When I think about what I like to read, my mind quickly shifts to my favorite authors. I have a hard time separating the stories I love from the people who wrote them. I want to know just as much about the author as the story. Books make me fall in love with authors; then I want to know everything about their lives – who they are, what they did, who influenced them.
I love to read semi-autobiographical fiction, especially when it provides an inside look into famous literary circles. I am particularly fond of Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir and anything by Anais Nin.
Sometimes I just want to escape into a good story. The most profound and moving book I have ever read is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I read this book at exactly the time in my life that I needed to hear what it had to say. I get more out of it each time I read it.
I used Saricks' Rule of Three to provide three words that best describe each of my top 5 favorite books:
1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (atmospheric, brooding, reflective)
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (leisurely paced, world-building, whimsical)
3. Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (character-driven, mystical, moving)
4. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (amusing, sardonic, thought-provoking)
5. Matilda by Roald Dahl (fast-paced, sad, quirky)
Although my reading tastes are varied, I think these books sum up my favorite genres: Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction. I love Kurt Vonnegut, especially, due to his ability to highlight the most devastating and absurd aspects of the human condition and find the humor in it. Same for Roald Dahl. His books are the reason I became a reader - pulling me in with the whimsy and impatient persona of Willy Wonka.
My reading list from 2020 was nothing to get excited about, so I vow to make better reading choices in 2021. So far, the books I most look forward to reading are:
1. The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
2. My Struggle: Book One by Karl Ove Knausgaard
3. Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
4. The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
5. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (re-read: I haven’t read this one since high school!)
6. I recently started collecting Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series which dedicates each volume to discussing one music album. These are short reads, but at 152 volumes, I will be reading them for a long time!
Saricks, J. (2009). At Leisure: The Rule of Three. Booklist, 106(3), 25.
