So last year I fell in love with a series of four viral videos.  The premise was that a historian would tell a tale of history while under the influence of alcohol.  It made for some hilarious situations.  I posted three of the videos but I just never got around to posting the fourth so here is the story of Ona Judge and the fiifth about William Henry Harrison.

And if you want to see the other three:  The Duel of Hamilton and Burr, Ben Franklin part 1, Ben Franklin part 2.

Notice the guest stars in these videos.  I think that was another one of the appeals.

I am thinking of doing my own Drunk History but I do not have video equipment or costumes.  First, I need to seek out medical advice as to whether or not I should get drunk for the sake of teaching history.  Second, I need to find someone to dictate what I say when I am drunk.  Finally, if I do this, I need to start drinking like 10 minutes ago.

This could be a lot of fun.

Since many people are doing this I thought I would jump on the bandwagon.  Here are 15 novels that have stuck with me...OK, maybe they are just my favorites and these are in no particular order.

1.  Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

I think this was the first novel I ever read.  I remember crying my eyes out.  I also had the extreme pleasure of teaching this novel in a classroom.

2.  A Separate Peace by John Knowles

I read this in my sophomore year of high school and I remember all my classmates groaning because of the perceived gay overtones.  Well, I argued with them in class that it wasn't necessarily gay because you develop strong bonds with your classmates when you all live together in dorms...I had spent the previous school year in a dorm with all my friends.

3.  Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse

OK, I have to admit.  I never read this book, but it was read to me.  When I was in college I had a children's literature class and the professor spent about 5 minutes each class period reading to us and this was one of those books.  It is a great historical read.

4.  Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick is a master of sci-fi and this book was a theoretical look at what America and the world would have been like if the Nazis and the Japanese won World War II.

5.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This was one of the first sci-fi novels that I read.  It just stuck with me mostly because of the state of the government and how my teacher every day pointed out headlines from the newspaper that pointed to the future portrayed in this book.

6.  Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Part sci-fi, part psychology exam...this book had it all and Vonnegut is an American master.

7.  Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

This book started my obsession with Palahniuk and it all happened by chance.  I was home from college on summer break and I was winding down from a 17 hour shift at work and I pop this movie.  I fell asleep and woke up during the credits and it said based upon the novel by Chuck Palahniuk.  The next day I went to the library, checked out the book and read the whole thing that day.  There are only two pieces of Palahniuk's that I have yet to read, one non-fiction book about Portland, OR and Pygmy.

8.  Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Maybe this is cliche and I know I have made fun of this book before but it has stuck with me and now because I claim to enjoy this book I am terrified that I will end up on a government watch-list.  It is creepy to know that so many assassins are associated with this novel.  Mark David Chapman tried to change his name to Holden Caufield and cited passages during his trial for the murder of John Lennon.  John Hinkley had a copy of Catcher in the Rye in his hotel room when he attempted to assassinate Reagan.  I also had to include this because I was just reading that someone has been trying to publish a sequel that has Caufield as an old man but Salinger is suing.

9.  Oil by Upton Sinclair

I love Upton Sinclair and this is my favorite of his writings.  This novel was the basis for There Will Be Blood.

10.  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I taught this book to my grade schoolers.  It was so much fun and it is so humorous.  You may have to read it a few times to pick up on all the humor.  I know reading through the first time I didn't catch everything. 

11.  A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Netwon Peck/ A Part of the Sky by Robert Newton Peck

These novels are a coming of age tale of a Shaker farmboy in Vermont.  A Part of the Sky was another book that my professor read to our class.  This is such a great tale and I really enjoyed it because of all the farm terminology even though I didn't live on a farm but spent a few summers working on my uncle's place tossing haybales.  A Day No Pigs Would Die is one of the most challenged books in the American library system.

12.  The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

This book makes my list because of the descriptive writing style of Abbey.  It was just a perfect picture of the shenanigans of 4 ecological terrorists.  I have yet to read the sequel but it is in my queue.

13.  Watchmen by Alan Moore

The greatest graphic novel ever published.  It also shows up on many lists as one of the best novels ever written. 

14.  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

One of the most controversial novels of the past few decades.  It's a great picture of life on the Mississippi.

15.  A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

This is a tale of a modern day Don Quixote.  I know a lot of people hate this book but I just love it because I love how it is a study of people.  The difficulty in getting this book published should be made into a novel.

Well there you have my list, what's in your list?