Nov
05
2009
More of Tomorrow’s Classics: Books
Posted by: Chris Heller in Leisure, Vox Populi, tags: Books, More of Tomorrow's Classics
The Voice is looking back at the best of the decade in Tomorrow’s Classics. To celebrate the end of the decade, Vox is getting in on the fun too! This week, the best of the written word, broken down by genre.
Short Essays
- Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays (David Foster Wallace): If you’ve never read a book written by David Foster Wallace, start with Consider the Lobster. He writes about, among other things, a pornographic awards show, John McCain’s 2000 Presidential campaign, and the moral implications of eating a lobster. Consider the Lobster may be a collection of recycled essays, but it’s still better than everything else out there.
- Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)
- Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)
- A Man Without a Country (Kurt Vonnegut)
- Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (Chuck Klosterman)
Non-fiction
- The Looming Tower (Lawrence Wright): When historians try to write about September 11, 2001, The Looming Tower will be their first source of information. But a dry read, this book is not. Lawrence Wright crafts an incredibly engaging, detailed narrative about Osama bin Laden’s and al Qaeda’s plans that led up to the attacks. The Looming Tower explains not just what happened on September 11th, but how and why it happened.
- The Forever War (Dexter Filkins)
- Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (David Eggers)
- Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser)
- John Adams (David McCullough)
Comics
- Y: The Last Man (Brian K. Naughan / Pia Guerra): A man and his monkey traveling around the world with a government spy? Fuck and yes. Y: The Last Man confronts the implications of an event called Le Grand Départ, when every man on Earth dies simultaneously—short a amateur magician man named Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand. The sixty issue graphic novel is impressive in scope, but it’s also filled with snappy dialogue that will make you laugh.
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore / Kevin O’Neill)
- Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (Chris Ware)
- Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
- 100 Bullets (Brian Azzarello / Eduardo Risso)
- All Star Superman (Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely)
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (Michael Lewis): Disappointed that the World Series is over? Read Moneyball to get through the long off-season. Michael Lewis’s look at the Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, and his sabermetric approach to building an MLB roster is great not because its controversial, but because its incredibly well-written. Just don’t let Joe Morgan catch you reading it.
- Seven Seconds or Less (Jack McCallum)
- A Few Seconds of Panic (Stefan Fatsis)
- Seabiscuit: An American Legend (Laura Hillenbrand)
- Boys Will Be Boys (Jeff Pearlman)
Did we miss something mindbogglingly obvious? Do you think we might be illiterate? Do you want to bludgeon us for including Malcolm Gladwell? Let us know what you think of our choices in the comments!
Photo from Flickr user austinevan, used under a Creative Commons license.
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Minbogglingly obvious: a fiction category?
In the paper, hun.
Another David Sedaris-like book of essays is I SHUDDER by Paul Rudnick. Give it a try. I also strongly recommend David Foster Wallace’s ANOTHER SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN — a wonderful book of essays: wit and an incredible vocabulary.
I’m glad you recommended Consider the Lobster. Wallace was the greatest American writer alive until last year, even though he perpetually struggled with doubt and his work was always relegated to the avant-garde niche. Most of his work–especially his non-fiction–is totally accessible and his prose is clear as day.
@ Claire
I love A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. That would have been my choice for best lit of the decade if it was, in fact, from the 00s (1997, unfortunately).
@ Andrew H
Tell me about it. Nothing about him is dense, yet he’s still incredibly high-minded. It’s why I think he’s such an excellent example of contemporary work.