10 Books to Read

I am writing this due to a request by my man Joey “hot sisters” Pasco, star of the Yo MTG Taps podcast.

Joey asked me to do a list of book recommendations, kind of like I have done for television shows on this blog in the past. In case you didn’t know, I am a very avid reader and always have been. I spend a lot of time (over two hours per day) on public transportation, so I certainly have time for the reading 🙂

Even though I am characterizing this as a “top 10 list” sorta thing, it isn’t really my top 10 books or whatever… More ten awesome books comprising a wide array of different genres and authors; the box of chocolate of book overviews.

If people like this (and, you know, say so in the comments or whatever), I can do more genre-specific stuff, or probably a more graphic novels-centric version. But for now, here goes!


Amazon Ad / Slideshow of All Ten Books

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
Science Fiction

The Sparrow is maybe my favorite novel of all time (there are maybe three or so novels I say that about and they are all on this list). It is about the discovery of extraterrestrials, how humanity goes about contacting them, and what happens next. The interesting twist is that while other people are figuring out what to do, the Jesuits go make themselves a rocket ship out of an asteroid and just take the bull by its horns. I shared this book with Shark right after I read it, and — without any desire to spoil it, mind you — he had a very different reading than I did.

The Sparrow is barely science fiction. Yes, there are space ships and aliens but the story is quite serious and it is the kind of book a middle-aged professional woman would not be embarrassed to be reading on the subway. If that matters to you.

Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Graphic Novel

Hands-down the high point in comic book storytelling. Alan Moore is the consensus best comics author of all time, and Watchmen is generally considered to be his best work. It is the story of a group of aging — largely retired — superheroes living under the shadow of the cold war, and how they have acclimated themselves to society… As a “mask-killer” hunts them down one by one.

Watchmen is not the most inventive story of all time. It is, however, the best told story in the history of comics. Moore essentially defined and redefined visual storytelling techniques with Watchmen, with Gibbons as an able cinematographer. What makes this book so special is how perfectly the panel-to-panel transitions were executed, more than anything else.

For something completely different — that is, Moore’s attempts to push superhero comics to the limit of the genre — I would suggest his work on Supreme. Supreme, while not as groundbreaking as Miracleman, and not as perfect as earlier work like Watchmen or later work like Top 10, really opened the door to the brilliant and serious superhero deconstruction we see from Moore later at America’s Best Comics, with its influence everywhere at DC, Wildstorm, and other publishers.

The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman
High Fantasy

This one is a stone kold cheatyface.

The Subtle Knife is actually the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy (sandwiched between the excellent The Golden Compass and concluded in The Amber Spyglass). It is the best of the three, and the ending is unbelievably chilling… Especially for a kiddie book. Pullman is essentially the anti-C.S. Lewis, railing against religion, God, and so forth rather than pushing his young heroes closer and closer to Aslan. The universe of His Dark Materials is unusual and specific (for example everyone is running around with their souls manifested as literal animals) and you can’t read The Subtle Knife and make much sense of it without first visiting The Golden Compass-land. But it’s worth it. Hella worth it.

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Speculative Fiction

This was actually the second Neal Stephenson book I read before becoming a total Stephenson zombie. Make no mistake, I am certain that right now, as I write this, Neal Stephenson is the greatest current writer of fiction to use the English language. I could write more than one highly detailed blog post about how great his books are; for example I think The Confusion (second book of The Baroque Cycle) is the most ambitious thing ever written; and I don’t think that book scratches the surface of his most beloved stuff.

That would belong to Snow Crash.

So what is Snow Crash about?

It is a heady combination of computer hacking, fundamentalist Christianity, la cosa nostra, samurai swordsmanship… and pizza delivery. All at superhuman magnification… So super computer hacking, super samurai swordsmanship, super pizza delivery, etc. Stephenson shows his utter prophetic genius in Snow Crash… He basically imagines h0w we will — and today do — use the Internet, but did so years before its main line public consumption. It’s eerie how well he has things laid out in Snow Crash; let’s hope not all his predictions come to light! (Super fundamentalist Christianity, etc.)

Stephenson is a peerless master of English prose. He is unbelievably good, unbelievably often. However in terms of sustained, dizzying, awesome writing, there is no better book than this one.

The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
High Fantasy

Think Canadian prince + Mr. Ed  against Islamic fundamentalist super terrorists… But on another planet. With God on your side. Literally.

Basically the greatest boy’s adventure story ever. It is probably helpful if you are familiar with Lewis’s Narnia books, but The Horse and His Boy is — of all the books — the least world-building, and the most “boy and his horse against the bad guys” standalone rip-roaring romp. So even though it is nominally book 6 of 7 (or maybe 2 or 3 in the new numbering), you don’t really need the rest of the Narnia context the way you do with Pullman (above).

The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
Literary Fiction

The Shipping News is a Pulitzer Prize winner by the author of Brokeback Mountain. It is a legitimately challenging read, but the prose is superb; I’d try to tell you what it is about, but what sold me on it (a girl I was interested in… Her dad bought it for me in a bookstore in 2000) was “it isn’t about anything.” I mean there is a plot, but the book is about fishing knots and boat types as much as it is about fidelity and newspaper publishing.

