My Wasted Space » Desert Island Books

My Graham Greene

Paul B Womack — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:13:14 +0000

I’ve posted here for all to see my favorite books, favorite authors, what I’m reading now. Thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of books from my favorite author – Graham Greene.

I know, I know, nothing too modern here. But morals aren’t subject to modernity (don’t say it, because you’d be wrong). Neither is faith, whether you believe in man or God or little green men. Graham Greene novels just have what appeals to me; it can be summed up in the word “exploration”. Exploration of times and places I would never have known otherwise. Exploration of what makes men do the things they do. Exploration of what men believe and what they doubt and how they choose between the two.

Explore any of these for yourself, and there are many others not listed (The Quiet American, Ministry of Fear, The Third Man, etc.), and perhaps you will discover as I have that searching for the answers to eternal questions is always modern.

The Heart of the Matter (1948)
The End of the Affair (1951)
The Comedians (1966)
Monsignor Quixote (1982)
Our Man in Havana (1958)
Travels with My Aunt (1969)
Loser Take All (1955)
A Burnt-Out Case (1960)
The Power and The Glory (1940)
The Tenth Man (1985)

Desert Island Authors

Paul B Womack — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:20:44 +0000

There are certain authors that strike a chord with me. Their works have probably formed my world view as much as anything, other than my faith. Strangely, only three from this list are Americans. Is that because I am drawn to things other than what I already know? Perhaps that sort of sedentary wanderlust has informed my taste in literature, but regardless, I would be perfectly happy with works from any of these authors on my desert island.

Graham Greene
Ernest Hemingway
Jack London
Joseph Conrad
C. S. Lewis
Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
J.R.R. Tolkein
Naguib Mafouz
Milan Kundera
Paul Theroux

Brittany’s Desert Island Books

Paul B Womack — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:24:49 +0000

I like the mix or old and new in this list. Me, I’m stuck in the past, so maybe I’ll have to try some of the newer ones here.

	Title	Author
1	All the Pretty Horses	Cormac McCarthy
2	The Handmaid’s Tale	Margaret Atwood
3	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Oscar Wilde
4	Snow Falling on Cedars	David Guterson
5	El Laberinto de la Soledad	Octavio Paz
6	Wuthering Heights	Emily Brontë
7	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	J.K. Rowling
8	Catcher in the Rye	J.D. Salinger
9	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen
10	The Man of Mode	George Etherege

My Most Recent Reads

Paul B Womack — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:28:01 +0000

Here is a list of the ten books I’ve read most recently. Nothing new here – literally. I think 1912 is the latest original publication date for any of these. Guess I’m living in the past, but I believe the better books, the more enduring stories were written then. When I’ve made it through all those stories, I’ll move on to something more recent.

Title	Author
Tarzan of the Apes	Edgar Rice Burroughs
Frankenstein	Mary Shelley
The Time Machine	H.G. Wells
Madame Bovary	Gustave Flaubert
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Victor Hugo
The Scarlet Plague	Jack London
Ivanhoe	Sir Walter Scott
Uncle Tom’s Cabin	Harriet Beecher Stowe
Treasure Island	Robert Louis Stevenson
Silas Marner	George Eliot

Published During My Reading Lifetime

Paul B Womack — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:26:27 +0000

This is a list of books that were published since I started reading “big boy” books over 30 years ago. The story is the thing in most of these, but the style plays a larger role in a couple of them. For me they are all influential in understanding the power of a well written story.

Title	Author
My Secret History	Paul Theroux
The Cider House Rules	John Irving
The Stand	Stephen King
Eaters of the Dead	Michael Crichton
Freddy’s Book	John Gardner
Skin Tight	Carl Hiassen
The Storyteller	Mario Vargas Llosa
Akenaten	Naguib Mafouz
Identity	Milan Kundera
Earthly Powers	Anthony Burgess

John Womack’s Books

Paul B Womack — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:31:56 +0000

This is our first list of books with non-fiction titles – we’re branching out.

Title	Author
Tai-Pan	James Clavell
Freakonomics	Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
The Smartest Guys in the Room	Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind
The Sunne in Splendour	Sharon Kay Penman
The Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkein
Tom Sawyer	Mark Twain
The Grail Quest Series	Bernard Cornwell
Nicholas and Alexandria	Robert K. Massie
The Devil in the White City	Eric Larson
Barbarians at the Gate	Bryan Burrough & John Heylar

Mimi’s Books

Paul B Womack — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:05:12 +0000

Mimi cheated. She didn’t rank the books – they’re in alphabetical order by title – and she gave me twelve. We’ll let it slide this time, Mimi.

No.	Title	Author
	The Chronicles of Narnia	C.S. Lewis
	Citizen Soldiers	Stephen Ambrose
	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Steig Larsson
	The Living Bible
	Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkein
	Memoirs of a Geisha	Arthur Golden
	Never Let Me Go	Kazuo Ishiguro
	The Poetry of Robert Frost	Robert Lee Frost
	A Soldier of the Great War	Mark Helprin
	The Stand	Stephen King
	The Sunne in Splendor	Sharon Kay Penman
	The Thorn Birds	Colleen McCollough

My Desert Island Books

Paul B Womack — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:47:15 +0000

Here are some Desert Island Books:

No.	Title	Author
01	The Bible
02	The Heart of the Matter	Graham Greene
03	The Sun Also Rises	Ernest Hemingway
04	Samson Agonistes	John Milton
05	Martin Eden	Jack London
06	The Beggar	Naguib Mahfouz
07	100 Years of Solitude	Gabriel Garcia Marquez
08	Dune	Frank Herbert
09	Mere Christianity	C.S. Lewis
10	The Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkien

Mark’s Book List

Mark Womack — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:29:09 +0000

Title	Author

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	Susanna Clarke
A Soldier of the Great War	Mark Helprin
Dune	Frank Herbert
The Stand	Stephen King
Paradise Lost	John Milton
Complete Works	William Shakespeare
Arcadia	Tom Stoppard
The Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkien
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	Mark Twain
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle	David Wroblewski