Mel and I ride the bus to and from work every day and like most married couples have very little to say to each other so we spend our time with our faces stuck in a book, magazine or staring into space with the ipod on. I recently finished a couple of books and do not have anything on deck to read next. I need the Smith blog fans to help me pick a new book to read. I will give you some suggestions and hints as to what I like.
The most recent books I finished were:
Mergers and Acquisitions by Dana Vachon, a fictional account of a smarmy investment banker in NYC.
The Warren Buffet Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor by Robert Hagstrom.
The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson, a great collection of political stories from a man who drank whisky, did coke and shot guns while following politics for Rolling Stone.
Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayan Rand.
I know what you're thinking, "Capitalism, gambling and politics, that pretty much sums up Mark." I also enjoy higher tastes in literature. I thoroughly enjoy a little Camus thrown in with my Kerouac. (Yes, I am a pretentious prick.)
Here is a list of some of my favorite books and authors:
Anything by Hemingway. Papi's short stories are the best; read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, you can thank me later.
Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
Kerouac's On The Road.
Hayek's Road to Serfdom.
Poems by Robert Service.
Multiple other authors including, Dante Alighieri, Joseph Conrad, Frederic W. Farrar, Nick Hornby, C.S. Lewis, Bruce R. McConkie, David McCullough, Patrick F. McManus, Edgar Allan Poe, Jeremy Siegel, John Steinbeck, Henry David Thoreau and countless others.
I think the problem with literacy these days is that teachers assign the wrong books for kids to read. I want to slap most women with a British accent after reading anything by a Bronte and I would much rather read about Ralph and Piggy than Pip any day. So I am asking for your help in selecting the next book I read. Please leave comments with your recommendations. If I don't find something new to read then I will be forced to blog about this article, in which a 14 year old girl starts acting slutty because she is a fan of Sex and The City, luckily all ends well when she converts to Mormonism and moves to Utah; please do not make me publicly unload my thoughts on this, you've been warned.
