Since September, I've had some strange requests at the bookstore. Recently, a man asked if we have any books on revenge. He stood about 9 inches from me when he asked, and his eyes were plotty. I suggested some humorous books, hoping. "No," he said, he wanted a book that provides step-by-step instructions on how to get revenge on someone. "I'm sorry," I said (thinking: I'm regretting having to tell you we don't have what you want, wondering whether you will, when you find this book, return with results), "but we don't have anything like that." "That's too bad," he said, "really too bad," and left.
Another guy needed help finding a gift for his mother. I asked what she typically enjoys reading. "Literature," he said.
Usually, though, I'm asked for recommendations for science fiction or contemporary novels or true crime. The only times I'm of real help are when people ask for literary nonfiction recommendations, and that person already came in this year.
So, in an effort to broaden my horizons, I'm attempting to read some books from unfamiliar genres. This morning, I finished the first science fiction book I've read in probably 15 years. I want more. If you could recommend one book from one or more of the following genres, I'd be grateful since, you know, when the baby comes in July, I'll have tons of spare reading time.
Mystery / Crime
Horror
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Subculture
Music Journalism
Contemporary Novels
Contemporary Short Stories
Young Adult
GLBT
World History
Popular Philosophy
Thanks.
Posted by ghetto monk at May 16, 2007 07:12 PM | TrackBackFantasy - George R.R. Martin "A Game of Thrones" and the follow up books in his series.
Popular Philosophy - Stanley Fish "There's no such thing as free speech and it is a good thing too."
Posted by: R.L.F. at May 16, 2007 10:08 PMContemporary Novels- Tom Wolfe "I Am Charlotte Simmons."
Posted by: kermit at May 17, 2007 08:10 AMContemporary Novels- "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson, "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri (essential reading for any book-loving dad-to-be), "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris
Revenge: The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas and (to set the thing off-kilter by including the counter-point of grace) Les Miserables, by Hugo.
Maybe more of a list later.
Posted by: daniel silliman at May 17, 2007 10:14 AMLooking forward to seeing other people's recommendations...
Mystery/Crime- (classic) Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries; Dorothy Gilman- The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
Science Fiction- (classic) C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy
Young Adult- (classic) T.H. White- The Sword in the Stone; (comtemporary) Madeline L'Engle- A Wrinkle in Time
World History- Thomas L. Friedman- Logitudes and Attitudes; Paul Johnson- Modern Times
Popular Philosphy- Malcolm Gladwell- The Tipping Point; Blink
Posted by: kate at May 17, 2007 10:35 AMMystery / Crime--Those Walter Mosely Easy Rawlins novels.
Science Fiction--William Gibson's Neuromancer
Music Journalism--In the Country of Country, by Nicholas Dawidoff
Contemporary Novels--White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
Contemporary Short Stories--not so contemporary, but In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, by William H. Gass; or, Stuart Dybek's I Sailed with Magellan
GLBT--Jeannette Winterson's Oranges are not the Only Fruit
World History--Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
How y'all doing?
Posted by: spokanimal at May 17, 2007 10:43 AMBee Season by Myla Goldberg is really good.
Posted by: Nick at May 17, 2007 06:20 PMContemporary Novel: Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
World History: Quo Vadis by Sienkiewicz (historical fiction)
Science Fiction: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick.
Posted by: Clay at May 17, 2007 08:35 PMContemporary Short Stories: Zadie Smith Introduces The Burned Children of America
Posted by: Mary at May 17, 2007 11:56 PMyoung adult - The Giver, by Lois Lowery
Posted by: haley at May 18, 2007 12:01 AMscience fiction: Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
music: the Beatles, Bob Spitz
mystery: Over Tumbled Graves, Jess Walters
Posted by: the other jeremy at May 18, 2007 08:00 AMMystery/Crime/Thriller - "Tyrannosaur Canyon", Douglas Preston
Science Fiction - "In Conquest Born", C.S. Friedman
Fantasy - Anything by David Eddings, Katherine Kurtz or Tom Deitz.
Contemporary Novels = "My Name is Asher Lev", Chaim Potok
Young Adult - "Hatchet", Gary Paulsen
Popular Philosophy - "To Own a Dragon", Donald Miller.
