The following are the lists I have for books I like, and the topic I've shoehorned them into (all are subject to change, as I surely will) (sorry for the short descriptions, just lost all my work 😡)
A Brief History of 7 Killings. Great epic on Jamaica, the attempted assassination of Bob Marley (when he aimed for some peace) and the CIA interference to make sure poor people didn't get a penny fucking more.
Human Acts. Korean epic. Told succinctly. About the massacre of students in the 80s and the following trauma on people and society.
Abyssinian Chronicles. Ugandan epic. The war of attrition between nations, peoples, families, and within families as well. Loved it.
Go tell it on the Mountain. Book that introduced me to Baldwin. Brilliant.
Secret Agent. Just a brilliant novel for the spy genre. Only kind worth reading, IMO.
At the Bottom of the River. Great short story collection by Kincaid.
A Treatise on Shelling Beans. Polish epic. Probably doesn't get enough credit for how good it is. Could be said that it doesn't peer deeply enough into Polish issues (that dark part) enough, but it works.
A Small Place. Non fiction but I don't think I've read something this great in a long time.
Honorable Mentions:
Flights. Solid and I like the style and what it covers but not the depth of it.
Black Leopard Red Wolf. Good fantasy that's up my alley since it doesn't have the tropes of "normal" fantasy. Will have to read the next ones to see if it makes the all time list...
Top 5 Science Fiction books of all time. From this list I (still) highly recommend Slaughterhouse 5. The other ones, like 1984, well you should read that one since it's alluded to all the time, but I don't know if I feel as strongly about them any more.
Top 5 International Novels. Man have many of these fallen by the wayside. Mother Night might still stand my personal test of time? The rest, like 2666 have long since fallen by the wayside. Maybe I should add the books from above. Brief history of 7 killings being one.
Top 11 Rebellion Books. A few more here have withstood the test of time. Weep Not Child for sure. Under Western Eyes still had some prescience to it. Half of Yellow Sun still hangs in there while rest really don't cut it, tbf. Black Leopard Red Wolf now makes the mark.
Best Books of the 20th Century.
Best Books of the 21st Century (so far).
Top 5 Science Fiction books of all time. From this list I (still) highly recommend Slaughterhouse 5. The other ones, like 1984, well you should read that one since it's alluded to all the time, but I don't know if I feel as strongly about them any more.
Top 5 International Novels. Man have many of these fallen by the wayside. Mother Night might still stand my personal test of time? The rest, like 2666 have long since fallen by the wayside. Maybe I should add the books from above. Brief history of 7 killings being one.
Top 11 Rebellion Books. A few more here have withstood the test of time. Weep Not Child for sure. Under Western Eyes still had some prescience to it. Half of Yellow Sun still hangs in there while rest really don't cut it, tbf. Black Leopard Red Wolf now makes the mark.
Best Books of the 20th Century.
Best Books of the 21st Century (so far).
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