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
Omg. I’m reading two of the books on your list. I feel so…validated.
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.
You’re hilarious.
yes, yes, a thousand times yes
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.
Which of these go best with 30 hours of flying?
(trick question, it’s Klonopin.)
Is one of these the book about inequalities in the criminal justice system you mentioned last year? If not, what happened with that?
Can’t wait for that book you’re writing to come out, Coquette.
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.
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.
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.
Yes!
The book you’re talking about I had to stick in a drawer for now, but stay tuned for news about *another* book.
Sapiens is phenomenonal! Every human should read it.
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.
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.
Where do you think I got it from?
Sam Harris, yesssssssss. I knew that I liked you!
Is that a…cough..spelling error…cough…I see before me?? (sapeins vs sapiens). Great book, however you spell it….
Thanks!
I’m also irrationally pleased that I’ve read and loved many of these books
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.
Thanks for the book recommendations! I’m enjoying them very much.
Blood Meridian is a masterpiece. It will change the way you read. Almost every book will pale in comparison afterward.