Reads Like A Novel example essay topic

1. The Godfather (Mario Puzo): Great characterization, vivid descriptions, fascinating look at a powerful subculture, well researched, much of it based on true people and events. The book is way better than the movies, and the movies deserved their Best Picture Oscars. 2. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller): Most original novel I've ever read.

Brilliant, funny, thought-provoking anti-war tract. 3. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (the Bard). No bookshelf is complete without it.

My copy has everything: sonnets, tragedies, histories, comedies. I particularly recommend Hamlet, perhaps the greatest play ever written. 4. Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut): Wonderful writing style, captivating story, original and funny way with words. 5.

Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Tru mbo): Anti-war stream of consciousness from a World War I soldier who finds himself in an Army hospital after having both legs, both arms and his face blown off. He's alive, but he can't see, hear or smell or talk. Writing style is interesting, little attention paid to punctuation rules. Powerful. 6.

The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe): The Space Race as Cowboy Saga. Meticulously researched, reads like a novel, but all true. I loved it, but then, I've always been interested in space, astronauts, flight, etc. 7.

The Way of Harmony, (Jim D reaver): The book I'm currently reading. It's heavy on meditation and gives you the keys to the kingdom of inner peace and happiness. Probably won't be in my list two years from now, but today I think it's great. Makes you feel good just reading it.

8. Cosmos (Carl Sagan): The entire history of the universe, with special emphasis on the third planet from the sun and its silly inhabitants. Told in layman's terms, lavishly illustrated, thought-provoking and informative. Outdated in many ways now, but still a classic. 9. Shoeless Joe (W.P. Kinsella): The book on which the movie Field of Dreams was based.

The novel was better than the movie, and the movie was great. But if you don't like baseball or have unresolved psychological issues with your dad, it might not do much for you. 10. An Incomplete Education (Judy Jones): Everything you always wanted to know about everything, written in a breezy, trendy, humorous way. Irreverent but dead-on in its facts and accuracy. A book you can pick up anytime, turn to any page, learn something and be amused.

11. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo): I put this here for the stage play, not the novel, which is good but ponderous. The musical is beautiful, inspirational and moving. 12. Superstore (William Borden): Ordinary storytelling, but fascinating concept, told in a whimsical and amusing fashion. What if a truly brilliant thinker were president?

A somewhat eccentric genius is convinced to run, and his cabinet is a bunch of equally wacky and brilliant fellow ex-university professors. They completely revamp the American political and social scene. 13. Dave Barry Talks Back (Dave Barry): Maybe the funniest book ever written.

A collection of his columns. Yes, he's done several collections, but this is the best. But maybe you have to be a male baby boomer to truly appreciate the humor. A close second to this book is Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort Of History of the United States. Not a collection of columns, but an actual theme carried throughout. Hilarious.

14. In Cold Blood (Truman Capote): A true story written like a novel, even more so than The Right Stuff. If all his facts, stories and dialogue were accurate, it would be a remarkable work. But the cynic and journalist in me wondered, because Capote doesn't concern himself with attribution, and I have since learned he invented a lot of it.

Still a fine read. 15. The Winds of War / War and Remembrance (Herman Work): A joint entry for the original novel and its sequel. Competent storytelling, but the best part of these novels is that they bring World War II alive for anyone who didn't live through it. Honorable Mention: Messages (David Cunningham): It's told all in emails, which makes it breezy and easy to read, but the characters are poorly developed and the plot thin. Still, I admire the author for his lofty goal of answering the questions: Why are we here?

Is there life after death?