Saturday, January 16, 2010

Works of Genius

Last night I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. (Whom I loved at first read.) This book was a delight from beginning to end. I was so often looking up from it to tell Mrs. Chaka what I had just read that I might as well have read the whole thing aloud to her.

After finishing it, I realized that I've read quite a few spectacular books recently. The following are my recent reads that I do not hesitate to call Works of Genius (the star means it was a re-read):

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Planet Narnia by Michael Ward
*Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
*The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
*The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Recently read books that I'd place just shy of genius include:

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
Word Myths by David Wilton
The Natural History of Unicorns by Chris Lavers
Becket by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

2 comments:

FarmerLenny said...

I've wanted to read that book since I read his article in the NYT. I should get it from the library.

I have Planet Narnia on ILL right now. I'm pretty stoked about it.

Pirate Jimmy said...

I've just started the Aubrey/Maturin series of books, upon which the movie Master and Commander is based, by Patrick O'Brian. So far it's good. Not many pirates though.