If I had the choice I would live a life where I was forever traveling, ceaselessly on the move, at ease from the constant motion that allows me to breathe. If I had the choice every day I would be in a new place, hearing new stories about new people. Yes, this is the life that I would choose, so this is the life that I chose. Planes, trains, buses and cars have taken me quite far, but its pages that have taken me through time, through galaxies, through the experiences surreal and those that were too real. Books have allowed me to travel where my passport could never take me, and for a boy whose mind is never in one place it is comforting to have some guidance along the way.

Ironically, I became interested in reading the day after I graduated high school. I finally had the time and freedom to read books that I was actually interested in reading, not those covered in the dust of irrelevance thrown onto my desk from the depths of the most forgotten libraries. Another reason I began to enjoy leisurely reading was because I no longer had to dissect the words, I could appreciate them for face value and not overanalyze or decipher debatable symbolism. I was reading books to enjoy their stories, their characters, their messages, and the beauty of their words. I was reading books for the love of reading books.

I arbitrarily set a goal for myself the first day of summer after school was over, I challenged myself to read 20,000 pages of “classic” novels to see why they were so “classic”. Not having any idea how many books constituted 20,000 pages or how long that would actually take me, I confidently opened up to page 1 of “Moby Dick” and began my quest. Three months and 700 miserable pages later I had finished my first book. I hated nearly every page of the novel but refused to quit due to pride or a false sense of scholarship. After I finished reading the last page I threw the book as hard and as far as I could across the room in frustration of what I deemed wasted time and lies from every critic who called this dissertation on 19th century whaling a masterpiece. But so began a tradition, after each novel I finished reading I would fling it to the ground, love it or hate it.

3 years, 60 book tosses, and 20,000 pages later I stand a (relatively) well read human. My books ranged from true classics, to modern classics, to books that I just had to read to rinse the bad taste of a painfully slow plot out of my mind. This may seem like an obscure, self-righteous accomplishment that has no real bearing on the literary accolades, which is partly true, but for me this is important. For 3 years these books helped me take my mind off the real world, they were my companions for long flights, they helped me fall asleep when I couldn’t shut myself down. They made me laugh, cry, reflect on my own life, my values, my priorities. These books allowed me to escape, they took me places when I didn’t have the time or money to go anywhere else. Most importantly these books inspired me to write my own, which I am, and have become tools for studying; they taught me about character development, effective dialogue, fluid transitions and complimentary anecdotes. I want to be your favorite writer of all time, to do that I need to be somewhat good at it. I figured, to be a good writer I need to be a good reader, and though I can’t promise how great my first book will be, I can promise you that it will be 20,000 times better than if I never turned a single page.

COMPLETE BOOK LIST+ PAGE COUNT+ MY OWN BOOK CRITIC REVIEW

Moby Dick-Herman Melville (700)

“An epic tale of petty nautical revenge whose literary relevance drowns after the first sentence, followed by 600 pages of whaling history.” 

Fight Club- Chuck (208)

“I didn’t know there was a book, was Brad Pitt in it?”

Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini (324)

“A touching read that validates the sense of duty that we hold for our old friends throughout the years, also a strong suggester that battling kites could be the next big thing.”

And the Mountains Echoed- Khaled Hosseini (402)

“A weaving narrative web of stories that connect other stories that make you feel for the stories of the main characters.”

Planet of the Apes- Pierre Boulle (268)

“Retribution for Harambe.”

The Prince and the Pauper- Mark Twain(226)

“The original Parent Trap.”

True Grit- Charles Porter (190)

“A little girl’s Red Dead Redemption.”

I Know This Much is True- Wally Lamb (891)

“The story of a half-crazy set of twins”

Argo- Antonio Mendez (302)

“Just go see the movie, it’s hard to explain.”

Wishin’ and Hopin- Wally Lamb (268)

“I’m wishin’ and hopin’ I could remember what this book was about.”

On the Road-Jack Kerouac (307)

“The literary Trip Advisor.”

The Alchemist-Paulo Coelho (161)

“Life lessons in the form of Instagram captions.”

