My Top 10 Books

I expect this list to change from time to time, but here goes:

(in no particular order)
* The Stand (Stephen King). I love survival fiction--anything that details the end of the world (excepting alien invasion--I just don't find reading about aliens particularly diverting). How the world is destroyed isn't important; it's the regrouping of civilization that I find interesting. This is certainly at the top of the genre. Two other good ones to check out are Lucifer's Hammer and the comic book series Y The Last Man.
* Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry). Love, cowboys, the taming of the west--this has it all. The mini-series is pretty good too.
* My Year of Meats (Ruth Ozeki). I re-read this every year. Several people I've loaned this too have found it disturbing (it deals with the evils of modern meat production), but I love the characters and the story.
* Carter Beats the Devil (Glen David Gold). Arguably the best book ever written about Oakland (I realize that many would vote for Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels instead, which is definitely a great work). It's a fictionalized tale of a real-life magician, the love of his life, a lion, and a dead President. Doesn't that sound intriguing? Buy the hardcover edition--it includes several color prints of original Carter posters. Gold is married to Alice Seybold of Lucky fame.
* A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute). A death march through Southeast Asia, a love story, the creation of a town, and a lonely British lawyer as narrator: this book unites several disparate elements into one incredibly compelling novel. The writing is exceptional.
* Geek Love (Katherine Dunn). This is another book that just isn't for everyone. It's about circus freaks--a family of them, in fact. At times it's very upsetting. It's not unlike Middlesex, but Geek Love is far better.
* The Source (James Michener). I like Michener, unlike most of my friends. He's great to read on vacation, particularly if you can find one on the place you're visiting. I think the trick to enjoying Michener is to be a really fast reader with some time on your hands--if you can't skim through one of his books in under two weeks, you'll find it tedious. The Source deals with an archaeological dig in Israel, and manages to weave in a history of western religions by the end. It's fascinating--I've read it 4 or 5 times, and still enjoy every page.
* In Cold Blood (Truman Capote). I like everything Capote writes, even his short stories (as a general rule, I think most short stories fail--they're either long magazine articles or failed novels, not actual short stories). This murder mystery is a classic. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like it.
* Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen). If you haven't read this, give it a chance--Austen is really funny.
The Chosen (Chaim Potok). This book is in a class by itself. Read the books above because they're interesting and fun; read this one because it will make you a better person. Seriously. I cry every time I read it (3 times and counting). It's about friendship and Judaism.


And 4 honorable mentions:
David Sedaris--just about everything. I much prefer his books on tape to the printed versions--his voice adds a lot to the material. "You Can't Kill the Rooster" is my favorite story.
The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffengger)
White Boy Shuffle (Paul Beatty)
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)