My Wishlist of 100 Books (2019 Update)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to celebrate the start of the Christmas season. For those who are looking to this blog and wondering "Thomas, what can we get you?" It only makes sense that Willett Reads would be dedicated to sharing all things that interest me in literature. Well, if you're one of those kind people who want to send me a book, here is a recommendation list of 100 books ranging from different genres and centuries. I am not too picky on quality of the book, save for my desire that the book not be filled with personal annotations. Beyond that, I hope that this list will help you prepare gifts that I not only want, but can often be found at a reasonable price. Click on to discover the list and where to send any comments regarding this list.

#64. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

 

The world of literature has been grappling with a way to discuss September 11, 2001 (The World Trade Center Attacks) for close to 20 years. While there have been certain takes that have resonated more, there has not been a definitive text yet that has rocked the zeitgeist. The closest has likely been the one with the least likely protagonist: a young boy with presumed Aspebergers searching through the five boroughs of New York for the answer to a question his deceased father left behind in the symbol of a key. What is discovered isn't so much the exploration of one child's personal grief, but an entire community coming to terms with the past both recent and long gone. The issue with Jonathan Safran Foer's text isn't its emotional ambition, but that it throws readers into the head of people both likable and downright annoying. As much as it's the story of how grief impacts us all, it also does so with an occasional cloying sense of endearment.

#63. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

The world of detective fiction has been crowded for centuries now with authors who try to make sense of this crazy world. The greats often have an easy time making every tale into a bestseller, finding ways to tap into our shared psyche of a good reveal. However, there have been few stories that have quite the turns of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, which starts with the murder of a dog and slowly comes to be an exploration of protagonist Christopher's personal life. It isn't just a story about crime, but one that Haddon seeks to make about understanding what goes on inside Christopher; an autistic in everything but actual wording. Few books convey the inner struggle of autism with as much clarity and empathetic wording than this, and it makes for one of the more entertaining crime books of the young century so far.

#62. "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the past 30 years isn't the one that Gaston Leroux intended when he first wrote the novel in 1911. Nowadays The Phantom is sexy, wearing a fractured opera mask to hide an acid burn. The rest of him has a swagger, embodying the physique of an attractive man with one unfortunate disability. On one hand, it works because of how tiresome applying make-up that makes him look like a demonic skull would be for every night in a big stage musical. Still, it's interesting to see how the horror has given way to camp, choosing to focus on the empathetic side of a character once revulsed because of his ugly appearance. To visit the novel a century later is to see how pop culture has (faithfully) taken the lavishness and hidden the ugliness - an irony given how the book explores and sympathizes with a man everyone sees as an ugly monster.

"The Phantom of the Opera," as a novel has a great premise in large part because it has a basis in reality. The mythology stems from a real theater (Palais Garnier in France) and a real event (a chandelier crash), creating something akin to contemporary mythology. Much like how people make up stories for why certain houses are haunted, Leroux sought to make a story about why the chandelier fell, exploring the looming presence of the "Opera Ghost" (O.G.) and how he may or may not exist. With a love story involving talented ingenue Christine Daae, the story attempts to mix historical documentation with pulp and find a way to horrify as well as sympathize with The Phantom. The results are fascinating if just because of how they differ from later adaptations. On its own, it's the myth that has the power to change public perception of Palais Garnier. It's a work of art, even if it's a bit of a silly text.