A Few of my Favorite Books

The other day I was reorganizing a few of the shelves of my bookcases, and I realized that I really do have a varied and eclectic taste in literature. If you were to come and glance through my books you would see everything from The Art of War to A History of the American People to Memoirs of a Geisha to The Count of Monte Cristo and everything in between. I thought it would be fun to share my favorite books from some of these various genres, helping you cull the good from the bad - or worse - boring. I'll highlight two books per week, so it doesn't become too much to wade through :)

Let's begin at the top of my bookcase with something thick and heavy:

I am a HUGE history buff. i frequently go to the library and peruse the history section, picking out a book based purely on if it fills a void in my knowledge (or in this case lack thereof). Knowing that about me, one of my professors gave this book to me as a high school graduation present. It's not the lightest read by any means, but after completing it I came away with a full understanding of 14th century Europe's intrigues, plagues, wars and the role the Catholic church played in it all. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to understand that era more thoroughly. I for one know that before reading this book I had only a shadowy knowledge of what occurred during this time period.

On the next shelf, you will find this gem:

I have a weakness for spy thrillers, so of course espionage was initially what drew me to this fast paced book. The $3 price tag at the used book store sealed the deal. I was pleasantly surprised at what an enjoyable read this was. It's always nice to find a nonfiction book that's as hard to put down as a novel :) And who would have thought a history of submarines would be so interesting?! But don't make my mistake - excited to learn more I went and checked out 4 more books on submarines. All were dismally dull. Stick with this one, it's a winner.

This book also gets bonus points because I've read it twice (I hardly ever read a book more than once). That's how good it was :)