reading

2005 Recommendations:

Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan by John Loyd Stephens The diary of an anthropologist who discovers many of
the Mayan ruins we now saunter though as tourists in Mexico and Central America. In 1842 with famous illustrations
by Fredrick Catherwood, it's the second book of his travels in the region (you can see pictures of many of these
ruins- Tulum, Balancanche, Coba- on our Mexico page) the first being Incidents of Travel in Central America, the
Chiapas, and Yucatan, which covers other sites Ashleigh and I have been to like Tikal in Guatemala (and the latest
location for Survivor). This is actually a condensed edition of the original text that includes more modern
photographs to compare against the original drawings. A 19th century blockbuster, Poe called it "perhaps the best
travel book ever written".

Ceasar's Women by Colleen McCullough The 4th novel in her Masters of Rome series. She maintains her stature
as the best among historical fiction writers. For a good example of the subject matter, check out the HBO series,
Rome, which also takes place at the fall of the Republic. Other novels in the series: The First Man in Rome, The
Grass Crown, Fortune's Favorites.

The Face Of Battle by John Keegan Looks at three battles: Agencourt, Waterloo, and The Somme - all fought in
north-west Europe but centuries apart. He shows you what the average infantryman or cavalryman was facing when
he entered the kill zone. The structure is such that a traditional narrative of each battle is left to other authors.
Instead, Keegan pits the experiences of similar groups and subgoups of rank or weaponry against each other to
create a wonderfully subjective view of each situation. He pads the front and back of the battles with general
inquiries and opinions about the nature of men, war, and the evolution of each.

-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley More accessible than 1984 because of less doom and torture but still
powerfully wrought. In this future world God is "Ford" and the cross is the sign of the "T" - pretty funny stuff! Main
characters include Bernard Marx and Lenina, funny again, in a thinly veiled critique of communism and its social
engineering. Mr. Savage really ends up being the main character in the novel since Mr. Marx can't get up the courage
to challenge the status quo beyond simple rhetoric. I'm guessing the Buzzcocks' song title "everybody's happy
nowadays" is taken from the novel as well as the band name "the feelies", being named after the novel's equivalent
to the movies and the Strokes' song "Soma" seems loosely based on the drug that pacifies the population (though
there is a street drug today with that name too).

.-Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke Check this book out if you are still deluded enough to believe anything
anymore. Not because it is the truth, but because it can't not be.

-Less Than Zero This is either high school or hell.
-The Rules of Attraction This is either college or paradise.
-American Psycho Pure fiendish horror. The most physically provocative words I've ever read. I'll leave it at that -
let's just say my Genesis records now include the post-Gabriel (the gay) years out of sheer perversity. WARNING:
You will be given to alternating uncontrollable fits of laughter and vomiting if you are even half human and read this.
-The Informers A series of connected shorts. And yes, it is evil.
-Glamorama The much maligned 4th novel by Bret Easton Ellis is not all that bad. It is certainly the most ambitious
of his novels structurally, but also the least pure thematically - and the longest by far. That being said it's kind of a
fun premise: that a bunch of vapid magazine models would become a terrorist organization in Europe. The book
made me wonder if a bastard like Muhammed Atta is really just a nihilist with a messiah complex rather than a
fervent ideologist with a messiah complex. Maybe the text has more potential as a film (in the works?) where they
could explore the elements of subjective reality as in "The Stuntman" or "Naked Lunch"?. After all there is a film crew
shooting the main character's life as he 'plays his role' in the apathetic/explosive Script.
by Bret Easton Ellis
Check out BEEs website.at http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/eastonellis/(Thanks to Chris for the
recommendations.)

-Burmese Days by George Orwell This a rather sad bloke named Flory, who haplessly fiddles his way through the
morality of the empire in furthest outpost of British India - modern day Myanmar. Unlike 1984 or Animal Farm, this
story is light on allegory but it is quite heavy on humanism. Almost an inversion of the approach Hemmingway takes
to his travel stories, it is highly introspective writing and boasts a preternatural awareness of the inherent folly and
contradictions of imperialism.

-Deception Point
-The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown These are really fun books as you know.

-O Jerusalem! by Collins and Lapierre A book detailing the events that have resulted in today's Israeli-Palestinian
situation. It contains very impassioned renderings of the personal stories of many of the participants in this bitterly
unnecessary struggle. From the Jewish massacre of Palestinian civilians at Dier Yassen to the storming of the
Jaffa Gate, this book puts you there at the genesis of the modern conflict..

-The Temple of the Golden Pavillion by Yukio Mishima The story of this author's life is probably more dramatic than
any story he could imagine. This thoughtful book tells the story of a stuttering student of a Japanese temple who
comes of age through the violence in his imagination. Holden Caufield in rural early 20th century Japan.

-Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan: Good as it needs to be, actually even better than it needed to be.

-33 and a Third series: Love - Forever Changes, Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
If you know music really is just the sum of its parts then these will be of interest to you.

-The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas One to shelve next to The Brothers K and MD for sheer scope and
brilliance. Quite a convoluted story that from a prison break to the top of the world, the novel spurs the reader
through the most impossible of situations and leaves you feeling a gratification previously unimaginable by the
(long awaited) end..

-The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway Oh beautiful misery! The characters are more or less revolting but the
prose is perfect. Definitely an inspiration for Less Than Zero - just substitute alcohol for cocaine and bullfighting for
MTV "with the sound off".

-America: The Book by Jon Stewart & Co. Even better than a coffee table book about coffee tables!