This was (yes, I know) originally written as a quick response to... the Sears (yes, really) Facebook group asking readers what books they recommend, in order to draw attention to a sale on books that's going on.
It's worth saying that I have kind of a "writing problem," the way other folks might have a "gambling problem." It's gotten especially out of hand now that I'm out of school and don't have any proper homework to keep my typing hands occupied.
Therefore, instead of making the socially appropriate response of listing one book and a quick, one-to-two sentence endorsement of it, I wrote and posted the following.
(Yes, I really, really did. I'm even fidgeting right now, at this exact moment in order to quell the urge to edit and re-edit and edit this some more. I used the word "stun" twice, and want to remove the first one and I want to replace the word "writer" with "author" in some spots. It's worse than cigarettes. I need to just get out of here before I waste the rest of my free time tonight.)
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I just finished "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak this weekend. It should be required reading for everyone over the age of 15. (Younger tweens too at their parents' discretion? My sister-in-law read it at about age 13, I think, before insisting I read it too.)
I can read and re-read Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation" forever. Everyone I've loaned or given a copy to so far has loved it just as much as I do, and tend to just accumulate Sarah Vowell books once they've been introduced to her. This one's my favorite.
For the college-age audience and above, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides is AMAZING. One friend and my husband both insisted I read it after it was assigned to them in college English classes, and they were totally right to do so.
Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" was really good and its sequel "Anansi Boys" was maybe even better. My husband and I listened to "Anansi Boys" as a book on tape for our road trip honeymoon last year and even the acting was stunning. Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" is sort of like "The Jungle Book" and is a very good all-ages novel. Someday I will read it to my kids, once I have kids.
For people who are old enough for rated R movies and who happen to like this sort of thing, Max Brooks's "World War Z: The Oral History of the Zombie War" is the best, best, best zombie book ever written. Skip all the others and just get this one.
I think it's worth noting that the author is the son of Mel Brooks, who must be a good father because I love how his kid turned out. Being raised by a witty writer seems like a good way to develop a gift for language, too.
Max Brooks is a celebrity writer in his own right, and was able to draw a HUGE crowd at my university for his zombie survival lecture/book talk, after the campus zombie survival club begged him to come and speak. We were early in the autograph line, waited for about an hour, and he was still completely gracious, friendly and made small talk like he was one of us. He made time for every single fan in that line. I'm still impressed.
Also, anything by Sherman Alexie is good, although some of his stuff is... sophisticated. Like, complicated. Adult themes and the like. Often writes about clever, dorky underdogs and nerds, usually those living in poverty on reservations like where he grew up. He can pull any reaction out of the reader, but tends to either stun me stupid or make me laugh like he's a best friend. Sometimes he's the special guest writer for the local hip weekly paper out here in Seattle, too. He deserves every award he's won.
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