Dave Barry's Reading List

"I’m probably the last person on the planet to read it; I loved the movie “Lincoln” and wanted more. I am awed by the amount of research that went into that book."

"My guilty pleasure is tough-guy-loner action novels, like the Jack Reacher series, where the protagonist is an outwardly rugged but inwardly sensitive and thoughtful guy who, through no fault of his own, keeps having to beat the crap out of people."

"I’m not sure I could pick just one. “The Code of the Woosters” is up there."

"And “A Confederacy of Dunces” almost made me wet my pants on an airplane."

"I read a lot of comics when I was a kid — “Batman,”  “Archie,”  “Richie Rich,” pretty much anything unlikely to inspire intellectual development."

"I read a lot of comics when I was a kid — “Batman,”  “Archie,”  “Richie Rich,” pretty much anything unlikely to inspire intellectual development."

"I read a lot of comics when I was a kid — “Batman,”  “Archie,”  “Richie Rich,” pretty much anything unlikely to inspire intellectual development."

"Later on I became a big fan of Mad Magazine."

"Also (it goes without saying) Proust. I also read (it goes without saying) a lot of Proust."

"But the books I read most as a child were the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift series."

"But the books I read most as a child were the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift series. I wish that children would read Tom Swift books today, so they would learn that electricity is a powerful force to be used against evil — as in “Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone” — and not just to download Justin Bieber songs."

"I wish that children would read Tom Swift books today, so they would learn that electricity is a powerful force to be used against evil — as in “Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone” — and not just to download Justin Bieber songs."

"I think the last book I recommended that she liked was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”"

"The first time I read a Robert Benchley collection (I don’t remember which one it was; my father had a bunch) I thought, “This is what I want to do.”"

"This may seem self-serving and promotional, but it’s true: I really like the way “Insane City” came out. It has heart, and — more important — an orangutan."