The Master and Margarita ~ Mikhail Bulgakov
In the Moscow of the 1930s, no one believes in God anymore. They don’t believe in Satan either which is convenient for him because he’s decided to pay a visit. Mayhem and havoc ensues. This novel, unable to be published in his lifetime, works perfectly as both a great story and as a commentary on the times that Bulgakov was living in.

The Stars, My Destination ~ Alfred Bester
Nobody expected Gully Foyle, an uneducated, uncouth nobody to survive when his ship was destroyed and abandoned in space. But survive he did, and now he’s out for revenge. How he manages to make the world pay for the sins committed against him is the story in this novel which was written in 1956, but feels much, much more current.

Ham on Rye ~ Charles Bukowski
This is a beautifully honest semi-autobiographical novel written by one of my favourite writers. In it, he tells the story of Henry Chianski, growing up alienated and set apart in California during the depression. Told with a frank honesty that at times is almost too frank, Bukowski’s writing style is to-the-point while managing to be almost elegantly shy at the same time.

The Shock Doctrine ~ Naomi Klein
Much has been written about human rights abuses in the name of politics or government, but very little has been written about abuse in the name of Economics. The Shock Doctrine is a stunningly scary book about how extreme laissez-faire economics, privatisation and global economics have been used as a weapon on populations already vulnerable to exploitation due to war, terrorist attacks or major national disasters. Last time, Naomi Klein took on the corporate bullies in No Logo. Now she’s going after capitalism itself.

Blood Meridian ~ Cormac McCarthy
This is a tale of blood and war and senseless violence. Told from the point of view of an anonymous fourteen-year-old runaway who ends up with a gang of professional scalp hunters who proceed to kill and rape their way across much of Texas and Mexico. Central to the story is a character by the name of Judge Holden, tall hairless and menacing, everything he touches is tainted. This book is sometimes a bit tough going, but well worth it.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ~ Barbara Kingsolver
This is the story of how Barbara Kingsolver, her husband Steven and their two kids decide to live for one year on foods that were either produced by themselves or local to the area that they live in. Throughout the year, Barbara tells the story of their garden mixing in well-chosen factoids about modern food methods along with funny stories from their family. Not to be missed are the chicken-raising business adventures of their youngest daughter and a hilarious description of the sex-lives of turkeys. Along with Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma this is one of the two best books recently written on the subject of what we eat and how we get it. I won’t promise that this book will change your life, but it will give you lots of food for thought (pun intended).

A People’s History of Science ~ Clifford D. Connor
Science is often presented to us as the result of the work of a few geniuses who stood above the ordinary person in intellect and skill. This book dispels that myth and instead tries to show us how a multitude of artisans, midwives, herbalists, tradesmen built the science that the “big names” such as Newton, Aristotle, Darwin and others made famous. These people, mostly anonymous, sometimes “uneducated” and sometimes female are brought to life in this very interesting volume.

Cat’s Cradle ~ Kurt Vonnegut
A bizarre apocalyptic tale about love, religion and science. It’s hard to describe this book which contains so much power despite the fact that it is simply written and easy to follow. A man, who is researching the life of one of the creators of the atomic bomb travels to a small Caribbean island nation where he becomes president, marries a beautiful woman, adopts a new religion and ushers in the end of all human life. Very worth reading, perhaps twice.

Omnivore’s Dilemma ~ Michael Pollan
This is the book about food that everyone is talking about and for good reason. Thanks to the exploding popularity of organic and natural foods, people in North America are feeling better about what they eat and more confident in their ethical food choices. But is it all good? In this book, Michael Pollan uses three meals to take us through just how our food gets to us and what that means. One meal comes from conventional “industrial agriculture”, one from organic and natural sources and one from food that the author had foraged and hunted himself, all backed with anecdotes and funny stories. Strong research and a witty writing style make for an interesting and informative read. Very recommended.

