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Professor Rodd Freitag |
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Freitag's Favorites
Books
Non-Fiction
I enjoy reading European and American history and biography. If I had to pick a favorite it would be the trilogy on art, science, and philosophy by Daniel J. Boorstin: The Discoverers, The Creators, and The Seekers. To learn more about Boorstin and his books, explore the New York Times Featured Author section from September 6, 1998 and Amazon.com's ReadingChair. If you are interested in developing a reading list of your own, watch C-SPAN's Booknotes for fascinating discussions by the authors of recent books on American history and public affairs or simply browse the History section at Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobles. For the serious fan of non-fiction books, you could work your way through the Modern Library's Top 100 works of the 20th century (I've read only a few, I'm ashamed to say).
Fiction
I read fiction to relax and have fun. It's best to start with the classics. The Modern Library's 100 best novels of the 20th century is controversial, but worthwhile (I've read more from the follow-up Reader's list, but I still have a long ways to go). Amazon.com provides a Top 40 Classics and a Best Books of the Century list by decade. My two favorite novels, however, are from the 19th century: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Bleak House by Charles Dickens. While I enjoy reading the classics, my preference lately is for mysteries, British detective series in particular. I started years ago with the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and just keep going. So far I've read the mystery novels by Josephine Tey, the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers, the Adam Dagliesh series by P.D. James, the Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter, the Inspector Wexford series by Ruth Rendell, the Lynley/Havers series by Elizabeth George, the Dalziel/Pascoe series by Reginald Hill, the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson, and the Jury/Plant series by Martha Grimes. And I intend to continue with novels by Ian Rankin, Laurie King, Jill McGown, Bruce Alexander, Charles Todd, and Deborah Crombie.
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Professor Rodd Freitag |
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