Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott

As the last book in the, 25 books you should read, I am going to give you an easy one. Easy as in you should be able to read this one sitting, but you'll really enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Here is a quick synopsis Of Flatland from the publisher:

The story is about a two-dimensional world referred to as Flatland which is occupied by geometric figures, line-segments (females) and regular polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a humble Square, a member of the social caste of gentlemen and professionals in a society of geometric figures, who guides us through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. The square has a dream about a visit to a one-dimensional world (Lineland) which is inhabited by "lustrous points." He attempts to convince the realm's ignorant monarch of a second dimension but finds that it is essentially impossible to make him see outside of his eternally straight line.

The narrator is then visited by a three-dimensional sphere, which he cannot comprehend until he sees Spaceland for himself. This sphere, who remains nameless, visits Flatland at the turn of each millennium to introduce a new apostle to the idea of a third dimension in the hopes of eventually educating the population of Flatland of the existence of Spaceland. From the safety of Spaceland, they are able to observe the leaders of Flatland secretly acknowledging the existence of the sphere and prescribing the silencing of anyone found preaching the truth of Spaceland and the third dimension. After this proclamation is made, many witnesses are massacred or imprisoned (according to caste).

The book is a satirical look at Victorian culture, but it is as relevent today as it was then. Another great factoid about this book, Albert Einstien used to read it every year.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

It is amazing to me that Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, was written in the late 1940's and won him the National Book Award in 1953. When I read it, I assumed it was written in the 1960's at the begining of the Black power movement. This book was way ahead of it's time, but seems to have been well received when it was first published. The unnamed narrarator is an African American man who sees himself as invisable to the white world. As a young man he witnesses harsh brutality towards blacks and his seniors contuinually selling-out to conform to white expectations. After college he moves to New York and becomes part of a militant group called the Brotherhood, which at first seems like a good thing, but takes several bad turns, leading the narrarator to long for invisibilty.

Ellison lived until 1994, but his second novel Juneteenth was not published until five years after his death.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

I was re-reading Lolita on an airplane a few years ago and an older lady leaned over and asked, "is that book still as controversial today as it was when it came out?" I told her that I was not alive in 1955, but that it was considered too racy to include in my high school English class in 1983 and I still felt like the subject matter was as taboo today as ever. Seducing an underage girl and abducting her after her mother dies is, thankfully, still thought to be reprehensible in 2010, unless, of course, you are Roman Polanski. While the narrator and rapist Humbert Humbert is a despicable person, his character still captivates us with humor and his admissions that what he is doing is wrong, offsetting the tragic plot. If it were not for this, the book would be unreadable instead of the classic it is today.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

I have long wished I could come up with a word or saying that would make its way into everyday lexicon, so I'm totally impressed that everyone in the world knows the title to Joseph Heller's great book, Catch 22 even though they don't know that it's a book. The catch 22 in this book becomes apparent in the Second World War, specifically 1943, when a bomber pilot realizes he can only get out of flying missions if he is crazy, but wanting to get out of flying bombing missions proves he is sane. This is the kind of weird and interesting humor you will experience throughout this book. It is told from several points of view and can seem a little disjointed at times, but it is worth sticking with it. When this book was published in 1961 it was polarizing, half the reviews loved it and half hated it. It has endured however, with The Modern Library ranking Catch-22 as number 7 (by review panel) and as number 12 (by the public) on its list of the greatest English language novels of the twentieth century.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

If you saw the movie, The Color Purple, I am sorry. This is one of the many examples of a great book, being made into a very bad movie. I have never heard Alice Walker talk about it, but I don't know how anyone thought they could take the amazing inner dialog that she created and turn it into a movie. Sometimes a great book should just stay a great book. The Color Purple is a hard read as the narrator is leading a difficult and painful life. It is an amazing ode to the human condition.

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry is one of my all time favorite authors and most people only seem to know his work because they saw the Lonesome Dove mini-series or The Last Picture Show as a movie. That is a shame as he is an excellent and prolific writer. He has also won Oscars for adapting the screenplays for Hud, Terms of Endearment and Brokeback Mountain.

Published in 1966, The Last Picture Show is in fact a trilogy; the story continues with Texasville in 1987 and Duane's Depressed in 1999. The book is set in a small Texas town and delves into the lives of three high school students as they come of age. It shows the struggles they endure and the mistakes they make as they grow into young adulthood. Hopefully this is the book that will get you started on a long list of great McMurtry books.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I was thinking of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald today because we saw the massive house in Newport, RI where they shot the Gatsby movie on our trip last weekend (despite the book being set on Long Island). It's also a great book to read in depressed times to remind ourselves that we never seem to learn the lesson of boom times - that they don't last for ever. This seems to be a trend as the book only sold 25,000 copies when it was first printed in 1925. It didn't become popular until after the Second World War when prosperity returned to the US.

