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Books, Books, Books
As you all might have noticed, I am quite addicted to reading. As such I try to read two or three ‘extra’ books per week (extra as in not required reading material for my study). Anyway, I am wondering whether you all have any suggestions for good and interesting books (for me to read): works of fiction, (auto)biographies, poetry, books about / related to politics… all suggestions are welcome. Have you read a good book (recently)? Want to read a review on it here at TMV? If so, please drop a comment in the comment section of this post with the title of the book and the author (and of course why you found the book to be so magnificent).
22 Responses to “Books, Books, Books”
A GREAT novel I read recently: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I picked it up because the reviews were so good, even though I wasn’t enthralled by the plot synopsis. It was even better than the reviewers said it was and there’s so much there that I intend to read it again. Plus, Hosseini is now on my list of authors whose next release I anxiously await.
C.S.: thank you very, very much for that link! it sounds like a book i will greatly enjoy. Thanks! I will try to get my hands on it!
Yes, it is really good, and I hope that my recommendation doesn’t steer other people away from it- in other words, I wouldn’t want moderates or centrists to think that I liked it because it is conservative because it really doesn’t fall along political lines like that at all (well, except for painting a very negative picture of the Taliban, I suppose!) It is a fascinating read because of its exploration of good and evil in individuals and has little to do with politics, but it does of course also bring in recent world events and gives a glimpse of culture in Afghanistan both pre and post Taliban. The themes of good and evil are elucidated so well, showing how one person is capable of both, and capable of redemption; plus it explores the origins of some evil as in the influence of the class structure of society. I won’t say more though because I don’t want to spoil it!
A good book for a purely historical view of the rise of the Taliban in the context of Afghanistan is Taliban.
Written by a journalist who covered Afghanistan in the era of the post-Soviet withdrawl and published in March, 2001, giving both a good, historical reading of the rise of the Taliban alongside a pre-911 perspective.
Well, Ms Stanley, just in case your recommendation scares people off, I concur with the recommendation. Kite Runner is superb. I read it when it first came out. What a deeply moving, beautiful, funny, scary, sad and wonderful work, especially for a first book. How can Hosseini top or even match it?
PS – not just pre-Taliban, the story starts before both the Russians and the (American-backed) Taliban started destroying that once-peaceful country. Perhaps the sequel will focus on post-American-invasion Afghanistan.
Egrubs: thanks!
GreenDreams: thanks for the additional info and praise for The Kite Runner: I will surely get it!
Michael, for non fiction I’d recommend Jared Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel
I don’t read as much as I should, however one of the blogs I read had a thread a while back. Lots of good suggestions in the comments.
I liked “First Mothers” by Bonnie Angelo (2001) Harper Collins. Especially interesting to me were the mother-son relationships of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower and how what these men learned from their mother’s life experiences appeared to have affected their policies.
The Incident of the Curious Dog at Night-Time by Jeff Harndon (I think). It’s a first person account through the eyes of an autistic 15 yr old. Very strange, extremely interesting, &very easy to read.
I’ve read “Kite Runner” – it’s really good!
You asked for it so here is a list of 41 that I can personally reccommend and 2 others on my list of books to read that I have heard wonderfully things about. I tried to pick a wide variety of some of the best things I’ve read.
Non Fiction
Oriental Despotism: A comparative Study of Total Power by Karl Wittfogel
Vietnam A History by Stanley Karnow
Vietnam Anthology and Guide to a Telivison History by Steven Cohen
Mao: A Biography – Ross Terrill
The life of Johnson by Boswell
Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey
The Second World War by Winston Churchill
Why we can’t wait by Martin luther King Jr.
