These Are A Few of My Favorite Reads

None of these books are mentioned here. I have yet to read them!

Do you recommend books to others?  Do you like it when someone gives you an unsolicited reading recommendation?  Do you actually read the books others have recommended or do you avoid reading the book? I personally like talking about the books I read.  I mean, that’s one of the biggest points to this podcast, although I do like also talking about literary history.  Well, the recommendation of books is the subject of this week’s podcast.  And in case you are wondering, I, for some reason, resist reading books that others recommend.  I’m not sure why, really. Because of this I will understand if none of my book recommendations are heeded.

Perhaps it is an independent spirit that causes us to balk at someone else’s recommendations.  I am always looking for something new to read, and yet when someone else recommends a book, I’m not sure what happens in my brain.  Maybe it’s the whole “it wasn’t my idea” thing. Nevertheless, I am here this week to tell you about authors I always recommend to others
           
As an aside, personally, I try to alternate between fiction and nonfiction, book by book, but it doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes I will find an author I really like and want to read more without having to wait. Then again, that’s me.  I don’t hold myself to this rule all the time. I also believe that enjoying what you read is more important than restrictions on what you read or in what order. It’s also important to know that you are not obligated to read a book you are not enjoying. Enjoying what you read is more than half the fun.

Haruki Murakami is the author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on The Shore, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. He is a Japanese writer whose novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan.  His work has been translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and the Franz Kafka Prize.

The first book I read by Murakami was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.  It’s a fairly long book at 607 pages.  However, Murakami keeps the reader engaged and you forget the book is as long as it is.  My favorite, so far, though, it Kafka on the Shore.  An equally engaging story, and slightly shorter.

Murakami’s stories have elements of magical realism, the human struggle with every day life, and a healthy dash of pathos.  He is definitely in my top 5 of fiction authors.
Shane Jones is the author of The Light Boxes, which I have mentioned in a previous podcast, as well as Daniel Fights a Hurricane, and the Crystal Eaters. He was born in Albany, New York. He graduated from SUNY Buffalo in 2004 with a B.A. in English

I enjoyed all three of the books mentioned.  They are weird and surreal although written in a literary style that makes them not too difficult to read.  These books and more are available at Amazon and Thriftbooks.com  

Neil Gaiman is next on my list.  I will admit, I am not the biggest fantasy reader.  I do like the occasional steampunk story and read most of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Neil Gaiman, however, I love reading. 

Prolific writer Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK but moved to the US in 1992.  He currently lives near Minneapolis with his wife, musician Amanda Palmer. He is the author of  Neverwhere, The Ocean at The End of the Lane,     American Gods, Trigger Warning (Short Stories). His literary influences include H.P. Lovecraft, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, G.K. Chesterton, among others.

My first exposure to Neil Gaiman was the comic book/graphic novels of Sandman.  The first book I read by Gaiman was Neverwhere, also the book I usually recommend to others. I became so engrossed in the story that I was oblivious when I came to the end of the book.  I came to the last page and needed more.  Isn’t that one of the signs of a good book? I also recommend American Gods (skip the television series) and, although it’s a kid’s book, The day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, illustrated by Dave McKean.

Next is Kevin Brockmeier. He was born in Hialeah, Florida and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School (1991) and Southwest Missouri State University (1995). He taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received his MFA in 1997, and lives in Little Rock.

His short stories have been printed in numerous publications and he has published two collections of stories, two children's novels, and two fantasy novels.
Brockmeier has won three O. Henry Prizes, the Chicago Tribune's Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction, Italo Calvino Short Fiction Award, the Booker Worthen Literary Prize, and the Porter Fund Literary Prize.

Although I have only read Brockmeier’s two novels, at this point I plan on reading everything I can get my hands on.  His writing style is empathetic, his descriptions make it easy to see exactly what or who he is describing.  Although his novels have been described as speculative fiction, to pigeonhole Brockmeier would be an error of judgement.  His work transcends labels.

The first novel I read was Brockmeier's first,  A Brief History of the Dead.  To give you a hint toward the plot, Brockmeier quotes James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me at the beginning of the book. The quote describes the belief of many African tribes that humans can be divided into three categories: Those still alive on earth, the recently departed (sasha), and the dead (zamani). When people die.they are sasha while people are still alive who remember them. When the last person remembering them dies, they go to the zamani and are then revered and recalled by name only.

Are you intrigued?

And then, there is Brockmeier’s novel The Illumination.  And wow, what a story Brockmeier tells.  It asks the question “What if our pain and injuries were the most beautiful thing about us?” It describes a universe in which human pain is expressed as illumination, so that one's wounds glow luminescent. I found it a very engaging story.  I look forward to reading more of Brockmeier’s fiction.          

It is safe to say that most people know or know of Ray Bradbury.  And if you don’t, well, acquaint yourself with this wonderful writer.

Born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, Bradbury moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of 14. After graduating high school, he ended his formal education and found work selling newspapers. In 1943 he began his career as a writer.

He was a prolific writer, authoring stories of science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, and even detective stories. His books are too numerous to list, but if you want a good start, read Fahrenheit 451, October Country, The Illustrated Man, or The Martian Chronicles.  I don’t have any favorites, really.  I like them all.

My first exposure to Ray Bradbury, I owe to two of my junior high school teachers.  Stuart Davis, my science teacher, read us the time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder."  Steven Lather, our social studies teacher, showed a documentary about Bradbury in class.  The last time I looked the documentary, filmed in 1963, is available on YouTube.  I will post a link in the episode description.

​I am grateful to both Mr. Davis and Mr. Lather.

On a personal note, a few years ago Valerie and I went to Chicago’s American Writers Museum, where there was a Ray Bradbury exhibit. In part of the exhibit, they had what I assume was Bradbury’s first typewriter, a 1940’s Royal.  An adjacent placard encouraged visitors to sit down and type it.  I don’t remember what I typed, but there was a sense of awe present.  Then again, the whole museum felt like church.
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You may have noticed the authors highlighted on this episode are writers of fiction.  Trust me, I will be back at a later date with non-fiction author recommendations.  And there are definitely so many more fiction writers that I could recommend. 

As mentioned before this was edited and adapted from my recent podcast.  If you would like to listen, just click here.

​Peace.  Now go read a book!