Publisher’s note: The Texas Lawbook is pleased to offer this column in partnership with Texas-based Half Price Books sharing our readers’ favorite reads. “My Five Favorite Books” will publish every other Wednesday. Please email brooks.igo@texaslawbook.net for more information.
Did you know reading is a competitive sport? I did not either. That is, not until 4th grade when Ms. Duncan told the class that we were required to turn in book reports for at least 12 different books off the reading list. She informed us that we could read as many as we wanted. The record was something like 27. Wait…what? She keeps track of the record?!? Well, time to reset it at an unattainably high mark…I did 98.
My younger sister, Melanie Duke, who at this point has probably read more books than anyone in the history of the world, tried to take it on a couple years later. However, even she could only manage a comparatively paltry 94. So maybe I should revise the above. Sport? Yes. Competitive? Not so much.
Unfortunately, these days I read far more about paid sick leave requirements, disability accommodations, and overtime exemptions written by authors with very little flare for the intelligible (much less the dramatic). It is far less interesting but, hey, at least it pays more.
Without further ado – and with an honorable mention to the aforementioned Ms. Duke’s incredible historical fiction novel about a time traveler tasked with preventing an assassination of Queen Victoria that would throw time and space into a tizzy (so maybe just a bit of further ado) – here are five books that I just love. Note: Melanie, if you are reading this, please write a sequel. Give the people what they want! Even if the people are just me, dad, and mom… Note 2: If any publishers are reading this…have I got a book for you!
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
“Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With [John M. Farrell], it has been all three.”
This book is exceptionally funny and, although pretty well known, I feel like I meet more people who are in the camp of “I hear it is great, totally on my list” versus “Read it. Loved it.” It follows an Air Force bombardier as he tries to avoid flying combat missions during WWII. The dialogue is witty and insane. I have never quite been as drawn into conversations between characters as with this book. It also coined the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” idiom “Catch-22.”
The book’s description of being trapped by contradictory rules/conditions inspired a brief I once wrote. The plaintiff set up a stereotypical Catch-22 situation where my client, the employer, could not have won no matter the choice made with respect to the employee. As I described the situation to the court, I footnoted several quotes from Catch-22. Summary judgment granted. Coincidence, I think not.
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Or is it The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, State of Fear? I do not really know. My mom, thinking Jurassic Park was just going to be a fun movie about dinosaurs, took an inappropriately aged family to go see the movie. Little did she know it would spark my lifelong love of Crichton novels. After realizing it was based on a book, I read it, then the sequel, then all the others I could get my hands on. His style of taking something heavily rooted in science and then going to a place where science has not really gone, but conceivably could, has always charred my tree.
I have read Timeline the most. It is fantastic. Time travel, knights, quantum physics, multiverse theory, and the French. It sucked me in from the beginning and keeps bringing me back to it. Just writing this, I am dying to read it again. Just skip the truly awful Paul Walker/Gerard Butler movie adaptation. What a letdown…
Arena by William R. Forstchen
Buckle up, it is about to get nerdy. Arena is a book inspired by the Magic The Gathering card game. A group of kids at a summer camp I went to in 7th grade tried to get me into this game. I did not really get into the game all that much and, consequently, spent much of high school outside of my locker. However, my brief foray into this world caused high school me to pause when walking through the Fantasy section of a Half Price Books after seeing books bearing the Magic logo. I picked up this one and just destroyed it. Every time I do not really know what to read, I pick it up again. I am literally re-reading it right now for probably the 25th time. It has essentially nothing to do with the game and is really just a fun read for anyone into magic, duels, intrigue, underdogs, little guys taking down the powers that be, a couple good plot twists, and a very PG hot tub scene that leaves everything to the imagination (of course, high schoolers have very good imaginations…).
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Another prolific author – you pretty much cannot go wrong with any of his novels. Hiaasen writes crime novels that tend to feature some over-the-top villains and other colorful characters, most of whom are prime examples of the uniquely Floridian brand of wackiness. Skinny Dip is my favorite.
Even without the character driven nonsense, the book would have a solid crime plot – marine biologist twisted by greed colluding with the head of an evil corporation trashing the Everglades becomes paranoid that his wife has discovered his falsified reports hiding the company’s illegal dumping practices. Naturally, he has to murder her. Police investigations, blackmail, and revenge plots follow.
But it does have the character driven nonsense! You will love the paranoid murderer binging black market Viagra, the illiterate fentanyl addict bodyguard, the deranged Vietnam veteran, and the corrupt lawyer (it is a fiction after all).
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
When the incomparable Lauren Timmons recommended this book to me, I hesitated. After all, up to this point, my knowledge of her reading habits was largely limited to her predilection for enjoying 78,639 page biographies of Henry Clay. I am so glad I ignored my misgivings. This book series (my favorite so far is probably The Butcher’s Masquerade) has superpowers.
I live about as far east as you can while still living in Dallas proper. I work in Frisco. Yes, that means both 635 and the Tollway. Do I care? Absolutely not! With Carl and Princess Donut to keep me entertained, I wish it was longer (yes, I “read” this on audiobook, which I normally hate, but this audiobook is so well done it is better than actually reading).
After an alien company mines the Earth for its precious resources, instantly killing the vast majority of the population and sending the remaining population into a dungeon where they must fight for their actual lives in a real-life role-playing game live streamed for quadrillions throughout the galaxy…you know what, just do yourself a favor and read it…any description I give here will just be too weird and you will never start. Trust me, it is worth it.
John M. Farrell made the jump in-house to Keurig Dr Pepper after years of representing defenseless employers against evil, unscrupulous employees while with Haynes and Boone, K&L Gates, and Arcadi Jackson. Unlike most car wreck attorneys seen in late night TV commercials, he actually is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. John is somehow tolerated by his patient, beautiful, genius of a wife Meghan and justifiably ignored by his three children John E., Molly, and Sam (unless they want something).
Here are five more My Five Favorite Books columns from our readers you might have missed:
Andrew Gratz shares five books that have shaped how he thinks about leadership and how he approaches his work with executives, boards, and legal teams.
Natalie LeVeck reveals her long-standing (and deeply ingrained) obsession with true crime.
Kristen Cook gravitates toward fiction, but she also enjoys mixing in leadership and business books.
Allison Cook shares five books she’s loved since getting back into reading.
Half Price Books Head of Legal Jennifer Rodriguez is drawn to books that weave storylines together and pull her in enough that I get to the “just one more chapter” stage.