Finally picked up Grapes of Wrath, and damn is it good. Steinbeck has such beautiful prose when he’s not writing southern dialect.
What other classics are still compelling today? If it’s any help, I don’t really dig Vonnegut, Asimov, and Huxley.
Its been a while but I have fond memories of Jules Verne. Journey to the Center of the Earth, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Old Man and the Sea by Hemmingway was also pretty cool.
I love the augeries of innocence! The beginning is good, of course, everyone likes to hold infinity in their hand and heaven in a wildflower. But the end really got to me too,
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to Endless Night
I remember one English prof of mine insisting that Blake actually hated the poor and oppressed from like a calvanist pov (as in they were sinners and doomed to suffer and this suffering was good). I have no idea how he got that, Blake seemed to align himself with the poor and oppressed.
Catch 22 is a great read. Very funny, very engaging, all around great time.
Jaroslav Hašek is insanely good, anything by him is fire. And his biography is also bonkers.
