My top 10 books

10. The Incident at Hawks Hill, by Allan Eckert

In my first English class in Junior High, the first assignment the teacher gave us was to read "the Old Man and the Sea" in the first month of class. I took my copy home that Monday and had finished reading it by Friday. When I turned it back in so early, and told her I would have the report to her on Monday, she was quite obviously shocked. She eagerly awaited my book report and when I turned it in to her that Monday she surprised me with my first lesson in extra credit. She said for every book report I turned in I would get an extra 10 points toward my final grade. She then gave me this book.

The Incident in this book is a reportedly true story about a young farm boy that goes missing and gets adopted by a badger. I don't know why it stuck with me so hard, but something about the realness and the way the author captured what the boy would have lived through if it were true. It just always stuck with me. That coupled with the fact that after several years of being looked at as "troubled", it was nice to be appreciated for something good. I've never owned a copy of this book, it's never been in a bookstore, I look all the time.

09. The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger

Oddly enough, this book is without a doubt the most common book that I reference in my everyday life. Having been through a hurricane at sea and been involved in a search and rescue mission of a small boat, it is one of the easiest reference points to explain what those things are like to people. It also gives people a visual glimpse of what Navy life can be like. On top of that, I read this book about drowning out to sea, while I was on a boat... out to sea... in a hurricane... Because I'm a glutton for punishment. (On the other end of the spectrum, I did read the entire book "Enders Game" while on a plane hovering above the planet). From the chapter title "Zero Moment Point" which has worked it's way into my everyday vocabulary to the most accurate description of what it feels like to die by drowning. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I found myself constantly holding my breath while reading that chapter. If you can make it through this book, you will use it forever.

08. Ishmael, By Daniel Quinn

My good friend Josh and I went to the used bookstore one Christmas and bought each other our favorite book for the other to read. I cant remember what I gave him, but he gave me this, and about a year and a half later, while I was taking the train to work everyday I finally found the time to read it. It's an eye opening description of the human race, and really changed the way I look at what I want to accomplish in life, and whats truly important. And it gave me a very valuable ability that can easily go blind: Perspective. And as a bonus it's narrated by an ape!

07. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling

I waited to read the Harry Potter books until the very last one came out. After Steven King pissed me off with that whole Green Mile mini-book-series in the 90's I've stayed away from book series by currently living authors... I don't like waiting. So when it finally came out, I sat down and read all seven of them in the span of two weeks. I think these are some of the finest books ever written, and this last one, was especially sublime.

I have read it over 6 times, but the other thing this book did for me was introduce me to the world of audiobooks. The narrator of the audiobook version is a man named Jim Dale, and he might just be the most amazing Voice-over talent that I've ever heard. He has this natural storytelling ability and British accent that the material calls for, but this man, he has a different voice, and a different accent and different timbre and articulation to every single character in the book that you cant imagine that it's really only one guy. It remains the most amazing book I have ever listened to and if you were ever hesitant about audio-books, start here, this man is my hero!

We never mention this last movie in the series... disgusting abortion that it was... What David Yates was thinking is completely beyond me but he ruined it to a degree that I still cant bring myself to buy the movie. Just so wrong that ending... wrong.

06. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

Though I have read and love all of the great mystery writers, this book stands out by far as the very best of the genre. It has murder, intrigue, character, the amazing red herring and supreme justice at it's finest. It remains to this day, the only method that I have ever considered for committing mass murder, but for a righteous reason... The plot seems simple, 10 strangers brought to an island under mysterious circumstances, at the end of the weekend everyone is dead. If the last page or two were missing, you would never know who did it. It is the most perfectly executed mystery novel ever written.

05. Be Now, Buddy What, by Dan Spencer

This book is so simple and subtle in it's story, but the idea that it germinates is very powerful indeed. I find myself at times repeating the mantra's of Buddy What. Buddy What is a man that fell out of the sky, naked, landed on a highway so hard that there was a crater. He was completely unharmed, and he had absolutely no memory of who he was before he fell out of the sky. This is a reflection of the human race, and the cult of fame and personality told by a bitter small town reporter who the rest of the world dubbed Buddy's Buddy. It's a really weird but good story, but the lesson it teaches is so impact-full and moving. I can tell you the punchline now, but you wont get it unless you read the book... Be Now.

04. The Tales of the City Books, by Armisted Maupin  

(Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You, Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn, The Days of Anna Madrigal)

These books are the reason I moved to San Francisco, and more importantly, they showed me that there were other people like me in the world and that I could have a happy open life. I have loved these books since the first time I shyly, with many glances over my shoulders, bought my first Tales book at a Crown Books Store in Conservative Republican Orange County in '91. It was my first glimpse into a future that I could have, even though it was set in the past. Everything I wanted in my life was represented in those books. The last trilogy have come during a very tumultuous time in my life and they have been about change and loss and leaving San Francisco and I feel that my life is forever linked to those books because for a long time, I got to live my Tales of the City.

03. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas

When I was in the Navy someone wrote out a quote for me which became my all time favorite quote and though I had not read the book that it came from, I quickly resolved too. When I finally came across a copy of The Count, I devoured it, enjoying every morsel of it, and always eagerly looking for the quote that I knew so well. Finally, I found it... there on the last page of the book... of course. I read it, relishing what I know is coming next, and then I stutter... That's not how it starts... Wait... only half of the quote is here?!?!!? Did my friend have it wrong?!?! What the hell? I turn to the front cover of the book and look it over very closely... there under the title, barely visible against the background I find it. Abridged Version. Dammit!!! I throw it down, leave the house, and go find the unabridged version and re-read the entire book and finally, justly, I arrive at the last page and there, in all it's glory, my favorite quote of all time:

"There is no such thing as Happiness nor Unhappiness in this world, there is only the comparison of one state with another. It is necessary to have felt ultimate despair to know ultimate bliss. One must have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.

Live then and be happy, beloved children of my heart. Never forget, that until the day God deigns to reveal the future to man, the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope."

 02. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, by Lidia Millet

This book stands as the most heartbreaking and brilliant assessment of the human condition that I have ever read. It is the best book that I have read this century, I recommend it every time someone asks for a book.  It is a fictional story that imagines the fathers of the atom bomb inexplicably reappearing modern day and seeing what their life's work has come to. It includes facts about the nuclear programs, modern day pilgrimages, the christian right, money and public conscientiousness.

To top it all off, this book is written with a cadence and rhythm that borders on poetry. The way she turns a phrase and makes the insignificant utterly beautiful is a thing to behold. If I ever went through with it, there are several passages from this book that I would have permanently tattooed on my body, they move me beyond anything I've ever read before. It remains to this day the only book that I have read a review of, put the review down and left the house to buy a copy.

"Choice could be taken away, and then you became an object: but far from being dangerous that moment when choice disappeared was when danger also vanished, and there was nothing you could do but submit... For after all it was not ego or a conviction of your own importance that made life worth living but whether you could see how perfect the world had always been without you. It was not to despair at this though, not to run, not to fear, not to fight; it was if, instead of running or fighting, out of the overwhelming nearness of the world, your could finally make something that could be glimpsed from afar."

If you're actually interested I've written a full review of it: http://wackyonensf.blogspot.com/2009/06/oh-pure-and-radiant-heart.html

01. The Stand, by Steven King

 I make no secret of the fact that Steven King is my all time favorite author, and while I could have populated this list with several of his books (namely IT, The Eyes of the Dragon and 11/22/63), I chose instead to honor him with the number one spot. And while he does deserve it, and many of his books are phenomenal, none have ever come close to feeling more like home than The Stand.

In High School, the first time that we were allowed to pick the book we wanted to do a book report on was Junior Year American Lit. I picked the book my mom had just finished because of how much she creeped my out while talking about it. I was no stranger to Steven King by then, I'd already read Carrie, Salems Lot and several other "scary" books and The Stand was about the flu, so how scary could it be?

I have read that book more than 17 times in my life and I have always said, no one writes characters like Steven King does. Every time I read it is like coming home and seeing old friends. Going on the journey again, knowing that not all will make it out alive and trying to savor what they say. I have loved this book more than any other in my life. I have seen myself in several characters throughout the years and I cry at different parts each time. It's about the end of the world that I wished would happen as a boy who never fit in. And though I have lived a full and happy life, I have always secretly been waiting and keeping ready for the coughing to start and the end to begin.

Honorable Mention: 

To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life", by Herve Guibert

 This is the one of only two books that I have bought based on the title alone (the other is A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers). It was eye opening to read about what it was like being treated as an early AIDS patient and what the generation before mine had to endure. It was a hard and important lesson to learn and there was no better way than to read the last words of a dying man.

V for Vendetta, by Steve Moore

 Though I admit, my first exposure to this book was the release of the movie adaptation, I have since gone on to read the source book and have been profoundly moved by it. It captures a people that are completely controlled by their government and police(like we are), who live in fear of terrorists (like we do), who are placated by media and mass consumption (as we are) and yet somehow against all odds, rise up and unite as a people for what is right. It is the best example of both what we have become and what we need to save us in this country.  It is the kind of political art that I find most beautiful.