I read pretty frequently and focus on classic, canonical works. In the last few weeks I've read

The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) - About a few days in the life of 16 year old Holden Caulfield after he gets kicked out of his 3rd boarding school. He's pretty socially awkward and hates everything mainstream or "cool." He hates athletes, people who do anything to conform to society, etc. It's extremely easy to read, and it's written like a kid talking to you. I know a lot of people love this book, and I can see how a lot of people would like it at a certain age, especially high schoolers. I think I would've liked it more when I was that age, but I ended up thinking Holden was just a whiny loser by the end of the book.

Disgrace (Coetzee - South African) - About a college professor who sleeps with a student and then gets fired and moves out to live with his daughter in the country, where more bad things happen. It's set during apartheid, so it touches on some racial/poverty issues as well. It's written extremely concisely, but not casually, if that makes sense. I loved the writing. Easy to read, but not as if you were having a conversation with the author.

Portnoy's Complain (Roth) - This book is about Portnoy's conversation with his therapist. Only Portnoy speaks in the entire book. It's basically Portnoy ranting to his therapist about his sexual escapades, relationships with girls, relationships with his Jewish parents (Roth is Jewish and most of his books are about the lives of Jews). His Jewish parents are super Jewish and have oppressed him his entire life by being extremely controlling and Jewish and they are the reasons for his failures. It's extremely graphic, tons of explicit sexual acts, etc. Not necessarily a book you just want to be flashing around in public. It wasn't bad, but I think it probably gets some extra hype for how scandalous it is than it's quality as a novel. Did I mention Portnoy's parents are Jewish?

I'm working on As I Lay Dying (Faulkner) right now, since I only read the spark notes in high school. I think I'm going for Alice in Wonderland next week some time.

I should probably read Anne Frank at some point.