TWO SHORT STORIES WITH HELL AS A BACKDROP, PREVALENT DARK THEMES THAT OBVIOUSLY HAD SOME INFLUENCE ON THE WRITER AS HE ENDED UP COMMITTING SUICIDE. THANKS TO TOM FOR PROVIDING IT TO ME

GAMBARA - BALZAC 3/5: ANOTHER FAILED GENIUS STORY BY BALZAC, NOTHING SPECIAL. IF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN OPERA/SYMPHONY CLASSICS, DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS, AS YOU'LL BE READING UP A LOT OF IT IN THE STORY

NO EXIT - SARTRE: A VERY WELL DONE PLAY BY SARTRE WHERE HE MANAGES TO TURN THE SIMPLEST OF ENVIRONMENTS AND PEOPLE INTO QUITE AN EFFECTIVE PORTRAYAL OF HELL. 4/5

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI - HENRY 4/5. A NICE LITTLE STORY SET DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON WITH A YOUNG AND SLIGHTLY IMPOVERISHED COUPLE IN LOVE MAKING SACRIFICES TO GET THE RIGHT GIFT FOR THEIR PARTNER.

WOE FROM WIT - GRIBOEDOV 4/5
PRETTY INFLUENTIAL RUSSIAN CLASSIC, HOWEVER I FELT I LOST A LOT THROUGH THE TRANSLATION.

CURRENT:
JAKOB VON GUNTEN - WALSER

NOT REALLY MUCH TO SAY AS I JUST STARTED.

NEXT FIVE:
THE BOURGEOIS GENTLEMEN - MOLIERE
MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION - SHAW
THE MISER - MOLIERE
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME - HUGO
THE PRETENTIOUS YOUNG LADIES - MOLIERE

ACCIDENTAL SAGE BY THE WAY

Last 3:
John Dies at the End (5/5)
I instantly give it a full score because it's the funniest fucking book I've ever read. A little creepy too.

Mass Effect: Ascension (3/5)
Look, it's not really well written, but I'll still give it a 3/5 because it's helping me satisfy my craving for Mass Effect after I finished the game.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4/5)
Interesting characters and well written. One odd thing though is the pacing of the main mystery. The book is over 600 pages and due to all the subplots the main mystery only really gets going until over 300 pages into the book. It also wraps up well before the end of the book. I've heard that some people complained about this, but the subplots were interesting enough that I didn't mind too much.

Next books, prolly The Girl that Played with Fire and/or The next Mass Effect novel.

By the way, I've read about half of Catch-22. I thought some parts were laugh-out-loud funny. However, I lost interest between these parts and never finished the novel.

I also read The Scarlet Letter in high school. I actually kinda liked it, but I can understand why most of my classmates didn't.

Last 5:

A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong 3/5. Quite good, but not as good as Death of a Red Heroine. The pacing of the mystery left a lot to be desired, but the relationship between Catherine and Chen was well done.

The Claw of The Conciliator by Gene Wolfe 4/5. A fine sequel to The Shadow of The Torturer.

The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw 2/5. It had potential, but for everything charming and interesting the book did, there were five instances of everything being terrible, bleak, and eventually predictable. I didn't particularly enjoy it.

The Box Man by Kobo Abe 4/5. Typical Abe stuff, but quite good. I was never quite certain what was real and what was imagined by the narrator, which is kind of funny because the narrator is constantly reassuring the reader that "such and such is true". Hard to follow at some points, but definitely by design. Surreal.

Wetlands by Charlotte Roche 4/5. Quite an experience, this book. Provides a radically frank confrontation with female hygiene and the narrator's lack thereof. Contains graphic details of everything from smegma to pussy juice consistency to anal sex. Beyond all this, there's also a rather well done plot about the narrator's dysfunctional family. The only book I've ever read to make me physically nauseous.

Currently:

When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong. I'm almost finished with it. Doesn't seem to even be as good as A Loyal Character Dancer, but the mystery has a better pace so far.

