If you want a challenging read, I highly recommend Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. I read it a couple years ago, and I found it to be the funniest, the saddest, most disturbing, most beautiful, most disgusting, most rewarding, most frustrating (that was before I read any Joyce though!), most amazing book I've ever read. It's the best book I've ever read and maybe ever will read and, IMHO, maybe the best English-language novel ever written. It's my stranded-on-a-desert-island book.
As a post-modern work, it's quite a challenging read. It can definitely be quite difficult in spots. It has one of the largest casts of characters I've ever seen in a novel, so I recommend taking notes to keep the characters and their relationships straight. I also highly recommend reading A Gravity's Rainbow Companion by Steven Weisenburger concurrently for illumination of the more obscure passages.
If you have an interest in World War II, physics, rocketry, mathematics, psychology, statistics, sexual deviancy, Tarot cards, mysticism, drug usage, synchronicity, and conspiracy theories, then this is the book for you!
If you've already read Gravity's Rainbow, you might be interested in my reading notes.
I also recently convinced my reading group to read another Pynchon novel: The Crying of Lot 49. It's much shorter, not of epic length like Gravity's Rainbow, but I still enjoyed it tremendously, as did the group! It was like running into an old friend and picking up right where your relationship left off. Some people consider this to be one of Pynchon's lesser works, but it has very specific and worthwhile themes unto itself. And the ending is great! Due to its more manageable length, it makes a fine introduction to Pynchon for new readers.
Pynchon has also written two other notable books: V, a prequel of sorts to Gravity's Rainbow, and Mason and Dixon. He also has a collection of short stories, Slow Learner. I plan to read all of these eventually.
The Onion had an article a while ago that mentioned The Crying of Lot 49. I thought it was really funny. Check it out:
quote:
Man Reading Pynchon On Bus Takes Pains To Make Cover Visible
PHILADELPHIA-- According to riders on the eastbound C bus, John Bolen, 23, made a conscious effort Monday to make the cover of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying Of Lot 49 visible to all on board. "Instead of resting the book on his lap or on the seat in front of him, he was holding it up in this really awkward, uncomfortable-looking way," rider Caryn Little said. "Then, every so often, he'd glance around to see if anyone was noticing what he was reading." Bolen vehemently denied the Pynchon-flaunting charges, insisting that "the light was bad" on the bus.
I'm guilty of that as well... I admit to having flaunted reading Gravity's Rainbow both on the bus and at Starbuck's on several occasions! No one ever noticed though.