Young Adult: "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
Mystery/Crime/Thriller: The "Fletch" series of novels by Gregory McDonald (Yes, the movies were based on these books.)
Music Journalism: The "33 1/3" series (book-length expositions on great albums); "Chronicles, Vol 1" by Bob Dylan
World History: "An American Life" by Ronald Reagan; "The Downing Street Years" by Margaret Thatcher
Posted by: gristle-stump at May 18, 2007 01:51 PM
Contemporary Novels: anything by John Updike or John Irving, or Sinclair Lewis. Mmm.
World History: From Dawn to Decadence by Jaques Barzun.
Posted by: rahab at May 18, 2007 02:23 PMDon't know if this will help, since he writes nonfiction travel/history, but if you've never read William Dalrymple, he's definitely worth your time. "City of Djinns" is about Delhi, and "From the Holy Mountain" is about his journey from one crumbling monastery in the Middle East to the next. But everything he writes is wonderful.
World History: There's a history of the Taj Mahal that came out this year. I've seen it a couple times and been tempted. Looks great. Can't remember the authors, but I think it's just called "Taj."
Posted by: amys at May 18, 2007 02:28 PMScience Fiction: The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer (also YA), Fahrenheit 451, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
Fantasy: Anything by Madeleine L'Engle, The Princess Bride
contemporary novels: I love Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer
Young Adult: Amalee and Lights, Camera, Amalee by Dar Williams; Sharon Flake; Laurie Halse Anderson; Walter Dean Myers
So that's a lot more than one...
Posted by: Courtney at May 18, 2007 04:13 PMSci-Fi/Fantasy--Shardik by Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, another worthy novel
Young Adult--Lowry's The Giver; Katherine Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved; Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH; Ballantine's The Coral Island, an old forgotten classic
GLBT: Armistead Maupin's _Tales of the City_ and sequels; James Baldwin's _Giovanni's Room_; Rita Mae Brown's _Rubyfruit Jungle_
Mystery: James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels (Burke is a cousin of the late Andre Dubus; highly literate prose)
World History: John Keegan, anything; Mattingly, _The Armada_; (Don't remember who's) _The Last Czar_
Young Adult: _The Bridge to Terabithia_; Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time_; for these you could just pick by which ones got the Newberry Medal.
Posted by: Natalie Kusz at May 19, 2007 11:59 AMhey Jeremy, I hope you're well. here's a few i'd recommend.
world history: A little history of the world--E.H. Gombrich
music journalism: chronicles--bob dylan
modern fiction: the road--cormac macarthy
Posted by: Joel at May 19, 2007 12:14 PMContemporary short stories (and folk tales), for all ages: The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness, by Joel ben Izzy.
For our edification: What are some of your recommendations for literary nonfiction?
Posted by: janaraton at May 20, 2007 01:40 AMMusic Journalism/ Contemporary Fiction:
U2 at the End of the World, Bill Flannagan/ The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie
Did you ever wonder where Rushdie spent his time during the years of the fatwa?
Science Fiction: The Dune Chronicles, Frank Herbert
After the first three books the series rather drops off. Herbert shares some particularly keen insights into politics and societies.
Popular Philosophy: Five Moral Pieces, Umberto Eco
The first essay, Reflections on War, is particularly enlightening, all the more so after having been to war.
Young Adult: Charlotte Sometimes, Penelope Farmer
Yes, just like the song by The Cure.
Posted by: Erik at May 20, 2007 04:50 AMI probably shouldn't respond to this for fear that your head may explode (my focus of study in college was contemporary literature...):
John Banville, The Sea
J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace
Ian McEwan, Atonement and Saturday
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
Douglas Coupland, Microserfs
Tim O'Brien, Going After Cacciato
David Mitchell (not Teacher Dave, sadly, but his namesake), Cloud Atlas
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (also, he has a new book out called The Yiddish Policeman's Union that looks really good)
Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Greg Garrett, Free Bird
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead and Housekeeping
Oh, and short stories: F.X. Toole, Million Dollar Baby
Posted by: Manders at May 20, 2007 11:19 AMi loved "the book thief" by markus zusak for young adult, and anything by stephen lawhead for fantasy - his new "hood" is a welsh version of robin hood - his health is so bad now he might not finish the trilogy, but it was wonderful.
