Errant Reads, or my favorite books
An attempt at curating a list of favorite books—representative, but never complete.
Published August 31, 2019 || Updated June 22, 2021
My wife and I were at a dinner party last night and the subject of favorite books came up. On the spot I couldn't think of many. The first couple books that came to mind were Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey (non-fiction), and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (fiction).
We also briefly discussed the merits of each broad category. I am of the opinion that non-fiction "teaches and informs" whereas fiction "expands the mind" via immersion in another brain and world. Of course that is an over-simplification and many books in either category can be said to have the qualities of the other. The real differences really, I think, are in the categories' respective points of emphasis. And then there is memoir. Memoir really is more akin to fiction. Similarly, some science and historical fiction can really spend a lot of time flirting with the realm of non-fiction.
Here is my list of favorites (divided up into non-fiction and fiction). It's what I could come up with in a relatively short period of time. Not exhaustive, nor definitive, and I will probably edit this over time. I probably could also whittle these down to a few favorite-favorites, but that's not really instructive. Here you go. Some of my favorite books (ordered by date published):
Non-Fiction
- A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, by John Muir, 1916
- Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, by Edward Abbey, 1968
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard, 1974
- How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend, by The Monks of New Skete, 1978, but much revised over the years (best dog training manual hands down)
- The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, by Wendell Berry, 1977
- Wildwoods Wisdom: Encounters with the Natural World, by Doug Elliott, 1992 (a beautiful, author-illustrated, book; plus this is the only book listed in which I actually know the author; fiction and non-fiction intermingled)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott, 1995 (brilliant; snarky; poignant; fun)
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan, 1997
- A Country Year: Living the Questions, by Sue Hubbell, 1999
- Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures, by Carl Zimmer, 2001
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson, 2003 (best biography I have ever read)
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, 2004
- Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight, Control, and Disease; by Gary Taubes, 2004 (very very dense read)
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, 2006
- A Man Made of Elk, by David Peterson, 2007
- The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability; by Lierre Keith, 2009
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King, 2010 (one half memoir, one half advice/how-to)
- The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, by Steven Pinker, 2012
- The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future; by Ryder Carroll, 2018 (a self-improvement, how-to book)
Fiction
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, 1884(UK), 1885(US)
- The Call of the Wild (and White Fang), by Jack London, 1903
- All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, 1929
- A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, 1929
- Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, by George Orwell, 1945
- The Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov, 1951 (in particular the original trilogy—Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). I have not read the full series; the original three were brilliant.)
- Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein, 1959 (young adult)
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein, 1966
- The Forever War, by Joe Halderman, 1974
- The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, 1982
- Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, 1992
- Wildwoods Wisdom: Encounters with the Natural World, by Doug Elliott, 1992 (a beautiful, author-illustrated, book; plus this is the only book listed in which I actually know the author; fiction and non-fiction intermingled)
- Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy, 2000
- Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry, 2001
- Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, 2008 (young adult)
- The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, 2004
- Wool, by Hugh Howey, 2011
Note, you can also peruse my favorite books and more by visiting my Bookshop.org Shop.
If I were to be stuck on a desert island with ONE book, I would
- Die before making that decision.
- But hope it was maybe something more introspective, like perhaps Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, A Man Made of Elk, or A Country Year.
- Or maybe opt for something rather dense, complex, yet escapist, and makes you think, like The Mists of Avalon, All Quiet on the Western Front, or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Let's hope I don't get stuck on a desert island. I suspect I should rather hope for a more helpful book like Where There Is No Doctor, published by Hesperian Health Guides.
Enjoy! -t
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