April 15, 2007

My Top 20 Favorite Books

I enjoy reading, I enjoy collecting books and I enjoy making lists, so it's only natural that I post my current top 20 favorite books list.

1. A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
2. Collected Short Stories - Paul Bowles
3. The Stranger - Albert Camus
4. Slaughterhouse V - Kurt Vonnegut
5. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
6. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
7. Hot Water Music - Charles Bukowski
8. Selected Verse of Ogden Nash - Ogden Nash
9. Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
10. Welcome to the Monkey House - Kurt Vonnegut
11. I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
12. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
13. The Magus - John Fowles
14. A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
15. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
16. Animal Farm - George Orwell
17. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
18. The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass
19. 1984 - George Orwell
20. The Pearl - John Steinbeck

I hope this list gives you some ideas for your own personal reading. Of course, every one is highly recommended.

Categories
Literature

April 12, 2007

Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop - Paris

I came across this bookshop on the web today. How delightful! Apparently it features many first editions and other antiquarian books. From what I read, the proprieter collected them using G.I. book vouchers he bummed from non-bibliophile soldiers during WWII.

It's a terrific-looking place, and I'll be sure to stop there whenever I get to Paris.

By the way, the verse around Shakespeare's head says:

Thou art alive still
While thy booke doth live
And we have wits to read
And praise to give.

Nice.

Categories
Travel | Literature