I think Kafka's best stuff is his short stories (having not read even close to everything). "In the Penal Colony" and "Before the Law" are particularly good. _The Castle_ is the only novel of his I've read, and I enjoyed it greatly, but be sure to get the new Harman translation (the Muirs, who did much of the early translation work, apparently had a sometimes-not-so-subtle religious agenda, and tweaked some of Kafka's prose to be more religiously evocative). It's also interesting to read along side Nabokov's _Invitation to a Beheading_, which is similar and yet remarkably different. The latter is a much quicker and more pleasant read.
Well you mentioned Non-Fiction, but these are two books i just read
What is the What - This is the story of a Sudanese refugee that moved to the US. It follows him from the beginning of the war/genocide. It's in fiction because they can't 'verify' the stories the author is telling from when he was a kid
Long way Gone - Story of a child soldier in the Sierra Leone war
These were both pretty eye opening, especially when I started realizing these main characters are about the same age as me, meaning they were experiencing this while I was playing youth soccer...
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I think Kafka's best stuff is his short stories (having not read even close to everything). "In the Penal Colony" and "Before the Law" are particularly good. _The Castle_ is the only novel of his I've read, and I enjoyed it greatly, but be sure to get the new Harman translation (the Muirs, who did much of the early translation work, apparently had a sometimes-not-so-subtle religious agenda, and tweaked some of Kafka's prose to be more religiously evocative). It's also interesting to read along side Nabokov's _Invitation to a Beheading_, which is similar and yet remarkably different. The latter is a much quicker and more pleasant read.
Well you mentioned Non-Fiction, but these are two books i just read
What is the What - This is the story of a Sudanese refugee that moved to the US. It follows him from the beginning of the war/genocide. It's in fiction because they can't 'verify' the stories the author is telling from when he was a kid
Long way Gone - Story of a child soldier in the Sierra Leone war
These were both pretty eye opening, especially when I started realizing these main characters are about the same age as me, meaning they were experiencing this while I was playing youth soccer...
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