While you can find various books that I enjoy and recommend from the blog and reviews on the site, searching through all of that can be rather daunting. This page will be an up to date list of my favorite books to read and to recommend by genre. This may also include books I don't yet have a database or blog entry on, but still want to share with others. If you've found that you've read all the books listed in a genre, the rest of the site may be for you!
East of Eden
Steinbeck receives a lot of attention for Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, but this is by far my favorite. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves from most readers I talk with, but I think anyone who is a fan of fiction will absolutely love this book.
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings
There are no short stories like Borges short stories. While Labyrinths is the collection I am the most familiar with, I don't see how you could go wrong with anything by Borges. His ability to turn an idea on its head, and then explore it in depth in only a few pages is phenomenal.
Kafka on the Shore
Of all the books I've read by Murakami, Kafka on the Shore is the perfect combination of pacing, plot, and Murakami's signature surrealism. It's not as deep as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but it moves faster and is shorter, making it overall a better introduction to his work. It is worth noting that there is some graphic sexual content in most of Murakami's books, this one included, so don't read him if you would be bothered by that.
Moby-Dick
There are countless good things I could say about Moby-Dick, but above all the ending of this book is perhaps the most impressive. Melville creates so much tension and executes on it so perfectly that you must simply experience it for yourself.