Books

Today i started a new project. To get a list off all my friends of all their favorite books, only i dont really mean their favorite. I mean the books that people think are truely great.

By doing so i want to learn something about my friends, learn somthing about books and have a kick ass reading list for the next while... So here are the first three lists, mine and two others:

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Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky (Fantastic, compelling account of madness and humanity at its worst)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Pirsig (Novel, Travel, Philosphy, Motorcycles and Self help all in one, who couldnt like it!)

Heart Of Darkness - Conrad (Madness, Humanity and motivations again, but this time in africa with casual racism!)

In Xanadu - Dalrymple (Got to be one of the greatest travel books ever, erudite, clever, history, language, adventure and fun)

Catch 22- Heller (Everyone needs a good searing inditement of war, featuring everyones favorite character name Major Major Major Major)

Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck (Depression era troubles, fantastic prose, characters you fall in love with and a story line to make you weep, full of symbolism and subtlety)

A time of Gifts - Leigh-Fermor (Another amazing travel book, bold travels with brilliant writing and lots of knowledge behind them)

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Herzog - Saul Bellow (a huge, thumping, dense Ulysses like romp by probably THE greatest 20th century American novelist. Getting to the end is a reward. Prose like lava.)

Experience - Martin Amis (Amis' autobiog, beautifully written, touching and very funny. Oxford man.)

Other voices, Other rooms - Truman Capote (Phwoar. One of the few books i've read aloud. Like a thick, creamy pudding. Almost a perfectly told story.)

The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitgerald (an obvious choice? but entirey deserving, i read this book in one sitting in a pub while getting deliciously pissed. I quite fancied myself as Gatsby.)

William Pitt the Younger - William Hague (recent bioography of great and powerful 18th century PM written by a politician (insight), great story at a time of tectonic shifts in european politics, i cried through the last chapter (his death) reaching a crescendo of drama with the "Oh my country, how I leave my country" part! Terrific!)
Wonderful Life - Stephen Jay Gould (good account of the nature of scientific discovery by noted evolutionary paleobiologist, Gould - first read in Oxford amid a time of controversy in the area.)

Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes (each poem in this book can be enjoyed for hours, read aloud. A BIG book. A story of a story of a story. Historically important too.)

Gore Vidal's American essays - solid, well-formed responses to a mammoth
subject. Aided my understanding of composition.

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(The next is slightly edited for spelling and details)

Wait Until Spring, Bamdini - Jone Fante
Teaching Little Fang - Mark Swallow
Marabou Stork Nightmares - Irvine Welsh
The Phantom Tolbooth - Norton Juster
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman - Bruce Robinson
Train To Hell -Alexi Sayle
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Bright Lights, Big City - Jay Mcinerney
Small Gods - Terry Pratchet

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So that is three lists, or call it the first part of a big list. I hope to add to it as people get back to me, if you are reading this and i havn't already emailed you, write a list! Or post one in a comment.