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

I love sports books and one of my all time favorites is Ball Four by Jim Bouton. This was the first book by an athlete that took you behind the scenes to see what baseball was really like. Up until Ball Four was published most sports biographies were all nice, flattering tales of great athletes having a wholesome time on the ball field. Jim Bouton, a pitcher in his declining years with the NY Yankees, blew the lid off the paradigm. He talked about the fights, the drinking, the racial bigotry, and how the players really felt about making personal appearances - they hated meeting fans. He also tells a great story of his struggles to stay in the big leagues as he resorts to a knuckle-ball when his fastball starts to elude him.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

It feels like a cliche to have Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger on this list, but the truth is it is a great book and you should not go through life without reading it. Just so you know, I am not the only one who thinks this; it was included on Time Magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923 and the Modern Library named it one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. I enjoyed reading it in college and re-read it a few years ago and it still held up.

I think Oprah must have had it on her reading list as I saw it is back on the best sellers list at Powell's Books. That said, it has been one of the consistently best selling books since it came out in 1951 averaging around 250,000 books a year according to Wikipedia.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

You've read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, right? I think we were all supposed to read it in high school. I loved the book (and the movie). I love calling any quite and withdrawn person Boo Radley. I love that there is a band called the Boo Radleys. I love that Harper Lee never wrote another book and that she is a recluse, so the kids who live next door to her think she is Boo Radley. And most importantly I love that there will be a special 50th edition of this book published this year. If you haven't read it, get hold of a nice old paperback, then put the 1962 film version with Gregory Peck on your Netflicks list.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

When I finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon I had to double check that it truly was fiction. As the title suggests, it is an amazing story of two characters, Kavalier and Clay, who build a comic book empire during it's golden age around WW II. It is an amazingly well written page turner. It feels like a fictionalized history novel, but the characters are totally out of Chabon's imagination.

I have had mixed feelings about Chabon's books over the years. Wonder Boys was almost unreadable, but The Yiddish Policemen Union is excellent. K&C is one of the best American novels of the 20th century, and I am not alone in this opinion, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway

You could spend a lot of time arguing over which Hemingway book to include in your top 25. The usual suspects include, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Old Man and the Sea. All very good candidates. I choose For Whom the Bell Tolls, because I was in Spain and got to see many of the settings as I read the book. It always makes a book special if you have some familiarity with the subject.

The story is based on Hemingway's own experience in the Spanish civil war, just prior to WW II. We follow Robert Jordan as he is assigned to blow up a bridge. He meets up with partisan soldiers and falls in love with a young Spanish woman, who opens his eyes to the horror of war. Franco's fascist forces win the war, but Jordan does his part to make it as hard as possible.

After reading the story, it was interesting to talk to different generations of Spaniards about the effects of Franco's rule. In 1987, many of the older people talked about how Spain was safer under Franco and how it was better without all the immigrants. Most middle-aged people were glad to see him go and said that the increase in crime was the cost of freedom. Most college aged and younger people, had grown up without Franco, who's rule ended in 1975 and spoke harshly of his regime.

Zen and the Art of Motercycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

If you have never heard of this book, let me start by saying it is more about zen than motorcycle maintenance, although some of that is in there too. The book is the story of a three week motorcycle ride across America with the author, his son and two friends. There are a lot of philosophical discussions along the way, thus the zen. There is one discussion I remember about motorcycle maintenance, as the friend on the ride, does not know anything about the workings of his fancy BMW motorcycle, but that gets a little philosophical too.

I read this book in college and in the story the author is a college professor, I remember because he refused to tell students their grades on tests until the very end of the class. I thought this would be very interesting and it caused a lot of discussion with my classmates as it did in the book. Almost everyone thought it was a bad idea, but it works out well in the book.

So, why should you read this book? Reason one, it is the best selling philosophy book of all time, despite being rejected by 121 publishers (a Guinness world record). Reason two, you might learn a little something about philosophy. And finally, reason three, it's a good story.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Richard Russo was already a well know and well loved author by the time Empire Falls hit the book shelves, but this is the first of his novels that I had read. It is a very well written page turner, how often can you say that? It gives us a glimpse into the tough, working class life of a Maine town where the main industry is gone and one man controls almost everything that happens. Miles Roby, the owner of the town diner is fighting to keep his head above water. He is divorced, his teen-aged daughter has issues and she is the stable one in the family. What really makes this book so rich is the range of characters Russo brings to life. The dialog is excellent and the plot is well constructed to keep you engaged to the end.

