It goes without saying that Powell's employees like to read, right? To complement our annual Puddly Awards, we asked our staff members to tell us "the best book they read last year," regardless of its original publication date. Appropriate to a first list of a new millennium, top on our list is an apocalypctic, destroy-all-ties-to-convention kind of novel. If that's not your style, though, don't worry – there are all sorts of titles here. We are, after all, a diverse and sometimes contradictory bunch.
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VOTESPalahniuk's style is lean and mean. I loved David Fincher's film, but the book (as is almost always the case) was even better. I read it in one day, practically in one sitting, and came away with one of the goofiest grins ever to seize my lips. Anarchy and insanity should always be this much fun!
Recommended by Chris
2 Harry Potter (series) by J. K. Rowling
The most recent British invasion – Harrypottermania – is in full force. These books about a young boy studying to be a wizard fall squarely in the British imaginative tradition of Lewis Carrol, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkein, and Roald Dahl: wonderfully suitable for children, but so intelligent and funny that Susie will have a hard time stealing her book back from Mom.
Recommended by Monica3 The Wind up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
In Japan, Haruki Murakami is a bestselling novelist and has long been considered one of the best writers of his generation. With this book, his reputation has finally begun to catch up in the West. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a mesmerizing, brilliantly-crafted portrait of 20th-century Japan, revealing a dark Japanese soul that treads just under lacquered perfection. And though this novel is very much about conditions in Japan since the War, it translates uncannily well to a Western audience. Not only is it steeped in American pop culture, combining a Beatles soundtrack with the best of hard-boiled noir fiction, but the symbolism is so direct and powerful, Murakami more than translates well across cultures, he communicates beneath it. An absolute original.
Recommended by Steve4 The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
This feminist approach to colonial politics and fifties evangelism, told through the voices of distinct female characters, is a departure from Kingsolver's earlier fiction – much denser and darker. Its historical and political material also makes it an interesting hyper-modern comparison for Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, and Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Recommended by Mimi5 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Are you a single male between the ages of 24 and 32? Have you been listening to the same classic rock albums since you were twelve? Do you find yourself compulsively compiling lists of all your favorite things: five favorite angry songs, five favorite bedtime albums, five favorite episodes of The Simpsons? Are you afraid of commitment? Nick Hornby has been reading your mind. And he's written a great story to prove it. "Keep this book away from your girlfriend," one critic wrote, "it contains too many of your secrets to let it fall into the wrong hands." Yes.
Recommended by Dave6 We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
I urge everyone to read this book. The cover shows a picture of serenity, a scene from the beach of Lake Kivu in Rwanda. The landscape is devoid of human beings and an empty chair sits on the sand. The title in red stands out starkly from this backdrop. The juxtaposition of beauty and brutality is a perfect introduction to this volume. As Robert Stone says, "Like the greatest war reporters, he [Gourevitch] raises the human banner in hell's mouth, the insignia of common sense, of quiet moral authority, of blessed humor." The message from this book is amazingly hopeful. Having a rough day? Read this book and be reminded of the worst and best that humans do to each other.
Recommended by Miriam7 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I finally got around to reading Nabokov's Lolita last year. Now I'm mad at myself for waiting so long. It's one of those "classic books" that actually lives up to its considerable reputation.
Recommended by Ron8 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
This book has undoubtedly reached so wide an audience because it appeals to such diverse reading tastes. For those who read fiction, Memoirs of a Geisha provides a complex, human story full of emotion and drama. For nonfiction readers, this is one of the best explorations of Japanese culture and history available.
Recommended by Sarah9 Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Think of narrative talent like Raymond Chandler, Haruki Murakami, Tennessee Williams, and Truman Capote, then ratchet it up a few notches. Lionel "Freakshow" Essrog, a would-be detective with Tourettes syndrome, spins the narrative while tracking down his boss's killer. The dialogue dances lightly across the page and Lethem gets inside Lionel's disorder so completely it makes you feel first uncomfortable and irritated, but ultimately sympathetic. Lionel's disquieting mind will get inside your head, but in a good way.
Recommended by Harlan10 Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Kent Haruf's favorite writers are Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. He's learned his lessons well and in Plainsong created something wholly original and beautiful, an unadorned melody that finds voice in the arid Colorado landscape. This is a novel full of the quiet dignity and unsentimental virtues one tends to naturally associate with the American West. The characters are so wholly alive and so wholly loveable they become a part of you.
Recommended by Fidel
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Slaughterhouse-Five: Or the Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death
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Into Thin Air: a Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
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The Alphabet vs. the Goddess: the conflict between word and image
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William Least Heat Moon 42
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Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
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Read an original essay by Simon Winchester and save 30% on The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom.
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