Three Day Road ~ Joseph Boyden
Two young Cree boys, raised in the bush go off to fight in France in WWI. The skills they learned in the bush make them into celebrated snipers but the horrors they witness will change them forever. Only one of them comes home to the old medicine woman who raised them both. But what happened to his friend? This is a harrowing tale of war, addiction, and family and what happens when these things that we hold dear are put to the test.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu ~ Susanna Clarke
This is a beautiful collection of short stories by the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Some of these stories, such as the story this collection takes its title from, contain familiar characters from that novel. Others, such as Antickes and Frets introduce us to new characters and settings and are completely new. One story even takes place in the town of Wall which was made famous by Neil Gaiman in his book Stardust and features the Duke of Wellington as its main character. If you enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell or are entirely new to this author you’ll love this.

The Historian ~ Elizabeth Kostova
A young girl accidentally stumbles upon some papers in her father’s library with the strange motif of a dragon. In halting steps, her father begins to tell her the story of these papers. Contained within them is the history of a conspiracy spanning centuries and scholars who dared, usually fatally so, to try and uncover the secret. At the centre of this conspiracy is a fifteenth-century tyrant turned vampire whom we all know well, or so we think. This is not your typical Anne Rice pretty-boy vampire story, this one has real teeth.

World War Z ~ Max Brooks
“The Crisis”, “The Walking Plague”, “World War Z”. Whatever you want to call it, plague was the most pivotal event in human history rivalling anything else humanity has experienced. This is the first comprehensive collection stories from the survivors from all over the globe. In this book, originally compiled for the United Nation’s Postwar Commission Report, there are the personal stories of a doctor in China right when the outbreak first hit them, a man who survived the riots in South Africa, a Russian priest and many more. Arranged in chronological order, this book provides a look at the true human cost of World War Z.

The Sacred Balance ~ David Suzuki
Long before Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth helped draw attention to the plight of our planet, there was David Suzuki’s The Sacred Balance. Written ten years ago, this eloquently-written book uses science, literature and poetry to flesh out the connection that humanity has with nature and explain just how it all works. The real genius in this book lies in its ability to call attention to what we’re doing to the planet without relying on pessimism and cries of imminent disaster, but instead gives out hope and solutions.

Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto ~ D. Tracey
Make the whole world your garden and use this book to teach you how! Guerrilla Gardening is a term that encompasses everything from cleaning up abandoned areas of weeds and debris to all-out planting a community plot on unused public land. Guerrilla Gardeners believe that the world becomes a better place when you plant a garden and if the Powers-That-Be don’t do it, you have to take matters into your own hands. If you think this is you, then this is just the book you need. The manualfesto covers everything from Guerrilla Gardening history to basic stealth gardening tips and how to deal with the local authorities and landowners when your garden becomes discovered. Because the author is from Vancouver, the book is choc-full of local examples and stories.

Special Topics In Calamity Physics ~ M. Pessl
Blue Van Meer has never lived in one place for very long. Her roving professor father moves them around a minimum of three times a year as he teaches in small colleges across America. As a result, Blue has grown up to be an extremely smart but socially awkward girl. This year, her final year of highschool, Blue’s father has agreed to stay in one place long enough to allow her spend the year at St. Gallway. When she is invited to join a sort of “study club” run by the beautiful Hannah Schneider, a teacher at the school, Blue is suspicious but reluctantly goes along. What follows is a mixture of extreme personalities, mysterious pasts, and unexplained events, all of which may or may not be as they seem and which come to a head one fateful night on a spring camping trip.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story ~ Ned Vizzini
This is the non-depressing but very compelling story of a depressed teenager. Craig is an overachieving New York high school student who has gotten himself into one of the most prestigious schools in the city, but the effort has left him burnt out and depressed. When he feels suicidal one evening, he checks himself into the hospital. There he is forced to re-evaluate his own preconceptions about himself and others. When he emerges from his week on the ward, he’s ready to chart a course for his life that is much different from anything he could have imagined before.

Born on a Blue Day ~ Daniel Tammet
Daniel Tammet is able to do many extraordinary things with his mind. He can recite the digits of pi to 22,514 decimal places and he can learn a new language in a week but he often has trouble reading facial expressions and cannot feel comfortable in a crowd. But the real success story of Daniel’s life is that unlike many with Asperger’s, he has been able to live a normal, independent life. This is an extremely well-written memoir about an extraordinarily ordinary life.

