#8 - The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

Last year I was sad to learn that the author of my all-time favourite book Fahrenheit 451 and godfather of what we now know as the science fiction genre, Ray Bradbury, passed away. At the time I quickly purchased The Illustrated Man off of Amazon, as a sort of 'pouring one out for the literary homies' - and just this year, I got around to finally reading it.

It's crazy good, you guys. In terms of genius it's not another Fahrenheit 451, but for fans of Bradbury's flagrantly beautiful prose and cynically futuristic fables, it makes for a wonderful read, full of dark vignettes of sci-fi from the man who helped to form the genre as a means of exploring the biggest fears of society at any given time.

The best thing, for me, is the fact that Bradbury knew very little of science - this much is obvious to anyone who has read him before - and the way in which this only enhances the way in which he writes. Free from the boundaries of possibility, Bradbury's lucid imagination brings to life things in your mind that you could never have dreamed of before, in a manner so vivid and wonderful that no one person dreams the same dreams after reading. For example - everything that happens in the book, all the rockets and nuclear bombs and surreal androids, they all take place on the skin of a man with magical tattoos.

I'm not a huge fan of science fiction - more than most people, admittedly, but I'm not a die-hard fanatic - and I can see why a lot of people are turned off by it; but it stands as testament to Bradbury's magnificent skills as a writer that it doesn't matter how cynical you are about sci-fi, or how much of a realist you might think you are - his words will take a crowbar to your imagination and open it as wide as it will go.

Pages: 294
Bottom Line: A series of wonderfully painted vignettes from the godfather of science fiction.

#7 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

As a wannabe journalist, a fan of Thompson's work (The Rum Diary is my second favourite book ever) and a person who knows the film adaptation word by word, it's quite surprising that it took me so long to get round to reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the acidic epic of two men going to Las Vegas in a car full of drugs in pursuit of capturing the American Dream in it's purest form. However, when I found a battered copy of the book from one of it's original printings in the college library, I felt it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Despite everyone's raving reviews of the book I was probably too shy to read it due to not wanting to be disappointed - that and the fact that at my heart I am a massive hipster - but it satisfies me to no end to say that Fear and Loathing was everything it could and should have been for me.

It's unsurprising that the film adaptation was so successful and revered by fans, as not only was actor Johnny Depp a close friend of Thompson before his death, as I read the book I could see how faithfully recreated the film was - much like Fight Club, the film and book are both rooted so deeply in a certain style that they're both on equal pedestals. The book is the epitome of Thompson's mental prose style, pure candy coated porn for the eyeballs, and as I read I found myself rolling around gleefully, laughing, and generally having the most fun I've ever had reading a book.

I guess I could go into detail pulling apart the mad gonzo style which Thompson perfected, but I genuinely would not know where to begin. If you're a wannabe journalist like myself, a fan of the film, or just someone who likes fucked up tales of men on every sort of drug available in the seventies, boy are you in for a treat.

Pages: 204

Bottom Line: A jam-filled, acid-laced doughnut of a book that will tear apart your mind, put it back together in the form of an abstract art exhibit and quickly leave the room before you even come to terms with what just happened.

#6 - All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman

Possibly one of my all-time favourite reads, All My Friends Are Superheroes is a delightfully economic and intelligent little book detailing the efforts of non-superhero Tom in getting his wife to see him again after she is hypnotised into thinking he is invisible at their wedding.

Of course, whilst the plot is riveting and surreal and simplistic and smart, the real gem at the heart of the book is the concept - a group of 250 normal people in Toronto, Canada who find that they have - often useless or inhibiting - 'super powers'. It works as a simple but effective metaphor for the things that make up who we are - and helps to illustrate the characters using as little as possible: for example, pretty much the only thing we know about Hypno is that he can hypnotise people - but this and the way in which he uses his power helps us to understand him as a spiteful, inadequate bastard-face - the Superheroes equivalent of a pathological liar.

If you're into love, superheroes, smart reads and don't have much time on your hands for reading, All My Friends is a super-simple, masterfully written and wonderfully original little piece of writing that you absolutely have to read.

Pages: 108
Bottom Line: 500 Days of Summer meets Scott Pilgrim meets The Avengers - in a book.