I decided to finally dive into fiction a few years ago. I'd had enough autobiographies, biographies, history, and other non-fiction books that are 300 pages but could be neatly summarized in 10-15 pages. It's interesting re-reading some classics that I read 20+ years ago in HS. Of course you have a very different perspective reading these as an adult.
- East of Eden has to be my favorite. Bonus points for the story beginning in Connecticut.
- Pillars of the Earth is fantastic. The mass-market paperback might be the most intimidating book I've ever opened: about 1,100 pages, the tiniest font imaginable, and no wasted space/margins. Talk about a situation where the premise of a book sounds boring (monks build a cathedral in 12th century England) yet it's anything but.
- Portnoy's Complaint was absurd, I didn't know it was possible to laugh so much while reading. I have all of Roth's books from the 90s on my to-read list.
- John Updike is the one author who I can read no matter what. The man was obnoxiously talented. I'd say it's a testament to his abilities that he mostly wrote about the boring and mundane yet his books have yet bore me. I even bought some of his short story anthologies; never in my life did I think I'd read short stories. He was a creepy pervert but good grief could he write. For my money, he was the best writer of the latter half of the 20th century.
At the moment I'm halfway through Blood Meridian, which has been mentioned a few times in this thread. I don't think I've ever had to look up so many words during a single book. This
site summarizes it nicely. I've never had to be so slow and deliberate when reading a book before. It's pretty wild but absolutely worth it. I read The Road and No Country For Old Men before that. Perhaps McCarthy's border trilogy will be next.