War of the Worlds -H.G. Wells (209)

“The book to blame for science fiction movies.”

The Valkyries- Paulo Coelho (243)

“This book creeped me the fuck out.”

The Race of My Life-Milka Singh (150)

“I raced through this book.”

Dracula-Bram Stoker (400)

“Dracula and I were both dead by the end of this book.”

Tortilla Curtain-T.C. Boyle (354)

“False advertising for Tacos.”

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- Ken Kesey (277)

“When it comes to being crazy, fake it till’ you make it.”

The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (277)

“A metaphor I’m still not sure I understand.”

The Book Thief- Markus Zusak (550)

“To make the horrors of WW2 more terrifying, Death himself tells the story.”

Life of Pi- Yann Martel (319)

“A euphemism for cannibalism.”

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz (250)

“Not brief or wondrous enough for me to remember much.”

The Call of the Wild- Jack London (110)

“Dog eat dog world.”

The Man with the Golden Gun-Ian Fleming (191)

“Scale from 1-10? 007.”

Ice Breaker-John Gardner (256)

“Same joke as before.”

Hate List-Jennifer Brown(408)

“A book that is now way too relevant.”

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (431)

“Hip Pip, Horray!”

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde (253)

“Forever young, I wanna be, forever young.”

Salome- Oscar Wilde(37)

“I didn’t really want to read this.”

The Importance of Being Earnest-Oscar Wilde (77)

“Should be Titled: The Funniest Shit You Will Ever Read.”

Survival in Auschwitz- Primo Levi (173)

“Holding onto humanity.”

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-James Joyce (253)x2 (220)

“I read this book twice because I didn’t understand it the first time.”

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith (493)

“Little girl is a better reader than me.”

Half of a Yellow Sun-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (541)

“Fictional characters in real Africa.”

Oliver Twist-Charles Dickens (419)

“May I have more Sir? Or something like that.”

The Road- Cormac McCarthy (241)

“The Sidewalk.”

Frankenstein- Mary Shelley (209)

“Monster mash.”

The Greek and Roman Myths- Philip Matyszak (220)

“Still not buying it.”

David and Goliath- Malcolm Gladwell (275)

“David cheated to win.”

Tracks- Robyn Davidson (254)

“Stralia mate”

A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens (372)

“The Best Book Ever Written, Ever.”

Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer (203)

“Not all those who wander are lost, but this guy was.”

The Sex Lives of Cannibals- J. Maarten Troost (272)

“You tell me what you think it was about.”

Holy Cow- Sarah MacDonald (291)

“Don’t order a hamburger in India.”

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway (417)

“Spanglish.”

Don Quixote- Miguel De Cervantes (940)

“Nearly a thousand pages of pissing myself laughing. He was the hero they needed, but not the hero they deserved.”

The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chboski (213)

“This book makes you feel weird when you finish it.”

The Art of Non-Comformity- Chris Guilebeau (225)

“Too Late.”

This Present Darkness- Frank E. Peretti (376)

“And past and future.”

Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (518)

“I don’t know what my crime was but this book was the punishment.”

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell- Tucker Max (277)

“They do. Draft and bottled.”

This Side of Paradise- F.Scott Fitzgerald (261)

“Stuck on the other side. Way worse than The Great Gatsby.”

A Game of Thrones- George R.R Martin (780)

“Winter is coming, but when is season 7 coming?”

The Godfather- Mario Puzo (595)

“Just as long as the movie.”

The Africans- David Lamb (350)

“A before and after picture of Africa.”

Walden (Incomplete)- Henry D. Thoreau (200)

“People can actually read the whole thing?”

The Green Mile- Stephen King (430)

“The mouse lives on.”

Whitey Bulger- Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy (451)

“Sweet Caroline, Ba Ba Ba!”

Hard Times- Charles Dickens (200) (DNF)

“I had a hard time reading it.”

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (534)

“Naked time traveling and infidelity.”

 

If you are looking for reading recommendations let me know I can give you my real reviews of the books! If you just want to talk about a book feel free to comment!