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Recommend a good, short book

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Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
Cat's Cradle
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Seconded.

An essay on the likes of Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 would fail to demonstrate originality and may bore the reader/grader as they are commonly assigned reading. An alternative utopian/dystopian novel to consider is Looking Backward.

 
J. Edward Hyde's 'The Phone Book' is a great short interesting read. Not very literary..but a good quick book.
 
The Little Prince - It's very, very short - almost like a children's book, but it's really an excellent book. It has quite a bit of depth to it as well, so I would imagine it would make good essay writing material. Don't look at or skim through it thinking it's for small children - it's most definitely not.
 
--SPOILERS BELOW--

Reading Brave New World right now. I found the beginning very, very monotonous and a chore to suffer through. However, I'm in the book midway, and it's amazing thus far. I'm right at the part where John's mom (Linda) dies.

I also borrowed A Clockwork Orange and Fahrenheit 451.
 
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
--SPOILERS BELOW--

Reading Brave New World right now. I found the beginning very, very monotonous and a chore to suffer through. However, I'm in the book midway, and it's amazing thus far. I'm right at the part where John's mom (Linda) dies.

I also borrowed A Clockwork Orange and Fahrenheit 451.
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All good ones; taking a peek at my shelf atm, and just off the top you've got Of Mice and Men (like 150 pages?) by Steinbeck, Sidhartha, Steppenwolf, Narcissis and Goldmund (all 3 are Herman Hesse novels, and fantastic), Dante's La Vita Nuova (and any part of the Divine Comedies is short), White Noise by Delillo, Tuesdays with Maurie by Albom (yeah, it's a feel good book, but raises issues regarding death), Candide by Voltaire, Heart of Darkness by Conrad (Apocalypse Now was based on it) - there's a start, at least. All nice and short.
 
Don't think I'll be reading that many books to fulfill a summer reading requirement, but I am bookmarking this thread for later peeks. Too many interesting books suggested. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
--SPOILERS BELOW--

Reading Brave New World right now. I found the beginning very, very monotonous and a chore to suffer through. However, I'm in the book midway, and it's amazing thus far. I'm right at the part where John's mom (Linda) dies.

I also borrowed A Clockwork Orange and Fahrenheit 451.
Click to expand...

All good ones; taking a peek at my shelf atm, and just off the top you've got Of Mice and Men (like 150 pages?) by Steinbeck, Sidhartha, Steppenwolf, Narcissis and Goldmund (all 3 are Herman Hesse novels, and fantastic), Dante's La Vita Nuova (and any part of the Divine Comedies is short), White Noise by Delillo, Tuesdays with Maurie by Albom (yeah, it's a feel good book, but raises issues regarding death), Candide by Voltaire, Heart of Darkness by Conrad (Apocalypse Now was based on it) - there's a start, at least. All nice and short.
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I'll second much of this post. Especially Heart of Darkness.
 
"A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich" is a true classic.

Also, most of John Steinbeck's books are short and relatively easy to read. He is one of America's greatest authors, so put him on your list.
 
Originally posted by: Mwilding
"A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich" is a true classic.

Also, most of John Steinbeck's books are short and relatively easy to read. He is one of America's greatest authors, so put him on your list.
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Depends. I read East of Eden for my 10th grade summer reading, and while I loved the book, I doubt I appreciated it as much as I could have now. Although I love his writing, it can be dry to some folks, but that's just realism for you. Good ones to start off on are Of Mice & Men, and The Red Pony.

OP, if you really enjoy dystopian fiction, there are a bunch of good books aforementioned aside from the ordinary likes of 1984/Animal Farm, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. I could write a more distinctive essay on The Very Hungry Caterpillar than those stories.
 
Oh, and another fantastic read is Jack Kerouac's "On The Road"

Can't remember how long it was, but as a college student fond of road trips, this book really hit home with me. Best book ever.
 
Originally posted by: Legendary
Originally posted by: TheVrolok
...Heart of Darkness by Conrad (Apocalypse Now was based on it) - there's a start, at least. All nice and short.
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I'll second much of this post. Especially Heart of Darkness.
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I'll third that. One of my faves. There are many good short stories from Kipling too but while they may sport strong themes they are not really controversial in context (i.e. their imperialist nature is commonly reproved).

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Gravity's Rainbow
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Err, great, but not short and a bit tougher than most of the other schtuff mentioned.



 
You can do a lot with the class systems in Flatland (although it's a book about math). "We" is a good one too. I like it better than 1984.
 
You could read the His Dark Materials trilogy. They are short reads. I would say they are probably written for Teens and up, but def not as complicated as High Fantasy sometimes gets.

They are pretty deep and overall really good. There are times that it gets really dark and twisted, especially since the main character (eventually main characters) is an adolescent child.

I read them quick, all three in about a week, and I could hardly put them down. It was really captivating.



Needless to say, it was epically better than the movie.
 
Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Question: what's a better read, A Clockwork Orange or Fahrenheit 451?
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Tie. Clockwork is really good and the language use is amazing (I wrote my senior (highschool) thesis on the language use alone) but it is also really "fanboyish". Too many people read it and find out just enough to be annoying with it. (imho).

There are a lot of cool stuff about it, probably the most interesting is the way it was written (3 sections, the 1st and 3rd mirror each other), and the fact that the rape in the cottage is based on his own experience dealing with his wife's rape.

He also sets up a psuedo-socialistic society in the book which is never mentioned in the movie. There is also the fact that the final chapter is removed in the American version of the book.
 
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