Here's a list of the stuff on my shelves that I haven't read yet. But feel free to suggest other things I just finished reading a thought provoking book (though not really a difficult book) and am also reading "Labyrinths" by Borges, but will be done with that in about an hour, so keep those in mind.

Light in August, Faulkner;
Setting Free the Bears,
The Fourth Hand,
Son of the Circus, all by John Irving;
Sense and Sensibility, Austen;
White Noise, Don DeLillo;
Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky;
Anna Karinina, Tolstoy;
GHost Storu, Peter Staub;
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabrial Garcia Marquez.

There are several others but these are the ones that I actually plan on reading at some point - the others are more like stuff that people have given to me that I can't just throw away, but don't want to read.

Thanks

You are so lucky you haven't read this yet.

I wish I could have the joy of experiencing a Faulkner novel for the first time again.

Irving's Setting Free the Bears is a good read if you're taking a roadtrip.

I recently graduated and now I have a lot of time to read things that I actually care to read. A few days ago I started reading one of the books that is on your list. Crime and Punishment. So far it's great and really hard to put down. I should be done with this one in a week and I highly recommend it. If you're looking for something a little more light hearted and entertaining I just finished reading the Three Musketeers which was also great. Can't go wrong with either of these.

Those are some wonderful titles to choose from, Ziggy. Light in August is, I think, Faulkner's masterpiece. White Noise is irreverent postmodern fun at its most profound. And you can't go wrong with a thick Russian epic (which reminds me that I've been meaning to read some Dostoevsky myself). I'm not much of a John Irving fan, so I can't comment on those.

Based on both this list and some of your other posts (you started the Satanic Verses thread, right?), I would highly recommend my favorite novel: July's People by Nadine Gordimer. It's about the revolution in South Africa and features some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read.

Thanks, I'll look that one up.

Is "Anna Karenina" better than "War and Peace"? I read "W&P" a few years ago and was bored to tears - so I've been wary of starting "Anna" - has anyone read both that can give a comparison? I really only got Anna Karenina because it was mentioned in "THe Unbearable Lightness of being" - and I liked that book a lot.