more about books I read: my top picks

Nonfiction first.

Ruth Reichl, Tender at the Bone

Her memoir was like a female straight David Sedaris who cooks instead of smokes. Well ok not quite that funny but pretty close. Plus, you know, recipes.

Howard Bloom, The Lucifer Principle

Psychology and sociology of "evil," hierarchies, and how power corrupts.

Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Terrence McKenna, Food of the Gods
Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Women

These three books are basically about evolution. The first two posit different theories about religion and the origin of consciousness, and the latter introduces the "aquatic ape" theory.

Walter F Otto, The Homeric Gods
Elizabeth Wayland Barber, When They Severed Earth from Sky

Two books that try to make sense of myths. The former puts Greek myth/religion into context, the latter shows that myths are most likely a coded form of oral history.

my favorite fiction in 2006

Aleister Crowley, Diary of a Drug Fiend

One of the earliest "drug memoirs." Fictionalized account of Crowley's life, retold in a magnificent Edwardian splendor of verbiage.

A.L. Kennedy, Paradise

A Scottish woman's story of her attempts to quit drinking. Hilarious if painful.

Dashiel Hammet, The Thin Man

Er, another book about an alcoholic. Classic story about a dectectin' couple who investigate a dysfunctional family's patriarch.

Eddie Little, Another Day in Paradise

This one is about junkie safecrackers, and is based on Eddie Little's adolescence. Brutal and poignant.

Rob Thomas, Rats Saw God

I did like a few books that didn't involve drinking or drugs. This one's about a young man's high school clique, his first love, and how it all falls apart. By the creator of Veronica Mars.

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

A morality play about a highly immoral man who nearly dies, and tries to find out who is responsible. His quest takes him throughout the solar system and beyond.

Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Cynical Russian fantasy about the devil coming to Moscow to meet the a woman and her lover, the author of a realistic novel about Jesus.

Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

Probably the "worst" of these, but one of my favorite vampire tales ever. A young girl follows her father in the hunt for Dracula, all over 60s Europe.

Tim Powers, Declare

One of the most creative explanations for Communist Russia ever.