This story follows the life of Phillip Carey, beginning with his mothers death at age 7 and and ending with his marriage around 30. While reading the book, I kept expecting something good to happen, though it never does. It isn't until its completion that you realise how good the story was.

This is a series of short stories that left me feeling like I needed a drink, or a cigarette, or perhaps I wanted to cry, or go to bed, or all of the above.

The story of Irishmen who settle in Australia who become, if you believe the author, the most important people ever to set foot in Oz. It was a bit of a difficult read, but good for getting an idea of what people thought, as opposed to what we're told they thought.

A book that explains exactly what Buddhists believe. Someone should try that for Christianity.

Recounts the experiences of a German man studying Zen in Japan between the wars. I thought it was excellent.

This book is about the thoughts and experiences of a man who goes out into the woods, builds himself a cabin, and lives alone for 2 years. It was pretty good, except that it made me fall asleep a lot. I think I'll like it better the second time through.

The story of a bastard named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who has some super sense of smell, making him hate most of mankind. He studies perfume-making, and devises a plan to make a perfume out of virgins, thus making everyone in the world fall in love with him. Very odd, but worth a read at least.

My teacher once described this as a "boy's coming of age story". It follows Holden Caulfield over the days immediately after he gets kicked out of a trendy prep school. I've read it a dozen times, and I'll probably read it a dozen more. There's a reason schools make every kid read this book.

Truthfully, not very simple. Really good, but not at all simple.