The rain is back! Time to throw caution to the wind and read.
A. This isn’t a book and you’ll have to go to this article to download it to your phone or computer, but this is an interesting and delightful read. From the article- A diary recording the experiences of a York woman during the Napoleonic Wars has been published, nearly 30 years after it was ‘accidentally’ discovered.
The diary of Jane Ewbank charts her interests in science, theater, concerts, and the natural world during the period, and was discovered accidentally in the National Library of Scotland by Dr. Jane Rendall, a former member of the Department of History at the University of York, now associated with the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies.
Number ONE! Into The Heart Of Borneo
Years ago now I was working at a tattoo shop with a huge Salvation Army around the corner. A couple times a week I’d wander over and look a the books. For the most part they were shit, but one fine winter day I came across an entire box of Vintage Departure titles. I might have read this one already, I can’t remember, but I urge you to check this out. Redmond, a gentle ornithologist, and his pal head into central Borneo looking for a bird everyone believes to be extinct. This real-life adventure of two pudgy Englishmen is heartwarming, fascinating, and crazy. You’ll love it. All the Vintage Departure books with this style of cover graphic are great. The imprint went downhill but you can use the covers to identify the titles from its golden age.
2. The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer
Sawyer has ‘glide’, a quality most often attributed to great musicians. Take a great idea and write it masterfully, voila, glide. He just gave me a cool blurb for I Shop At Laney’s, but you know what? This book deserves to be here anyway.
#3 Painting as a Pastime by Winston S. Churchill
This small book is beautiful and oddly inspiring. Be sure to get the Unicorn Publishing Group edition. Old books like this are being reprinted by super shitass hacks and a bummer copy is a bummer copy. Enjoy Winston rhapsodizing about the joy of art and kick back.
#4 In Search of Small Gods by Jim Harrison
I just love Jim Harrison and I bet you will too. His food writing is gold, his novellas are masterful, and his last two books featuring Detective Sunderson, well, those are great and they’re winter reads. In Search of Small Gods is, well, there are small gods inside this book. He found them. There is also poetry in this book, be warned, but it isn’t the bad kind. Harrison speaks clearly in these pages. There are birds here, short mountains, tall winds… Everything you need.
#5 A The Last Coin by James P. Blaylock
I LOVE THIS BOOK! I must have read The Last Coin a dozen times over the years, and for many years I generally gave away a copy or two over the holidays. You feel good after reading this. I’m not a Christian, so it isn’t that. Literary treasure, pick up a copy and enjoy!
#6 The Solarians by Norman Spinrad
You read Bug Jack Baron. Now it’s time to read… The Solarians! A contemporary of my old pal Robert Sheckley and just as strange, as visionary, as timeless. Check it out!
#7 Zodiac- The Eco Thriller by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash. The Cyrptonomicon. Those are the early Stephenson books you might recognize. Termination Shock, a newer work, is fantastic. But go back, if you will, to young, electric Neal. This is his second book and this is where the genius begins to show.
#8 The Ministry For The Future
This fine novel was one of my spring and book picks as well. I’m leaving it because it deserves to be read by everyone. The Science In The Capital Books cemented my great admiration for this visionary futurist. After you read those books you’ll have new and valuable insights into the politics of climate change, the utility of science, the interconnected nature of ecosystems and so much more. The Ministry For The Future is the most carefully researched, hopeful, and even beautiful work by this master of the craft.
"If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein
#9 Gone Bamboo by the great Anthony Bourdain
You know the late Anthony Bourdain from TV or Kitchen Confidential (a great read) but here is an early effort of his at a crime novel and it’s FUCKING GREAT! This guy could write. Check it out and see some of this magnificent man’s passion in a different context.
#10 The Entanglement by Alva Noë
Reading this, I doubt I’d like Alva if I met him. He strikes me as a pompous finger sniffer who went to fancy boy school and stuck around for the free toilet paper. BUT holy shit is this dude a thinker and this is a great read if you can get past the sticky veneer of academia. Give it a try! Even the mamma’s boys of the world have great ideas every once in a while.
#11 Nana’s Creole Italian Table
This food is close to my heart and I LOVE this book. Part memoir, all kitchen, this is my favorite style of food writing. These days, I spend a great deal of time cooking in the hallways of this culinary temple. Elizabeth Williams, we salute you. Check it out!
#12 All Ages by Mark Sten
Mark Sten is a Portland punk legend and one of the main dudes in my movie The Dishwasher. This guy is a fantastic storyteller and here he shines the light on a great time in this fine but fading city. Our big bookstore no doubt snubbed him, but if you find a copy of this book BUY IT. Portland was a music town once upon a time. That shit was FUN.
Lucky #13 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven! What a fine novel. This work has real flavor to it. Hugely human in the best way. I’m pleased to say that the HBO adaptation of this material is incredibly entertaining as well. Everything about this world, both the literary and it’s HBO offspring, is worth looking into.