Doors of Perception by Aldous huxley
Roots by Alex Haley
Fiction
Dead Souls by Nicholai Gogol
The Gulag Archipeligo by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
Catch 22 by Joeseph Heller
The Brothers Karamazov by Doestoyevesky
The Idiot by Doestoyevesky
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Master and Margaritta by Bulgakov
Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
Dune by Frank Herbert
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce
The Magic Mountain by thomas Mann
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
The Sea Wolf by Jack London
Siddhartha by Herman Hess
The Stanger by Albert Camus
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlien
The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
On the Road by Jack keroac
Wurthering Heifghts by Emily Bronte
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin
Tha Castle by Franz Kafka
The Tin Drum by Gunther Grasse
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Pasos (haven’t read this one yet but its also on my list of must reads)
Ulysses by James Joyce (also on my to read list)
For folks interested in Iraq, how we get into wars and then find it hard to get out of them, I would recommend
David Stevenson, “The First World War as Political Tragedy” (2004)
This is a thick book, for those who like their history in big reads.
One of Stevenson’s arguments is that after the massive losses in the first months of the war in 1914, all sides recognized that they had entered a disaster, but could not bring themselves to get out as that would dishonor the sacrifice and the losses of those already fallen.
Sound familiar?
Also, it is interesting to note that only now – a century later – are we getting an accurate historical picture of the war. For example, it has recently been learned – from soldier’s diaries, trench newsletters (yes, they had those) – that many Allied and German units had “informal” agreements not to inflict heavy casualities on the other…the senior commands on both sides would have had those involved shot had they known, of course…when a new group of troops went up the line to replace the groups at the front, they were often taken aside by their comrades and informed of the agreement.
Anyhow, this book offers insights into the “stay the course” mindset governments enter during some intractable wars. Thought folks here might be interested.
Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick. This book really gets you to think about political systems.
Donald Kagan (not the neocon one) “On the origns of war, It’s causes and prevention.” Actually, he has a really interesting viewpoint on the pelloponesian war in general. It’s almost as if everything in political history since then has been footnotes to thucydides.
It’s hard to recommend anything without knowing your tastes, Michael. Personally when it comes to fiction I read science fiction, fantasy and mysteries. One that you might be interested in is The Coffee Trader by David Liss. It’s set in the Jewish immigrant community of 17th Century Amsterdam. I really enjoy Liss’s historical mysteries, which also include A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption.
CS- I received “The Kite Runner” as a gift and we agree –it was excellent. I also loved “Memoirs of a Geisha” which believe it or not was written by a man. MvdG- I couldn’t put either one down until I’d finished.
I am an addict who addicted my husband when I met him.
Books are like a drug.
For Politics: How Bush Rules.
For Mysteries: I think you may enjoy looking into some classics by Hammitt. I just got some for my husband for his birthday.
Do you like history? if so, what period? I love history. I have zillions to recommend.
Can you write up something more specific?
One series I’d recommend to anyone wanting to know US history and sitting center left is the series of the us by Page Smith. Marvelous.
Glory and the Dream by William Manchester
Fifties by Halbestram
Civil War by Shelby Foote
I’m just rattling a few from my bookself right now. There are so many…
“UNSPEAK (How words become weapons, How Weapons become a message, and how that message becomes Reality)- By Steven Poole. A look at how catchphrases in politics are used to denote intrinsic values and accusations. Poole is from Great Britain and much of what he talks about are examples from that country, but he gives equal time to the U.S., indicting BOTH parties. A must read for anyone who watches the news, reads the newspaper, or BLOGS.
“The Assassin’s Gate- America in Iraq- by George Packer.
Since “gate” there have been other books of equal and greater value to the understanding of the Iraq occupation, but this is the first great book about the subject and I recommend starting here first. It is older so you might already have read it, if not, grab a copy, you won’t regret it.
A few narrative nonfiction suggestions:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (he has a new one out too, I’ve not read that one yet) – nonfiction about a serial killer during the Chicago World’s Fair
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto – a narrative history of the founding of Manhattan
The Corner by David Simon – the reporter who wrote the book inspiring the TV show Homicide: Life on the Streets spends a year on a drug corner in Baltimore
Oh, and I also agree that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and The Kite Runner are excellent books!
I’m currently reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which is fun. On deck are Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz, Mark Haddon’s new book, and State of Denial.
Gal- I am reading State of Denial now, and find it very illuminating and disillusioning at the same time. Great effort by Woodward who is meticulous and unemotional in his narrative of the Bush administration coming unglued. Hope he writes a sequel on Bush’s final two years and his reaction to a Democratic congress and the Baker Commission’s report.