Ok ok, you asked for it. So, from my mondo list from yesterday, I would recommend the following books. Not necessarily my favorites ever read, not necessarily high quality literature, but engaging or original or just ones that stick out in my mind when I read back over the list.
The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie
Becoming Madame Mao Anchee Min
What the Body Remembers Shauna Singh Baldwin
A Fine Balance Rohinton Minstry
The 25th Hour David Benioff
American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis (but be warned that this book will haunt you for the rest of your life and you may very well wish that you could unread it)
Ella Minnow Pea Mark Dunn
Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughs
Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich
Middlesex Jeffery Eugenides
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer
The Task of this Translator Todd Hasak-Lowy
Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing Melissa Bank
The Ha-Ha Dave King
The Lost Daniel Mendelsohn
The Road Cormac McCarthy
Water for Elephants Sara Gruen
What is the What Dave Eggers
The Historian Elizabeth Kostova
(There are lots more good books on that list, but if you are being struck with the sudden urge to read 19 books that I have read, those would be good ones to start with.)
Comments (20)
The Satanic Verses is one of my all-time favorite books, though it is not a light read, and I probably understood about 1/15000th of it, given my limited knowledge of Islam. Just wanted to second that in case anyone's dying to get into a little magical realism.
Posted by jonniker | March 18, 2008 4:04 PM
"Middlesex" is easily one of the best written books that I've ever read.
I've been avoiding "American Psycho" for the exact reason you mentioned.
Posted by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah | March 18, 2008 4:23 PM
I still think about The Road daily and it has been a long time since I read it. Fabulous read.
Posted by kirsten | March 18, 2008 4:35 PM
Same as Kirsten...I will never forget The Road as long as I live. Brilliant and haunting book. Middlesex and Water for Elephants are in my 'to read' pile and with your recommendation I will place them on the top.
Posted by Procrastamom | March 18, 2008 5:00 PM
Ooh! You are the only other person I know (well, kind of know) who has read The Historian! I loved that book and have read it twice - and I almost never read books twice!
Posted by Loth | March 18, 2008 5:21 PM
I have to agree with you on American Psycho, it was an excellent read but, 13 years later it still haunts me.
Posted by Dawn | March 18, 2008 5:25 PM
most of those are either on my read or to-read pile. I concur with your assessment of American Psycho. Brilliant book. Haunted me for months after. Far worse than the movie in that sense...
Posted by suze | March 18, 2008 7:00 PM
The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing is my favorite book, actually. I loved it.
Posted by She Likes Purple | March 18, 2008 7:26 PM
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. GREAT book. loved it.
and i'm reading Water For Elephants right now. loving it!
Posted by ali | March 18, 2008 8:45 PM
You and Chris might like this...
http://www.librarything.com/
Posted by jee | March 18, 2008 9:07 PM
Obviously it was not a human baby but a kitten you birthed if you have the time for these lists.
Posted by HollyRhea | March 18, 2008 9:18 PM
Did you like Duma Key? I really enjoyed it. Another book you may want to check out is Dean Koontz "The Darkest ....of the Year" IT IS DARKEST NIGHT OR EVENING...yeah evening. Very fast fun read!
Posted by Cheryl | March 18, 2008 9:31 PM
Did you like Duma Key? I really enjoyed it. Another book you may want to check out is Dean Koontz "The Darkest ....of the Year" IT IS DARKEST NIGHT OR EVENING...yeah evening. Very fast fun read!
Posted by Cheryl | March 18, 2008 9:40 PM
OH MY GOD- my mind is still WEEPING in the CORNER after The Road.
Next time you're in the market for about 1,000 pages, read The Pillars of the Earth. Just finished it and loved it.
Posted by chatty cricket | March 18, 2008 9:54 PM
Yeah, The Road was fantastic. One of my favorites. I didn't catch if you've read Dry by Augusten Burroughs as well as Running with Scissors, but it's well worth it.
Posted by Stimey | March 18, 2008 10:17 PM
I am kind of sad that I have not read ONE of those 19 books. I was hoping for at least one.
Posted by Maggie | March 18, 2008 10:53 PM
Water for Elephants was a great read as was A Fine Balance.
Thanks for the list, I'm always looking for something good to read. Especially since at 5 months pregnant, I find myself in bed a lot watching crap TV when I don't have a good book standing by.
Posted by Nila | March 19, 2008 5:58 AM
I'm glad Water for Elephants made your cut. I didn't expect to like it--only read it for my book club--but, in the end, it has become one of my favorites.
The Road has been in my to-read pile for a very long time; I'm bumping it up to the top.
Posted by Susan | March 19, 2008 8:50 AM
I had Hubby pick up Ella Minnow Pea at the library yesterday after looking through your 300 book list. So glad to see it made your short list as well! I started it last night and I'm loving it! Even Hubby seems intrigued, saying it's a book we should get "for keeps". Thanks so much!
Posted by Amy | March 19, 2008 9:12 AM
Thank you! I am so stuck in a reading rut. Now I can try something new!
Posted by julie | March 19, 2008 2:23 PM