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Educate and Entertain
I like all kinds of books but like any reader, I have my own standards to pick what I call "the best" - i.e., what I like the best. One way to define that further is to call it a combination of style and substance.
Currently reading
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
Perdido Street Station
The Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again
Black Brillion
Lake of the Long Sun
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
The Etched City
Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life
The Presence
Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy
A great writer brings that great combination - objectivity and humanity - to bear in a setting of what might otherwise be indescribable suffering - Naples in 1944 when newly occupied by the Allied forces. Whether describing the thousands of impoverished citizens scouring the fields for anything edible, or the nuances of corruption in interviews he was tasked to carry out for British Intelligence, the scene and its unfortunate participants come to vivid life. At the end of this tale of resilience and survival under conditions akin to the Dark Ages, Lewis offers the surprising confession that should he be born again, he would choose being Italian.
