Gritty Crude Realism
This here is my favorite. Technically this genre just falls under literature and 'literature' usually means it is a book about life that doesn't necessarily have a thick plot. I could name a lot of classics like The Great Gatsby or Old Man and the Sea, which are fantastic reads, but I figure I'll keep this list modern.
Chump Change - Dan Fante
Dan Fante is my all time favorite writer. In the forum of literature, in my opinion this is how the apple fell... Hemingway was the first person to write with actual real dialogue. Hem wrote how people actually talked and what men actually thought. Then Bukowski came around and he took the realistic dialogue and then added some humor and self deprecating realism. Then Dan Fante came and he said I'll match your real dialogue and I'll match your self deprecating realism and I'll up you the most honest to god, gut wrenching, heart spilling feelings that you deserve. I'm not joking, Fante writes and you read and your thinking, jesus christ man how could you let the public into these feelings? Sorry for babbling, he's my favorite author and I send him emails and he responds so I like that. All his books are good but Chump Change is his first and I like reading things in order.
Charles Bukowski - Post Office
Alright yeah he's not modern, whatever. See above for why I like Bukowski so much. His real work is his poetry but his first novel hooked me with its humor and grit.
Film Noir
Dan Woodrell - Winters Bone
Woodrell's work has been classified as Southern Film Noir. Little known fact about me: I love the south. I'm infatuated with it. Woodrell lives in the deep south, he grew up there, he understands it. Even if you don't want to read this book go ahead and watch the movie. It's where I first fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence. All of his books are great. I suggest this one first because it had been adapted to a movie and that usually gets peoples attention.
Dennis LeHane - Darkness Take My Hand
LeHane is modern noir. Ever heard of the movies Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, or Shutter Island? Yeah, he wrote all those books. He is very good at what he does. I chose Darkness Take My Hand because it is the first of his series with the characters Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Be careful because if you read the first one you will have to read all of them.Funny Crime
Elmore Leonard - Any Book
Leonard is the originator of funny smooth talking criminals. If you like Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction then you will love all the criminals in Leonards books. Choose any, there are tons to chose from. Leonard wrote basically a book a year for four decades. Luckily he just passed away so it gives you a chance to catch up. Just joking, he was a legend and his death is sad as ever.
Tim Dorsey - Triggerfish Twist
Dorsey is one of many Leonard impressionists. Him and Carl Hiassen being the only ones of note. I read Triggerfish Twist the summer before freshman year of HS and remember it being hilarious. So either it is juvenile humor or it is actually hilarious, I'm choosing the latter.
Mystery
Grant Jerkins - A Simple Crime
I promise you you will read this book in a day or two. Quick moving, always changing, very good. His second book did not disappoint either.
Dan Fante - Point Doom
Like I said earlier, I love Fante. He is my favorite writer. His latest book was a mystery and it is not for the faint of heart. It is violent and graphic and in your face and straight gross at times. I loved it.
War
Stephen Ambrose - Band of Brothers
If you are interested in the day to day life of the infantry soldier in World War Two.
Tim O'Brien - The Things We Carried
If you are interested in the emotional effect the war has on soldiers.
John Steinbeck - When the moon is Full
If you are interested in the effect a war has on everyday townspeople
Autobiography
Billy Crystal - 700 Sundays
If you want to laugh your ass off then cry your eyes out within 200 pages this book is for you. I found it for a dollar at a used book sale and figured why not. Read it in a day and was moved on every page. I made all my family members read it and they felt the same way. A very easy and good read.
Artie Lange - Too Fat to Fish
Hilarious. Crude. In your face. Hilarious.
Poetry
Derrick Brown - Scandalabra
Brown is actually a spoken word poet. This is my favorite spoken poem by him. His poetry is romantic and wordy and beautiful. Full of thoughtful metaphors and feelings that you never realized you felt.
Raegan Butcher - Stone Hotel
This poetry is very different than Browns. Its simple. Many of you would even question if its poetry or if its just sentences broken up by hitting the enter button. The book chronicles Butchers time spent in prison. It reads very fast and gives great insight to life behind bars.
Young Adult
Jonah Black - Diary of a Teenage Stud
This is a four part series and when I say young adult I mean young adult. These are the very four books that made me fall in love with books and with writing because I read them when I was in eighth grade and I felt completely connected. I have reread them countless times since. You can literally finish a book a day easily. If you have a son or brother or friend that is a boy in middle school or early high school and they enjoy reading give them these books. Tell them I said so.
Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Might be the easiest book to read ever. The wording is so simple yet so thought provoking. This is the kind of book I wish I could write but I have never been depressed or molested or sad so there goes my chance at being a famous writer. In all honesty this book will move you.
Books Written by Me
Jimmy O'Brien - Alcohol & Adderall: my last days of college
Just joking. I have no copies left. You can't read it even if you wanted to.
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