Lost in a Literary Dreamworld...

Well, it's midnight already and I just finished reading Keeping You a Secret by Julie Peters. My school emphasizes literacy and demands their students to hold at least two novels while on campus (of course to motivate reading for pleasure). So, my professor recommended Peters' book because I felt like being spontaneous and wanted to read something I would never thought I would read. And she gave me a recommendation alright, a book about teen lesbianism. At first, it was difficult to read because I was not comfortable with the behaviors coming from the characters. Long story short, I finished the book, but the book itself made me feel empty. Unsatisfied, I suppose. I believe the dissatisfaction is from the fact it was an easy read. The language was plain. Dry. Unyielding. When I read, I like to get lost in the story, the characters, the imagery, and most importantly... the unique and beautiful use of language. The author, in my opinion, has to be clever with syntax... I want the words to caress my mind with... with.... agh, I'm going to call it... "literary liquor." If that makes any sense.

So, I began Googling and searching titles that may be of interest to me. Although I was disappointed that none of the libraries have any of the novels I wanted, I still wanted to compose a "must read" list.


- A Young Girl's Crimes by David Rehak

A Young Girl's Crimes is a gripping, thought provoking tale of a teenager who loses her innocence in the most disturbing ways. Flora is a girl who has had everything in life -- after all, her father is wealthy and influential -- save her freedom. Her father is domineering and abusive and does whatever is possible to keep Flora locked up in the mansion. But Flora rebels in the most disarming ways. She seeks love and attention in all the wrong places, only to feel emptiness afterwards. In an attempt to clean up her act, she turns to God to find spiritual guidance and escape her inner demos. However, the odyssey to self-discovery has just begun... The novel also incorporates the use of dark language...

- The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff

This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult...Ebershoff (The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man…With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.

- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is (among many things) a satire of human corruption, a meditation on faith and religious institutions in an age of skepticism, a murder mystery involving love triangles, a courtroom thriller and in the end a testament to the goodness and bravery humans are capable of. The story follows the lives of old man Karamazov, a filthy penny-pinching lech and his three sons. Each son represents a different side to the Russian character: Dimitri the spoiled lout (or the prodigal son), Ivan the tortured intellect, and Alyosha the spiritual searcher. Alyosha, Dostoevsy says, is our hero. And he does represent a certain Christian ideal. He, in the end, stands for brotherhood and meekness in the face of temptation. These qualities, no doubt, are what Dostoevsky suggests will preserve and redeem the Russian nation. All around Alyosha is the carnage caused by people who are not awake to this truth -- and they wallow in suffering.This book, the last Dostoevsky wrote, also presents an intricate political/religious landscape. We see Russia on the brink of socialist forment, and the church is not spared in the skepitism of characters like Ivan, who, in the 'Grand Inquisitor' chapter, presents the most spine tingling critique of organized religion...

It took me a good 45 minutes to find something I'd like to really read. Since the library doesn't have these titles and I am too broke and impatient to buy it off the Internet, what do I do? I am literally dying (no pun intended) for a great and intense read. Anyway, it's almost 1AM.

Goodnight and sweet dreams...