SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY
by Edgar Lee Masters
Signet Book
ISBN: 0451525302
The dead tell no tales --- or do they? In this series of poems, the former inhabitants of a tiny town in Illinois air all the town secrets: who was a drunk, who is the real father of so and so's child, who always hated their family. The poems are totally addictive; after you read one, you have to read another to see how they fit in together.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harperperennial Library
ISBN: 0060929790
This circular masterpiece follows 100 years in the life of a jungle town and its inhabitants. Most of the focus is on the Buendia family and their crazy ways. Marquez is the acknowledged master of magical realism and he is at his peak with this book. This dazzler will hypnotize you --- and persuade you to take salsa dancing lessons!
THE STRANGER
by Albert Camus
Vintage Books
ISBN: 0679720200
Let's face it: at some point you are going to pretend you have read this book in order to impress an art-school hottie or a snarky professor or the cutie behind the counter in the hippie coffee shop. So just go ahead and read it. Its not as deep and scary as pretentious people say. In fact, THE STRANGER is a really smart character study, full of absurdly funny moments.
THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET
by Sandra Cisneros
Vintage Books
ISBN: 0679734775
This stunning novel is told in a series of vignettes. The main character is a young girl named Esperanza and it's through her eyes that we see the raw world of poor, Hispanic Chicago. The descriptions are poetic and lush while the story is full of real emotion.
ARIEL
by Sylvia Plath
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060931728
Plath wrote the poems in this collection while snow-bound during a freezing winter. Luckily for us, her power and talent weren't frozen. Intense, scathing and beautiful, these poems will persuade you to stop writing those dumb verses about your ex and inspire you to new poetic heights.
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Grove Press
ISBN: 0802130119
Hilarious, weird and brilliant, this book tells what happens when Satan arrives in Moscow in the 1930s. Sure it's metaphorical and metaphysical, but it's also really funny, really cool and a really great read, especially if you like fantasy books.
ZAZIE IN THE METRO
by Raymond Queneau
Penguin USA
ISBN: 0142180041
Zazie is a feisty little girl troublemaker and when she arrives in Paris, all heck breaks loose. Zazie is supposed to be staying with her drag-queen uncle, but all she really wants to do is ride the Metro (subway). What happens when the Metro is closed? Follow her adventures through this wild, manic book, chock full of word games.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
by Oscar Wilde
Modern Library
ISBN: 0375751513
Do you ever look in the mirror and wish you could look that adorable forever? I do. But you should be careful what you wish for or you may end up like the sorry protagonist of Wilde's scalding and shrewd masterpiece. Selling your soul to stay a size 5 is a pretty dumb deal.
CEREMONY
by Leslie Marmon Silko
Penguin USA
ISBN: 0140086838
A book within a ritual within a book within...I'm not going to try to explain what this is about to you other than to say its the story of a young, alienated, Native American and his search for connection.
SELF-RELIANCE AND OTHER ESSAYS
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dover Pubns
ISBN: 0486277909
Transcendentalism may sound like something scary you get from eating bad fish, but it's actually a really fascinating home-grown philosophy. This collection can be seen both as a self-help guide and a masterwork of literature. And carrying it around with you will get you major points with the socially-conscious coolsters.
