A list of intriguing books.

Book List

Books I've looked up while browsing the internet. Some I've read... others just look interesting.

All Books

660 Curries
by Raghavan Iyer

660 curries? Come on Iyer, you couldn’t find six more?

A Man Without a Country
by Kurt Vonnegut

If Vonnegut were a turnip, this book would be his last few drops of blood. Lap it up. Savor it.

Altered Carbon
by Richard K. Morgan

Hard-boiled sci-fi thriller about a dead man in a temporary body investigating an apparent suicide, which the person who killed himself (restored from a backup copy) denies he would ever do.

America at the Crossroads
by Francis Fukuyama

Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. Fukuyama writes readable books that can really teach you something about policy and economics.

Ancient Futures
by Helena Norberg-Hodge

Subtitled, Learning From Ladakh. A favorite book of mine about the Himalayan culture of Ladakh and the foolishness of a one size fits all monoculture.

Atomik Aztex
by Sesshu Foster

Alternate history where modern Aztecs reign over America and have visions of a Hell much like our own world.

Bait and Switch
by Barbara Ehrenreich

The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. Author of Nickel and Dimed attempts to study middle class, but never gets past the unemployment stage.

Bee Season
by Myla Goldberg

Story of Eliza Naumann whose low expectations are challenged by an incredible facility for spelling bees.

Blue Shoes and Happiness
by Alexander M Smith

Seventh book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I don’t read many serial mystery books, but the setting (Botswana) and characters have piqued my interest.

Buja's Diary
by Seyeong O

Korean graphic novel (or manhwa.) Great artwork and stories covering a wide range of topics and styles.

Chew on This
by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson

Everything You Don’t Want to Know about Fast Food. Author of Fast Food Nation brings his message to the kids in an easily digestible form.

Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell

A Novel. Six loosely related tales set in different times and places.

Collected Poems
by Jane Kenyon

The collected poems of my favorite poet. I need this since I’ve given most of her books away.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay

A good serial killer tracks down a bad serial killer, hoping all the while that he’s not hunting himself. You gotta have some juice to sell a book these days.

Duchess of Nothing
by Heather McGowan

A woman in Rome, after leaving her husband, is left looking after her lover’s half-brother.

Endgame, Volume 1
by Derrick Jensen

The Problem of Civilization. A provocative call to end civilization before civilization ends us.

Endgame, Volume 2
by Derrick Jensen

Resistance. Second volume of Endgame… uh, focuses on resistance I guess.

Fight Club Politics
by Juliet Eilperin

How Partisanship Is Poisoning the House of Representatives. I think the subtitle says it all.

Flight, Volume 3
by Kazu Kibuishi

Flight gives online comics artists a full-color publication in which to show off their fancy, pantsy art skills. Let’s hope this goes on for many more volumes.

Howl's Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones

A complicated fantasy with surprises on every page including the last. A girl afflicted with a curse finds shelter in the moving castle belonging to a wizard with an evil reputation. I think I’ve found a favorite new author with +30 books to dig up.

John, Paul, George and Ben
by Lane Smith

Picture book by a modern master. A look at the Founding Fathers when they were little rascals.

Microcosmos
by Lynn Margulis

Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution. Embrace your inner bacteria. Life on earth as an interconnected ecology of microbes.

Mortal Engines
by Philip Reeve

Book 1 of The Hungry City Chronicles. Sci-fi series about cities on giant wheels. The big cities eat little towns and grow stronger. The book almost writes itself.

My Life as a Furry Red Monster
by Kevin Clash

What Being Elmo Has Taught Me about Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud. Autobiography of the world’s most unknown celebrity. A must have for any Muppet fan, even those who hate Elmo.

Pleasurable Kingdom
by Dr. Jonathan Balcombe

Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. I guess the subtitle says it all. Scientist writes about pleasure in the animal kingdom. Oh, and the cover has two cute pigs snuggling snouts. Cute pigs can sell science, ethics and all that.

Portland Hill Walks
by Laura O. Foster

Twenty Explorations in Parks and Neighborhoods. A travelogue on foot. You might say it’s out of step with modern life.

Startide Rising
by David Brin

Sci-fi novel, 2nd and best in Brin’s Uplift Series. Space-faring dolphins vs. the galaxy.

Stumbling on Happiness
by Daniel Gilbert

Buy this book, read it, and it will make you happy. Or will it? A psychologist examines imagination and its relationship to happiness.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice
by Laurie R. King

What happened after Sherlock Holmes’ last bow. First in a series of 8 (for now) books about Mary Russell, who meets Holmes (the beekeeper) and becomes his apprentice (as a detective.) This book won an Edgar.

The City of Ember
by Jeanne Duprau

Post-apocalyptic children’s book along the lines of Logan’s Run, TXH 1138, or Plato’s Republic. Escape from underground city before the lights go out. First in a series.

The Joy of Vegan Baking
by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

When I went vegan, what hurt most was giving up on my cookies, an art I had just started to master. Baking in general is one of those areas that vegans fear to tread. But maybe this book can help me expand my repertoire.

The Karezza Method
by J. William Lloyd

Or, Magnetation: The Art of Connubial Love. An out-of-print book found on the internet, the Karezza Method details how to have S-E-X without the big ‘O’. wink, wink.

The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan

A Natural History of Four Meals. Modern food choices and their primative roots, why we eat what we eat.

Three Men in a Boat
by Jerome K. Jerome

(To Say Nothing of the Dog). An English comic novel from 1889, which I’ve begun to read online. As Mr. Bean himself has proven, there is nothing funnier than the English tourist. Except maybe three of them. And a dog.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld

Part one of a sci-fi trilogy. One of those in a world where… books. Everyone gets cosmetic surgery on their 16th birthday and moves from Uglyville to New Pretty Town. One girl must betray her friend if she ever wants to get pretty.

Veganomicon
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

The hosts of The Post Punk Kitchen and authors of two other great vegan cookbooks offer another sure-to-be-great cookery. Coming out in hardback October 28th.

Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech

Awaiting this one via BookMooch. Girl on road trip with grandparents telling stories which resonate with her own search for her mother, who left Ohio for Idaho but didn’t return as promised.

Wind, Sand and Stars
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

From the author of The Little Prince, a pioneer aviator and a powerful writer. The only book on flying you ever need to read.