Advice

On another bunch of books

Can you post some more book recommendations? You’ve already given me two of my all time favorite books (“Shock Doctrine” and “Veronika decides to die”).

 

Yep. It’s September, and like clockwork, you guys are asking me for books again. Here’s the latest snapshot of what’s on my bookshelf. As always, it’s a mixed bag. There should be a little something here for everyone:

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Sapiens: A History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Purity by Jonathan Franzen

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations by Jacob Shapiro

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

Bitch Planet #1 by Deconnick & De Landro

A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell

Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris

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24 thoughts on “On another bunch of books

  1. Sarah says:

    Or maybe I’ve just been so brainwashed from reading your blog over the years that I naturally choose the same books as you. Like a good little minion.

  2. Kirsch says:

    I asked for books a couple times this year, but I guess it worked out because I already read/planned to read several of these (The Days of Abandonment just last week.) Spooky.

    • Maria says:

      Agreed! Not only because I really want to read it, but because it would be an amazing way to support her work. Patreon just doesn’t seem her style.

      • Coquette says:

        I’m not opposed to Patreon, but only if I decided to quit my main profession and do this stuff full time. It’s occasionally tempting, and I’m fascinated by the possibility of a reader-based subscription revenue model, but I’m not sure if it would be sustainable as a primary source of income.

        • Kristina says:

          I hope you write an autobiography that will be published upon your death (unless you’d want identity-revealing information to surface before then). I’d read that shit. Forgive me if it’s a fucked up thing to ask for, but the amount of knowledge that you have and the trivial details that you’ve revealed over the years about your lifestyle make you fucking fascinating.

  3. Godric says:

    I’m surprised you liked Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s been a long time since I attempted it (so I can’t quote it), but at the time, I thought that the author was unbearably pretentious and self-absorbed in a way that you would rip into if he wrote you an ask.

    • Casey says:

      That one surprised me too, especially since it is one of my dad’s favorite books and he is a total weed dad. I’ve read it and written about it and I wish I got what he did out of it because I did not relate to it on any level. Maybe I got dragged on road trips too often as a kid.

  4. anonymous coquette fan says:

    It’s funny that Elena Ferrante is on here because all the drama over her real identity always makes me think about you. Some friends have suggested that it doesn’t matter whether or not she’s a woman, but I think that a claimed identity does matter (see: Rachel Dolezal). If we found out that you were a middle-aged dude who chose the avatar of a hot girl in LA, it would completely change the relationship of the readers to the blog. I think you are both wise to retain your anonymity, but I think it’s important that you are both actually women.

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