My friend Marc emailed a bunch of people last weekend asking for our favorite books. I quickly replied with little thought and off the top of my head, these were my favorites:
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers: Just a great, fast, entertaining read filled with anything and everything about life. He's an extremely talented writer, who has been around for some time. TED has a great write up on him. However, I didn't enjoy You Shall Know Our Velocity and have yet to get into What Is the What after two attempts.
- The Kite Runner | A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossieni: If you haven't read these yet, you must live under a rock, have kids, think they are 'girly' (anything but), or are illiterate. It has been my impression that you favor whichever one you read second, which is surprising. The Kite Runner is also just recently out on DVD but I have yet to see it because it's subtitled and I'm that lazy. Horrible - I'm aware of that.
- Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff: If there was ever one book in which the back description does no justice, this is it. I wouldn't have picked this up in the bookstore, yet, it's easily one of my favorites on recommendation from Nate. A fiction story about a man with multiple personality disorder - but don't think Sybil, nor Me, Myself and Irene. The book is written extremely well and is really more of a story with many characters.
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole: I'm not even sure how to preface this book. In short, it's about a social nerd living life in New Orleans. Word has it that John Kennedy Toole committed suicide and his mother had his manuscript published. I may have that wrong, though.
A few authors in which everything they've written should be read:
- Tom Robbins: I'm partial to Jitterbug Perfume and Skinny Legs and All, but any and every book by him is the best. "Master of the Metaphor" as he's known. I had to include this short description of him on Wikipedia - "His novels are complex, often wild stories with strong social undercurrents, a satirical bent, and obscure details." He was a philosophy major with a religion minor in college, if that helps you.
- David Sedaris: Holidays on Ice and Me Talk Pretty One Day are my favorites.
- I wasn't really sure if he should get his own bullet point, but what the hell, Bill Bryson here you go, your own bullet point on igetzit.com. Now you're a star. Start with A Walk in the Woods, which focuses on his time hiking the Appalachian Trail. He actually has some sort of website, too!
Where are all of my favorite female authors? This is no good. Ladies, speak up if you have some. Oh wait, Anne Lamott definitely makes the list, who else?
On a very different note: I'm not too depressed and you shouldn't be either, Flyers fans - they have lost the first game of each series in the playoffs this year. Here's to a good game on Sunday. In other news, the Wings continue to kick ass. I'm not wearing any pants, film at 11.
Tags:
book reviews, dave eggers, tom robbins, favorite books, detroit red wings
