Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi has written three books since 2006: two collections of essays and his latest, " The Great Derangement, " a mass skewering of modern Americans, from 9/11 conspiracy theorists to mega-church goers. His picks:

My Five Most Important Books

1. "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol. I've probably read this book 50 times. A great novel about how human society is basically an unbroken string of tragic misunderstandings.

2. "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. See above. A lot of the books I like are sort of about the same thing.

3. "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy. The thing I love about Tolstoy is his way of making you realize that the seemingly dull details of ordinary day-to-day existence can be dramatic and terrible.

4. "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Of all the books ever written, this one is probably the least like "Chicken Soup for the Soul," which has to count for something.

5. "Papillon" by Henri Charrière. I think this is the greatest true-adventure tale ever, a great story of perseverance and the will to live. Always amazed by how beautiful the writing is.

A book to which you always return: I read "Candide" about once every two years. It's great if you have a talent for forgetting jokes.

© 2008