Next 5:

The Sword of The Lictor by Gene Wolfe
The Citadel of The Autarch by Gene Wolfe
Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe
Lolita by Nabokov (reread)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (reread)

>>1898737
So are you going to be reading predominantly French literature now?

>>1898832
A LARGE PORTION OF MY READINGS WILL PROBABLY BE BY FRENCH AUTHORS, YES.

SO I JUST FINISHED JAKOB VON GUNTEN, AND IT WAS AN INTERESTING LITTLE THING TO SAY THE LEAST. PRETTY MUCH THE JOURNAL OF A YOUNG MAN WHO RAN AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY TO A VERY OBSCURE SCHOOL WHERE THEY ARE TAUGHT TO BE SERVANTS, BUT IT IS NOT OUT OF POVERTY THAT THEY DO IT.

EVEN THOUGH IT'S WELL UNDER 200 PAGES IN LENGTH, AS IT IS QUITE LACKING IN PLOT YOU WILL NOTICE THE PACE TO BE QUITE SLOW AND SINCE IT IS IN FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE, YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF EITHER HATING OR LOVING THE NARRATOR. YOU WILL NOTICE THE MATURITY OF JAKOB DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THE JOURNAL WITH HIS VIEWS TAKING SOME CHANGE. HE IS NOT A CONSTANT CHARACTER, HE IS A TEENAGE NARRATOR UNDERGOING MANY CHANGES IN HIS BELIEFS. I HAVEN'T READ CATCHER IN THE RYE, BUT PERHAPS FANS OF THAT MAY ENJOY THIS?

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THE ASPECTS OF POWER PLAY THEN I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR YOU, TAKING PARTICULAR NOTE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HEADMASTER AND JAKOB, AND JAKOB AND HIS FRIEND KRAUS.

I'VE DECIDED THAT I WILL SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, I KNOW I'M IN FOR A GOOD RIDE, SO I GUESS I'LL GET STARTED READING!

Bump

>>1898748
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
i thought it was terrific i liked the history and gave me insight into a part of Europe i don't think about

i thought the movie didn't do it justice but after reading the other two i suggest watching the movies for them because its just not as interesting there is much more political history no longer WW2 but 60's to present and it asks you to take some leaps of logic that aren't entirely rewarded it centers around the characters back stories which are only slightly interesting and makes Mikael Blomkvist to be some kind of pimp. the following books are really about the writers life experince as a journalist and the Communist Workers League and his past work to "counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people." Millennium is the real center piece of the books and unless you are really interested about understanding publishing it will get boring and repetitive. There is no more mystery besides how will they survive. The first book gave Lisbeth Salander this human quality and depth and while the other book center around her it doesn't give her character any growth and you just feel like shes meant to give edge to dull scenes. She has an unrealistic sense of distrust of everyone and this is just used to drive the story and proves to make her less believable. you hear her entire life and at the end just feel like so what 1000 pages so that nothing changes. don't get me wrong i loved it while i read it but once it was over i just that well i don't care about any of these people

Last Five:
>The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
I thought this was absolutely fantastic, the only time in any book I've had a real connection to the prose, not sure how to describe it but basically I was cringing at certain points.
>The Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Fantastic novella, some interesting ideas and I feel the story had a nice flow to it. Definitely intending to read it again to get a better grasp of the story.
>The Big Trip Up Yonder - Kurt Vonnegut
Quirky short story, I believe it's a sequel to 2BR02B but I feel I preferred the first one. 4 stars nonetheless.
>To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Great read, disappointed I didn't read this in school.
>In the Penal Colony - Franz Kafka
Didn't really enjoy this or Judgement, I feel that after enjoying Amerika so much my expectations were rather high and it was just a bit dull. 2 stars.

Currently Reading:
>The Outsider - Albert Camus
Roughly about 40% in, easy reading and enjoyable.
Next:
>Eeeee Eee Eeee - Tao Lin
Then whatever paperbacks I have before I go on holiday when I'll use my kindle I'll probably make my way through some Japanese lit whilst I'm away.

Last 5:
Flow My Tears, Said the Policeman-Philip K. Dick (8/10)
Fight Club-Chuck Palahnuik (9/10)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-J.K. Rowling (8/10)
The Informers-Bret Easton Ellis (4/10)
Feast for Crows-George R.R. Martin (7/10)

Current 5:
Survivor-Chuck Palahnuik
Sirens of Titan-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Glamorama-Bret Easton Ellis
Maze of Death-Philip K. Dick
The Teachings of Don Juan-Carlos Castaneda

Next 5:
Ubik-Philip K. Dick
Lunar Park-Bret Easton Ellis
Dance of Dragons--George R.R. Martin
Choke-Chuck Palahniuk
Mother Night-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

>>1899325
IS THIS SUNHAWK POSTING WITHOUT HIS TRIP? PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE LIKE 15 ANON.

IN THAT CASE, YOU SHOULD GO AWAY, AS UNDER 18 IS NOT GOOD FOR 4CHAN.

>>1899332
I can't believe you're accusing someone with such exquisite taste as Fight Club and Harry Potter of trolling or being Sunhawk.

>>1899332
Not a tripfag. Just reading Harry Potter books for shits/giggles, evoking my inner hipster with Palahnuik, but the rest are master authors.

>>1899333
YES, MY MISTAKE. SUNHAWK ONLY READS THE BEST.

>>1899343
>Hipster
>Palahnuik
No brah, I think you're 15 and probably don't have friends if you think hipsters read Palahnuik.
Seriously, people need to stop using the word hipster... and need to stop reading Chuck.

>>1899346
POST YOUR BOOKS SEUSS. THE WORLD IS WAITING.

OP has shit taste. That is all.

>>1899325

I like your list. Disregard out shit-eating tripfags and capsguys.

PUSHKIN, HAWTHORNE, DOSTOEVSKY ARE SHIT?

BUT VONNEGUT, ROWLING, MARTIN, ELLIS ETC. ARE GOOD?

EITHER YOU'RE TROLLING OR A FUCKING RETARD, AND IF YOU'RE TROLLING THAT MAKES YOU A FUCKING RETARD FOR MAKING IT THAT OBVIOUS. SO YOU'RE A FUCKING RETARD.

Last five? These things are getting out of hand. Also, doesn't CAPSGUY's last three/five/whatever seem to change pretty rapidly for a guy who only reads doorstops? I smells a rat...

>>1899363
I'VE BEEN READING SHORT FICTION AS OF LATE. MOVING BACK TO 'DOOR-STOPPERS' NOW, STARTING WITH HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

Why are so many people hating on me? And also, why do people think that poster is me? Because he mentioned 2 BEE novels I want (lol) to read?

>>1899363
>only reads doorstops
You ain't that clever are you anon?

>>1899365
Probably because you treat /lit/ like it was your livejournal and you don't really give any insight as to what you thought of books beyond 'good' or 'bad'

>>1899364

Ewww. Shame for you - it's horrible, imho. Hugo should have been strangled at birth. Have you grown tired of the Balzac now then? No big fat Balzac for you? (Sorry, I just like the way it sounds in my head).

Tired of your Balzac? Balzac too big to handle? You prefer the nice small Balzacs to the big chunky hairy ones?

I'll stop now.

Balzac, lol.

>>1899367

I post some comments and thoughts. I didn't think anyone cared.

>>1899371
CONSIDERING THAT I PLAN ON READING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS WORKS, NO, I'M NOT DONE YET.

BEFORE I HIT THE LONGER WORKS OF BALZAC I THINK I'D BETTER READ TOLSTOY'S 'RESURRECTION' AND DOSTOEVSKY'S 'THE ADOLESCENT'

GOT TO STAY LOYAL WITH MY ROOTS.

Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami 1outa100
worst thin I've ever read and i read alot of bad things. it actively insulted me as i read it. he literally shovel'd snow in my face.

Awakened Mage - Karen Miller 2/100
all the originality was bleed dry really fast and left you with a fantasy tale that was torture to muddle through. but the charcters were more interesting then Dance dance dance

Good Omens - Terry Prachett & Neil gaiman 95/100 im not saying its art but i activly tell people to read it made me laugh out loud i never wanted to put it down and once i forget a bit of it i plan to read it again.

The girl who kicked the hornets nest - Steig Larsson 70/100
i liked the series as an idea i was hooked as i read it but the villains were ridiculous the timeline took forever there was nothing totally believable I'm glad i read it but wouldn't suggest it to a friend

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins 100/100
love it to death i will reread it use quotes and fact check it it is amazing things that i knew and didn't know and always wanted to know about the world. I would suggest everyone read this book

future prospects will follow in next post

Reading now :
Poland - James Michener
its good interesting historical fiction im biased cause im polish but i like it
at the same time
Slaughter house five - Kurt Vonnegut
its OK interesting at times but to easy to put down i started it like a year ago and haven't read it 2 days in a row yet

Prospects:
John Dies at the End by David Wong i will prob read this today it makes my mouth water
Dane with Dragons by GRRM i will fuckn read this he has made me a junky and i need my fix and if he makes me wait 6 more years ill make sure he never finishes this series
World War Z by max brooks its sitting on my desk maybe ill pick it up.
Invader by Cherryh, C. J. i really like foreigner
Outliers or The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

>>1899371
>Have you grown tired of the Dickens now then? No big fat Dickens for you? (Sorry, I just like the way it sounds in my head).

>Tired of your Dickens? Dickens too big to handle? You prefer the nice small Dickens to the big chunky hairy ones?

>I'll stop now.

>Dickens, lol.

We could do this all day, every day. There's a reason why we try not to.

LAST THREE
>A Confederacy of Dunces.
Read it a while ago, hated it. Read it recently, still hated Ignatius, but loved the narrative.
>The Road
I did not expect to be hit as hard as I was. God damn.
>John Dies at the End
I have read and re-read this book countless times. My copy is dog-eared, in tatters, water damaged from the bath, and has several unidentified stains from its near-permanent residence in the bottom of my bag. Every time I read it I tell myself to find a fault in it, and rarely find anything. Not a modern classic by /lit/ standards, but it is definitely in my top five.

CURRENTLY READING
>How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs if you Ever Want to Get Published
This book is hilarious, and by far the most helpful how-to book i've read. The examples form a story within themselves, and the lessons within are useful.

NEXT READING:
>Ada
I loved Lolita, so I am checking this one out. I am told it is more poetic than Lolita, which should be awesome.
>The Sun Also Rises
Because I love Hemingway but have somehow managed to avoid reading this one
>Legend
Because I read it on the anniversary of David Gemmel's death every year ;_; He was my childhood Tolkien.

Last 5:
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Tolstoy
War and Peace - Tolstoy
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
Madame Bovary - Flaubert
The Plague - Camus

Currently reading:
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Next 5:
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
The Easter Parade - Richard Yates
Young Hearts Spark Fire - Richard Yates
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

>>1899414

I wonder if Dickens ever met Balzac? I bet they would have just laughed their heads off for hours. Especially since Dickens would have been a teener.

Maybe if they did, Alec Cox could make a movie about it. Maybe Randy Bumgardner and Dick Assman can finance it.

>>1899440
>hates A Confederacy of Dunces
>loves John Dies At the End

Fuck you.

>>1899414

>>1899446
HateD. I like it now, it's hilarious.

bump

>>1899445
>Alex Cox movie about Dickens and Balzac hanging out

FUND IT

>>1899441
>Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

How is it so far? I am considering picking it up sometime.

>>1900095
Great.

