Big Marv's Reading List
Here's a bunch of books I've read and enjoyed, in no particular order.
- Lovely Bones
- Alice Sebold
- Probably one of the most heart-wrenching books I've read in some time. The story of a family that loses the eldest daughter to a horrific murder, as told by that daughter as she watches the people she loves most in the world try to go on without her -- and as she tries to let go of those she can't bear to be without. Though I haven't quite finished this, it's a book that taunts you, begging you to read more.
- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
- Anthony Bourdain
- From the Amazon review: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it."
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- Mary Roach
- "The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back." I enjoyed this book immensely, and, despite what the title may imply, found it to be one of the funniest books I've ever encountered. And not just a little educational. Unlike some of the doctors interviewed who almost to a one would never contribute their body for research, the book nudged me a little closer toward donating my body to science after I pass on.
- The Pleasure of My Company
- Steve Martin
- Heard an excerpt of this read by Martin on Fresh Air recently, and was this close to taking it home while in the bookstore the other day. I just have so much respect for Steve Martin, even though I haven't read any of his books. (Shopgirl was well reviewed, as I understand it.)
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
- Al Franken
- Franken skewers the liars on the right, and does it in his usual funny fashion. A great read.
- The Alienist
- Caleb Carr
- Psychology is just a theory at the turn of the century -- the previous turn of the century. Roosevelt is running the NYC police department. And a serial killer is having his way with young male prostitues. Caleb Carr paints an amazing image of a city, and a world on the rooftops and in the ghettos of a big city 100 years ago. (Feel free to pass on Angel of Darkness though.)
- Replay
- Ken Grimwood
- Think Groundhog Day. Jeff Winston suffers a seizure of some sort and instantly finds himself back in his college dorm room 25 years earlier -- except all of his collected memories of his life are intact. And so begins his life... again...
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay
- Ken Grimwood
- Pulitzer Prize winning story of a couple of guys who write comic books. I think I agree with some of the Amazon reviewers who couldn't quite figure out the point of the story, but it's a story that pulls you through to the end regardless.
- The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
- William Goldman
- You've seen the movie, now read the book. And if you haven't seen the movie, then read the book before seeing the movie. A great book, and probably one of the few books I've ever read where I felt that the movie actually lived up to the writing. From the screenplay author of Misery, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Marathon Man.
- Harry Potter
- J.K. Rowling
- Wonderful imagry, imaginative ideas, and a way of talking to kids that doesn't treat them like kids. My only complaint is that the last book reuses a story element from previous books in a way that's becoming a bit tiresome.
- A Wolverine is Eating My Leg
- Pecked to Death By Ducks
- Pass the Butterworms: Remote Journeys Oddly Rendered
- Jaguars Ripped My Flesh
- Tim Cahill
- Pick up just about anything written by Tim Cahill and you won't be able to put it down. As a writer for Outside and Rolling Stone magazines, Cahill goes on a variety of crazy, death-defying journies so you don't have to. Whether he's on horseback, trying to stay ahead of the Mongolian nomads hot on his tail, infiltrating a religious cult, or nearly killing himself with a stupid stunt that leaves him gasping the in middle of Death Valley, his stories will keep you reading and laughing.
- Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp
- Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp
- C.D. Payne
- Kind of a Catcher In The Rye for the sick and twisted. Fifteen-year-old Nick Twisp writes of his testosterone fueled adventures as he does everything in his power to nail Sheeny Saunders, a girl he meets one summer while camping with his seriously messed up family. Brilliant, he schemes with his friends to get close to Saunders, while at the same time, the even more brilliant Saunders does what she can to keep Nick at arm's length. Quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read.
- Frisco Pigeon Mambo
- C.D. Payne
- When released onto the streets of San Francisco after a group of animal rights activists break them out of the lab where they were testing the effects of alcohol, cigarettes, and pork rinds, these pigeons don't fly away. Why? Because they think they're people.
