Books, Part One

One of my facebook friends re-circulated that "Books you should read before you die" list my way again recently. I'd seen it before, and frankly, it annoys me. Why should I bother checking boxes next to book titles that someone else says I should read? How do my friends get to know anything about me from that? Or, perhaps more importantly, how do they get any idea of what books I actually liked? I'm sure that the person or people who compiled that list meant well, but that list for for them; not for me. So, as I attempt to start blogging more consistantly again I'm going to give you the run down of my Top 10 books of all time. They're not listed in any particular order. And in order to keep specific authors from monopolizing the list, I also limited myself to one book per author, and tried to choose the work that most represents what I love about his or her work. I also tried to only list the books that are comfortable old friends. The books that I come back to and re-read only to discover new and exciting things each time I pick them up. I've read all of these books many times, and I recommend them all highly to anyone who will stand still long enough for me to gush about them. Consider yourself warned. If you ask me about any of these books in person, get comfortable and get ready for me to talk your ear off.


So here's the first one; and since this is a "Top 10" we'll observe the convention and number from ten backwards. Even though the "ranking" varies with my mood, the season, or the direction of the wind.


Number Ten: Like People in History by Felice Picano

I (and many others) have frequently described this book as the "Gay Gone with the Wind". It tracks the life of it's protagonist (Roger) through several decades, cities, friends, and lovers. It's beautiful, it's poetic, and it makes me cry every time I read it. Just as Gone With the Wind covers the changing times in the South during and after the Civil War through the viewpoint of one person, Like People in History does the same thing with the gay rights movement and AIDS epidemic. It manages to be very personal, yet kind of epic in scope all at the same time.

The rest of the list will follow soon . . .