Friday, July 08, 2005

What should I read?

A week from today I'll be leaving for Hilton Head for two weeks of lazing around and sipping Kiwi Coladas (a vacation from vacation, of sorts). This provides plenty of quality reading time for yours truly. What's currently in my beach bag?



The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis. It's sort of like a real-life zombie book. And I have this strange fascination with voodoo.

Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke. A little funny libertarian food for thought.

Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman. He's my favorite columnist (and the only reason why I still have a subscription to Spin). This guy's stuff is always a great read.

But that's not nearly enough reading material for me. If the books are interesting, I can easily burn through 4 or 5 in two weeks. Stealing an idea from Kate, I turn to you - my faithful readers - to give me suggestions for good beach reading. I usually prefer non-fiction (humor, politics, history, biographies), but am open to fiction. Keep in mind that I will be getting any suggestions from the library, so I'll need to put in a reserve request post haste in order to get them before I leave.

11 comments:

Panthergirl said...

From my non-fiction archives:

"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. An incredible memoir.

"Dancing Naked in the Mind Field" by Kary Mullis. Strange but really interesting guy. One of those "who would you invite to a dinner party" kind of people.

Fiction (no "chick lit" here):

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've been recommending this all over the blogosphere because, well, because it's great.

John Irving's "A Widow for One Year".

Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Bob Baer's Sleeping With the Devil

Law Fairy said...

I'm one of those people who doesn't read non-fiction unless a professor makes her do it for class (and those days are now gone, mwahahaha!). A pretty interesting one I read for class last year was In Search of Respect by Phillipe Burgois, about a professor living in a New York inner-city coke community. It has a slight anti-drug war bent, as a warning (in case those kinds of books bug you :)).

From my fiction archives, which are far vaster:

Blindness, by Jose Saramago
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde (yes, two "f"s -- the book reminds me of Monty Python)
And I'd recommend Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, but everyone's read that already :)

slyboots2 said...

This might come late in the day, but I would recommend "Devil in the White City"- about the Chicago World's Fair.

Micah said...

Thanks, everyone! Some of these books sound great and I've reserved a few (and gonna pick one or two up today). Keep 'em comin'. I may not read them all at the beach (in fact, I know I won't), but I'll add them to my ever-growing Reading Pile.

CB and heartbreak - Will you two be at the Summit in DC? I'm coming down tomorrow to break bread with y'all. I'm poor and live in Ohio. If I'm going, you have no excuse.

As for being a chef, that dream has died. I'm chasing other dreams right now. Namely, watching TV, going to the movies, and stewing in my bitter loneliness.

Micah said...

Well, I plan on leaving here fairly early and it's a 6 hour drive. Phil - er, Shamrock - said he was getting into town in the early afternoon (I'm crashing with him and KPMD - just like old times!). Not sure when and where we'll do dinner. I'm just along for the ride. And to pick up one of those free Apartment Finder books.

Anonymous said...

man, my secretary is on vacation this week and I don't know how to use a calendar. gimme a call at least 24 hours in advance to set things up in DC. oh yeah, see my blog to get my digits.

Micah said...

Phil said he called you already. I'll see you tomorrow!

Darrell said...

Peace Kills is soooo funny... but for absolute laugh out loud O'Rourke (and surprisingly non political material) check out his wonderful book Modern Manners

Kate The Great said...

Check out "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Lots of history and details regarding archetecture, but I found it a fascinating read. At around 800 pages, it's compelling and will no doubt give you the incentive to make the committment. You could always re-read one of The Classics. I'm a fan of "Great Expectations" and "The Scarlett Letter." And then there's always The Nanny Diaries hanging out there if you want to take a mental vacation.

Micah said...

I have actually owned a copy of Pillars of the Earth for years now, but have yet to read it. I just find the length of the tome too daunting (similar to my copy of the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo). One day, though.