Kafka

The Road is incredible. I can almost guarantee you'll like it. Get ready to be seriously depressed though.

Bible The Hobbit Where the Wild Things Are Raging Bull Those are the only books I own that have sentimental value in their physical copies.

Dave Eggers and Ernest Hemingway.

I read that too, haha. I love Cracked. House of Leaves comes to mind, though it's not as bizarre as those. Just real unorthodox. Scary as hell too, once you start to understand it a little.

I don't like the idea of books and movies being dismissed as just entertainment. I can keep myself entertained with literally anything. Give me a brick and I'll find a way to have fun with it, for a short while. Books and movies are an extremely powerful medium, with potential to be something so much more than entertainment. I'm not going to use the word "entertainment" to describe both a jigsaw puzzle and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Of course, some books and movies are just plain entertainment, but that's not really the stuff that matters. I mean, the Jackass movies are great fun, for me at least. I enjoy watching them. That's entertainment. A movie like The Thin Red Line is more. Sorry if I sound like a pretentious jerk, just my two cents.

Boxing, the only sport I really care for. I'm constantly impressed with all the talent I see in every Olympic event, but boxing just outshines 'em all for me.

Yup, what they said.

A perfect stranger's guideline on how best to improve yourself.

I took me about 5 tries to get through Fahrenheit 451. I have no idea why, I just could not ever get into it.

Literary porn. I'd rather read a book.

Let's hope I can word this well enough for you to understand what I'm talking about. I'm interested in a story where one person or a group of people stumble upon a different land, outside of ordinary Earth. An entire universe or just a small town. Just a different place, if that makes sense. Think Neverwhere or Kafka on the Shore or even the Narnia books. Hell, even Wizard of Oz. Like a stranger in a strange land kind of thing. People are all in the mysterious place, doing what they're doing. Protagonist is all "oh man what is this place how did I get here how do I get back" Hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance for any reccomendations

The Bartimaeus series comes to mind. You can kind of get a coming of age sort of thing, the first book begins when the main character is 5 or so, last book ends at like 18. Would fall under YA fantasy as well, I would think. They're really great books too, a lot of depth to them despite being aimed at younger audiences.

The Road.

The Godfather, man.

I'm 17 myself. Nice to meet you.

I stole A Coney Island of the Mind from the library. It was kind of an accident, though. Just an accident I never fixed.

Fair enough, I just believe it's possible to believe someone's lifestyle is wrong, while still being tolerant of the lifestyle and the individual.

Teaching that homosexuality is wrong is completely different from teaching intolerance. I assume that's what you're talking about, I apologize if it isn't.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy for dark, depressing, futuristic. Definitely read Brave New World if you haven't yet. I haven't read it yet, but We by Yevgeny Zamyatin might interest you.

I'm new to these parts, thought I'd say hello. I'm not really planning on making a big introduction. I like music, books, movies and boxing. I'm in high school, so hopefully I'm not the youngest person hanging 'round here. My favorite books, authors, genres, etc., I guess I can just reveal through posting. So hello again, nice to meet all of you.

When I pick up a classic, I know, for the most part, that I'm going to be reading some quality literature. I'm real skeptical of modern books and authors. I've no real reason to be skeptical, I'm just biased I suppose.

Black Boy or Native Son, or anything by Richard Wright. I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned. What is the What by Dave Eggers. I'd have to agree with this, as I'm a sucker for anything boxing. Any biography on Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali would work well too, as they were both massive figures in advancing African American culture and legends in their own right.

Catch-22, most definitely. You might like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius? It doesn't exactly rip into society, but it paints a pretty accurate picture, though that's not really the point of the book. It's fantastic regardless.

Planned on mentioning Gaiman. Glad to see his name right away

I still name The Hobbit as my favorite book ever when people ask.