The Top Ten: Books (Misc.)

I was debating how far to take my "top ten" series in books, having already covered a fair amount of ground (see previous posts).  I'll just wrap up "miscellaneous" as my last topic, touching on all categories I've missed so far or didn't read enough of to warrant separate entries.  The below selections may be fiction, mystery, graphic novel, star wars, gaming, thriller, etc.  Those read in my "pre-blog" days won't have links.  Regardless of genre, check these below titles out.

image from here

1. The Watchmen (Alan Moore)

Don't be fooled: graphic novels aren't just for kids or dorks.  Crafting a story with words and pictures, beautifully interwoven, is no small feat.  I've read a lot of graphic novels (mostly in the Star Wars or Batman vein), and The Watchmen is outstanding, thought-provoking, and an interesting look at man's quest for meaning.  Other excellent graphic novels: Batman: Black Mirror and Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison.

2. Angels & Demons (Dan Brown)

I read this book (set in Rome) while touring Rome, and it made a great trip even better.  Brown has come under fire for his works (especially The Da Vinci Code), but he's an excellent writer, and his thrillers are page-turners like few others I've ever read.  And, they're fiction, which is why I don't get worked up about them.

3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)

If you've never read Agatha Christie, shame on you.  She is the queen of mystery for a reason. Her books are short and brilliant.  This is one of her best.

4. Endurance (Alfred Lansing)

Is this a history book?  Leadership volume?  It's hard to say; many view it as the latter.  Regardless, this account of Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose ship was stranded in the Antarctic one hundred years ago, is an unbelievable story of . . . endurance.

5. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Seth Grahame-Smith)

Grahame-Smith's style is unique: he mashes history, fantasy, the bizarre, and the macabre into gripping fictional tales. And I can't put his books down.  (I still remember reading Unholy Night in one day.)  This tale pits the famous American President as out for revenge against vampires who killed his parents (I think; it's been a while).  The sequel was also good.

6. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carré)

Perhaps the best spy novel I've read, this is about a British agent during the Cold War (1960's).  I also recommend Fatherland by Robert  Harris (his is set in a 1960's world, but where Germany won WWII), and The Red Fox by Anthony Hyde (1980's, looking at the Anastasia legend).

7. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sherlock Holmes stories are always excellent; The Hound might be the best.

8. Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) 

Dealing with the construction of a (fictional) cathedral over generations, Pillars of the Earth is excellent, if at times unnecessarily graphic, historical fiction.  The sequel (World Without End) is set in the same world, deals with the time of the plague, and is also good.

9. The Thrawn Trilogy (Timothy Zahn)

I've read over 100 Star Wars books in my life.  Almost all of them in my pre-blog days, and most of them are pretty bad.  But they're "safe" books: worlds of adventure with no graphic or inappropriate material.  But the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn turned the Star Wars universe on its head, introducing great new characters (like Grand Admiral Thrawn) and kicking off a tidal wave of books, comics, and video games set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU).  Disney nullified this EU when they bought the franchise, but Zahn's books have stood the test of time.

10. Game Design Workshop (Tracy Fullerton)

There's a lot that goes into designing a game.  I read a few selections in 2018, and this book (along with Richard Garfield's Characteristics of Games) stands out as the best in the genre.  It's given me the terminology and tools necessary to design my own game, and helped me appreciate games that much more.

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Reading matters.  On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior looks at why; check that out, too.