Just finished
A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I had certainly heard of the book title and of Oscar Wilde before, but I had never read any of his works. This was lent to me by one of those hot chicks that moved in on my floor, and personally I get pretty annoyed when people lend me books without me asking for it, because then i'm obligated to read it, but i'm glad I did.
Basically for those of you who haven't read it, it has a lot of undertones for
Wildes own battle with homosexuality, which he was tried and imprisoned for.
It focuses on Dorian, a young-twenty something who is apparently some gorgeous dude, who is completely innocent and boyish until this point in his life, and has been sitting as a subject for an up-and-coming painter, Basil Hallward. On such a day where Basil is painting a masterpiece of Dorian, he meets the very witty Lord Henry, Basil's friend, who about ten years Dorians senior. He basically corrupts him with words and opens him up to all sorts of new ideas about life, primarily that as he gets older he will inevitably lose his beauty, and this freaks Dorian out. He exclaims something about how he wishes the picture Basil painted of him (which the only three people who have seen it think is absolutely amazing) would take all of his sin and aging on itself, and he himself would keep his beauty forever. In doing this, he inadvertently makes a Faustian deal and the rest of the book is him coming to terms with his gift/curse, and his life and ponderings throughout.
It's a great book, and really short (about 230 pgs), and has so many witty remarks and truisms about society and life that it's definitely worth owning.