What's on My Bookshelf? Besides, uh, you know...

Today has been one of those days that I have feared ever since I left my job. Slept in, putzed around for a bit, watched my tape of Top Chef, grabbed some fast food for lunch, fell asleep on the couch while watching A History of Britain, and just accomplishing nothing all day. If it wasn’t for some text messages I a) would still be on the couch and b) would have had zero fun today. Still, in an effort to try to kick start the rest of my day and stop feeling so lazy I’m going to write early tonight and fulfill the request of listing my ten favorite books of all time.

Again, these are my favorite books and not necessarily the best books I’ve ever read. So I won’t list James Joyce because it did take me ten years to finish Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It’s genius and painful at the same time. Also, I’m not going to try to rank order these because it would be like choosing your favorite Star Wars action figure. How can you choose between the awesomeness of Boba Fett and a Darth Vader complete with lightsaber? Here is the list.

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams: I was probably nine when I first read this book. I still pick it up regularly. Of everything that I have read this book has had more influence on me in terms of writing style and sense of humor than anything else. So much of the cadence of my writing, the use of footnotes and parentheticals and combining philosophy with humor are all based on the hours I spent with this book and its subsequent sequels. This along with Monty Python is the basis of my sense of humor. The plot is threadbare, the characters don’t have incredible depth, but how can you question a book that features the following exchange…

“It’s at times like this I wish I had listened to what my mother always told me.”
“Why? What did she say?”
“I don’t know! I never listened!”

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Well, duh. Look at the URL, the name of the blog, the last line of my profile and you can tell that I have a thing for Fitzgerald. Simply put this is the great American novel. Nothing can touch it in terms of symbolism and meaning. The green light on the dock, voices being full of money, the fading eyes of God, catching time in your hands, I could go on forever about the brilliance of this book. One day, when I really become Gatsby, I’ll get to recreate the scene of tossing expensive shirts in the air to show that I have arrived. I’ll probably then be shot by a jealous husband but such is life.

“Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut: One of those books that I enjoy on numerous levels. It turned the entire idea of a novel on its head for me in terms of structure and the mixing of fact and fiction and breaking the fourth wall. A war chronicle that expresses the sheer pointlessness of war without ever turning preachy. Strange in that the book comes out and tells you what it is and how it is going to end and yet you follow Billy Pilgrim on the path hoping for a change. For as much as I love the book I think I failed every essay I wrote about it. As someone who has a hard time keeping verb tense straight normally books about time travel are really difficult to write about.

“A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters” by Julian Barnes: It begins with the story of stowaways on Noah’s Ark. It ends with a vision of heaven. In between it takes side trips into art and history, love and war, and all of the issues that make us human (good and bad both). I’m still not sure what caused me to pick up the book, I had heard about Julian Barnes and there is a photo on the cover that I like, but it has quickly become my favorite book that no one else knows of. Find a copy, you won’t be disappointed.

“The Sandman” by Neil Gaiman: It’s not a comic book! It’s a graphic novel! More accurately, I’m considering the entire series of 75 issues along with the two follow up books and the Death limited editions. For those who don’t spend time in comic book stores, it is the story of Morpheus: Dream of the Endless. Brother of Death and Destiny, Desire and Despair, and Delirium who was born Delight. Dream is literally that, he is the embodiment of dreams. Not a god because he is older than gods. The series itself deals with Dream’s escape from captivity and dealing with the question of how does one change and accept responsibility at the same time. Neil created the greatest mythology I have ever seen in doing this story. Every part makes sense and is unique and fascinating. Even when Shakespeare makes his appearance it makes perfect sense. If you’ve wondered what people mean when they talk about graphic novels this is where you should start.

“Life After God” by Douglas Coupland: This is my guilty pleasure selection. It is not a good book. Critics hate it with its pithy sayings and drawings and just meandering stuff. Heck, I probably enjoyed reading “jPod” and “Microserfs” more and would recommend those over this. But I just love this book. I like the idea that the only things that separate us from animals are smoking, body building and writing. Of a fortune teller with a sign that reads “I’m not going to tell you that you are going to die.” For some reason this book holds a lot of meaning for me. Not sure why but it just does.

“White Apples” by Jonathan Carroll: It is insanely difficult for me to pick a favorite Jonathan Carroll book. If I have a top ten list he has to make the list but I have to struggle over which one to pick. “Bones of the Moon” has a character lost in her own dreams, “Sleeping in Flame” makes you rethink fairy tales and “After Silence” still has the best opening two thirds of a novel that I have ever read. If you are interested in speculative fiction, stories that take place in this world but explain what happens beneath the shadows, this is someone you must read. He is horribly out of print but is so worth the effort to find. Why did I choose “White Apples”? Because a few years back while reading it I dreamt that I was the male lead and someone in my life, who shall remain nameless, was the female lead. In the dream we acted out the first fifty pages of the novel, scene for scene, word for word. Find another book that will make you do that.

“My Legendary Girlfriend” by Mike Gayle: When I get my novel going (and the fact that it isn’t is a reason why I am currently bemoaning my laziness) it will probably resemble Mike Gayle’s work. He writes what can only be described as a male version of Bridget Jones with the added bonus of being British. When I found myself in England last year I was scouring bookstores trying to find his latest work that hasn’t even been published in the states. It’s not high brow literature but he does a great job of explaining what it is like to be a guy in his late twenties / early thirties. This book addresses what it is like to be completely unable to get over an old girlfriend. Years after she had broken up with you, even though she has moved on with her life, she still has power over you. Great book even if my life went to hell after reading it (and in this instance it very well could have been the book’s fault.)

“Assassination Vacation” by Sarah Vowell: I wanted to make sure that I included one non-fiction / memoir type book on here and I like Sarah Vowell’s work more than Chuck Klosterman’s or David Sedaris. She just has a wonderful voice (both as one of The Incredibles and as a writer) that is a pleasure to read. The book is about her traveling to the sites of presidential assassinations and learning the history behind the people and events. It sounds sick and macabre but it makes for a fascinating read. You actually learn something at the end of the day as well, which is rare.

“Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare: Look, I can’t make a favorite list without including Shakespeare in there somewhere. His work is only pure genius after all. While I can (and one day will) write doctoral essays about the characters in “Hamlet” it is a bit of a downer of a play. Everyone dies including Ophelia (whose tragic flaw was that she loved Hamlet) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (whose tragic flaw was, well, they were there.) For just pure enjoyment though I will go with Beatrice and Benedict sparring in Much Ado. Those pages and scenes just show how wonderful words can be when they are used properly.

Have a great weekend everyone. Per a request I may be stopping in and making a post or two over the weekend. Hey, I have to keep my fan(s) happy. Especially when I am apparently good at it. Go Irish.