King Fu High School ~ Ryan Gattis
Kung Fu High School has always been a dangerous place and only a delicate balance of student gangs and the codes they live by keep it from boiling over into fatal consequences. Then martial arts champion Jimmy Chang arrives but refuses to fight. Interesting characters, great storytelling and a strange but not-quite-as-far-fetched-as-it-seems setting make this a really good story.

A Short History of Progress ~ Ronald Wright
Who needs dystopian fiction such as 1984 or Oryx and Crake to speculate on the collapse of society when we can have Ronald Wright tell us exactly where we’re going wrong? Actually, this is a very well-written but concise portrayal of how historical societies fell into a progress trap and eventually failed and how we can prevent the same from happening to us.

Ysabel ~ Guy Gavriel Kay
Ned is a bored teenager staying in Aix-en-Provence in France with his photographer father while his mother is off doing medical work in the Darfur region of Sudan. While exploring a local cathedral one day, he meets an American girl, a mysterious and possibly deadly stranger and has an encounter with a carving which draws Ned further and further into a story thousands of years old. This strange and awesome book tells the story of outsiders, insiders and an obsession spanning millenia.

Time Was Soft There ~ Jeremy Mercer
Jeremy Mercer, Canadian journalist on the run, walks into the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris one day, is invited up to tea and then moves in. Here in this book he chronicles his adventures living in Paris with an eccentric and sometimes bizarre cast of characters, not the least of which is the store’s owner George Whitman, part communist, part mad genius and generous to a fault. Mercer learns to navigate the intricacies of finding a cheap meal in Paris, revives an old poet’s career and facilitates a reunion between father and daughter that just might save the store from going under.

House of Leaves ~ Mark Z. Danielewski
This is the story of a house that is not quite the same on the inside as it is on the outside. This is the story of a film maker and his attempt to reconnect with his family by buying a house in the country. This is a story of non-Euclidean geometry and stairs and wolves and things. This is one of the scariest and best books I have ever read.

Wicked ~ Gregory Maguire
Dorothy got it all wrong. Sort of. This is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West as seen from her point of view. When you grow up green and allergic to water, your life isn’t going to be easy, especially when you’re not the type of person to take things lying down. This is the story of Oz, a land divided and subjugated by a bizarre tyrant known as the Wizard where talking Animals just want to be afforded the same rights as humans. This is how it really happened.

The Historian ~ Elizabeth Kostova
A young girl accidentally stumbles upon some papers in her father’s library with the strange motif of a dragon. In halting steps, her father begins to tell her the story of these papers. Contained within them is the history of a conspiracy spanning centuries and scholars who dared, usually fatally so, to try and uncover the secret. At the centre of this conspiracy is a fifteenth-century tyrant turned vampire whom we all know well, or so we think. This is not your typical Ann Rice pretty-boy vampire story, this one has real teeth.

Kafka on the Shore ~ Haruki Murakami
A young boy named Kafka runs away from his home in Tokyo to escape a prophecy. An old man is left unable to read or form complex thoughts after a childhood accident during the war but his unexplained disability gives him a strong bond with cats and stones. An old woman who runs a small private library has a painful past. The unique way that all of these characters combine becomes a surreal and beautiful story.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle ~ Haruki Murakami
When Toru Okuda’s cat goes missing, his life begins to take one unexpected turn after another. Eventually the cat returns, but his wife goes missing, and his quest to get her home again brings together the near past and the far past, a young girl who was expelled from school and a very important well. Great characters and a strongly weird plot make for my tied-for-favourite Murakami novel so far.

Syrup ~ Max Barry
Max Barry is the same man who wrote the famous Jennifer Government and this is his first, lesser known novel. Scat is a young man with a plan. Unfortunately for him, his plans have a tendency towards going awry. So when his idea for a new cola product is stolen by his roommate. Scat teams up with the brilliant and beautiful (and totally not interested in him) 6 at Coca-Cola in order to gain fame, fortune and some self-respect in the cutthroat world of product marketing. This is a hilarious, witty novel and well worth reading, especially if you’re considering a career in marketing or if you’re not.

