A friend of mine just asked me if I had any recommendations for stuff for her to read.  So, I put together a list of some books that really impacted me, be it philosophically, emotionally, or comedically.  I thought I’d share it with a post on my blog.

Japanese noir

  • Out by Natsuo Kirino.  A bit twisted but a fantastic character study by a great Japanese mystery writer.  She's an amazing writer.
  • Winter Sleep by Kenzo Kitakata. A neat, "hard-boiled" type psychological study of a former inmate turned solitary artist.
Books from around the mid 20th Century
  • The Fall by Albert Camus.  Another philosophical/psychological piece that touches on who has the right to judge others.
  • The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.  Part travel story, part horror, part psychosis, part love story, part Beat.  Great story by a fab author.
  • The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  You've probably read this but if you haven't, check it out for great storytelling mixed in with searing social commentary that could easily be placed in its original time setting or today.
More recent humorous yet still incisive books
  • Generation X by Douglas Coupland.  This is more for my generation, but it might give you some insight.  If not, it's still a fun read.
  • Company by Max Barry.  A great satirical novel of corporations told by a funny an incisive writer
  • Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips.  This (along with Company) are two novels I wish I'd written.  Phillips, who was an anthropology grad before she turned to writing, gives a cool retelling of the Olympic gods if they lived in a run-down flat in London and no one really cared about them.  Imagine Apollo, the Oracle, as a TV show psychic, Aphrodite, the goddess of love as a phone sex operator, etc.