Favorite Books

March marks a year for me in Morocco and a years worth of completed books. With little entertainment and lots of time on my hands, I was able to check a lot off the list. My parents sent over 30 lbs of classics I had stashed away pre-departure in August and they’ll be bringing more this Summer- after my brother collects on a list of Dover Thrifts.

In country, our library is fairly vast when combined with the regional swap shop we’ve established, and Graham has a nice library if you exclude his Tom Clancy and Co. grocery store collection. Also, books are collateral here; “I’ll trade you my ‘Crime and Punishment’ for ‘Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ (which was excellent) and that Bill Bryson book.”

That said, here’s the top five books I’ve read in the last year.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
I read this before later reading her pulitizer prize winning “Interperter of Maladies.” I thought this was a better book and showcases the talent of Indian writers (like V.S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Rohinton Mistry, etc) when writing about issues like imigration, colonialism, diversity, and religion.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
This book came to me with a brown paper book jacket hiding the title and name. It’s unlikely that anyone near me would now recognize the author or his infamous book, which earned him a fatwa from Ayotollah Khomeini in 1989, but was rescinded several years ago. In all, Rushdie is a brilliant writer. His writing, which has been referred to as pidgin English, combined with his understanding of multiculturalism, makes for great lyrical prose.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
A pulitizer prize winning novel about a transsexual’s upbringing.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Always a recognized book for me with its cover design of Atlas, this book really peaked my interest when I saw this top 100 list of novels comparing books chosen by a publishers board with those of its readers. While Ayn Rand dominated the reader’s list, she wasn’t mentioned in the boards list. Probably less of a snub, more an egotists exaggeration, its still an excellent read for understanding the philosophy of objectivism, a religion onto itself.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
A great satirical novel about the Devil visiting Moscow in the 30s. Also, an indictment of Stalinist Russia. However, it ranks below my favorites from fellow countrymen Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov written the century before.