Russo is one of America's best living authors and this is finest work to date.

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

I first heard of Walter Mosley when I read an article about him in the LA Times. His book Devil in a Blue Dress was making quite a stir and it was rumored that it was going to be made into a movie with Denzel Washington playing the lead role of Easy Rawlins. The thing that interested me was his depiction of life in post WW II Los Angeles, which I had never heard much about before. Turns out it was a great time to be an Angelino, especially if you were black. There were lots of good paying jobs in the military industrial complex and there were lots of ways to spend your money.

Spending your money on good times and the trouble that can sometimes bring is where Easy Rawlins comes in. He is a part time private detective and the kind of guy who knows everyone in town. If you have a problem in the Watts neighborhood, he is the guy you come to. Devil in a Blue Dress is the first of almost a dozen Easy Rawlins books that now exist and it is worth reading, not only because it's a great book, but it also gives you a base to understand the reoccurring characters you will see throughout the series.

The author Walter Mosley now lives in New York, and has created several detective series including Bad Boy Brawly Brown and Fearless Jones, the NY and Southern versions of Easy Rawlins as well as children's books and a sci-fi series. I was not a big fan of crime genre until I started reading Mosley's work, but now I am hooked.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the best American writers to ever live and Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is his most popular book; have I started a post like this before, because this sounds familiar. I have read almost everything Vonnegut has written and there are books I love equally, but you have to read Slaughterhouse-Five because it is a great book and you should have read it in high school. That is where I read it, freshman English with Ms. de la Garza. I was a little surprised that they made us read such a weird book, and I am not sure I altogether got it, but I got it well enough to write a half ass report that got me a B. I re-read the book after college and while it was still weird, it made a lot more sense.

This is an American classic, add it to your reading list now. You have a reading list, right?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Did you love the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Me too, but one night when I was a youngster I was watching an interview with Ken Kesey and the interviewer asked him, how he liked the movie version of his book. He said the director had invited him to the set to see it, but he told him, "I would rather watch the Hell's Angels rape my daughter." So, I am guessing Kesey was not a fan. It's a shame because this is one of those cases where the movie does live up to the greatness of the book.

If you haven't read the book do yourself a favor and check it out. Kesey is one of the American greats and unfortunately left us way too early.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Annie Proulx is one of America's best living writers. I prefer her short stories, namely the three editions of Wyoming Stories which are a must read. These are amazing stories of stark living on the harsh plain that is the true American west. I remember reading a couple of these stories a night and each having it's own interesting twist, when all of a sudden there was one that went to a whole new level. This story was eventually turned into the successful movie Brokeback Mountain. It was a shocker and really stuck in your mind.

Quoyle, the main character in The Shipping News, is quite the opposite. He is a very forgettable sad sack, with a terrible life and a equally bad family. But the novel is much more than Quoyle's story: it is a moving evocation of a place and people buffeted by nature and change. Like Wyoming, Killick-Claw, a Newfoundland harbor town, is a harsh place. Unlike Brokeback Mountain, The Shipping News, did not make a great movie. It was too dark and slow for my taste, but the book is much more involving and will hopefully get you started on reading all Proulx's books.

Love in a Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the most beautiful books ever written. It launched Marquez to fame and started a boom in Latin American writing. That said, my favorite Marquez book is Love in a Time of Cholera.

This is the story of Fermina Daza, a beautiful young woman who is being desperately pursued by Florentino Ariza, however, Fermina rejects his love as naive and decides to marry a prominent doctor. Over the years the doctor is a steadfast professional pursuing the cure of cholera. Unfortunately for Fermina, he is not as great a husband as he is a doctor, having at least two affairs during the marriage. As the years pass Florentino bides his time and ultimately in their old age, when the doctor passes, true love finally triumphs.

This may be one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. Marquez is an amazing writer, and I wish I could read Spanish, so I could read this book in it's original form. I am sure the romance language only makes it even more amazing.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

It was a difficult decision which McCarthy book to choose for this list. I went back and forth between All the Pretty Horses and The Road. I choose All the Pretty Horses because it is one of the most beautiful, well written books I have ever read. It depicts the stark, hard cowboy life along the Texas Mexico boarder. It is a coming of age story and a love story. The main character John Grady is 17 when he leaves Texas with a friend and rides into Mexico, where they are quickly out of their depth. Grady gets caught up in a crime that he did mot instigate, and is brutally beaten in a Mexican prison. He learns a lot of difficult life lessons and has to grow up fast. Unfortunately for Grady, there are no easy answers and he is left a hardened man.

The Border Trilogy continues with Volume Two, The Crossing, and concludes with the third volume, Cities of the Plain.