Recent (and not so recent) reads
As my kindergarden teacher used to tell me, Books are Friends. Here's
a random collection of books I've enjoyed reading enough to mention to
others. No, I'm not listing any that I'd be embarassed to mention
(though you could argue that I should be embarassed by some
of these, they're below my cutline for embarassment),so all
really trashy items are left to the
imagination. That having been said, I tend to be biased
toward elaborate plotlines and a general leaning toward escapism. Also,
I'm not at all associating critical acclaim to any
of these, just my enjoyment. So don't email me saying that my placement
of so-and-so next to whomever caused you to become violently ill,
or
that I'm biased by geography, gender, or social-group-of-your-choice.
One of the beauties of reading is that you'll never be able to cover it
all.
Authors I look for
People who's books I tend to pick up almost automatically if I haven't read them already, or (assuming they're living) even pre-order.
- Neal Stephenson
- Douglas Coupland
- Jasper Fforde
- John Irving
- J.D. Salinger
- Colleen McCullough
- John Steinbeck
- Dorothy Sayers
- Christopher Brookmyre
- Colin Bateman
Favourites
Things I tend to re-read
- A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
- Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
- It Happened in Boston?, Russell H. Greenan
- Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
- Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
- Anathem, Neal Stephenson
- The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), Neal Stephenson. I think this was the first time I preordered books that far in advance...
- Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
- The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck
- East of Eden, John Steinbeck
- The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- The works of John Donne
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
- The First Man in Rome, and the rest of the series by Colleen McCullough (Like all historical authors, she's forced to take some liberties with history, but at least she throws some logic behind it).
- Generation X, Douglas Coupland
- The Cider House Rules, John Irving
- Shampoo Planet, Douglas Coupland
- Life After God, Douglas Coupland
- Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery fiction.
- The Eyre Affair and the rest of the Thursday Next series, Jasper Fforde
- Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
Others
- The World According to Garp, John Irving
- Not the End of the World, Christopher Brookmyre
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
- The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
- To Have and Have Not, Ernest Hemingway
- One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, Christopher Brookmyre
- Empire State, Colin Bateman
- Be My Guest, Conrad Hilton (don't read much biography, but this one was interesting. Also came free with a good hotel room!)
- Mules and Men, Zora Neale Hurston
- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard Feynman
- What Do You Care About What Other People Think, Richard Feynman (both amazing works on an amazing life)
- Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
- A Widow for One Year, John Irving