Dante's Picks

The history of Jonestown constructed from letters and diaries of Jonestown residents, ex-members and relatives. You know where it's all heading but you still find yourself hoping for a different outcome. Compelling and tragic.

The titular clergyman's daughter stabs herself with a hat pin whenever she feels a sin coming on. Not that there's a lot of competition, but probably Orwell's funniest book.

You don't have to be a flaming homosexual to love this book, but try to imagine the courage required to come out (in a big way) to the entire world in 1931. The wittiest, funniest memoir ever written?

A bold statement I know, but this is one of the greatest travel essays ever written. It's exciting, exotic and not condescending in its treatment and description of the other. Believe me, that can't be said about a lot of English travel writers of a certain age.

Paul Bowles' account of his experiences collecting samples of music from various tribes around the world. Think Alan Lomax in the mostly Arab world.

A look at what lies beneath the outward civility between two couples. The relationships of man to man, woman to woman, spouse to spouse and spouse to friend are explored in detail to reveal the hatred and disillusionment festering just below the surface.

Oh, how I love this book. It's a very mean, very funny look at an eccentric family told by a young girl who is forced to live with her miserly great grandmother for health reasons. It also has one of the best anti-sentimental endings ever. Absolutely highest recommendation.

This will piss you off. A novel where the only calmly reasoned voice belongs to the character who questions the efficacy and wisdom of helping AIDS sufferers in Africa. If I ruled the world, I'd have every book club read this. Challenging, but it forces discussion. Lionel Shriver gained fame with her later novel We Need to Talk About Kevin. She writes really well.

Wow. Claude breaks up with live in girlfriend Harriet who refuses to accept the breakup or move out of his New York apartment. Harriet attacks her well-meaning friends and perceived foes with verbal assaults so ferocious and outrageous you can only admire her determined self destruction. So, so mean and so, so funny. When you reach the point where it becomes difficult to take Harriet's rampages any longer the novel takes an unexpected turn. The jacket copy describes this point as Harriet's salvation, but I see her involvement with a smarmy new-age charlatan as her possible demise. Harriet may be hateful, but I don't want her tamed and diluted. Another winner from NYRB books.

I've never kept bees, and have absolutely no desire to keep bees, yet this book of all the books I've read has stuck in my consciousness like no other. Longgood anthropomorphizes his bees presenting them in all their ruthless survivalist glory. Funny and charming, The Queen Must Die made me love a creature that I used to fear. A definite top ten book.