Category: Friday Five

Friday Five, early edition: of books and lists

Filing the Friday Five early this week, since I’ll be taking Friday off — and why should I blog on my day off?

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to post for a long time about Esquire magazine’s list of 75 books every man should read. That link has been lying around in the RSS feed, starred but neglected, for some time now. And since it’s Friday Five time, what better time to:

  1. highlight five from that list that are among my all-time favorites (and yes, I’ve read more than five from that list)
  2. write a mini (five-word) review of each, and
  3. challenge readers of either gender (or trans) to do the same — either in the comments or on their own blogs (please leave a note if you’re posting your list on your own blog)

So, here, in no particular order, are my five faves from Esquire’s list, complete with mini-review.

  1. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. McMurphy: best Christ figure ever.
  2. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. Identity politics. Speaks for everyone.
  3. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories, by Flannery O’Connor. Grotesque, spiritual, but “oncet” offputting.
  4. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. Laugh out loud funny, tragic.
  5. The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Best novel ever. Enough said.

Let’s hear from you!