LAST FIVE:
>after the quake by Haruki Murakami
[3/5] This was my first actual experience with Murakami (I started Pinball forever ago but never finished), after having avoided him for so long. I have to say, I don't hate him as much as I thought I would. My favorite was the Super-Frog one, which seems to be the most popular out of this collection, but none felt like absolute duds to me. Probably a little too hip and name-droppy for me to read too often, but I definitely thought these were okay!
>Skylark by Dezso Kosztolanyi
[4/5] Something I picked up from the NYBR Classics catalog that I'd heard about on /lit/ forever ago. A small town Hungarian couple have a hideous middle-aged daughter who they cannot marry off, and who they completely fawn over. She takes a trip to her cousins' for a week and the elderly couple regress from fun to frivolity to absolute vice and desperation. And then the daughter comes home, and futility is realized. Was a wonderful book, especially so if you grew up in a small rural town (so many hnng moments of nostalgia). It was quite funny in parts, though the overall books is depressing.
>The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
[4/5] Another NYBR one, but also recommended by Noc in the chat :D A short novella about a fugitive man on a rumored-to-be disease-infested island, with a lot of romance and a bit of sci-fi elements. I enjoyed the first half thoroughly, though I thought it lagged a bit at the exposition areas near the end. The final several pages of summation and explanation completely sealed a 4-star rating though. It was a great story, and definitely something you could just sit down and read in one sitting. Plus, Borges liked it!

>>1900781
>Novels in Three Lines by Felix Feneon
[4/5] My first non-fiction book in a while, this is a collection of news blurbs written for a French newspaper in 1906. They are, like the title says, like small novels compressed into three lines. Feneon could expose so much with so few words, based solely on his arrangement, omission, and phrasing. The large amounts of automobile and gun related incidents were very interesting, as well as the large amount of suicides and the theft of telegraph wires. Reading these honestly made me feel like I had experienced 1906 France.
>Professor Dowell's Head by Aleksandr Beliaev
[3/5] An early Soviet science fiction book that I picked up after reading Roadside Picnic. Definitely has a pulp vibe to it, but enjoyable in that cheesy horror movie kind of way, especially at the beginning. It drags somewhat with the introduction of a few new characters in the middle, but picks up again when the plan is set in motion. It only made me crave more of this type of early sci-fi, so I'm picking up some others soon.

CURRENTLY READING:
>The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Xun
Finished the first book of stories in this one, Outcry. "Diary of a Madman" was by far my favorite, and maybe one of my favorite short stories every (probably just because I like crazy). The others were enjoyable as well, and had the same autobiographical features that happen in Japanese lit, so I was used to that. Going to be starting up the second book soon.
>Today I Wrote Nothing by Daniil Kharms
Love this so much! I've re-read the first ones so many times. so many times. I have no clue what page I'm actually on, because I keep skipping around and just reading or re-reading a story or a poem here and there. I'll probably never be properly "finished," but I dunno.

>>1900783
NEXT FIVE: [some NYBR stuff plus random curiosities]
>Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
>The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
>Stoner by John Williams
>A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
>The Naked Tree by Pak Wan-so

Last Five:
Mort (Pratchett/5)
Hogfather (Pratchett/5)
Things Fall Apart (4/5, I usually don't care for "Black" literature, but this was about another culture, and I usually like that kind of thing)
Gai-Jin (4/5 the Japanese bits, 1/5 the European bits. I like reading about non-Western cultures, as TFA attests)
The Divine Invasion (3/5, I don't feel as if this is PKD's best)

Current Five:
Illuminatus! (5/5, fucking love this)
Gravity's Rainbow (3/5, 5/5 once I finish the first section and read the Cliffs and then reread the section, then do this for the remaining sections and look the entire thing up on Google)
Steppenwolf (2/5, I don't like the protagonist and this makes it somewhat hard for me to read. Probably will not finish)
Persepolis (4/5, learning about the Iranian Revolution through the eyes of a survivor. It's a comic but I don't read five novels at a time)
Starman Omnibus Volume One (4/5, it's certainly great but not the masterpiece /co/ promised me)

Next Five:
Riders of the Purple Sage (apparently the archetypal Western, could be cool)
Vineland (Gonna try to read the entire Pynchon)
Something by Pratchett for the rest. Haven't read all the Discworld stuff, I immensely enjoy them.

