My Top Ten Books of All Time

My top ten books of all time

Here is a list, in no particular order, of the books I would rate as must read, and my favourites of all time

Virtual Light by William Gibson. Cyberpunk vision at its best, and accurately predicting a future we are almost at. My all time favourite William Gibson novel(and that’s a big call).

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I am not sure if I should thank or curse Oprah for bringing this book to my attention. No, its definitely a thank you to Oprah, although I am not sure I felt that way after I did nothing but read this book for a week, as once I had finished I found out you do really need to sleep. 973 pages ironaically didn’t feel like enough. Be warned, you do not want to start this book if you want to have a life at the same time, as its all consuming and a book you just really don’t want to put down

Neuromancer by William Gibson. The book that created a genre. A modern Classic that changed how I thought about literature.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John LeCarre. The first book I couldn’t put down and the one that made me fall in love with both reading and espionage novels.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Post apocalyptic brilliance. nuf said.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. A complete change in direction for Gibson and a book of our times, rather than the future. The hero of the book Cayce Pollard was the inspiration for this site.

Survivor: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk. My first experience with this author, and to this day my favourite, even though I enjoy all his books.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John LeCarre. A classic espionage novel.

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel. I absolutely loved this and all the following books. It took me to a place I had never imagined, but never wanted to leave once I found it.

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. I read this when I was getting into Cryptography not knowing that this was the subject of the novel. A bit of serendipity for me, but got me into the master of the page turners before his later more famous novel The Da Vinci Code came along and everyone discovered his skill.

Breath by Tim Winton. This superb novel is the novel I relate to more than anything I have ever read. I grew up about the same time as this book was written about, and was also a surfer. It was the pioneering days of surfing and unlike now, was a true counter culture. These days everyone wears surfware, but when I got into surfing we were considered to be lay abouts and *alternative*, and little did those who didn’t surf know, what they were missing. I got to travel and go to places that only surfers of the time went to, and truly be in touch with nature. We surfers rarely watched the news but we never missed the weather report. This book captures that part of my life better than I thought possible.