10 Books

1. Cannery Row
   John Steinbeck
   The best first paragraph in any work of fiction yet. A possible exception would be the first paragraph of the next book...

2. Don Quixote
   Miguel Saavedra De Cervantes
   Truly Cervantes birthed the modern novel with this one. Read it in spanish so you can revel in the puns, double-entendres and total weirdness that english translations loses.

3. Leaves of Grass
   Walt Whitman
   Who hasn't read and reread this?

4. The Necessity for Ruins
   John Brinkerhof Jackson
   Seminal text on landscape studies. This is the guy.

5. If Beale Street Could Talk
   James Baldwin
   The harlem renaissance was a mighty fine time for writing. This book is sweet.

6. Cane
   Jean Toomer
   Harlem renaissance yes. Sensuous innovation in language. This book belongs to its own genre.

7. Coming Home to Eat
   gary paul nabhan
   Seed nerd decides to only eat food he can grow or trade or forage in the arizona desert. Road kill becomes dinner often.

8. Stalking the Wild Asparagus
   Euell Gibbons
   Eagle scout turns nutty forager extraordinaire and prosletizer of wilds foods. Recipies included.

9. On the Beach
   Nevor Shute
   A haunting reality check - recommended for politicians especially.

10. The Cheese Primer
    Steven Jenkins
    The bible for cheese whores.

- Nance Klehm