Great theme this week, for The Broke And The Bookish's Top Ten Tuesdays. It's one hell of a challenge because the majority of the books that were complete doo-doo. Most of my favorite books, I dug them out from the shelves after putting some research in.So finding ten books that were recommended to me, that I actually LIKED. That's some sport.
1-Dennis Lehane - Mystic River: I remember this weird goth/nerd looking guy was reading this in my Contemporary Japanese Literature class (during the break). I knew about the movie but I didn't watch it. I started talking with him and he said: "This is interesting, you should read it", which is a literary coded phrase for "fuck you". It turned out to be way more than "interesting". It changed my life.
2-Alexandre Dumas - The Count Of Monte Cristo: I was in college (I was a judgmental dick back then. Still am, to some extent) and bagging on old fiction like it didn't interest me at all. My literature teacher Jerome walks by and says: "Motherfucker have you even read The Count Of Monte Cristo? It's right up your alley"* Turned out he was right.
3-Anthony Neil Smith - The Drummer: Recommended by Paul D. Brazill, from his amazing blog You Would Say That, Wouldn't You? I have then discovered a hard nosed novelist with an originality and a sense of flow that are equaled by few. Chaotic noir written with Bushido discipline. One of my new favorite writers.
4-Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle: In college (in Quebec, college comes before university), I had an economic professor who I talked literature and different nerdy stuff with. He described Dick's fiction as being from "very good" to "sublime". The Man In The High Castle would be the only title I would remember when walking into a book store in Montreal.
5-Alessandro Baricco - Silk: I've been talking about this book all the time lately. It was offered to me by Josie, during the first days of our relationships. To this day, this small novella would still be one of the books I'd bring with me on a desert island. Full of light and hope, but it never sounds corny.
6-Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy: (**)Recommended to me by Mr. Savoy, my American literature teacher. Told me that if I liked mysteries and literature, he was sure I would fall in love with The New York Trilogy. I wasn't too crazy about Auster back then (and I'm still not now), but the trilogy is something unique that most people won't ever forget.
7-F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby: Recommended to me by Toru Watanabe, lead character of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. Murakami always weaves book recommendations in his novels. And most of the time, his tastes are dead on the money.
8-Stephen King - Dreamcatcher: A part of my friend Bob's "Shut up and read this" collection. As usual, he would end up being right. One of the few Stephen King stories who lived up well beyond my expectations. One of his most complex, yet compelling stories.
9-Dave Eggers - Zeitoun: Got curious about this book, following Brenna's review on Literary Musings. I have been curious about Eggers for a while, but Brenna's praise gave me enough to chose Zeitoun for starting point. Very compassionate, yet honest novel. It was genuinely touching.
10-Chuck Klosterman - Fargo Rock City: Recommended to me by my colleague and friend J-Rod and by co-blogger John Foley. A little curiosity about Klosterman lead to a minor shift in the way I write. But it's a shift nonetheless. It's a writer that influenced me, even if I don't always agree with him.
* I am merely paraphrasing here...tee hee hee!
** Check out the Amazon link on this one. The New York Trilogy, illustrated by Art Spiegelman. How much more gangster can you get?
