Top 10 Lists

Tired of looking at a bunch of reviews trying to find a great book to read? On this page you'll find my recommendations for the ten best books I've read in a series of categories.

Choose from one of the following categories, or simply scroll down the page to see what I've especially enjoyed:

• Classics -- Here's my collection of the ten best books that most literary folks would consider classics.
• Contemporary Fiction -- These are the books that may possibly become classics in another hundred years. Some of the best stuff being written today.
• Non-Fiction -- Books that are not only entertaining, but have something to say about the way the world is made.
• Computers -- If you're interested in computers, these are the books you'll want on your shelf (especially if you're a programmer).
• Entertaining Books -- OK, so you want a good book to read but entertainment is the primary value you are looking for. You won't be disappointed by the books on this list.

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Classics

(in order of author's birth year)

• Candide by Voltaire -- very funny and insightful.
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (or Great Expectations) -- probably the best storyteller ever to write a classic.
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (or Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment) -- Some difficult reading, but well worth the effort.
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy -- called the best novel ever written by many, and an excellent value because it is so long.
• Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott -- a strange book about people who live in two dimensions
• Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse -- excellent atmosphere, almost Dostoyevskian
• Ulysses by James Joyce (read it with another source such as The New Bloomsday Book by Harry Blamires) -- one of the most original novels ever written. This book changed fiction writing forever. Despite the necessity of reading this book along with another book that explains what Joyce is talking about, once you get the hang of the book it will pay off. There is no book I am aware of that does a better job of letting the reader into the mind of the main character.
• The Trial by Franz Kafka -- the classic society paranoia novel. Read this one after dealing with any bureaucracy.
• The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir -- an excellent story about the French Resistance and the pain of loss.
• The Plague by Albert Camus (or The Stranger) -- a book that consideres the many ways people deal with crisis.

Contemporary

(in no particular order)

• The Floating Opera by John Barth (and The End of the Road) -- hilarious story concerning a love triangle and the meaning of life.
• Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski (or Women) -- don't believe that Bukowski is mysogynistic, he writes stories about the depravity in all of us (some more than others, of course).
• The Fool's Progress by Edward Abbey (or The Monkeywrench Gang) -- perhaps the saddest book I've ever read. Many say this is a fictionalization of Abbey's autobiography.
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner -- power-packed book about two couples and their interactions. The characterizations are masterful.
• Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone
• The Shipping News by E. Anne Proulx -- a unique story that creeps up on you and by the end you wish it wasn't over.
• Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates (or Them, What I Lived For)
• The New York Trilogy (City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room) by Paul Auster (or Moon Palace, Leviathan) -- Auster is an original. (Also check out his movie Smoke)
• Violence by Richard Bausch -- How would we react after witnessing a terrible act of violence?
• Memories of the Ford Administration by John Updike

Non-Fiction

(completely randomized for your convenience)

• The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer -- The story of Gary Gilmore and his quest for Blood Atonement for his crimes. Won the Pulitzer Prize.
• Young Men And Fire by Norman Maclean --The story of the Mann Gulch fire that killed 13 young firefighters in Montana. A much better book than the more famous, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.
• Seven Dreams (The Ice-Shirt, Fathers and Crows, The Rifles) by William T. Vollmann -- A very interesting retelling of the interactions between Native Americans and the Europeans. Three of seven have been published.
• The Oxford History of the American People by Samuel Eliot Morison -- My pick for the best short history of the United States. The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester is an excellent pick for post WWII US history
• Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. The basis for the television show Homicide, this book is a true accounting of the Baltimore homicide unit's activities in 1988. It is a fantastic book.
• Dostoyevsky (Volumes 1 - 5) by Joseph Frank -- Fantastic, albeit long, biography of Dostoyevsky that includes quite a bit of literary analysis.
• How We Die by Sherwin B. Nuland -- Should be required reading for all humans.
• Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson -- Here's the straight dope on how a campaign really works. For a less Gonzo version of a similar story, read All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President by Matalin and Carville.
• The New Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball by Leonard Kopett -- My vote for the most insightful, most informative introduction into what makes baseball one of the greatest sports invented. A must read for all serious baseball fans, and a good way to get into the strategies of the game. Keith Hernandez's Pure Baseball is good too, but is out of print. A third excellent baseball book (which is in print!) is Robert Adair's The Physics of Baseball.
• Crime and Punishment in American History by Lawrence M. Friedman -- War on Drugs? We've tried it before and it didn't work then either. Read this book to learn the lessons of crime and punishment that our government has never learned.

Entertaining Books

(in order by publication date)

• Geek Love by Katherine Dunn -- You'll read the dust jacket and wonder about this book. Don't.
• The Brothers K by David James Duncan -- A great mix of literature and baseball.
• Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins -- Still the best Tom Robbins book, although several others have come close to the humor of this one.
• The Stand by Stephen King -- Stephen King's classic super-flu tale. Can you say H5N1?
• A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin -- A great war story with a hero you can cheer for. Retracted: Helprin can write a good novel, but his recently published screed against those who believe the term of Copyrights should be made shorter means I can't recommend this, or any other book by him. Read Justin Long’s Icelander or James Sharpe’s Jamestown instead.

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