I’m packing up my books in anticipation of my upcoming move on Tuesday, and I’ve stumbled upon some greats books that I absolutely loved enough to keep. Here’s a rundown of some of the best ones on my shelf.

"Da Vinci Code"
By Dale Brown

-Good and intriguing, but don’t give it TOO much credit. But keep an eye out, Dan Brown is a tricky guy and there are some hidden codes in there that you DEFINIETLY missed.

"Angels and Demons"
By Dale Brown

-Ok well it turns out that Da Vinci Code isn’t so original, it’s just a better written version of what appears to be Dan Brown’s formula. A decent read but nowhere near as satisfying as Da Vinci Code.

"The Cheese Monkey"
By Chip Kidd

I can not say enough good things about this book. Amazing. About a kid who starts off college and studies art, the whole book is gut-bustlingly funny, highly original, artistic, and outside of the box all in one. One of my FAVORITE BOOKS and one that is tough to describe. Pick it up (Jamie and Garrow recommend reading it aloud with a reading buddy).

”Too many freaks…not enough circuses.”
-The new motto from The Cheese Monkey adopted by Jamie, Garrow, and I.

"The Milagro Beanfield War"
By John Nichols

The bestselling novel that captures the pure essence of the kooky insanity that is New Mexico, The Milagro Beanfield War’s tale of a man name Joe who manages to incite a New Mexican town into hysterical antics is the best descriptor of my home state that I have ever read. Any out-of-state New Mexican who is feeling homesick should pick up this book.

“Yet Milagro was a town whose citizens had a penchant not only for going crazy, but also for precipitating miracles. Take, for example, an early nineteenth-century sheepherder named Cleofes Apodaca and the scruffy sheepdog he irreverently called Pendejo, which, translated loosely, means ‘idiot’ or ‘fool’ --- or, translated more literally, means ‘public hair.’ Today Cleofes Apodaca might qualify for the Patron Saint Crazy of Milagro.”

"Black Hawk Down"
By Mark Bowden

Essential to understanding the post-Cold War environment in which the U.S. military now operates, a world of police-operations, urban warfare, and anti-insurgent operations. The book from which the movie was based, it is the most heroic war story of the 90’s. Black Hawk Down is a stunning narrative of the October 3, 1993 battle in the streets of Somalia that involved a hundred U.S. soldiers fighting the entire city of Mogadishu. Thrilling.

More books to come…