I Cannot Live Without Books…

I’m pretty sure the title for this post was a Thomas Jefferson quote. To be honest, I mostly remember it from playing Civilization and that quote would come on when you build a library or something… man that game was great. Anyway, I just got a Kindle and it has kind of revolutionized my life. I read a fair amount due to my 90ish minute commute each way on public transportation. I also see some weird value in learning what other people like to read. So, I decided to ask 18 of my Facebook “friends” what their favorite book is and what book they think everyone should read. These friends run a wide range from people I’ve known for decades to mostly Facebook “friends” but they are all people who I respect and would love to know more about… basically they are 18 people that I’d love to have in my life forever in some way or another. Ideally we would all live in a big communal house together in Colorado, grow weed, and sell high-end edibles while raising a bunch of cool dogs and maybe a human child or three. Most of them kept to just two books but some of my friends can’t be limited in such a way… another sign they are fucking rad.

To me, reading someone’s favorite book gives you a glimpse into their soul. The list of books below are what my friends answers were and I hope to read my way through them in the next year or so. Oh, and I also put down Stephen King’s and Jay-Z’s favorite two books because they are awesome. (Unrelated: I can’f find my Kindle… I swear it was in my office yesterday. Argh.) In no particular order (and missing a few because some of my friends apparently work doing the day)…

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
• Conte of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
• The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
• Bossypants by Tina Fey
• The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy (read previously)
• The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (currently reading actually)
• Nurtureshock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
• Why Do Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa
• Girls Guide to Taking Over the World by Karen Green
• Naked by David Sedaris
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Crucial Conversation: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson
• Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant
• The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
• The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg (read previously)
• Nature of Order by Christopher Alexander
• Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin
• Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenburg and Arun Gandhi
• Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
• Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• A Happy Death by Albert Camus
• Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (read previously)
• The Good Life by Hackatt Publishing
• The Golden Argosy edited by Van H. Cartmell and Charles Grayson
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
• The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
• The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by Sedaris
• On The Road by Jack Kerouac
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walsh
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• House of Leaves by Mark Daielewski
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
• Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
• Extras by Scott Westerfield
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (previously read)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson (previously read)
• Steering By Starlight by Martha Beck