Books, books, and more books

I have mentioned this before. I work in the community as a medical social worker so much of my day is spent out on the road on my own. Well, I love to read but I'm never able to read as much as I would like. But since I am driving around close to 2 hours a day I listen to audio books. That added to listening to them on walks, at the gym, or just around the home I have recently passed the 300th audio book mark. Here is about 10% of my favorites since the last time I bored people with this topic:

1. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess: The optimistic ending was too unbleievable for Americans to handle and it's orignal US publication was missing the final chapter.

2. American Gospel, Jon Meacham: Liberals can write about religion too and put religion, politics, and American history in perspective.

3. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand: Not sure if I like the whole everyone for themselves cut-throat approach to society but the story really stuck.

4. Beautiful Boy, David Sheff: Absolutely heartbreaking true story about a father havign to watch his son's drug addiction spiral out of control.

5. Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson: The most fascinating Founding Father, a genuinely funny man and larger-than-life character who was way ahead of his time.

6. Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy: The most violent book I have ever read, unforgettable, unpleasant but absolutely riveting; plus it has the Judge, one of the creepiest villains ever.

7. Cell, Stephen King: On a given day at a certain time a pulse goes over every cell phone in use and everyone that hears it turns into a zombie; I couldn't pick up my stupid phone for a week.

8. Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer: Nonfiction narrative that Foer wrote after the birth of his son examining his dietary habits and the ethics of eating animals when it is unnecessary.

9. Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour, Joseph Persico: More people died on the last day of WWI than on D-day in WWII but everyone knew the war was going to end at 11am!

10. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer: The terrifying true story of Krakauer's own trip up Mt. Everest that resulted in the deaths of several team members; left me gasping for air.

11. Justice, Dominick Dunne: I love true crime and Dunne is certainly captivating; he has so many inside stories of infamous criminal acts that it just sucks you in.

12. Luckiest Man, Johnathan Eig: Fr more than just a sport's story, it turned Lou Gehrig into a hero of mine, he was a wonderful example who lived a life I'd like to emulate.

13. Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frenkl: As a former Holocaust survivor Frenkl tried to make sense out of an insane world, so much knowledge is packed away in this slim text.

14. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden: Who would've thought a Jewish guy could write the life of a professional Japanese entertainer so well?

15. No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy: I know, this is my second McCarthy book but the musings by the downright evil Anton Chigurh are so eerie the book had to be included.

16. Odd Hours, Dean Koontz: Second best of the series next to the first book; surprisingly violent and actually pretty funny.

17. Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell; Any of his books are great; social science in an interesting and entertaining way, you definitely keep thinking about this one long after it is gone.

18. Q&A, Vikas Swarup: I never saw Slumdog Millionaire but the movie is based on this clever and fast paced novel, I have a hard time imagining the movie being better.

19. Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates: Despite the novel being 50 years old it remains sad, depressing, but poignant; it makes you want to appreciate what you have.

20. Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane: My favorite book by this author and from what I hear it is far better than the movie; it is such a twisted, messed up story that frys the brain.

21. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck: We like to cry a lot about our current economic problems but try the Great Depression, now that sucked; hard to believe that was America.

22. The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Frank Rich: As the Iraq War ages it is becoming more difficult to understand how the American public was suckered into entering this conflict, this book show us how we were fooled.

23. The Hard Way, Lee Child: My first Jack Reacher novel, I'm hesitant to fictional international espionage but this series reads more like an old-fashioned who-dunnit than anything else.

24. The Hour I First Believed, Wally Lamb: A fictional tale based around the Columbine murders; at first I don't think I liked it but it really stuck with me.

25. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright: The definitive text on how Americans and fundamentalist Muslims got so entangled; the story is a lot more complex than most Americans want to acknowledge.

26. The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria: He is quick to point out that it is not the end of America but the rise of the rest; as a nation we need to quit fighting the evolution.

27. To See Every Bird on Earth, Dan Koeppel: Ever wonder about bird-watching culture, well if you have this book is for you; bunch of nerds.

28. What Happened, Scott McLellan: Bush's White House spokesman speaks out and it ain't all pretty, can't blame the guy for being frustrated, he was totally used by the people he admired and trusted.

29. When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin-Laden, Bill Maher: Difficult guy to like but man, he makes so many good points regarding society, culture, and politics that are just hard to object.

30. No Way to Treat a First Lady, Christopher Buckley: I won't ruin it for you but in this satirical novel the president has died under mysterious circumstances but you'll never guess how.

Well, there they are, my recent favorites. If you're a reader check a couple of them out; after all, I'm right in regards to what is a good book and what is a bad one.