Oh, and as you know if you read the Fives thing, I like other cultures, and our culture as seen by other eyes. I remember reading an excerpt of a book written by a Japanese diplomat to the US in the nineteenth century, and don't know the source and for the life of me I can't find it. Anyone want to throw out titles for me to check out?

>>1900851
KEEP TRUCKING THROUGH STEPPENWOLF ANON. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED WITH THE ENDING

>>1900851
>Japanese diplomat to the US in the nineteenth century

Not 19th century, but you may be thinking of Nagai Kafu?

>>1900863
Don't think so, but will certainly pick up American Stories.

>>1900873
Aw, okay. Maybe Yukichi Fukuzawa?

bump

Last 5:
5 Remembrance of Things Past (5/5)
4 Adventures of Huck Finn (3/5)
3 Adventures of Tom Sawyer (4/5)
2 Great Expectations (3/5)
1 A Tale of Two Cities (4/5)

Current: The Three Muskateers

Next 5:

Love in the Time of Cholera
Where Men Win Glory
Mein Kampf
The Koran
Jane Eyre

Last Five:
Hegemony Or Survival - Chomsky (5/5)
Everything is Illuminated - Foer (3/5)
Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut (hands down a 5/5)
The Big Trip Up Yonder - Vonnegut (4/5)
At The Mountains of Madness - Lovecraft (3/5??)

Currently Reading:
Catch 22 - Heller

Next Five:
Slaughter House Five - Vonnegut
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
Brave New World - Huxley
God and His Demons - Parenti
23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - Ha-joon Chang

>>1898707
>Mother Night by Vonnegut (Really good, 4/5. Haven't read a Vonnegut in a year and a half, I thought I would never again after Cat's Cradle. I'm glad I gave him another chance.)
Are you sir, implying you didn't like Cat's Cradle?

>>1902886
I didn't like it at all.

Also, finished The Scarlett Letter. I'm still trying to sort out what I think of it. I guess I liked it alright though. I also read Ghosts by Paul Auster, the second part of the New York Trilogy. I liked it better than City of Glass even though they did have many similarities. It seems more refined to me though.

Last 5:

1) The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells (2nd time through; entertaining early sci-fi
2) Белый Ночьи thats White Nights by Dostoevsky (I included the Russian title because that was the language I read it in. Pretty good very sentimental a little tragic and way over the top in formalities in the language)
3) Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins (pretty good out of all the TR I've read it is second only to Jitterbug Perfume but you know he's not for everyone)
4)Братья Карамазовы The Brothers Karamazov (again in Russian, are you starting to notice a trend. I've read it twice in English this was my first time in Russian and it is my favorite book of all time so I loved it)
5) Death by a Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson (not that technical but very interesting you don't need to know much about physics to understand it.)

Currently reading: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (almost done only have JFK left. She takes you through the historical events of all the presidential assassinations not much new on Lincoln but I learned a lot about Garfield and McKinley.) Also reading Игрок or The Gambler by Dostoevsky (once again in the original Russian just started but I am hugely biased towards Dostoevsky as he is my favorite author)

Planning on Reading:
1) Fierce Invalids Home for Hot Climates by Tom Robbins ( I've liked his stuff so far so I figured I'd keep it going plus it has an awesome title.)
2) Невский Проспект or Nevsky Prospect by Gogol (I love Russian authors)
3) Шуба The Overcoat by Chekov (I know this is a short sotry but hey I'll add it)
4) Dirk Gentlies Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (I've read the Guide and a friend told me that this was better which I find hard to believe but now I have to read it.
5) The Screwtape Letters by C.S Lewis (I was supposed to read this in undergrad and never did but it seemed like a good book.)