Delectable

Have you been jonesing for a good book? Try some delicious fiction:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chambon
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova*
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Lamb by Christopher Moore*
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro*
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
A Painted House by John Grisham
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon*

I've read each and every one of these, and while this list could have been much longer, I chose to include only those that positively affected the way in which I view the world and for that matter, the way I view myself. A few are devastatingly sad and one in particular is completely bizarre, but they have all stuck with me whether I read them a week ago or years ago. Can you guess which one I read for a comparative literature course in college?

Looking for some history, or historical philosophy?

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault
The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz
Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman
Silencing the Past by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
War Without Mercy by John W. Dower

Okay, I'll confess: I was forced to read all but one of these (yay! grad school!), but when it comes to writing history, some authors have it, and some don't have a clue. I think that one of the main reasons that kids hate history is because they're taught to believe that it's all dates and names. History is so much more than that - I would argue that dates and names are almost trivial when considering how things happened and why. With this list, because their authors really know how to write, these books read like novels. Some are a little more demanding, but they are all definitely worth the effort.

Most of these can be found used on Amazon for very low prices, or you might frequent a local used bookstore. Try one on for size today!

*Reviewed on this blog.