Eat your freakin' heart out Oprah

Here is my list for top 5 novels I have read .

5. To Kill A Mockingbird
It flows, it goes, its funny, and its cute. That's right, I said it was cute and I don't care. The story makes it's point without running and blabbering on and wasting my time, and I appreciate that. "I reckon there are just one kinda folk...folk."












4. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
I am not the biggest James Joyce fan, I guess I just don't pity the Irish. However, for anyone who ever thought to themselves, "That's weird, I seem to not be thinking the same things as every other stupid redneck around me", this book is a must read. The flow of consciousness style makes it hard to read at times, but one can still get the bulk of what he is saying. At one point someone asks Joyce's father why Joyce isn't out fighting with other boys and harassing girls like all the other kids and his father meekly replies that his son is just not into those things. I feel the same way when people are like "what's wrong with you, don't you like dirty strippers and cheap beer and getting all wasted and going out to clubs with a bunch of phonys" and I'm like "so much, so much is wrong...but not with me my friend."


3. 1984
This is one of the first books I ever really got into. Thinking back on it now, it was the first time there was no happy ending. Throughout the book I waited for society to be saved, then when I realized that wasn't happening, I started to expect Winston to somehow become a hero and save himself or do something to justify his existence which is what the people in the book lack...meer existence. I remember I cried when I was done reading it, "he had won the victory over himself, he loved big brother." FUCK YOU GEORGE ORWELL I thought, what a slap in the face, mock me with loving big brother will you, well just fuck you. Also, those rats in the prison really bugged me out and the encounter with Julia after the prison is still the most heartbreaking concept ever thought.




2. The Fountainhead
Apparently most people like whichever Rand book they read first, be it Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. I read the latter first, but still prefer Fountainhead. This sounds crazy, but my favorite thing about both these books is how little I know or understand them. The Fountainhead is Howard Roark's fight to be true to himself and live life the way he sees fit. This book is a fictional account of Rand's philosophy of objectivism. I feel I am not even worthy to define objectivism...entire books have been written on the subject and I have yet to see a definition I like. Everyone who has read it will give you what they feel it means, and it seems everyone says something different. I guess this could be seen as bad, as vague, but anything that can make so many people have such a strong opinion is wonderful. Well the book is truly inspiring as Roark rises above every single challenge to reach success, even to the point of "going back and digging ditches". I love that line...when his architecture designs are not liked he refuses to change them, and instead quits and gets a job digging ditches...true courage. Personally I think objectivism is better in this book because it focuses on one man's struggles in comparison to Atlas Shrugged, which has a more worldly picture. But again, I am not even worthy to have such views.

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance
Robert Pirsig was a genius at his entire life, to the point that it drove him insane. Sure, this book starts off a little slow, but once Phædrus is introduced, the book becomes a journey to answer one question, what is quality? Pirsig had such a problem answering this that he went crazy, literally, and woke up one morning in a mental hospital. He had been in there for five years and only remembered "falling asleep on the bed where they put all the coats during a party". The book has little to do with theBuddhistt Zen and less to do with motorcycles, rather, it focuses on what makes one thing seem better than the next. I love the way he approaches problems such as cleaning his motorcycle. He takes each part off the bike and places it, in order, on the floor so that when he goes to rebuild the bike, he just goes in reverse order. Pirsig gets into gumption traps, David Hume, and the process of doing all things. This is my favorite.