A Random Reading List to Lift Your Mood

Not entirely random, a list I made for a friend who was slightly depressed. I thought of books that might cheer him up as well as be intelligent, well-written, a feast of words and ideas. A highly uneven list, one that I have just added a few comments to.

“Lolita” Nabokov: Rich, rich, rich. I would read it again and again, every ten years.

“Tropic of Cancer” and “Tropic of Capricorn” by Henry Miller. Funny, sexy, startling, shocking, exhilarating: what freedom!

“A House for Mr. Biswas, “ V.S. Naipaul. A great writer, keen social observation.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Such a rich imagination. Macondo reminded me of Mangalore, the Mangalore I was growing up in.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and any novel by Kurt Vonnegut, who has such a wry, friendly, and talky voice … satirizes modern society and its pretensions.

“Candy” Terry Southern. How innocent. It couldn’t be published for the first time now: we have lost our innocence.

“Black Mischief” Evelyn Waugh (it’s old, and therefore there is some wicked racism in it, but if you can factor the era in, it’s funny and clever), or “Scoop”.

White Teeth: Zadie Smith

“The Corrections” Jonathan Franzen. The first 150 pages are really good; the middle may be too American and detailed! Nearing the end, now, the second time around, and it’s greatest riches come in the last 150 pages.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

“Midnight’s Children” or “The Satanic Verses,” by Salman Rushdie. Hilarious, playful, giddy.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Not entirely easy reading, but funny in parts (early to middle, about how natural and unconsciously racist even most white liberals are). You may wish to skip the last 1/3; it’s sentimental and too serious. I’m disappointed by the titles of her later books … it feels like she began with honesty, but has sold out … and as a result, is wealthy enough to buy a thousand writers like me. I would recommend that she read “Impressing the Whites” … or at least have the honesty to admit that other viewpoints than her own exist.