Thursday, April 4, 2024

10 years of books


1. V for Vendetta

A graphic novel by Alan Moore, who made Watchmen, which is one of my favorite things I've read.  Im honestly suprised i havent even read it yet - as a I find graphic novels/comic books easier to start so maybe I'll read this earlier on if i want to get into the groove of reading.  The book centers on an anarchist rebel in a dystopian society where a totalitarian regime rules.  The premise leads me to believe that Moore could tackle these ideas just as well as he did before.



 2. The Count of Monte Cristo 

  I know the story through movies and retelling, but i have never read the actual book.  It’s one of those books that people tend to reference when a story beat for some other form of media goes one way, and i although i understand it I don’t know if i can truly a appreciate.  From the author of the The Three Musketeers, this is a classic revenge/redemption story that I tend to enjoy and I must read. 



3. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Another book that I feel like is mind blowing that I haven’t read yet.  Sci-if is my favorite genre (and it isn’t even close), but it has a comedic twist that apparently satirizes the genre and focuses on the humor rather than the Sci-fi setting itself but ends up being more profound and thought provoking.  That description itself sounds like this book would be a major hit or miss for me but I have to try it at least, and who knows, maybe I’ll end up reading all of the books in the series.  



4. World War Z

I've watched the movie and played the game that are both based off of it, and have heard they are nothing like it.  I've also heard its the quintessential zombie apocalypse novel, split into various stories through the form of interviews.  I like dystopic stories - and zombies are cool too, so I gotta read it.  



5.  Dune 

Yeah I’ll admit the movies have severely influenced the decision for this to be on the list.  But i always had the urge to read the grand influential series of books that inspired countless Science fiction and space opera type stories.  I love things like Star Wars, why should I not read the novel that paved the way for it, even though I just recently delved into the story?



6. Hyperion

Well known for its world building, the first book in the series is something I’ve had my eye on.  It began as various stories the author told to his students verbally, and then became compiled into an intricate world of different plot lines that weave together.  It is complicated and all over the place, but it sounds so interesting - a book about seven individuals traveling to a mysterious planet.



7. Catch 22

A book about a Captain of an American bombardier stationed on an island and attempting stay alive.  It is dark and satirical and confronts the meaning of war.   It also coined such a popular term of the same name, so I want to read the origin of that term and understand it as Heller implemented it in his book. 



8.  Slaughterhouse Five 

The author, Kurt Vonneget, served in the Army and was a prisoner of war in Dresden during the bombings of the city in WWII.  In this novel he inserts his own experience into the fictional character of Billy Pilgrim which serves the purpose of his anti-war message, and supposedly there is a science fiction element to the historical fiction novel which sounds like an interesting melding of genres.



9.  Crime and Punishment

I have heard so much about this book, which follows a character who commits justifies committing a crime by musing that he could do great things if he isn’t poor anymore, but he struggles with his morality after the crime.  I know it is a difficult read, and I’m kind of averse to reading it, but with that premise it presents a setting in which I’ll be forced to confront some universal truths about human nature - so i dont know if I should read it now or later, but I eventually decided upon later in the ten years.   




10. Ender’s Game

Back when I read this book for the first time, it became my favorite for a while.   Despite the controversy around some of the author’s questionable views, I found the premise of this story really entertaining.  The main character is a kid who ends up leading a war effort in space against an alien species, but some of the themes in the book hit me harder than i expected.  When i read it i expected something fun and i was pleasantly surprised.  I am interested to see if my enjoyment of this book will hold up later in life.




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