A Christopher Hitchens Bookshelf
As you may already know, Christopher Hitchens passed away today. Among his many attributes, I most admired his love of the written form. Over the years I’ve built a list of books recommended and written by Hitchens and while I’ve yet to read even a third, the eventual goal is to read them all. Of those I’ve read from his list, my favorites include:
- The Plague by Camus
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
- The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
- The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche by H.L. Mencken
There are ~190 additional titles to explore on the current list. Regardless of your feelings on Hitchens’ anti-theism, his literary tastes were eclectic so there should be much to love in the full listing. It’s sad to think that it’s not likely that this list will substantially grow — save for the occasional correction of omissions.
The list of books written and recommended by Christopher Hitchens
inspired by an excellent Goodreads list
Thank you Mr. Hitchens.
:F
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
markc
Very interesting to see Mr. Hitchens’ book list. Thanks for sharing it. I’ve read only about 10% of them, but several more are on my shelf and I see several more I’d like to check out.
I didn’t see on your list: “A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution” by Theodore Draper, which I recently purchased after hearing Hitchens recommend it during this reddit interview: http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/alv53/redditcom_interviews_christopher_hitchens/. I didn’t realize then that he was such a prolific recommender of books!
Dec 21st, 2011
Rodney Ulyate
And I thought I was the only one…
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3125981?shelf=recommended-hitchens-christopher
Jan 10th, 2012
Rodney Ulyate
Actually, I largely am! It seems you made extensive use of my shelf in compiling yours. Happy to help.
Jan 10th, 2012
fogus
@Ulyate
That is truly an epic list. Thanks for assembling it!
Jan 10th, 2012
Rodney Ulyate
It helps to have everything he ever wrote (bar one essay) for The Nation, as well as most of what he wrote for the TLS, in a folder on my computer. (I’m still on the look-out for a New Statesman archive.)
I’ve seldom been let down by a book he’s advocated, so I’ll continue to expand the shelf this year.
Do you recall where you found the recommendation of Frowen’s Hayek?
Jan 11th, 2012
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