The Favorite Books of Laura Shea

This was my first introduction to Vonnegut in high school and remains one of my favorite books. Cat's Cradle follows the narrator's quest to write a book about what people were doing during the Hiroshima bombing, including the interesting people and ideas he discovers along the way.

It's science fiction, political (and religious) satire and philosophy all squished together with some humor. My favorite part is the religion of Bokonism. This is a book to read over and over. Enjoy!

I know Spiegelman is a controversial figure, but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that the story of his family's experience in the Holocaust is absolutely the most moving and... I dunno... surprising perspective I've ever read. In my opinion, most graphic novels (especially ones like "Persepolis," that seek to tell a story that is both true and horrible) owe something to Art.

I reread this book on the beach last summer and felt as enthralled by it as the first time round. There are different views on this book, ranging from "It nearly finished me. It was like having an illness" (Robert Louis Stevenson, in admiration) to Peter Kemp of the Sunday Times, who dismisses the book as so much hysteria and hallucination. I loved it again, especially the mood swings and the writer’s craft to evoke these fantastic scenes of poverty and degeneration in St. Petersburg, and uses these as the background for a fantastic literary detective story.

I've never read this book but I've read Leon Uris' Mila 18 which is a fictional telling of a similar story. Based on how excellent that book was, and how much I trust Laura's taste in books, consider this one added to my "must-read" list.

I'm a huge fan of John Irving books and have read them all. "A Prayer for Owen Meany" is his best. From the first sentence, you're pulled into a classic, strange, bizarre story that is completely endearing.

The first paragraph alone is enough to hook you. Throughout this book you'll laugh, you'll cry, and (in my case) I finished reading it with a heavy heart. You feel as if the characters you're reading about are your closest friends or family, it's almost as if you were in the war with them. That's the trait of a great novel: to feel as if you are part of the story, sharing their lives. Read this, you'll love it.