One of my favorite activities is reading. I cannot begin to name all of my favorite books. So, I am going to go along the guidelines of the whole 15 book thing everyone is doing on Facebook (oh my vice, too). I am going to list my top 20 in no particular order and give a reason for it being one of my faves. Enjoy and I hope it gives you ideas...
1. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
This is a travel journal, so to speak, by Weiner. His goal was to find the happiest places on Earth...he wanted to know what conditions socially/culturally and economically that made people so appreciative of their lives. The book gives great perspective on live for those who are xenophobes. It also makes you appreciate where you are from. He is a bit cynical, which I love, but still writes a great book.
2. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This book is unlike anything I have ever read. It is about a man that involuntarily time travels and the woman who loves him and has to struggle with never knowing when he is going to be around. It is quite fascinating...it travels back and forth between decades. I cannot really describe, but you have to read it. It will be out in theatres August 2009.
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This is the coming of age and struggles (a multitude of things) of a boy growing up in Afghanistan. He moves to America with his father and has to deal with going back to Afghanistan to reclaim a child to redeem himself from his past. Such a good book!
4. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
The book is not about girls and fabric swatches and decorating and period wardrobe. My friend Jonathan has this impression that this is a book just for women. He actually asked me if I received my complimentary tampon in the mail after reading the book. It is a great historical fiction about Mary Boleyn's life. She is initially chosen by King Henry VIII as his "mistress." She bears him children, but he is a dog and goes after the witch Anne Boleyn. It is a great read. We all know the end anyway...well if you keep up with your history. Just know you will like it...and no tampon is needed.
5. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
The title says it. What would life be like without humans? It is not a devastating look at human life or extinction. It is simply about the world if humans were so to say evaporate one day. There is a TV show that is based on the book...it is not as good as the book obviously and is kind of hokey. The book digs into the natural realm and the state with which we would leave the planet. It toys with the notion of minor extinctions of other animals that depended on us and also about how long our structures would survive.
6. The City of Thieves by David Benioff
This is another historical fiction type book. It is about two men, one a Red Army soldier, and the other, a civilian protecting St. Petersburg during WWII. They both end up in prison together and are released by a Colonel to find a dozen eggs for his daughters wedding. They have one week to accomplish this task...if they do, they are let go, if they fail, they die. Full of Nazi's, Red Army and crazy characters. The author takes the reader into a world of very dark humor.
7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
I sort of have a fascination with this book. It began in college. I took a Literature and Nature course in college. The Color Purple was not a required text, but it was on a list of books we had to choose from for one mandatory reading. So, I read the book and then wrote a gigantic paper comparing it Bram Stoker's Dracula and Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd...the paper was given an A+. Since then, I have had a fascination for all things that have to do with the book...the movie and the musical. The musical is very touching, and the music is incredible. Oprah presents it...haha. I actually booked a ticket today to see it in September in Chicago. Last school year, I made Varsity Choir at Prospect sing "What About Love?" a song sung between Celie and Shug. "What About Love?" is going to be the ballad for Company, my all-girls show choir, 2009-2010 competition season. After all of this explanation, I need not give a summary of the book. Read it.
8. Dracula by Bram Stoker
This is the famous Victorian novel written by Dubliner, Bram Stoker. Dracula is a blood sucker looking to lure in victims for a meal in this wonderfully written book. My favorite part is that it has been written as a series of journal entries by several individuals.
9. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere is the space between the Gap (Mind the Gap) on the London Underground. What happens to the homeless or societies rejects no one pays attention to? They just disappear and fall into Neverwhere. The book takes place in the London Underground. It is a work of Science Fiction. Neil Gaiman is the writer of Coraline, the book that has recently become a movie about a little girl caught up in a dimension parallel to her own reality.
10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Ummmm...a classic.
11. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Oh goodness...here it goes. If you don't like Harry Potter or think it is stupid because you think it is only for kids, then you are stupid. Please don't be in denial either and try to say you aren't. Harry Potter is amazing. For those of you that do not know what it is about, you should. Wizards, witches, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hedwig, Dumbledore, Snape, Malfoy, McGonnagal, etc. Just for the love of God, please read it. I have the first four printed in French, the American illustrated versions in hardback and in paperback and the original British prints...well the first four. Every time I go to England, I buy one copy of Harry Potter over there. I have four copies of it so far as it is printed in the UK. Obsessed. No. So far, six movies have come out, out of 7 books. This is the list of the names of these seven books that each take place over the course of one year at Hogwarts:
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I am a nerd. Get over it. My kids love it, too. I go to midnight showings of movies and midnight book parties when they came out. Sue me. The times I have been in London, I have gone up to Platform 9 3/4 to have my picture taken of me trying to go through the wall. When I taught at Lexington Middle School, the teachers did a yearbook spread on Harry Potter. Who showed up in it? Me. With my body pressed against Platform 9 3/4 in London. I have a life.
12. Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott
Who could not resist the title, "Sin in the Second City...Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America's Soul." This book was airplane reading on the way to France last summer. It is about the brothels of Chicago in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most importantly, it is about the Everleigh Club. The Everleigh sisters were two of the world's most important madams. Their club was at one time the most high class brothel existing in the US and even in the world. They served US aristocrats all the way to world leaders. The standards they set for their women of the night were extremely high; they were known as the Everleigh Butterflies. The book is a quick read and is one that you don't want to put down, but you also don't want to come to an end.
13. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Not dry. If you don't like Hardy, give him a chance in this novel. I actually could not put it down and amazingly, it deals with bull crap on a farm. Really, Patrick? Yes, I was drawn into the book. It was assigned college reading. I hated Hardy's Return of the Native and was supposed to read it in 12th grade...yeah...sorry...did
14. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
This book is about the circus and how it ran in the early twentieth century. It does make mention to the cruelty of animals in the circus at that time, but the story is still great. Kind of sad, but worth reading. Takes place in Chicago.
15. Molto Agitato by Joanna Fiedler
The author is daughter of Arthur Feidler, director of the Boston Pops. The book is a non-fiction work about the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It is fascinating. It covers audiences from the past to the present, opera stars and divas, general managers, conductors, set design, orchestra, scandals and anything else that could happen in such and illustrious environment. I could not put it down. It is such a fun read for anyone interested in the opera. One needs to be written about the Chicago Lyric Opera next.
16. Unwind by Neil Schustermann
Definitely not a happy book. It is a teen book about retroactive abortion. Parents are no longer allowed to have abortions before the child is born, they have to wait until the child is between the ages of 13 and 18 to have them retroactively aborted. The kids are sent to "Harvest Camp" if their parents do not want them anymore. Their bodies are harvested for parts...their pieces are used for transplants on others that are in need. Such a freaky futuristic view. Middle school teachers...use this book's ideas as a tactic to scare your students into doing the right thing!
17. Hero by Perry Moore
Hero is set in a comic book style. It is a world full of superheroes. An unlikely individual finds out he has super powers. The book is also for teens; it touches many facets of coming of age.
18. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
This book has inspired me to love anything mythological. I appreciate Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian mythology enough as it is without the help of this book. It was required reading my sophomore year of high school. So many people who read it find it a drag, but I find it helps me in understanding Xanadu, Disney's Hercules and any other mythological situation. A lot of understanding for Harry Potter characters, Lord of the Rings events, A Wrinkle in Time and The Chronicles of Narnia events can be traced to mythology. It is such an interesting realm of literature. I love the book. It is also great because it is presented in a way in which you do not have to read the pages in chronological order.
19. Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen
I first saw Carl Hiaasen on the Today Show on NBC. This was at least 6 years ago. Since then, I buy all of his novels the day they come out. They all take place in Florida and they are all funny and witty. I won't describe Skin Tight because it is so crazy. Find out for yourself. I remember when I worked at Barnes and Noble, his book Skinny Dip was released. I would put it under a drawer under the register and read it when customers and management were not around. He is very humorous in his writing. The situations are murder mystery/ crime. The reader knows the guilty party from the beginning, but what makes the books so wonderful is the situations the main characters go through while investigating. This book will cause you to grow a six pack set of abs.
20. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
One simple statement. One of the only books I have read in one sitting in one day.
So the pics are obvious: The first is a pic of all the books I compiled. The second is King Henry VIII's armor in the Tower of London...and his family jewels...I have this pic up because of The Other Boleyn Girl. The next is from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago when they had Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Amazing. Hedwig in her glory. The one after that is a pic of the northern end of Chicago for Sin in the Second City and the last is Platform 9 3/4 b/c I am a dork and do this every time I am in King's Cross Station in London.
ReplyDeleteI'd say, for sure, count Jonathan Safran Foer as an 'F' on the list, rather than 'S'...and his work is so good it'll be easy to get through in a week. I'd recommend starting with his first book, 'Everything Is Illuminated.' It really sets up his style. His most recent, 'Eating Animals' steps away from his other two books and takes a little longer to plow through....
ReplyDeleteGood luck!