My Favorite Books

Reading takes me to other places and other times. A great novel creates vivid images in my mind that stick with me for decades. That means that my favorite books are those that remind me of places that I love. I rarely revisit books. There is just too much that I have yet to read to go back and read something again. The exceptions are those that mean the most.

My favorite book is Herman Wouk’s Don’t Stop the Carnival. After twelve years in Belize and six years in the Virgin Islands, the novel could be my autobiography. It has everything: love, escapism, a midlife crisis, chaos, the illusion of control, sex, danger, the lure of the tropics, a clash of cultures, satire, ambition, and the comedy and tragedy of human folly. It might be the perfect antidote for someone who has listened to too many Jimmy Buffett albums. On the other hand, it could also be an instruction manual for building the life of your dreams.

Austin is my other home. For fifty years, people have said, “Austin was better twenty years ago.” Reading Billy Lee Brammer’s The Gay Place might cause you to agree with that sentiment. To me, the book describes an Austin that still exists at some level while creating a longing for a place that has been lost among the high-rise buildings and the tech bros.  On the surface, this is a novel about a certain kind of politics that was practiced in a certain time and place. I think it is a book about Texas and the almost mythological characters that made it great (see Arthur “God Damn” Fenstemaker). I give it to anyone who moves to the city, in the hope that they will appreciate the history and recognize the spirit of the place.

Honorable mention goes to A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Set in another of my favorite places, New Orleans, this book skewers just about every social group and institution in the city with biting satire delivered through the words and deeds of total misfit, Ignatius J. Reilly. Every character in the book is flawed, yet easy to love. While Ignatius is the novel’s antihero, the central character of the book is the city of New Orleans in all its gritty, grimy decadence and chaotic contradictions. Unlike Austin, it remains easily recognizable to readers of this classic. Enjoy it and then take a walking tour of the Quarter.

I’m always on the lookout for the next great book to add to this list. Please send me your suggestions.