A Recommended Book List

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on November 10, 2008

As Donviti begins his train commute next week, what books would you recommend to him to check our from the library to keep him company on the ride every morning and afternoon?

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A Dad, a husband and a data guru

Comments (19)

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  1. nemski says:
    November 10, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson
    Will You Please By Quiet, Please by Raymond Carver
    Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

  2. cassandra_m says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
    Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
    The Public Burning by Robert Coover

  3. Duffy says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Eat The Rich by P.J. O’Rourke

    Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

    Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion’s World Series of Poker by James McManus

  4. arthur says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Are you there God? It’s me Margaret.

  5. Kilroy says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    Behind the Nylon Curtain
    Gerard Colby Zilg

  6. Donhusseinsquishviti says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    Good thinking Nemski….I think I should start off with some of Obama’s favorites though:

    The Communist Manifesto
    The Poverty of Philosophy are the top of my list

  7. Mike Matthews says:
    November 10, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    Kilroy,

    Behind the Nylon Curtain? Didn’t the in-breeding DuPonts have that book, like, banned within a 100-mile radius of Delaware?

  8. G Rex says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    Rich Dad, Poor Dad

  9. Von Cracker says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    Check out “How Soccer Explains the World” by Franklin Foer (I’s noes, he’s a freeper – but the book is excellent).

    If you don’t want to buy it, Not Brian has it.

    Also try some historical fiction…

    Enigma by Robert Harris

    It’s about the English cracking the German codes in WWII.

    Also from Harris:

    Imperium

    The life of Cicero told through his slave, Tiro.

    Pompeii

    The story revolves around the eruption of Vesuvius through the eyes of an aquaduct engineer.

    And the one that got me started on the Harris kick: Fatherland

    A cop story in a post WWII Nazi Germany. You might remember the movie with Rutger Hauer.

    I have the Harris books, if you want to borrow them….

  10. Von Cracker says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Get my friggin’ comment out of moderation please!

    Thanks!

  11. delawaredem says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    The Bible.

    Donviti needs some religion.

  12. Kilroy says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    Mike Matthews”
    “banned within a 100-mile radius of Delaware?”

    LOL

    This book is great!
    Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert’s Peak
    By Kenneth S. Deffeyes
    Published by Hill and Wang, 2006

  13. G Rex says:
    November 10, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    Von C, I read Imperium a while back (during primary season) and couldn’t help casting Hillary as Cicero vs. Obama as Catilina.

  14. Von Cracker says:
    November 10, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Ha!

    I was thinking McCain as Cicero…not for his oratory skilz, but his marriage to a wealthy woman so he could run for Roman office!

    Remember, Rome required all Senators to be millionaires. If the wealth dropped below that figure, they kicked you out!

  15. El Somnambulo says:
    November 10, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    El Somnambulo recommends comic books. He doesn’t want Donsquishy coming to work with tired lips from sounding out words.

  16. Donhusseinsquishviti says:
    November 10, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    El,

    we have a blogger that does the comic book thing and one comic book reading blogger is one too many already

  17. liberalgeek says:
    November 10, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    Any book will do, as long as it hasn’t already been colored by someone else. Donviti hates that.

  18. John Tobin says:
    November 10, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    Anything by Po Bronson,
    “Stones for Ibarra” by Harriet Doerr ,
    “Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsythe,
    “Man’s Fate” by Andre Malraux
    “Holidays on Ice” by David Sedaris

  19. Dominique says:
    November 10, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    ‘Are you there God? It’s me Margaret.’

    Thanks, Arthur, that made me laugh.

    If you’re going to read a Dave Sedaris book, it should be ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’.

    ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ by Jonathan Safran Foer is outstanding.

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