paulofilmo wrote:FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by ernest hemingway
INFINITE JEST by david foster wallace
THE FALL by albert camus
DUBLINERS by james joyce
THE BELL JAR by sylvia plath
Of the books listed, I've read these. Not really a fan of most of them, to be honest, although I did like Dubliners, especially the last story "The Dead" - which, btw, was adapted into a film by John Huston and released in 1987. I think it was his last movie. It's good, imo! Wait, why am I talking about movies?
Anyway, sorry if the following comments are negative cos I don't mean any offense:
If you want to read Hemingway, I'd honestly recommend reading The Old Man and the Sea instead, which is my favorite (plus it's short). For Whom The Bell Tolls isn't bad, but it's a bit tedious, and Hemingway can't write female characters worth shit. If you want to read a great book about the Spanish Civil War, check out George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.
I disliked Infinite Jest because it felt like DFW wrote down every thought that went through his head for a period of several years and entangled them all into a bloated, broken narrative. Reading it is like having access to DFW's inner monologue and it's never-ending. DFW is also clearly depressed, so it's a really sad book; basically 1200 pages of hurt. Which is fine, but I couldn't get into it, although I'll admit it has several great characters and several great moments. You just have to slog through a lot of tedium to get to those moments. I like his non-fiction essays a lot more than his fiction.
The Fall by Camus isn't bad but I prefer The Stranger, which packs a bigger punch and has, imo, a more appealing and dreamlike narrative. The Fall is essentially one long philosophical conversation.
It's been a while since I read The Bell Jar (read it in high school) but I remember it being downbeat and not amounting to much. It seems to have this reputation for having great insight into the mind of a depressed girl but I didn't find it all that affecting.
If you want some stuff that's short and sweet here's a few novellas/short story compilations I like:
Candide by Voltaire
Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortazar
Tenth of December by George Saunders
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Amulet by Robert Bolano