doc benway

What are your favorite novels?

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I'm a voracious reader. My tastes jump around quite a bit. For years I read nothing but philosophy and spiritual stuff. Lately, I've had my fill of that and I've been reading fiction. Here are a few of my recent and remote favorites:

 

Blindness - Jose Saramago Amazing allegory about the fragility of human society. Amazing.

Geek Love - Katherine Dunn Surreal story about a carnival family that intentionally creates sideshow freaks

In the Woods - Tana French Very poetic and unique crime thriller

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami Brilliant story, beyond description, very metaphysical

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Classic and epic

Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs Beyond words....

Himalayan Dhaba - Craig Joseph Danner Young and naive American doctor trying to survive at a clinic high in the Himalayas, very cool!

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Hilarious!

The Bone People - Keri Hulme A Maori artist befriends a young white boy and his father

His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman 

The Road - Cormac McCarthy 

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides Touching and haunting portrait of a hermaphrodite

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie No one has a better command of the English language than Rushdie

Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS - Jeremy Leven Over the top!

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova Fascinating historical and fictional exploration of Dracula's myth and reality

 

Feel free to add any comments and your recommendations, I'm always looking for good new stuff to read.

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Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley -- this novel is full of spiritual insights and concepts that will astound the seekers of truth. I read this novel years ago and didn't notice the spiritual tidbits until after I started my practice. Now I read it a second time and is surprised at how much the author knew.

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I love fiction :D

 

Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm

 

a book that profoundly affected me. The story of the homeless in a big city and one man, a wizard who to keep his magic must not have more than a dollar in his pocket at a time, there can be no women, and he must feed and protect the pigeons. And except for one instance it's hard to know if the magic in it is real or the delusions of a bum.

 

Read the linked review review if you dare because it's a book that, like the man, has mastered the art of blending in and getting lost. I recommend buying it at ANY price

 

p.s. yes the ending is sad and I LOVED it. Actually I'm going to try to dig this one out of a bookshelf now, would have been at least 15 years since I read it, before I knew much about Taoism. Don't you hate it when you don't clean up very often and can remember EXACTLY where something is. I can see it now siting on the table under a pile of stuff. But you have moved house since then :(

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Harry Dresden books are excellent fun, good magic :)

 

I found a used copy of Wizard of the Pigeons - I'll let you know what I think.

I read the first Harry Dresden book and liked it reasonably well (just a bit corny maybe).

I do plan to read more of those.

I'm reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo right now - very entertaining so far.

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Did you enjoy Wizard? I eventually unearthed my copy, it was a good as I remembered.

 

A book of choices :)

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I'm reading that new Dan Brown Book, The Lost Symbol.

 

I like how Dan is heading for the heart of things after his miserable dickless Fail with Angels and Demons. The story starts with a wealthy billionaire Noble Socialite (who can only be a Rockefeller) and heads straight into quality mysticism. So far it's damn good.

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Some of my favourites: 

 

1984 by George Orwell

The republic by Plato

War and Piece by Tolstoy

A confederacy of dunces by Toole

Edited by Kojiro

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A few recent favorites - 

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Kindred by Octavia Butler

 

 

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Fyodor Dostoyevsky's ' Crime and Punishment' , considered by some to be the greatest novel of all time.

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now after recently finishing I should definitely add Blood Meridian, by McCarthy, of course :)

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