I just went to Borders. Here is what I bought.

[LostInAnomie]

I had $50 dollars worth of gift cards so I decided to enlarge my library.

I bought:

The Iliad - Homer
Pimp - Iceberg Slim
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
Sidhartha - Hesse
Fear and Trembling - Kierkegaard

Now, tell me something I don't know about any of these books.

[terrya]

1. Not one of these will be turned into a big budget film starring Jim Carrey

If you had your heart set on that...sorry.

[LostInAnomie]

3. I'm holding out some hope for Pimp

It would be funny to watch him turn out a "Ho" and put her on the corner.

[NewHampshireDem]

2. You're in for a great summer ..

As you could probably guess by my avatar, Siddhartha is one of my favorite novels. In fact, I read it just about every year.

[LostInAnomie]

4. I have never read it...

... but my girlfriend said that she loved it so I decided to give it a try.

[TrogL]

5. The last three are condusive to paranoia

The Hesse less so than the other two - you might want to look at "The Glass Bead Game" (IIRC)

[MnFats]

6. no current events?

I figure I have to read this summer:
The O'Neil book
and
Woodward's
John Dean's
Clarke's
Wilson's

and I may re-read some Vonnegut after reading his ass-kicking evaluation of the current state of the world....

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. If you're in a less "serious" mood, try Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light"

for a light hearted take on the legend of Buddha.

[DrWeird]

8. the "metamorphosis" in "The Metamorphosis"

does not refer to the lead character.