Recently I had the "Tell me the top ten books you've read so far" conversation. People, when they hear of this project, frequently want me to give them my thoughts on the ones they should definitely read as sort of a shortcut on the project. I can't say this enough: Please do not take my recommendations. They will not make you happy.
Here are my top picks, though, with a little description:
God of Small Things (this is a very violent book about an absolutely horrific event that ruins many lives, as well as a history of incredible cruelty and abuse among family members).
The Light of Day (this is a wrenching book about the ways cruelty drives violence, the fall out of violence, and the question about whether we can ever come back from the ultimate act of violence and still be human).
Beloved (this is a devastating book, also about the ways that violence begets violence, focusing on one of the most horrific forms of systematic exploitation/violence ever devised, and showing how coping mechanisms, for lack of a better description, can become so warped from this violence that they lead to their own devastating ends).
Cloud Atlas (this one is slightly less horrific than some on this list, but it is mostly about the ways that we exploit each other for our own ends, how we privilege our own needs over others, and how casual cruelty can lead to horrific exploitation).
Fugitive Pieces (this one uses another one of the most horrific acts of systematic violence to explore the question of what makes life worth living, what makes surviving possible, in the face of absolute and total loss).
Hallucinating Foucault (this one is also interested in the question of what remains when we have lost all we thought ever mattered to us; how do we go on existing in the face of such complete loss).
Saturday (this one explores the ways that random violence and hate can bring lives to the brink of devastation).
Now, then, please stop asking me to recommend books; you don't really want me to!
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