Rejecting God: A Novel

I love finding new and interesting ways to waste my time.

Today, I listed my 10 favourite books, then plugged them into LibraryThing to find both my top 10 suggestions, & my top 10 unsuggestions.

For the record, here's my original top 10.

1. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.
2. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
4. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver.
5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
6. Wise Children by Angela Carter.
7. Glamorama by Brett Easton-Ellis.
8. White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
9. Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio.
10. 1988 by Andrew McGahan.

This list says more about me than I'd like to admit. Namely, a) My literary tastes aren't quite as literary as I would like to pretend, b) I'm preoccupied with sex and violence and c) My gender politics come in an entertaining and easy-to-read format.

So, according to that list, my top 10 recommendations are*:

1. Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman.
2. Brick Lane: a Novel by Monica Ali.
3. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.
4. The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever.
5. The Contortionist's Handbook: a Novel by Craig Clevenger.
6. Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts.
7. Bright Lights, Big City: a Novel by Jay McInerney.
8. The Accidental by Ali Smith.
9. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner.
10. The Chosen by David Ireland.

Which means that I now have 10 books to read. More time to waste. Excellent.

Can I just ask, though, what the fuck is up with adding the description "A Novel" to the title of your novel? I'm disturbed by the spread of this wanktastic trend. To me, it's pretty clear that it's a novel without having that extra description tacked on. And if someone can't figure out that a novel is a novel without being told, then I really don't think they're going to be reading it anyway.

And now for my top 10 Un-Recommendations.

1. Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell.
2. Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.**
3. Basics of Biblical Greek: Grammar by William D. Mounce.
4. Prey: novel by Michael Crichton.
5. A Light in the Window by Jan Karon.**
6. The Purpose-Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren.**
7. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper.**
8. Wild at Heart: Discovering the Passionate Soul of a Man by John Eldredge.**
9. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham.
10. Mort: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett.

This says even more about me than my original list, I think. To summarise, I don't like God, nerds or crappy thrillers.

That's not quite true, actually. I have nothing against nerds. I just don't want to hear about their jobs or their fantasy-world leisure activities.

I actually considered reading number 7 and number 8 on that above list, but I know that there's just no way that they're as funny as I think they'll be.

*Not including other books by the same author, or ones that I've already read, cos that would just be boring.

** Just to clarify, as some of the titles are ambiguous, these are all Christian books.