Books I've Read & Recommend (***Especially good ) Updated April 2010 Reading Chronological Order (except updates to existing authors) Existing authors last updated: Ethank Canin ,Patchett, Robert Hellenga, Richard Price Michael Chabon The Yiddish Policeman's Union*** Robert Harris Pompeii** Walter Mosley The Right Mistake*** Marianne Wiggins Shadow Catcher** Johnathan Miles American Airlines*** Clair Ni Aonghusa Civil&Strange*** Mischa Berlinski Fieldwork*** G. B. Edwards The Book of Ebenezer Le Page*** Peter Temple identity theory*** Michael Ondaatje Divisadero ** Anil's Ghost** Don DeLillo Falling Man*** (White Noise -Don't read) Julian Barnes Love, etc.** Mark Helprin A Soldier of the Great War*** Winters Tale** Johnathan Franzen The Corrections*** S. Levitt & S. Dubner Freakonomics** Thomas L. Friedman The World Is Flat*** Alicia Erian Towelhead*** Ian McEwan (2005) Atonement ** Saturday*** Adeline Yen Mah Falling Leaves*** Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time** Richard Russo Empire Falls*** Bridge of Sighs** Mohawk** Connie Willis Passage** Leif Enger Peace Like a River** Naguib Mahfouz Palace Walk** Haruki Murakami Norwegian Wood*** Kafka on the Shore*** The Wind-up Bird Chronical*** after dark** The Wild Sheep Chase* South of the Border, West of the Sun* Dance, Dance, Dance* Barbara Tuchman The Guns of August*** Iain Pears The Dream of Scipio*** Neal Stephenson Diamond Age** Cryptonomicon*** Snow Crash*** Carol Shields Unless: A Novel** Larrys Party*** Stone Diaries** David Liss Coffee Trader** A Conspiracy of Paper* William Gibson Spook Country** Neuromancer*** Pattern Recognition*** All Tomorrows Parties** Idoru*** Virtual Light** John Grisham The Painted House* Mildred Walker Winter Wheat* Dava Sobel Gallileo's Daughter*** Nick Hornby About a boy*** High Fidelity** Bernhard Schlink The Reader** Terry Kay To dance with the white dog.*** V.S. Naipaul A Bend in the River*** Half a Life Janet Fitch Paint It Black*** White Oleander*** Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) Remains of the Day *** Never Let Me Go ** When we were Orphans Kent Haruf (1999) Plain Song*** The Tie that Binds*** Ethan Canin America America*** Emporer of the Air* Carry me across the Water** Richard Feynman Surely you're joking..*** Ward Just (1999) A Dangerous Friend** Ann Lamott (1999) Travelling Mercies** Robert Hellenga The Fall of a Sparrow*** Philosophy Made Simple** The Italian Lover** Richard Price Freedomland*** Lush Life** Samaritan*** Wally Lamb This Much I Know Is True*** David Guterson Eventide** Snow Falling on Cedars*** East of the Mountains** Doris Lessing Love Again*** Dorothy L. Sayers Bussmans Honeymoon*** Alice Adams After the War** Mary Gordon Spending** Louis Erdich Tales of Burning Love** Ann Patchett The Magicians Assistant*** Run*** Taft Bel Canto (half read) The Patron Saint of Liars** Louis de Bernieres Corelli's Mandolin*** Jane Hamilton When Madeline Was Young *** The Map of the World*** Then Short Life of a Prince The Book of Ruth Disobedience Ursula Hegi Stones from the River*** Jenette Winterson Lighthousekeeping*(Unusual) Written on the Body GUT Symmetries*** E. Annie Proulx The Shipping News*** Accordion Crimes** That Old Ace In The Hole*** Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird*** Annie Dillard An American Childhood*** Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna *** Prodigal Summer** Poisenwood Bible*** Animal Dreams*** Pigs in Heaven Bean Trees John Irving Last Night in Twisted River ** Until I Find You*** A Widow for One Year *** Ciderhouse Rules *** Son of the Circus*** A Prayer for Owen Meany*** The Fourth Hand* TheWorld According to Garp** Anne Tyler The Homesick Restaurant*** The Amateur Marriage**(good epic though) The Ladder of Years** Patchwork Planet Morgans Passing Accidental Tourist*** If Morning Ever Comes Searching for Caleb Clock Winder Earthly Possessions Saint Maybe Breathing Lessons Celestial Navigation*** PD James (mystery) Skull Beneath the Skin** All others also read. Umberto Ecco The Name of the Rose *** John Gardner Michelsons Ghost *** Nickel Mountain *** October Light** Robertson Davies Fifth Business*** Victor Hugo 93 Antoine St'Expery The Little Prince*** Irving Stone Depths of Glory : a biographical novel of Camille Pissarro*** James Michener The Source*** Space Texas Covenant** Centennial** Poland (terrible) Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage Tracy Kidder Soul of a New Machine*** Old Friends 94 Mountains Beyond Mountains** Amanda Filipacchi Nude Men ** Milan Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being*** Tom Robbins Only Cowgirls get the Blues Aldous Huxley Brave New World** Island Robert Heinlein Time Enough for Love*** To Sail Beyond the Sunset Stranger in a Strange Land*** James Schmitz Witches of Karres*** sci fi Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine*** Something Wicked This Way Comes Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls A Farwell To Arms** Joseph Conrad Lord Jim *** Tony Hillerman (all his books) Anthropological mysteries of Navajo's and Hopi's Blessing Way*** Arthur Upfield (all his books) Anthropological mysteries of Aboriginies and whites and a half-cast policeman The Bone is Pointed. *** Robert B. Parker Appaloosa** (all of his mysteries are interesting reading) Graham Greene The Man Within* The Heart of the Matter *** Honourary Counsel ** Our Man in Havana*** The End of the Affair** The Quiet American *** The Third Man** The Power and the Glory** John Updike The Terrorist *** S*** Rabbit at Rest*** Rabbit is Rich Rabbit Run Brazil*** Rogers Version Beck is Back The Coup Villages : A Novel***men, * women Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon Elie Wiesel Light John Fowles Daniel Martin *** Ebony Tower The Collector Harriet Doerr Stones for Ibarra*** Consider this, Senora Russell Hoban The Lion of Boaz Jaquin Riddely Walker*** Dorothy Gilman Caravan*** Josephine Tey Thief of Time*** Frank Herbert Dune *** And all others in the series Pat Barker Regeneration John Steinbeck ( all his books) In order of importance: East of Eden *** Winter of our Discontent*** Sweet Thursday*** To a God Unknown*** The Grapes of Wrath The Pearl Cannery Row Of Mice and Men The Red Pony Travels with Charlie In Dubious Battle* Michael Crighton Next** State of Fear***(social import rating), *(story prose rating) Swarm Timeline** Andromeda Strain*** Terminal Man Rising Sun** Jurassic Park Disclosure Air Frame** Tom Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities A Man in Full*** Robert James Waller Bridges of Madison County** Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend James Redfield Celestine Prophecy** The Tenth Insight Edwin Abbott Flatland*** Dr. Hunter F Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas Fear and Loathing on the 1972 Campaign Trail** Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage Oscar Wild The Picture of Dorian Gray** Carrie Fischer Postcards from the Edge Henry Miller Book of Friends Franz Kafka Metamorphosis*** May Sarton Kinds of Love** Balzac Ribald Stories** Plato The Republic (parable of the cave***) Euthryphro*** The Apology Feyodor Dostoyevsky Crime and Punishment