Top Ten Books
So what are my top ten books? That'll probably be good enough to compensate for the lack of any book reviews. If you want any more info just click on the links and you'll be transported to the wonderful world of Amazon.com, because the real world doesn't wait. Just remember to come back.



1. AMERICAN PSYCHO - Bret Easton Ellis.

If you put most of this novel into Word "Grammar Check" it'll tell you that his work can be read by seven year olds. And judging from the content of most reviewers of this controversial masterpiece it appears most people who reviewed it had the faculties of a seven year olds as well.

It's a deeply sarcastic, straight faced critique of America, capitalism, the Eighties, and just about everything else Western Civilisation touts as a virtue. What's the logical progression of cpitalism where everything can be bought or sold, where all human beings are consumers (and the consumed), and where feelings are something other people have but ultimately don't matter? Why, the logical progression of that is skinning a girl alive and eating her brain in a Urine Pie.

And to think some people thought this was literal and an accurate representation of the Author's mental state. Have they no concept of why it says "This is a work of fiction" inside the front cover?

It's simply and easily written. It deals in vast and innovative concepts that most writers don't have the guts to imagine, and conveys them accurately within a simple and accessable framework. It takes several disparate threads and combines them to create something shocking, vivid and as disgusting as it is moral. Don't believe the hype of the repressed intelligentsia - American Psycho is a articulate, original, and accessable novel that speaks obliquely but clearly about human nature, and where the human animal lost touch with its better nature.


2. THE ADDING MACHINE - William Burroughs.

Stripped of the linguistic gymnastics that made Burroughs' name here we see the man's important, innovative philosophy laid bare for all to see and digest. Essential for anyone who thinks that maybe, just maybe, the news don't tell us everything. If they allow the X-Files on TV, what don't they allow?


3. THE ROACHES HAVE NO KING - Daniel Evan Weiss.

Ever wondered what its like to be a cockroach? Ever tried to get someone to move out of their flat because they are intent on destroying your cockroach city in the loft? Ever tried to motivate millions of apathetic roaches to take over the apartment and force the humans out? Not any more. After reading this, you'll be glad that Sufur the jivetalking insect rules.


4. ANTHROPOLOGY - Dan Rhodes.

100 short stories, each of 100 words, each about his (ex-)girlfriend. Short. Sweet. Sad.


5. COLLECTED POEMS - Philip Larkin.

Words are so sad. The best poet ever to lay pen to paper.



6. THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS - C.S.Lewis


In which The Devil offers a handbook on how to tempt someone to the darker side of Human nature.


7. TIMES ARROW - Martin Amis

A life lived backwards, that can only be understood slowly. From the moment of death, through the concentration camps of Hitler's Germany, to the innocence of youth.


8. 253 - Geoff Ryman

253 passengers on a tube train, each given 253 words to tell their story, each heading for the same fate.


9.THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON - Norman Mailer

We've had the Gospel according to The Father, The Spirit, The Holy Ghost. And now Jesus puts the record straight. How would you feel if your Dad sacrificied you for the greater good of an ungrateful mankind?


10.FIGHT CLUB - Chuck Palahnuik

Rule 1. You do NOT talk about Fight Club
- posted by Mark @ 10:48 pm