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This is my list of 10 books you might like to read this
winter, just in time for your Christmas list, Hannukah register, or
Kwaanza catalog. It was hard to pick just ten for this snapshot -
if I had written this yesterday or tomorrow, the choices may very well
have been different. You can pick these up cheap and used at your
local bookstore, free using interlibrary loan or at paperbackswap.com, or used or
new at dougshaw.com/amazon.
My reviews of some of these books can be found at my Top 100 page
A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Let's start here. This is the most beautiful novel I've ever
read, and it is perfect to read in a room with a window at night, while
you can see the snow fall. Or take turns reading it aloud to
someone you love. The New York City of this book is the one
that New Yorkers perceive, when they aren't thinking about it.
Upstate New York isn't Syracuse and Westchester... it is a mysterious
land of magic that no human has ever been to. I grew up thinking
of it that way. Most New Yorkers think about it that way, if they
are being honest with themselves. As far as the rest of the
United States... who cares, really?
But that's just the setting. The actual story is unabashedly
non-cynical. There are heroes and villains and businessmen and
time travel and a magical white horse.
I'm not doing it justice at all. Really, the best description of
the book is the title - A Winter's Tale. It is winter. Curl
up and read a tale. Maybe we can all read it together.
(This beat out The Stress of Her
Regard by Tim Powers)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson
McCullers (my full review)
My favorite novel of all time. It's quality is understated.
I didn't realize it was the best book I'd ever read until a week after
I'd read it. And then I read it again a few years later, and it
didn't lose anything. Four people in a town are friends with a
deaf man, who cannot speak to them, but he listens. What is a
friend?
(This beat out To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee)
Fevre Dream by George R R Martin
This is, in my opinion, the best vampire novel ever. I was handed
this book by my friend Ed, and didn't know it was a vampire novel, he
just told me to read it. When I saw my first vampire, I was
thinking, "Jesus. This was such a good book already! Why
add vampires?" George R R Martin creates great characters and
stories, whether the genre is vampires, 60's nostalgia, epic fantasy,
etc. This is a novel about vampires, but not a vampire novel.
(This beat out The Armageddon Rag and
Sandkings, both by George R R Martin)
Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis
Another quick read, this was my favorite novel of all time until I read
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. David Goodis was a pulp fiction
writer, and only after he died did people realize that his books were
really well written. I sent this to my father, and my mother
picked it up and read it, and she called to ask why I thought it was so
good. "Did you read it, Ma?" "Yes." "In one
sitting?" "Yes." "When was the last time that
happened?" "Oh." This is pulp fiction, but there are so
many genuinely tender moments, some funny moments, and a population of
complete losers who are real people. A man helps another man by
just moving his shoulder slightly, knocking over some boxes. An
impulse. And it leads to bad guys with guns.
(This beat out Pop 1280 by Jim
Thompson)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams
Everything people say about this novel is true. I hesitated to
put such an obvious choice on the list. If you haven't read it,
you should. It's very funny. The sequel, Restaurant
at the end of the Universe, would have been part of it, but there was a
deadline involved.
(This beat out Last Chance to See by
Douglas Adams)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
(my full review)
You haven't read this book before. You may think you have, but
you are wrong. Every time you read this book, it changes, because
you are older. And the experience of reading the book is
radically different based on your age and life experience. When
you first read this book, Holden was 16 - a kid a little older than
you, or a little younger. Now you are older, and Holden is still
16. You are now more alienated than you were then. Or you
are less alienated than you were then. Holden is still the
same. But he is entirely different. So is Phoebe.
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
(my full review)
I read this in High School, and it became my favorite book for a long
time. Still is one of my favorites. This takes us through
the first part of the life of a completely fleshed out person, and
everything that happens in his past affects his present, and his
future. But not in a contrived way. In the way that your
childhood and your travels and your friends have made you the person
you are now. Some particular moments in this book grabbed me in a
way no written text ever has. My opinion of the ending changes
every time I read it - did it have a happy ending or did it
not? Let's talk when you've read it.
(This beat out Of Mice and Men by
John Steinbeck and Crime and Punishment by Dosteyevsky)
Dimension of Miracles by Robert
Sheckley
People accused Douglas Adams of ripping off this book for
Hitchhikers. I don't think he did, but I think this is a
wonderful quick-read comedy sci-fi story, back before comedy sci-fi was
a genre. Some of it is dated. Some of it is
prescient. (There's a world where people actually have clothes
with the logo on the OUTSIDE so people can see what brand it is!
Isn't that crazy?) You will finish it in one sitting, and won't stop
smiling. This was my favorite book for decades. It is still
my favorite science fiction book. I have several copies so I can
lend them. Come over this week.
(This beat out Store of Infinity or
any other of Robert Sheckley's wonderful collections of short stories)
Consciousness Explained by Daniel
Dennett
A non-fiction book that seeks to explain consciousness, and does.
Unless you disagree with the author's model, in which case it
doesn't. But it's fascinating in either case. This is a
philosophy book for scientifically minded people who are turned off by
squishy. Dennett starts by proving that consciousness and your
five senses do not work the way you think they do, and he gives you
experiments to try to prove his point. And he cites plenty of
fascinating experiments throughout. This is a thick book, but it
is absorbing. When I was finished, I felt some loss that it was
over.
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
I wanted to include at least one children's book. When I was
young, I remember thinking of Beverly Cleary as "The Dangerous
Author." Because if I dared read a single page of one of her
books, I would read through to the end, and then start at the
beginning, and go until I was where I started. No matter how many
times a grownup said, "Douglas, we are supposed to be doing Math now"
or "Douglas, your mother is waiting in the car" or "Douglas, you were
supposed to go to bed an hour ago!" All her books are
great. I think this one is her best.
(This beat out Just So Stories by
Rudyard Kipling, and Tales From the Beanworld, a graphic novel by Larry
Marder)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The joke I used to make was that The Fountainhead talked me into being
an Objectivist and Atlas Shrugged talked me out of it. There's a
lot of truth to that joke, but if we were to discuss what I think of
objectivism, then we'd have to go into the mathematics of the
Prisoner's Dilemma, and that's not what this list is about. I
think the Fountainhead is a great novel. Great story, characters,
and twists you don't expect. And a perspective you don’t
expect. The heroes and villains are very clearly delineated (with
an exception or two) - but there's nothing wrong with that - this month
I'm sure you are going to see a movie where the villains are evil and
heroes are good. But Ayn Rand also makes them interesting.
When I read this, I was blown away, and went to my brother Gordon and
said, "You have to read this!" He had his own books to read and
stuff to do, but there was something in my earnestness that caused him
to take it from me and sit down, and read the whole thing in a very
short time. I fondly remember the conversation we had after he
read it. Great book.
(This beat out In Cold Blood by
Truman Capote)
Have fun, and remember that if you are going to shop at amazon,
bookmark this link: http://www.dougshaw.com/amazon
. Happy holidays!
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© Douglas J. Shaw,
2011
