list 12: on my bookshelf

Here we are at list 12 with 40 left to go and I am already feeling creatively challenged so I’m being a copy cat this week and following Hula’s footsteps in listing books that I’ve read over and over… dog-eared, watermarked (I’ve fallen asleep in the bathtub with a book in hand more times than I can count), grapefruit splashed, wine stained, dusty, yellowed books that sit on my shelves. I personally enjoy a book that looks like it has been read a thousand times.  And I particularly like used books because they smell like the house my mother grew up in on Karl Street in Detroit, which reminds me of summer vacation.

Truth be told, I am a poseur, really. I love to collect books. I love the way they look on my bookshelf. I love that at any moment I can pick them up, smell their pages and dive into another world. But the thing is, they usually sit there, neglected, their pages unread. I am certainly not what you would call an avid reader. I haven’t read many of the great classics and I’ve only recently picked up Hemingway on my brother-in-law’s insistence (he’s right, the man is a genius). I have friends that read every chance they get and I admire them for it, however I have a hard time getting through a book a month.  And I know that one of the best ways to become a better writer is to read more, but I suppose that when I have a spare moment, I reach for my camera or running shoes instead. Or perhaps my internet addiction is getting in the way of me and a good book and it’s time to do a digital detox. Hmm.

Still, I have been known to read many a book pre-internet and some, I have read more often than others.

1. 3191 – A Year of Mornings by Maria Alexandra Vettese & Stephanie Congdon Barnes. My coffee table book. My resource for visual inspiration. My photography aspiration. Every page is like uncovering a treasure. I can’t wait to pick up A Year of Evenings next.
2. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. My go-to book for inspiration on writing. That, and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.
3. Stuart Little by E. B. White. My childhood favorite. I have a thing for miniature worlds.
4. Anything by Tom Robbins. I began reading Robbins during my hippie years in Nelson, BC and have since purchased most of his books. His quirky writing style appeals to me. My favorite is probably Jitterbug Perfume, the back of which reads: Jitterbug Perfume is an epic, which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight (Paris time). Sold.
5. Same with David Sedaris. I saw him at a book reading last year and the man cracks me up. My first introduction to Sedaris was Me Talk Pretty One Day and I haven’t stopped reading him since. This snippet gives you an idea of his dry sarcastic humor, which frankly, I can’t get enough of. “For the first twenty years of my life, I rocked myself to sleep. It was a harmless enough hobby, but eventually, I had to give it up. Throughout the next twenty-two years I lay still and discovered that after a few minutes I could drop off with no problem. Follow seven beers with a couple of scotches and a thimble of good marijuana, and it’s funny how sleep just sort of comes on its own. Often I never even made it to the bed. I’d squat down to pet the cat and wake up on the floor eight hours later, having lost a perfectly good excuse to change my clothes. I’m now told that this is not called “going to sleep” but rather “passing out,” a phrase that carries a distinct hint of judgment.“
6. Into the Wild (pre-movie) and Into thin Air by Jon Krakauer. True accounts, adventure, suspense, the human spirit pushed to its limit.
7. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. You either love it or hate it. This book came my way at a pivotal time in my life, which is probably why I grabbed onto it and didn’t let go until the last page.
8. Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. We all have one of those spiritual guru self-help crap books on our shelves. Or maybe we hide it in our closet. But I read this one in university and have since picked it up many times and lent it to a million people claiming it would change their life. I remember once being in seminar class in school and my friend Camille was about to present and she was all nervous and I said… Don’t worry dude… we’re all just atoms and molecules. Atoms and molecules. She looked at me like I had two heads and each had downed a bottle of JD.
9. Speaking of JD… J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Teenage angst and rebellion at its best.
10. Vonnegut. I love him so. Slaughterhouse-Five was my first. You never forget your first Vonnegut. It appears I have a thing for the absurd, a love for satire and black comedy.
11. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. You know when it feels like an author is stealing the words strait from your mouth? Like he really gets you, like he is narrating your very own stream of consciousness? That’s how I felt the first time I read this book. Mind you, I believe I was on a road trip of my own at the time, so perhaps that had something to do with it.
12. Books of poetry by Mary Oliver and Charles Bukowski. I don’t own any but each time I stumble across one, I pick it up, choose a page at random, read it and melt.

What is your all time favorite book? Or do you have any current suggestions? I have an 8-hour layover to look forward to next Friday (volcano Gods permitting) and will need something to keep me occupied.

Also on the subject of books, here’s a fun little project: Design your own book cover using the old school Penguin template.

Happy weekend!