Mike's Must Reads!

Mike's Must Reads

Since the time I started working at Barnes & Noble (about 3 yrs. ago) I wanted to participate in a staff recommendation. One of my managers recently revived the program (Thanks Shari!) and I am proud to present "Mike's Must Reads" - which will run all the way until the end of June.

I want you to know that I agonized over this list. So many books. So many things I wanted to say with my choices. My biggest regret, and one I hope to remedy in the future, is not having Rafi Zabor's "The Bear Comes Home". It was not (repeat - not) cut from the list, rather it simply slipped my mind. 

My list started at about 50 or so books. I had to chop the list down to 8. It was heartbreaking at times. Eventually I worked my way down to the 8 items you see in the picture at the top of the page. The items are as follows:

• 1. James Green's "Death in the Haymarket"
• 2. Pass the Pigs (game)
• 3. Samuel Delany's "Dhalgren"
• 4. Philip K. Dicks's "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch"
• 5. "Spit in the Ocean #7: All About Kesey" Edited by Ed McClanahan
• 6. C.D. Payne's "Youth in Revolt"
• 7. Ernest Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast"
• 8. Dale E Basye's "Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go"

I actually typed (on a typewriter) little blurbs for the 4 front facing books. I will leave these up for 2 weeks and then rotate the back 4 to the front and do the same for them.

The initial picture is blurry and doesn't give detail of the sign or the blurbs. I will shortly remedy this and repost. The blurriness can be attributed to excitement in the hands of the photographer - either myself or my wife Gina. 

As a fun exercise you should try putting yourself in my position. What 8 books would you pick and why? Believe me, it's not easy to winnow your list down to just 8. It is, however, a chance to cheerlead for books that have connected with you. What could be better than that?