In two weeks and one day I will be going to Italy. While there, and when I return, I will need things to read. Lately I've been tearing through books so I need some recommendations before I run out of things to read. So, suggest away. As a guide, and so you don't recommend something I've read, here is a list of books I've finished in the last, uh, while.
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13 edited by Chris Ware
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Choke by Chuck Palakhniuk
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
I feel like I'm missing a couple, but that's a representative list.
09/13/04 7:34 PM
What's not to Love? - Jonathan Ames
The Complete Walker IV - Colin Fletcher/Chip Rawlins (though this could be argued as being part reference/part gearhead/part travelogue)
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
09/14/04 12:07 PM
For the funny: Anything by Martin Amis, specifically The Rachel Papers is hilarious
For the thought provoking: I haven't read it, but Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner has been sitting on my bookshelf for when I feel like delving into some philosophy.
For the cartoony: Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson - just started getting into graphic novels, and this one was fun, yet a pain to throw in a bag
For a bit of everything: Try Douglas Coupland. I'd recommend Hey Nostradamus, and you may like Microserfs the most.
For a trip to Paris: From Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik. I read this on the banks of the Seine and loved it to death. A great New Yorker writer with humour and a sentimental side.
For the non-fictioner: Bringing Down the House, by someone I don't remember. A fast paced tale about a group of MITers breaking the bank in vegas playing blackjack. Maybe not good for a trip, as you'll blow through it in 2 days cause you can't put it down.
OK, I'm out...
09/15/04 2:02 PM
The Time-Traveler's Wife -- Audrey Niffenegger
A Million Little Pieces -- James Frey
The Curious Incident of the Dog in Nighttime -- Mark Haddon (very short)
Carter Beats the Devil -- Glen David Gould
09/15/04 3:21 PM
The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester: The story of "the obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Very readable and fascinating.
McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in the West of Ireland, by Pete McCarthy: Hysterical cross between a memoir and travel essay, much like Bill Bryson.
09/21/04 4:43 PM
Shadow Divers-Robert Kurson
True story about a group of divers who find an unaccounted for German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey. Great writing, real page-turner.
The Devil in the White City- Eric Larson
Nonfiction narrative discussing the 1893 Columbian Expedition World's Fair in Chicago (Sweet Home), it's architects, and a sociopathic doctor who preyed upon it's visitors. Reads like a novel, but is all true. Awesome.
Bringing Down the House is by Ben Mezrich. Quick read, I found it kind of disappointing, but hey-everyone is entitled to their own opinion.