In alphabetical order, one entry per author. I tried to rank them, but found it too difficult.
The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
I originally picked this book up on a whim to fulfill the "classic romance" checkbox on the
2015 reading challenge. I expected another boring,
Jane Eyre-like romance that would be a slog to get through. I was wrong. What I got was a roiling romance that, surprisingly, ended unhappily. Or maybe it did have a happy ending. The main character was given two alternatives: stability or excitement (I'm reducing to the extreme here). The conclusion impressed me so much that it gave the book a place on my list.
Alamut – Vladimir Bartol
If I was forced to rank this list,
Alamut would appear darn near the top. It gives a somewhat fictionalized portrayal of the birth of the assassin order in what is now Iran. More broadly, it gives a view into how faith can be weaponized. To vastly oversimplify the plot, the leader of Alamut has deceived a large group of religious devotees into believing he has the God-given powers to allow followers to ascend directly into heaven upon death in the line of duty. In doing so, he creates a fearless set of soldiers that will willingly sacrifice themselves to accomplish his goals.
Behold The Man – Michael Moorcock
This is a short book. I was able to read it in a day. Nevertheless, it was interesting. It's about a time traveler with some serious mental troubles who decided to try and find the historical Jesus. The machine breaks upon arrival, and what follows is his journey of discovery and eventual realization of what he must do. I'm a sucker for these kinds of time travel stories, and this was one of the good ones.
The Billion Dollar Spy – David E. Hoffman
A coworker and I have a certain understanding: we have very different tastes, so we "recommend" books we dislike to each other. This book was the one exception to that rule. We both ended up liking it. It was weird. Anyway, the book tells the tale of Adolf Tolkachev, a spy working against the Soviets during the Cold War. It was a very impressive overview of espionage tradecraft and the hoops agents have to jump through to give information.
The Birth of Satan – TJ Wray and Gregory Mobley
I picked up this book after watching the
43alley YouTube video about the subject, and I have to say this is one of my favourite books concerning religious history. It chronicles the concept of Satan from its original, generic Jewish roots through to the proper-noun personification of evil that currently exists in the minds of many. It's an amazing insight into how something as stubborn as religious thought can change over time.
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes – Amin Maalouf
This one gives a fascinating view into how Euro-centric a lot of literature about the Crusades is presented. I always understood it as: four major crusades (of varying levels of success), three lesser crusades no one cares about, and that's about it. Instead, the view is flipped around as a more-or-less constant barbaric invasion force that takes a backseat compared to the rising threat from the east.
Dave Barry's Money Secrets – Dave Barry
Dave Barry is my favourite author, and if I didn't limit this list to one book per author, it'd be dominated by his literary masterpieces. He is the only author that can consistently make me laugh out loud with his writing. This one is probably my favourite, but it's so darn hard to choose!
The Great Theft – Khaled Abou El Fadl
If I had to recommend an introduction to Islam for someone, I'd offer this book above any other generic "Introduction To" books. The first half gives an overview of the religion in an approachable way, while the back half explains, from the author's point of view, the modern rise of extremism. It blows away all manners of stereotypes and assumptions, and reminds everyone that people are people.
How To Lie With Statistics – Darrell Huff
Do you ever feel like the news and politicians are lying to you? You're probably right. And this book goes over exactly how they do it. For a book written well over 50 years ago, it's still just as relevant today. It certainly made me pay way more attention to graphs and charts than I normally would've.
Jesus, Interrupted – Bart Ehrman
The Bible is not the wholesome, consistent book folks like to think it is.
Jesus, Interrupted goes over several of the glaring inconsistencies in the New Testament stories that can only come from reading them critically. Mind, the author isn't trying to disprove God, or force atheism down anyone's throat. He's just writing about them, and leaving everything else as an exercise for the reader. I've read several of Ehrman's books, but this one is definitely my favourite of the lot.
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
Even if the story is heavy-handed, this book did much to convince me that my left-leaning political outlook is probably for the best. It regularly comes to mind whenever I hear people saying that the free market will solve everyone's problems.
Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
For the longest time, Michael Crichton was my favourite author (Dave Barry has since supplanted him). His thriller novels, while completely silly, sound just scientific enough that you suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.
Jurassic Park (now a major motion picture from Universal!) is the best example of this. I mean, a theme park with cloned dinosaurs sounds absurd. But it gets explained well enough that you start to believe it. It's very engrossing, and that's why I love it.
The Martian – Andy Weir
I picked this book up shortly after hearing about the movie. Sure enough, it deserves all the praise it gets. It was funny, immersive, and cleverly written. I love the way it bounces between serious storytelling and light-hearted diary entries. It's like a love letter to science and wonder, and I feel like the world truly needed something like that.
The Time Traveler's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
This is my favourite book. I know this list isn't ranked or anything, but this is The One. It has comedy, romance, suspense, time travel! It has everything going right for it. I think I may give it another read next year.
1984 – George Orwell
Do I even need to describe this one? Everyone already knows about this book. It's awesome. Look, I'm tired and don't feel like writing any more. Give me a break, here.
