I may have to check some of this stuff out, essential reading for my descent into dirty old manhood. But then I've also had some friends who have recommended Gabriel Garcia Marquez's; Memories of My Melancholy Whores.

Like that scene from the Gabriel Marquez Garcia novel, when the baby gets carried away. Read that book 35 years ago, and all I remember is the river of ants.

Creepy.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, what a trip.

Wow so can I say that I initially limited myself to books I've discovered only in the past 6 years or so, and that currently influence the way I read, write and see the world (not to mention kick stupendous ass), but EDD's mention of Winnie the Pooh made me wish I'd done the reverse. So since I started it I'm going to post another list.

First I am allowing all of you to rag on me/sympathize with me now because I was one of the few people on this planet who didn't read or have read to her any of the LOTR books as a child. Any monetary donations to make up for my deprived childhood are welcome. I suppose until I get assigned to it in class (or get my degree, whichever comes first), I will need to add all these to my goodreads account.

So my (other) list:

1. Milne - Winnie the Pooh
2. Cormier - The Chocolate War
3. Raskin - The Westing Game
4. Smith - White Teeth
5. Plath - The Bell Jar
6. Thompson - Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
7. Marquez - A Hundred Years of Solitude
8. Bantock - Griffin and Sabine
9. Mitchell - Gone with the Wind (I skipped class to finish this, and have yet by my own volition to see the movie)
10. Curtis - The Watsons Go to Birmingham

for a fiction list slaughterhouse 5 and catch 22 are also in my top-10 as are Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers and Faust. The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek also comes to mind. Saul Bellow's Seize the Day, some books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (can't choose) and ofcourse Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten.