I’ve written about my addiction to books before. Like an addict, I have to know where my next “fix” is coming from in order to feel secure. The bigger my “stash” the better I feel in general.
Well, the stash is getting low again. I’m pretty close to finishing Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and I’m rounding the bend on Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. The only untouched book in the stash is The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, so I’ll take that one on next. Meanwhile, that puts me in a precarious position for a book addict: no stash. If I don’t come up with a list of potential reads before I finish the last book, I’m liable to get the shakes.
So, I’m opening the floor to recommendations. There are no particular guidelines. They can be fiction or non-fiction, though most of my recent reads fall into the latter category. I only have one potential title in mind. I’ve found the Hersh book so interesting that I’m considering something else along the same line, like Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet. After reading about the Congo and the Rwandan genocide, I’m also considering Scramble for Africa. But beyond that I don’t have anything in mind.
So, c’mon folks. Help a book junkie secure his next fix.
Update: Now that I’ve found this site, I may never have to ask “What should I read next?” again.
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Given your Buddhist leanings, I’d recommend, strongly, Pankaj MIshra’s recent memoir, “An End to Suffering: the Buddha in the World”. Mishra grew up in a poor Brahmin family in rural India and managed, through his own persistence, to get an academic university education; along the way, he discovered the Buddha and the amazing history of Buddhism. He also discovered the European enlightenment and became enamored of the rationality and devotion to progressive ideals that characterized enlightenment thinking. And he discovered himself. His book does a wonderful job of blending those separate threads, along with a few others; there’s a lot in there about how India has developed post-Independence, about the relevance of the Buddha’s teachings to a world forged in the furnace of the Enlightenment, and about the difficulties and pressing necessity of blending East and West. Every sentence is thoughtful and graceful; Mishra himself, who now lives in London and writes frequently for the Times Literary Review and the New York Review, is a most attractive personality and a surprisingly sure-footed guide to some difficult notions.
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Shadid’s Night Draws Near is good and seems like something you’d like.
I can suggest Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness.
Some of the best sci fi/fantasy I have ever read:
George R.R. Martin:
His entire Song of Ice & Fire series begins with Game of Thrones. The 4th book (Feast for Crows) is due out in November. They are so long that you will not be ready for the 4th by the time is comes out.
Neal Stephenson:
1. Snow Crash
2. Cryptonomicon
Ah, and running fiction:
John L. Parker Jr.’s Once a Runner is a classic.
Are you looking for fiction or non-fiction?
On the non-fiction side,
- anything by Pema Chodron (whom I’m guessing you’ve read)
- anything about Aung San Suu Kyi
- Congressman John Lewis’s autobiography, "Walking With the Wind"
I have been working my way through Dr. Zhivago over the past few weeks. It is a great read, and the commentary in it is applicable just as much today as it was when Pasternak wrote it.