When I was a wee lad majoring in English, we had three “Great Books” classes we were required to take.  These were books chosen by scholars as being the most representative, over time, of literature during that particular time period.  We read Beowulf (without Angelina Jolie), we read Jane Austen, we read William Blake’s SONGS OF INNOCENCE OF EXPERIENCE, we read Charles Dickens (which, I am ashamed to say, I kind of skimmed), and stuff like that.  And while a lot of these books were interesting, and worthy of discussion and writing papers about, I would be hard pressed to call them “great books”.

Meaning, while I enjoyed them, and would probably point them out to others as representative of the “great” literature, I didn’t they were great books in the way I just finished BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett and cried and cried and told my wife “This was a great book.  It’s one of the top 10 books I’ve ever read” is great. (Note: other Top 10 Brad books:  DUANE’S DEPRESSED by Larry McMurtry, A SON OF THE CIRCUS by John Irving,  A HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez).  Because while “great” books are usually great for a reason (they crystalize the thoughts of an era, they deal with classic themes, etc.), I will say almost none of those kinds of “great” books really connected with me emotionally.

Not that every book has to make you sob little a little girly man.  I love foreign detective novels, and Haruku Murakami novels, David Foster Wallace intellectual-thons, and they are full of interesting insights into life and the human condition and the nature of the Universe, and they make you think, and that’s “great.”  But these other books I think are so great, to me, do something for me that is a rare and beautiful thing:  they give you profound insight into the mysteries of the human condition.

I also just finished Dennis Lehane’s SHUTTER ISLAND, which is about a Federal Marshall trying to find an escaped mental patient on an island prison for the criminally insane.  That was great, too.  I guess it all depends on the issues that are important to you.  After all, some people think those Oprah books are “great”.  Which is, I guess, why we have classically “great” books - something everyone can agree on, though perhaps not as moving and personally meaningful to you as something that hits your personal buttons.

Anyway, Brad recommends these two “great”-ish books.  As Dr. Steve Brule says:  “Check it out!”