| Happy Sunday, everyone. Someone asked me about my top reads this year. I'm not a big non-fiction guy. After all, I read so much non-fiction (or fiction masquerading as non-fiction, if you know what I mean) for my research and writing that the last thing I often want to do is sit down with one and read for pleasure. Also, I find that a lot of non-fiction books, especially the self-help or self-improvement or business genres, can be summarized in a good 3000-word blog post. So I am a fiction guy. So what have I been reading? Before I begin: while I will analyze the hell out of the scientific literature, I'm not going to write an essay about the novel I'm enjoying. I once took a literature class in college that turned me off reading for pleasure for about two years because I spent the entire semester writing essays where I had to contrive some thematic analysis or come up with some parallel to contemporary society. We couldn't just read a novel because it was beautiful art or a great story. It had to "mean something." So while I know some people seem to enjoy that kind of thing, I do not. Currently deep into Ken Follett's Century Trilogy, historical fiction which follows the same five families—American, Russian, German, English, and Welsh—through the biggest events of the 20th century. These families navigate World Wars, civil wars, atomic bombs, civil rights, political intrigue, international relations, and deep sociopolitical shifts from an interesting vantage point. They're on the periphery, but still closer than the average person would have been to the machinations of power. Makes for a really fascinating look at history. If you haven't read it, Follett's Kingsbridge series is one of my favorite reads of all time. I did a re-read of Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (who usually does travel writing but I think his fiction is excellent), one of my favorite books of all time. I identify so closely with the protagonist that I use his eventually going mad as a barometer for where I am in my outrage at who we’ve become as a society. Gotta say I'm feeling pretty close to old Allie Fox.
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I also did a re-read of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. Most people know Kesey for One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest, which is fantastic (the movie's great too), but Sometimes is my favorite from him. For my money, it's the quintessential Great American Novel, depicting the prototypical, ideal (in my view) American family: rugged, individualist, stubborn, perhaps to a fault, but "never giving an inch." I've also read a fair number of throwaway novels, quick "airport reads" that are fun and thrilling but don't linger on the palate. It might sound terrible, but these are books I usually just give away once I'm done. I'll even tuck them behind airplane seats or leave them at the terminals, or on park benches or on the beach, figuring someone will pick it up and have a nice four or five hours with it. Why not? What about you guys? What have you been reading for fun? Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy. | 