- Civic Beauties
- C.D. Payne
- The twin fifteen-year-old daughters of a right-wing canidate for Vice President of the United States don't wanna be the daughters of a Veep. So they set out to sabotage his campaign from within.
- A Confederacy of Dunces
- John Kennedy Toole
- A Pulitzer Prize winning comedic work, but it took two tries for me to get through it. The writing is so vivid, so complete, and the characters so real that I actually found myself HATING Ignatius J. Reilly. After getting about two thirds of the way through, I set the book aside for about a year and came back to it fresh. I re-started on page one, telling myself that I wouldn't take the book so personally. And the second time, I couldn't put it down. (I'm not the only person I know who has described such a reaction to the book, either.) Keep the book at arm's length while reading it, and the characters will bust you up. (Sadly, the troubled author took his own life before the book was published.)
- Nudist on the Late Shift
- Po Bronson
- Po Bronson tells the story of the rise of Silicon Valley as the Internet drives the New Economy.
- Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
- Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine
- The story of the Personal Computer and Silicon Valley, almost from the beginning. Every geek should read this bit of history.
- The Edge of the Bed: How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life
- Lisa Palac
- A collection of wonderful essays from Lisa Palac, who served as the editor of various erotica magazines, and the host of a short-lived radio program here in the Bay Area called Generation Sex. The following excerpt on Salon (and, okay, the book cover) caught my attention, and a book was sold. Read the excerpt and decide for yourself.
- American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age
- Pete Davies
- It seems hard to believe today, in an age when our daily commutes to work take us into other cities, counties, or sometimes other states and countries. But even as late as the mid 1920s, a drive in the country even ten miles out of town was a big adventure. This book documents the story of a cross country trip in 1919 that only took a few months, a hundred or so soldiers, and a convoy of trucks that stretched for miles. (Ya know, I took the same route when I drove across country -- I-80 -- and it only took me about five days. I don't know what all the fuss is about.)
- The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
- Patricia A. McKillip
- I need to dig this book out and read it again, because even though I have no problem remembering the title, I can't remember a thing about it (except a bit about the ending.) I first read it as an assignment in a college English course. I went on to read her trilogy about The Riddle Master and enjoyed that every bit as much.
- A Prayer for Owen Meany
- John Irving
- I'm not sure why exactly this book elicited such an emotional response in me, but it did. Because I do most of my reading at dinner or even lunch at times, my lunch hours at work got longer... and longer... and longer during the period I was working my way through this masterpiece. But I'm told if you love the book, you'll wanna give the movie (alternatively and mercifully named Simon Birch) a wide berth.
- The World According To Garp
- John Irving
- Any mention of John Irving requires the obligatory mention of Garp. The movie was great, the book was better.
- Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?
- Nothin' But Good Times Ahead
- You Got To Dance With Them What Brung Ya: Politics in the Clinton Years
- Shrub : The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
- Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America
- Molly Ivins
- Pat Schroeder recently referred to Ms. Ivins as a "National Treasure" and she's right. Ivins' writing is at the same time informative, poignent, and funny. When you have a moment, check out her latest column.
- Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot
- Al Franken
- Former writer for Saturday Night Live, Franken's first book skewer's every Right Wing Whacko out there. And best of all, he uses their own words to do it!
- Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency
- Al Franken
- Franken documents his run for President in 2000. His platform? ATM fees should be illegal. He gets into arguments with his campaign manager because he keeps promising to walk across each state they visit. And I think my favorite part is where he quotes from the movie Mandingo during an important speach.
- Me Talk Pretty One Day
- Naked
- Holidays on Ice
- Barrel Fever
- David Sedaris
- David Sedaris cracks me up. His books are, for the most part, collections of essays about his life. And he and his family are, well, kinda nuts. Don't believe me? The check the reviews at Amazon, or listen to him for yourself at This American Life (just search for "David Sedaris" there and you'll turn up lots of wonderful listening material. I suggest you start with his Santaland Diaries.