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15 Books That Not Everyone Will Love

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Here is a round-up of some of my favorite eccentric picks.

Now, looking at this list, you might ask, “Well, just how eccentric is a book like American Gods? It’s a gigantically popular, best-selling book.” By “eccentric,” I mean that these books aren’t for everyone. They suit my idiosyncratic tastes. Not everyone likes books that are fantasy-set-in-the-real-world. But I love it!

People often ask me to describe the books I recommend. I don’t like to do that, because weirdly I often find that when someone describes a book to me, I want to read it less. The best books often sound terrible. So I like to say, “Take it from me, this is a great book.”

 

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

2. Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

3. Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

4. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

5. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

6. J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: the Real Story Behind Peter Pan by Andrew Birkin

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

7. Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

8. Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Buy from IndieBound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

9. The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion by James Frazer

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

10. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

11. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

12. Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

13. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

14. Forty-one False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers by Janet Malcolm

Buy from WORD; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

15. The Official Preppy Handbook edited by Lisa Birnbach

Buy from Barnes & Noble; Amazon

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