My Top Five (Commentary)

When I turned 28, I was finally done with school and got a bee in my bonnet. I decided that I needed to be more well-read. I asked a friend to hit me up with some books and she pointed me to "The Top 100 Books Recommended by The Library of Congress".

Daunting.

Since then I have read 32 of those books - all of which were on-the-mark. Except Ulysses (James Joyce). Fuck me running. I thought I would just kill myself right there.

But between the recommendations of some "more literate friends" and a variety of on-line reviewers, I submit the following Top Five Book List for friends to read.

1. Blindness, Jose Saramago
Complete serendipity, I loved it.

2. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
E-mail me when you get to "that part".

3. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
So it has the Oprah seal that you have to hide from other passengers on the train ... and it's about to come out as a movie ... it's a great book that you won't want to end

4. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
I want to kill myself for not "getting it" the fist time around. But what did I know at age 15?

5. Martin Eden, Jack London
When he wasn't writing about wolves, he was writing poignant, heartbreaking stories about the sea. Who knew?

So what's on my nightstand right now?

A Garden of Earthly Delights, Joyce Carol Oates
The story is intriguing. But while she re-wrote this originally published in 1966 novel in 2003
it has too many syntax errors, and way too many commas. As if she couldn't ever catch breath
enough to string yet one sentence together without a pause. And she says she's an English
teacher. Clearly, she's never read Eats, Shoots & Leaves (Lynn Truss) or Words Fail Me (Patricia T. O'Conner). (Love them both. Swear by them...both!)

Linked: The New Science of Networks, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
A book recommended by a former boss. Interesting insights into her psychi.

What's on your Top Five list?