Whatcha Readin'?
Here's stuff read from 2002-2005, with rudimentary ratings (Great, Excellent, Good, Fair):
A Treasury
of Great American Scandals,
Michael Farquhar:
Excellent (written shortly after the now-mundane Lewinsky scandal, this
book skips the last 20 years and reminds us that American politics have
historically provided the press with plenty better fodder than a misplaced
cigar)
Come Over,
Come Over,
Lynda Barry:
Great (it took me a while to get into Barry's comics, but now they're
an addiction; never was ordinary life so extraordinarily captured)
My
Perfect Life,
Lynda Barry:
Great (read it!)
It's
So Magic,
Lynda Barry:
Great (and this!)
Cloud
Atlas,
David Mitchell:
Great (I wasn't sure if Mitchell could beat Ghostwritten, but
I'll venture to say that he finally has...pick up a copy or miss one
of the 21st century's great writers)
Hegemony or
Survival,
Noam Chomsky:
Excellent (so far-reaching and alarming that it takes quite a while
to wrap your head around, but well worth the read...a fine work from
one of the keepers of forgotten American history)
Slaughterhouse
Five,
Kurt Vonnegut:
Excellent (all of the things Vonnegut is; humorous, incisive, and fascinating...add
to that a great historical perspective, and you have this book)
Persepolis
2 , Marjane
Satrapi:
Great (not quite as sweeping as part 1, but every bit as personal and
touching)
Inquisition,
Edward Peters:
Excellent (quite comprehensive and engaging, while also providing a
variety of viewpoints on one of history's great miscarriages of justice)
In the Shadow
of No Towers,
Art Spigelman:
Excellent (an emotional, humorous, and memorable recollection of a cartoonist's
life in the aftermath of 9/11)
Country Property Dirt Cheap,
Ralph C. Turner:
Excellent (a tremendously personable tale of perseverance by a man with
simple desires: 10 acres, a tractor, and a barn to put it in)
The Spanish Inquisition,
Cecil Roth:
Excellent (written in 1937 during the rise of Nazi Germany, this is
history foretelling history)
Coraline,
Neil Gaiman:
Great (incredibly disturbing for a young adult novel...scared the bejeezus
outta me)
Down and Out In Paris and London,
George Orwell:
Excellent (a fabulous time capsule and a reminder of how far we've come;
quite hilarious, too, which is something few people know about Orwell)
Dark Journey
(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series), Elaine Cunningham:
Good (I'd start at the beginning of the series, which is perfectly enjoyable
sci-fi for weary minds)
Persepolis,
Marjane Satrapi:
Great (graphic noveling from an Iranian perspective, a fabulous story
and a great window into those threatened most by the "Axis of Evil")
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,
Al Franken:
Great (it'll get you good & pissed off for election year)
You're Something Else, Charlie Brown,
Charles Schulz (out of print):
Great (sometimes one tends to forget why Peanuts became as popular
as it did; these old strips from the 1960s are proof of Schulz's genius)
Church & State II,
Dave Sim:
Excellent (good series, worth the read, though Sim's gone a little batty
of late...)
Church & State I,
Dave Sim:
Excellent (the continuation of High Society, this series has
got an interesting wit that most graphic novels don't have)
Charlie Wilson's War,
George Crile:
Great (the untold, often alarming story of how one crazy Texas congressman
almost singlehandedly--despite Reagan revisionist claims--kept the CIA
at war through the 1980s by funding the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, defeating
the Soviet Union and creating...well, Al Qaeda)
High Society,
Dave Sim:
Excellent (I'm only recently getting into graphic novels--I know, I
should've done that in my Dungeon Master days, but there was all that
keyboard noodling to do)
The Templars,
Piers Paul Read:
Excellent (covers one of my more esoteric areas of interest, without
the conspiratorial fluff that most Templar books promulgate--though
sometimes that's half the fun)
Ghostwritten,
David Mitchell:
Great (Knocks your ass over with intermingled story lines, all of which
are great enough by themselves)
Six Days of War,
Michael B. Oren:
Excellent (almost daunting in its comprehensiveness, but required reading
for armchair Middle East historians)
The Elegant Universe,
Brian Greene:
Great (accomplishes the difficult task of explaining string theory,
Einstein's relativity, and quantum mechanics to dummies like me)
Warriors for Jerusalem,
Donald Neff:
Great (damned enlightening history of the Six Day War and the
Middle East in general)
Mohawk,
Richard Russo:
Great (not quite at Empire Falls' prose level, but much
darker)
Star
By Star
(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series), Troy Denning:
Good (though start at Vector Prime, the beginning of the
series)
Catcher in
the Rye,
J.D. Salinger: Great
Empire Falls,
Richard Russo: Grrrreat
My Dream of
You,
Nuala O'Faolain: Good, occasionally Great
The Difference
Engine,
William Gibson & Bruce Sterling: Fair (actually, Good
until the ending, which was pretty weak)
A Galaxy Not
So Far Away,
various: Great (interesting thoughts from the Star
Wars generation)
U2: At the
End of the World,
Bill Flanagan: Great (if you're a U2 fan, that is)
American
Gods,
Neil Gaiman:
Great
With
Charity Toward None: A Fond Look At Misanthropy,
Florence King:
Great
