A Clockwork Orange- by Anthony Burgess
One of my favorites. To this day if I pick up this book, thirty minutes later I’m still reading. The wordplay is fascinating. Alex, the main character, is a violent hoodlum but Burgess writes him in such a way you can’t help but root for him.
Marathon Man – by William Goldman
I had seen this movie many times but finally decided to read the book only recently. Good thing I did. Goldman is terrific laying out the plot and characters. And of course there’s the famous ‘Is it safe?’ scene. His book Magic is another creepy, interesting tale.
Shutter Island – by Dennis Lehane
I am not a big fan of police procedural books but this one came highly recommended. Seventy or so pages in, I was not that interested but kept going. When Lehane hints at what is really going on about half way through, I was hooked. I stayed up very late to finish this one.
Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
With many authors, I try and take away something from their craft. I try to incorporate some of what they do into my writing. With Vonnegut I don’t even try. He’s an original. If there is anything I might incorporate it would be perhaps to take risks. To write the way you think you should, regardless of what others may think. Other books of his I have enjoyed, Breakfast of Champions, The Sirens of Titans, Cats Cradle.
The World According to Garp – by John Irving
This book was one of the first I remember reading that was not related to science fiction. This got me wanting to read other genres of fiction. For that, I thank Irving for a life-long enjoyment of all kinds of fiction.
Bonefire of the Vanities – by Tom Wolf
This book felt electric when I read it the first time. New York revealed in all its splendor and crassness. Wolf’s unusual style kept me reading about his main character – a Master of the Universe. The Right Stuff by Wolf is also excellent.
The Invisible Man – by H.G. Wells
The perfect illustration of how a reader will go along with a wild premise as long as everything else make sense. You read this book and leave thinking, yes, that is exactly how things would go if someone were in that predicament. By the way, my kids were terrified of the cover of this book with the bandaged man. To this day they mention their fright. The War of the Worlds by Wells is another perfect example of this tenant.
Issac Asimov
Too many books to list. Just about anything from Asimov is worth reading. In my teenage years, I tore through his works. The Foundation books blew me away.
Michael Crichton
Again, far too many books to list. The Andromeda Strain got me started, and I went on read most of his works. However, his most popular book, Jurassic Park, I strangely did not enjoy.
John Grisham
The Firm was another early book I read that was not science fiction. Having read this one I had to pick up A Time to Kill.
William Bernhardt
Bill is the author of over 50 books and the popular ‘Ben Kincaid’ series of books. He also has a terrific series of books called the Red Sneaker Writer series. I highly recommend these books to anyone interested in writing fiction. He demystifies the process of writing fiction in these straight forward and informative books.
Click here to visit his site
Julio Pinera 