The Big Over Easy ~ Jasper Fforde
Jack Spratt is an unpublished detective in a world where publishing your stories is essential to advancing in a career in law enforcement. He’s a good detective too, but has just been saddled with a sidekick who doesn’t want him and a might-be-murder case that’s rapidly becoming very hard to handle. Humpty Van Dumpty is dead and someone, or many someones, don’t want Jack on the case. Full of literary and nursery rhyme references, a lot of wit and a very large dead egg.

Londonstani ~ Gautam Malkani
This is the story of Jas, Amit, Ravi and Hardjit, small-time London crooks dealing with pride, race, religion, the traditionalism of their parents and other such “complicated family-related s**t.” They’ve got a small-time business illegally changing the codes on mobile phones when suddenly an opportunity comes to hit the big-time. All of a sudden, thanks to their benefactor, they’ve got more money and prestige than they know what to do with. Add Jas’ new relationship with Samira, a Muslim woman which will surely get him in trouble with her brothers, and you’ve got a great story told in a unique brand of Indo-Brit slang and a great twist of an ending.

Battle Royale ~ Takami Koshun
This book has been compared to Lord of the Flies, but I think it is far superior. Originally published in Japan, this is the story of an alternate dystopian present in which junior high school kids are selected to participate in an all-or-nothing battle against their classmates. Despite the overwhelming odds, Shuya Nanahara (male student #15) is determined not to compete, but instead take out the system that allows this. WARNING: Can get pretty graphic.

FRESH FRUiTS ~ Schoichi Aoki
Every Sunday in the Harajuku district of Tokyo, teenagers gather to hang out with their friends and show off their latest outfits. Their fashion is a sometimes bizarre mixture of layers, patterns, colours, designer labels and D.I.Y. For years now, photographer Schoichi Aoki has been documenting these kids and their changing fashions in his magazine FRUiTS. FRESH FRUiTS is his second “best of” collection from the magazine, spanning from 1997 to 2002.

Sputnik Sweetheart ~ Haruki Murakami
“K” has long been in love with his old college friend Sumire. Sumire has always been too scattered to notice. But then one day Sumire falls in love with Miu, and older businesswoman. When Sumire goes missing, “K” is called to help find her. What follows is a surreal and haunting story where nothing much is real anymore.

Anansi Boys ~ Neil Gaiman
Fat Charlie has spent his entire life being embarrassed by his eccentric father. It wasn’t until after his father’s death that he learned about his brother Spider or that their father was the legendary trickster spider-god Anansi. When Spider shows up on Fat Charlie’s London doorstep one day things are about to get weird, REALLY WEIRD, and if there’s anything that Fat Charlie can’t deal with, it’s weirdness.

The Plot Against America ~ Philip Roth
Phil Roth is just a child when aviator hero Charles A. Lindbergh defeats Roosevelt and becomes President on a platform of isolationism and anti-Semitism. The new regime destroys Phil’s safe and comfortable world and threatens the tear his family apart through constantly shifting and conflicting ideologies and loyalties.

Fabric of the Cosmos ~ Brian Greene
Brian Greene is one of the world’s leading physicists and in this book he explains everything. Ok, well not EVERYTHING, only what the universe is made of, what time is and how it is all related. This is a great book for any interested person, no matter their level of education.

Krakatoa ~ Simon Winchester
On August 27, 1883 the island of Krakatoa, near Java, exploded. The resulting tsunami killed forty thousand people, and the effects of the wave were seen as far away as France. This book is a very well-written account of not only the explosion, but also the history of the region, explaining the devastating effects of colonialism. It also includes an easy to follow explanation of the mechanics of volcanoes.

The Red Tent ~ Anita Diamant
This is the story of Dinah of the Bible. She is the daughter of Jacob, who came to be called Israel. As a young child, Dinah spent her time with her four mothers in the Red Tent learning secrets never told to her brothers. She survives tragedy in order to become a strong woman in a strange land far from her birthplace.

An Anthropologist on Mars ~ Oliver Sacks
There is a reason why Oliver Sacks ranks up in the top five of my favourite science writers and this set of essays is a perfect example. There are seven stories in this book of neurological oddities that will fascinate anyone, told with a perfect blend of humour and compassion.

