site banner

Old Culture War Thread: Your good books list

Deleted
22
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Not a "favorite books" list, but here is what I have been thinking about or reading recently:

  • "Borges: Selected Non-Fictions" - fun, interesting, often hilarious essays

  • Will Wight's "Cradle" series - addictive xianxia-style popcorn fiction

  • Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - classic of libertarian scifi

  • Taiyō Matsumoto's "Ping Pong" - a sports manga. Good characters. Short.

  • Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" - mostly a collection of aphorisms, but the philosophy espoused is interesting. Also worked surprisingly well as a character study of the author.

  • Alexander Wales's "Worth the Candle" - a remarkably touching isekai

  • Augustine's "Confessions" - interesting both theologically and for the background setting of the 4th century Mediterranean.

  • Haruki Murakami's "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" - short stories, my enjoyment varied wildly, but good overall.

"Borges: Selected Non-Fictions"

I have a copy of Ficciones which permanently lives in my backseat, against being stuck anywhere with nothing to do. I can always read Borges again and find more.

Have any of the Borges essays stood out to you? I've had that on my bookshelf for years, but I didn't ever get into it like I do his short stories. (I've read straight through Ficciones several times...)

A few essays that I remember distinctly after flipping through again: The Homeric Versions (pg. 69), The Translators of The Thousand and one Nights (pg. 92), The Doctrine of Cycles (pg. 115), Pascal's Sphere (pg. 351), The Innocence of Layamon (pg. 357), Forms of a Legend (pg. 372).

I also remember greatly enjoying the literary biographies and book/film reviews. They gave me a lot to add to my reading list, at least!

All right, I'm going to dig back in when I get a minute! Thanks for the recommendations.