I’ll give it this – The Shipping News has a great ending; and that, I think, is one of the hardest things for an otherwise great book to accomplish. Sits alongside The Sirens of Titan and The Sparrow as basically my favorite book.

The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
Science Fiction (kind of)

This book is kind of like the anti-LOST.

LOST was a television series that pretended to be a mystery, or in other terms, a show a middle-aged non-geek professional woman would not be embarrassed to follow for several seasons. However LOST was — was always — a goofball science fiction show. It was always about time travel or whatever, and the great thing was that they tricked all these old ladies into loving a show about, you know, time travel. It was a “serious, character-driven drama” that could, you know, solve a problem by throwing a dying character into a glowing pool of magic water to bring him back from the brink.

The Sirens of Titan is the opposite of that. It is over-the-top in its science fiction-ness. We are at war with Mars. There is a magic system of reading the Bible to become a billionaire, a time traveling dog appears at a particular place at appointed times. Aliens, etc.

But that’s half the fun – It’s not a science fiction story at all, no matter how hard it pretends to be one! The Sirens of Titan is about love, making choices, intelligence tests, cigarette smoking… It’s just too good. Becker hates it, but as much as we love Becker, he also hates holding himself to 40/60 (rather than 41/61) cards, as well.

Full disclosure – Becker hates the ending, and the first time I read The Sirens of Titan back in 1993 or so, I must have missed one sentence or paragraph that completely changes the end of the book. But I still love it, anyway.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon
Literary Fiction

I think this is the second time I’ve used the term “literary fiction” on this list. My understanding of literary fiction actually comes from a book forward by Chabon himself, and since it’s been a few years since I’ve read either The Shipping News or The Mysteries of Pittsburgh I would fall back on my partial-Chabon definition… of what part of the bookstore they are in. For example, Chabon’s work is littered with comic book references. Not just The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (his 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner), which was overtly about comic books… Chabon’s books are aout Richardses leaving the Baxter Building, stuffed with Easter Eggs for geeks like me (that middle-aged professional women never get).

Anyway, I’ve read most of Chabon’s novels and enjoyed them all. I think I like this one best, but The Yiddish Policemen’s Union was also fantastic. Unique pros for each:

  • The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – won both the Hugo and Nebula awards; uses the word “cuntish”
  • The Mysteries of Pittsburgh – breakout novel of one of America’s best writers; tons of butt sex

Outliers, Malcom Gladwell
Nonfiction

Outliers is Gladwell’s work most embraced by the online marketing community. It has all kinds of stuff about how to be — or more precisely how generations of other people have become — rich and successful.

Outliers studies and suggests on education, cultural norms, sports performance, and the Beatles. It is the home of the now-famous 10,000 hour rule for mastery. It is one of the few books that has ever wanted me to make myself better; not in the context of self-improvement, but to help the rest of the world be better.

Made to Stick, Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Nonfiction

I got this book as a freebie at Search Engine Strategies – San Jose in 2008. I started to read it while I was there, and of all the keynotes, it was the Heath speech was the only one I actually wanted to attend… but I missed it on account of going out the night before (it was my co-worker’s birthday and we partied while watching Misty May and Kerry Walsh win their second Beach Volleyball Gold Medal [was playing on the screen in the bar, live from China]).

Anyway, Made  to Stick is a legitimately life-changing book. It teaches you how to make ideas that are sticky. Why are there these great ideas that die before anyone ever hears them… But other ideas which are just lies or completely inaccurate that everyone “knows” (has heard) / never forgets? The Heath brothers study stuff like staples in Halloween candy (never happened) or organ thieves (everyone knows the story)… Why does EVERYONE KNOW THE STORY?

Read this book and you will learn the six principles for crafting better — that is more memorable — messages. Like I said, a truly life-changing book.

My copy is sitting, unopened, on Jon Finkel’s shelf :/

Anyway, those are ten awesome books!

LOVE
MIKE

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11 comments ↓

#1 Alfrebaut on 11.07.10 at 11:47 pm

Out of all those 10, I’ve read two. Watchmen, which I did like despite my general dislike of Moore, and Outliers, based on your recommendation. Moore is an interesting fellow, with very odd and unique views about the world, but while I think his comics are intense, engaging and undeniably interesting, I feel like his writing is inelegant and intentionally densely verbose. Outliers was interesting, but I often have a hard time internalizing advice. I think it must be something in how I grew up… I’ll know I’m not supposed to do something, but sometimes, I’ll just do it without thinking. Or not do something I’ve told myself time and time again to do. It’s the kind of thing I think everyone struggles with.

#2 ReeceP on 11.08.10 at 4:01 am

If you do a graphic novel top 10, can you suggest a real book to replace the watchmen with in this list?