A Short History of Nearly Everything ~ Bill Bryson
"...how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since." Bill Bryson proves in this book that science and the scientists who discover, steal and forget are all way more funny that you were ever told in school.

No Logo ~ Naomi Klein
In the five years since No Logo was published, it has turned into one of the mainstays of anti-corporate writing. In this book no one is safe, not the advertisers, not the corporations, not even society itself. Naomi Klein also goes on to illustrate a growing resistance to corporate involvement in our lives, talking about culture jamming, WTO protestors and other acts of defiance.

Geek Love ~ Katherine Dunn
Told by Olly, a dwarf albino hunchback, this is the story of the Binewskis, a family of human oddities and talents. There is also love, hate, fear, desire and a cult involved as Arturo the Aquaboy, the oldest son, leads the family carnival across America. Bizarre and strange.

xxxHolic ~ Clamp
Kimihiro Watanuki has several problems, but the two most pressing of these are his ability to see into the spirit world and his totally unpredictable boss, Yûko. Yûko is known as the Space-Time Witch and she offers the granting of wishes at a high price and often with strange results. Kimihiro must work for Yûko until his debt is paid off and he can be free of the spirit world.

TSUBASA RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE ~ Clamp
Saroyan has embarked upon a quest to restore the lost memories of the one he loves, the Princess, Sakura. He will do this even though the price will be that she will never remember him again. With the assistance of Yûko, the Space-Time Witch and his companions Kurogane the Swordsman, Fai D. Flowright and adorable Mokona, he will travel across time and space to restore Sakura’s memories.

Eragon ~ Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini had just graduated high school at 15 when he wrote this first book of the Inheritance Trilogy. This is the story of a young boy named Eragon who unexpectedly finds himself caring for a dragon hatchling. Eragon becomes the first Dragon Rider in over a century and the best hope for overthrowing the evil king. A very fun read.

Time’s Eye ~ Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter
These authors, both acclaimed veterans of the sci-fi genre, have teamed up to tell as story about what might happen if some of the greatest leaders of history suddenly found themselves wrenched out of time and put face to face. Overseeing this all are mysterious “eyes” which are seemingly unaffected by any force. Are they benign? Or are they somehow responsible for this?

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide ~ Douglas Adams
Everyone knows of Douglas Adams as the man who single-handedly revolutionized the meaning of the word “trilogy” and introduced Earth to the horrors of Vogon poetry. Now this groundbreaking work is available in one volume along with an extra story, “Young Zaphod Plays it Safe.” So grab your copy of the Encyclopedia Galactica and your towel and join Earthling Arthur Dent, his companions and some really annoying mice on their travels to the end of the world and back.

Blindness ~ José Saramago
What happens when an entire city is struck blind? How does everyone hold together when things fall apart entirely? Saramago uses blindness as an allegory for human kindness, human brutality and what happens when people are abandoned to their fate. Told from the point of view of the one sighted witness, this story has no names, no places and no quotation marks and yet manages to be very readable.

Waiting for the Barbarians ~ J.M. Coetzee
An elderly corrupt colonial officer is living out his last years as governor of an unnamed empire’s outpost town. One day his peace is shattered by the arrival of an official from the capital intent on ferreting out the secrets of a barbarian insurrection which actually doesn’t exist. The Governor is forced out of is comfortable apathy and ends up in the arms (and bed) of a crippled barbarian girl and eventually decides to take a stand. This wonderful book has much of the stark writing style of Camus with an African feel.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman ~ Haruki Murakami
Murakami’s writing always has an edge of the surreal, like there’s a secret world concealed beneath the one we see everyday. The same goes for his short stories, most of which are written in the first person by an unnamed narrator. There are stories of love, loss, travel and of a talking monkey who steals people’s names. They range from the common to the bizarre while always remaining beautiful.

The Elegant Universe ~ Brian Greene
This is one of the best examples of popular science writing out there. In this book, Brian Greene explains string theory to the rest of us but without being condescending or dumbing it down. He uses wonderfully bizarre examples to illustrate points of theory and the inner workings of the universe. This book will make your mind spin (but in a good way) and chances are you won’t be able to put it down.