Ed Bomze's Favorite Fiction

On the Road is a classic. Jack takes us all around this country, and though the book is a standard of find yourself/travel writing, you''ll recognize the experience. This book is likely the most successful book by a "Beat" writer, though there is a whole literature by these authors. This book has traveled through countless suitcases, and more recently, backpacks, of those who seek themselves on the road. It's not romantic, not always easy, but if you want to get that ol' travelin' jones, On the Road is the one to beat.

The last novel Fitzgerald would see published in his lifetime is also the only novel in which he honestly grapples with the ghosts of booze land. Set in Europe during the interwar years, Scott tells the story of brilliant American psychologist Dick Diver and his wealthy and emotionally unstable wife, Nicole (sound like a particular couple we know?). There are lover’s quarrels, quaint expatriate celebrations throughout the European continent, and enough free-flowing champagne in the first chapter alone to give anyone a contact buzz. More mature and troubling than The Great Gatsby but unfocused at times due to the fact that Fitzgerald was dipping his own beak quite a bit during construction of the complex novel.

This is my favorite piece by Hemingway. I think I like it because it is somewhat autobiographical of his experience during World War I. The love story between the two main characters is similar to a romance Hemingway had with a Red Cross nurse.