#3 Hazerider on 11.08.10 at 7:22 am

Thanks for the recommendations, I will definitely read some of those. Though I thought Snow Crash was kind of like the Reservoir Dogs to Cryptonomicon’s Pulp Fiction.
In case you haven’t had the chance to read them, I recently became a huge fan of Richard K. Morgan (sci-fi, like a somber and sober Stephenson) and China Mieville (fantasy with steam-punkish twist, insanely detailed world-building). Also, if you liked Outliers, you’d probably enjoy How We Decide.
I would love it if you did a top 20 (50?) by genre.

#4 morley on 11.08.10 at 7:35 am

I heartily recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It’s a book about magicians, but the book’s charm derives from its witty, Jane Austen-like social commentary about the rich, and its portentiousness. It’s 800 pages, but if you read the first chapter and chuckle, you’ll probably dig the rest of the book.

#5 admin on 11.08.10 at 7:54 am

@Alfrebaut
Nobody is going to argue that Moore isn’t a bit odd compared to regular people but I don’t see how that negatively intersects with his comics writing, which is in large part 100 times better than everybody else’s. I don’t think I grok what you mean about “how you grew up” … I grew up in a traditional Filipino household, too; I have struggled as an adult with things that I know I should change about my attitudes and myself, and have been in large part successful. The cool thing is that I still pretty much get along with my parents, who have largely been softened by my kid sister 🙂

@ReeceP
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

@Hazerider
If your reading is that Cryptonomicon is the more well-known “breakout” but Snow Crash is actually the better work I agree with you on the caveat that all four are 10/10.

I have not read any Richard K. Morgan, and really don’t love China; I am not the only person I know who is incapable of getting through Perdido Street Station. I recently told The Ferrett that if I just want overwritten, intentionally frustrating, prose I can read Anathem or The Master Butchers Singing Club and pair it was actually brilliant overwritten prose; or a story on a scale that I care about. I dunno if that is overly harsh RE: China, but I have not loved anything I have read by him.

@morley
As above to ReeceP 🙂

I actually have that book as a benchmark in my reading. At what point does the author break my heart?

I also think the internalization of madness is about the most awesome ideas ever. I wish I had a bottle myself, at times.

#6 moveinmaryland on 11.08.10 at 9:15 am

The Sparrow is also the first book i recommend to people when they want my advice. Although i rarely get asked for advice, which is clearly why the world is in such disarray.

#7 Hazerider on 11.08.10 at 1:44 pm

@Mike
I think Snow Crash is much less layered, but then again that might be simply due to the fact the it doesn’t have 3 inter-weaving stories. Perhaps I should re-read it. I had a feeling you’d be one of those people who like RD over PF 🙂
I am starting to feel like an outlier. I have recommended Perdido Street Station to a couple of people, and the responses I got were “too much world-building” (Shvartsman) and “tried to get through it a few times but couldn’t” (Pikula).
I struggled through the first couple of hundred pages of Anathem, but ended up enjoying it a lot. I thought the pay-off was well worth it.
@ReeceP
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one of very few books that I started (because it was recommended by Neal Stephenson during an interview) and quit reading. Nothing happens in it, and the writing is drier than William Gibson’s.

#8 MTGBattlefield on 11.08.10 at 2:07 pm

10 Books to Read…

Your story has been summoned to the battlefield – Trackback from MTGBattlefield…

#9 ProdigalT on 11.08.10 at 5:00 pm

I have so many damn things I need to get around to reading. Thank goodness I’ve read about half of these, or my list would get even longer. I used to read a lot before this damn Internet thing. I need to start setting aside specific time to read every day, especially since I’m currently partway through a 1000+ page novel that I got for Christmas LAST YEAR (I have read other things in the interim, but still). Have you read anything by Dave Eggers or David Foster Wallace? Trendy, but deservedly so.

#10 Joey Pasco on 11.09.10 at 4:10 am

Thanks for the post, Mike!

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one of my favorite books ever (surely top 5). I think I heard of it when reading Neil Gaiman’s blog; I marked the release date on my calendar & read it on my first trip to Europe back in 2004 (which may also be part of why I enjoyed it so much and have so many positive memories of it).

Nevertheless, I am constantly searching for a book that is at all comparable to JS&MN, without success.

I think The Subtle Knife is the best of the HDM trilogy; I often find myself looking to reread it, but always end up deciding to read the Golden Compass first (because I want to make sure I don’t forget anything), and then never making it all the way through TGC. Consequently I’ve only read TSK once.

Outliers has been in my Amazon shopping cart for over a year.

There are just too many damn good books to read.

#11 Alfrebaut on 11.09.10 at 11:37 am

What I meant to convey when I said Alan Moore was odd was that some people have an aversion to Moore because of his odd personal life, which I actually rather like him for. On the other hand, I do not enjoy his work as much as most others do, which is pretty much the opposite opinion that I’ve heard from pretty much everyone else.

Regarding the “how I was brought up” comment, I don’t think I put it quite right. What I meant was, even as I was growing up, I’ve been told certain things in the form of advice. “You shouldn’t do this, you should do that,” etc., but I grew up defying these and it at least always seemed to come out alright. So the end result is that when I read something that suggests something, I’ll try as hard as I can to follow the advice, but often, I’ll fail when I’m in the moment.

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