Posted by jukkahoo
I came across this list of ten books when browsing through some files I found from an ancient storage device. I'm pretty sure I know what this list is. It is a list of "10 books" that the late Kaarle Ervasti asked some of his patrons to make for him, so that he could put these lists on his notice board of his second hand bookshop. To be mocked. I frequented his establishment many a time, hundreds I reckon.
Kaarle was a true legend of his trade, a man who followed the rule of "selling fast, selling cheap", much like the man from whom he bought his little store in Torkkelinkatu, Seppo Hiltunen. And cheap his stock was, the cheapest in Helsinki, it was still extremely good. People knew that in order to find the Good Stuff from his store, there needed to be a similar number of books offered to him. Cheaply, of course. And we, the loyal patrons, followed this exemplary order.
There was always something to buy. Good mysteries, English paperbacks of all kinds, especially SF/F, since he was a fellow fan (and wrote the first catalogue of SF/F books in Finnish), boxes of comics, fanzines and -above all – cheap new books. Good times. Good times.
But the list:
Douglas Adams: Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Alfred Bester: Stars My Destination
Dino Buzatti: The Tartar Steppe
Daniil Harms: Sattumia ("Happenstances", a Finnish collection)
Ernest Hemingway: Death in the Afternoon
Ephraim Kishon: My Family Right Or Wrong
Pär Lagerqvist: Barabbas
Steven Pressfield: Gates of Fire
Clifford Simak: Way Station
J. R. R. Tolkien: Silmarillion
Eiji Yoshikawa: Musashi
There was a time, when (around 30 year old me) thought that these were the Ten Best Books I had read. I don't think I would name these ten today, but I still think these are all great books.
Couple of notes.
No women writers. No Finns, but one Swede, Hungarian/Israeli, Italian, Russian and Japanese. Two Brits and four Americans. And yes, that's eleven books, not ten. No idea which one of these I would've taken out way back then, if I would've been forced to cut it to ten. I'm guessing Way Station, but that's just a hunch.
Four speculative fiction titles, four historicals, a (really) short story collection, a collection of humorous columns, and a non-fiction book on bull-fighting.
I own all of these books. And I have an urge to read them all.
Eating Muffins 