It's the time of year when everyone puts out their favorite books of the year or suggested holiday reading. KQED's Forum radio show just had their annual holiday books call-in show where readers plug their favorites. Here's this year's list. And here's the New York Time's best. I've already read a couple....can't wait to get my hands on some of these other ones!
- Beasts of No Nation: A Novel-- Uzodinma Iweala
- Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide--Maureen O'Dowd
- Istanbul--Orhan Pamuk
- Gilead-- Marilynne Robinson
- The Singularity is Near: What Happens when Humans Transcend Biology -- Ray Kurzweil
Books I've already read and would recommend
KAFKA ON THE SHORE-- By Haruki Murakami. Two characters alternate in this dreamish novel: a boy fleeing an Oedipal prophecy and a witless old man who can talk to cats.
NEVER LET ME GO-- By Kazuo Ishiguro. This bold novel imagines a school where clones are trained for a terrible destiny. Very different from novels like The Remains of the Day or the Unconsoled, but gripping.
ON BEAUTY--Zadie Smith. The author of ''White Teeth'' pounces on a place like Harvard in a cultural-politics comedy. Lots of similarity to Howard's End.
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