onegoodmove

Someone once said that their favorite Mozart Piano Concerto was the last one they had listened to. I have a similar problem when it comes to picking my favorite books. Ruzz, has suggested that we all write a list of our top ten books with brief comments and post them on our weblog. Everyone likes lists right. My problem is not coming up with ten but limiting a list to ten, our reading doesn't take place in a vacuum. Our age, where we are in life at the moment we read a book all play an important role. We simply cannot separate our emotions from a more rational analysis nor am I sure we would want to. Perhaps that is a task best left for the critics. So with that in mind here are mine.

1 Of Human Bondage - Somerset Maugham An epic coming of age novel that I read when I was well coming of age. This might be my favorite book of all time. Don't miss Maugham’s other great stuff particularly A Razors Edge.

2. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky - One of the few books I've read more than once and perhaps someday I'll understand it. What is it to be a man? Dostoevsky shows us his conception of man's soul and that struggle called life. Of course you should read all that Dostoevsky has written.

3. Old Man Goriot - Honore de Balzac A book I've read more recently he has a powerful imagination and gets his characters just right. This book is on W. Somerset Maugham “The World’sTen Greatest Novels” list.

4. Waiting for Godot a play by Samuel Beckett On the meaning of life or more exactly on the meaning we give life. Or perhaps as the cynics say life has no meaning.

5. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles A clash of cultures, man and nature, written in a compelling style.

6. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy I think it is mportant to include a more recent writer. Contrary to some opinions there is some great stuff being written today. This story provides a glimpse into the American West, perhaps a beautifully written nightmare would be a worthy description.

7 Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man - James Joyce. A mostly autobiographical novel of Joyce coming of age. Stephen Dedalus the protagonist coping with life's challenges, the Irish, the Catholic Church, and himself. Loved Dubliners as well read it.

8. Thomas Jefferson - Fawn Brodie I was tempted to only list fiction after all it is the most real. I think Brodie did an excellent job, this gave me a real respect for this founding father warts and all.

9. For Whom The Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway Hemingway had a way of making simple language beautiful. This tale based on his experiences as a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and is arguably his best. But if you don't read his entire output you're missing some of the best fiction ever written, and if you have ambitions of being a writer you’ll not find a better example.

10. The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann Coming of age, but much much more.

So there you have it my top ten and I’d better post this before I change it again.