Posted by: bobbie at May 20, 2007 07:18 PMWorld History-- "From Dawn to Decadence" by Jacques Barzun. Churchill's works are also a lot of fun if you don't mind a boyish preoccupation with battles as the decisive events of history.
Fantasy-- "Till We Have Faces" by C. S. Lewis. Nice adult fantasy, his last novel.
Science fiction-- Ray Bradbury, and I heartily recommend Lewis' Ransom trilogy. Asimov's "I, Robot" is more fun than the movie.
Mystery-- Chesterton's Father Brown stories and "The Man Who Was Thursday," Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, Sherlock Holmes.
Pop. Phil.-- I've heard good things about Alain de Botton.
Posted by: Ian at May 21, 2007 08:43 AMHorror: Charles Williams (The Inkling), first "Descent into Hell" (strange & brilliant!!!) and also "All Hallows Eve," plus anything else he wrote.
Fantasy: George MacDonald, "Fantastes" and "Lilith"
Popular Philosopy: Richard Rorty, "Philosphy and Social Hope." Marjorie Grene, "The Knower and the Known" (because we Polanyians have stick together). Gaston Bachelard collection, "On Poetic Imagination and Reverie."
And congratulations on the baby, Jeremy. It's good to hear life is going well in St. Louis!
genius hilarious miserable short stories with ghosts and the occasional sci fi twist: CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders.
and i'll always recommend Airships by Barry Hannah for human misery/brilliance, and music of the swamp by lewis nordan for gorgeousness in the south that will make you cry.
Posted by: jimmy j at May 22, 2007 03:59 PMhorror: anything by h.p. lovecraft, even though it sounds cliche i'm a big fan of stephen king's older stuff. it's not technically horror but if you haven't read "the stand" do so.
fantasy: another cliche but reread tolkien. also, r.a. salvatore's dark elf trilogy is good.
Posted by: travis at June 4, 2007 01:25 AMA good revenge book and hilarious- Don't Get Mad, Get Even: The Big Book of Revenge
by: George Hayduke
-this book has some terrible prank ideas
Posted by: Jon at June 4, 2007 03:47 PMI always enjoy children's lit.--Rachel inspiration.
Posted by: kelly at June 9, 2007 01:54 PMSnowcrash or Cryptonomicon by Neil Stevenson-historicalish fiction
Any short stories by Georges Borges, preferably "The Library of Babel"
Hi, I don't know you but evidently we both know Ben Kammer. So there's that.
Contemporary Novels —
Jonathan Safran Foer's EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE. Or EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED. But if you read them both, save EL&IC for 2nd; it's better.
Also, anything recent by Ian McEwan or J.M. Coetzee or Michael Ondaatje or Kazuo Ishiguro or Julian Barnes. Your pal Manders also gave some good suggestions.
Contemporary Short Stories — Borges is great, but from almost 100 years ago. I'd recommend Jhumpa Lahiri's INTERPRETER OF MALADIES.
GLBT — NIGHTS AT THE CIRCUS (Angela Carter)
Enjoy!
Posted by: Will at June 11, 2007 05:32 PMMystery/Crime: Anything by Andrew Greeley or William Deverell
Sci-Fi: Xenogenesis (a trilogy made up of Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites) by Octavia Butler
Fantasy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, by Anne McCaffrey; The Golden Compass trilogy; Tam Lin by Pamela Dean; Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Contemporary Novel: To the Wedding by John Berger; Cloudstreet by Tim Winton; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami; Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto; The Invention of the World by Jack Hodgins; Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald; The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
Contemporary Short: Mount Appetite by Bill Gaston
YA: Girl with a Baby by Sylvia Olsen; the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle; Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen; A House like a Lotus, Also by Madeleine L'Engle
GLBT: The Liquor series by Poppy Z. Brite (also Mystery/Crime)
Sorry J.--missed that 'one book' part of the request the first time through!
Posted by: B. at June 19, 2007 01:22 AMif you have not read it yet, i do think you'd like the road by mccarthy. i thought of you when i read it.
Posted by: amy at June 19, 2007 07:45 PMI stumbled across your blog. As a "young adult" teacher, I would recommend the following:
The Giver by Lois Lowry (my favorite book of all time)
A View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
Neal Stephenson Snow Crash
Posted by: Jesa at July 19, 2007 04:03 PM