Reading, right? I know, it takes forever, you can’t cheat your way through it, and you have to read all by yourself. Something we often forget when we forgo the book and catch the film or television show is how incredibly immersive the participatory nature of reading a book can be, and just how amazing it feels to imagine you’re getting a coffee with Henry Miller in Paris in 1933, or how terrifying it feels to be chased by a mob of psychotic white people who plan to tar and feather you and Richard Wright. Reading also teaches you how to be a human being — any human being you want to be: a psychopath, a nymphomaniac, a druggy or drunk, the hero or the coward, whatever you want. Chances are there’s a great book that follows a person who bleeds all of those traits. If nothing else, just think what reading a book can do for your brain and your soul! Reading keeps you sharp and a good story can make you feel more alive. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to just unplug and travel somewhere else. Maybe you got dumped or you’re just in a rut — why not go somewhere you could not otherwise visit? If you’re reading this and thinking, “Who is this guy? Books are lame,” maybe John Waters can change your mind.
1. Nikolai Gogol — Dead Souls
Ever wonder what Russia was like before Communism? Well, in 1842, Nikolai Gogol wrote a satirical masterpiece, poking fun at the customs of everyone who lived there, from peasants to generals. Dead Souls is a novel in three volumes. Unfortunately, only its first volume exists in full; the second volume is missing a few pages and the third ends mid-sentence. You see, after finishing the novel, Gogol was convinced by a priest to throw the finished pages in a fire. Another legend says that he simply went mad and threw them in on his own. What we do know is that he starved himself to death later that year. So it goes. His gravestone is inscribed: “With my bitter words, I laugh.”
2. Jean-Paul Satre — No Exit
No Exit is an existential masterpiece on what torture really is: existence. I recently read it for the first time while on a plane. Is there a better place to think bout death and hell? Don’t worry, it’s short, coming in at 47 pages. In this play, Sartre explores what hell would be like using familiar imagery. Readers watch as three people who have just arrived in hell try to figure out what got them there, which they do by describing their worst crimes committed while alive on Earth. Eventually they come to a conclusion that is both underwhelming and terrifying: hell is other people.
3. H.G. Wells — The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is a classic. It is widely considered one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written. Tom Cruise starred in a film adaptation, but the book is definitely better (I know, everyone always says that). Orson Welles, however, produced and starred in a radio drama version of it that scared a few people, so not all adaptations are terrible. Essentially, astronomers notice explosions on Mars, and then everything goes to shit. Aliens basically begin wiping out the human race and we follow one man as he tries to survive. There is a fight scene between the protagonist and another survivor that puts the horrible nature of life in perspective.
4. Henry Miller — Tropic of Cancer
It’s freezing out, so why not follow Miller as he philanders through Paris. His 1934 classic was banned in America upon its initial release and would have to wait another 30 years and a Supreme Court decision to see the light of day stateside. It is a big reason why people trying to ban books nowadays cannot. So follow our author on his nomadic adventures in Paris, where he waits out the winter with a Russian princess, while we wait it out, in our own, blander way.
5. Charles Bukowski — Post Office
Think your job is terrible? Try working at the post office. In Bukowski’s autobiographical account of his time actually spent working for Uncle Sam, in the dregs of the a California post office, we watch as he survives his life in no small part due to women and booze. Catch this dreary train through Bukowski’s pessimistic world and maybe come out the other end appreciating your own. If you’ve never read Bukowski, this is a great place to start.
6. Kurt Vonnegut — Deadeye Dick
As the title might suggest, our protagonist was a good shot, albeit accidentally. This book champions the idea of how we can unwittingly change our own lives and the lives of others. As you might imagine, after our hero accidentally shoots and kills a pregnant woman (he fired a gun in his house and it traveled several blocks, eventually hitting the pregnant woman as she vacuumed her own home), he never recovers from the guilt. His father also buys a painting from a young and then unknown artist named Adolf Hitler. “Think of that: My father could have strangled the worst monster of the century, or simply let him starve or freeze to death. But he became his bosom buddy instead.”
7. Richard Wright — Uncle Tom’s Children
This is not an easy read. Prepare to visit the underbelly of America’s shameful past. It’s easy to forget how insane America was not that many years ago. We grow up hearing about the otherworldly racism of the past but we never see quite how bad it was — until we read Uncle Tom’s Children. Wright shows his audience what it was really like to live in the Jim Crow South as a black person. His stories will induce claustrophobia as you begin to understand the inescapable plight that came with being born in the wrong time. It’s an American classic and required reading.
8. J.D. Salinger — Nine Stories
If you’re a fan of Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” why not read the books his movie was based on? J.D. Salinger’s classics: Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour. The three books follow the Glass family, a family filled with promise and child geniuses. All of whom competed on a radio program called “It’s A Wise Child,” which gave them a bit of fame. The books pick up after the family has essentially burned out. So start with Nine Stories and if you like it, check out the rest. They’re pretty gnarly.
9. Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain — Please Kill Me
This is the most definitive book on the history of punk ever written. Everything is covered. It’s a strange and invigorating tale into a world that is now long dead. It’s filled with incredible stories of some of our favorite musicians, from DeeDee Ramone to Iggy Pop. It’s one of those books that everyone should read, especially if you have any interest in NYC or punk music. Stories about Lou Reed pissing himself at Max’s Kansas City, the New York Dolls coming into existence and playing shows in drag, William S. Burroughs shooting dope — it’s all there, and from their own mouths. Also, one of our uber talented writers interviewed the author’s here!
Article by Timothy White. You can follow him on Twitter @TipToTheHip.
