The Bookshelf

I placed the books on this bookshelf because they hold some personal significance.

The titles are (from right to left):

Baudelaire: Paris Spleen
His prose poetry. The one poetry book I reread periodically.

Italo Calvino: If on a Winter Night a Traveler...,The Uses of Literature,Baron in the Trees
My current favorite author.

Nick Hornby: High Fidelity
My love of music and reading all in one. A friend gave me this book.

David Sedaris: Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked
A new discovery for me. Funny, funny stuff. In Sedaris, I can see writing as a craft.

Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot
Political writing can be funny. Unfortunately, my position as a public employee prevents me blogging about much politics.

Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
If you read only one play in your lifetime, make it this one.

Costa Rica: The Rough Guide
I went to Costa Rica and almost stayed.

Dante: The Inferno
A handbook for graduate school.

Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass
When I was going through hard times, I sold most of my library. I almost sold this book but changed my mind. I loved it so much in high school, it would have been like selling my soul.

Mednis: How to Beat Bobby Fischer
I went through a phase where I read nothing but books on chess. I had an encyclopedia of chess openings. To me, it was like a bible. I loaned it to someone and never saw it again. I think this book had been loaned to me by the same person.

Pete Seeger: The Incompleat Folksinger
This book and my guitar got me through a hard summer.

Shakespeare: Henry IV part 1
I guess we all need to grow up at some point.

Ernest Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying
A birthday present signed by the author.

Songwriters Market 1999
I write songs, but have yet to take them to market.

Flannery O'Connor: The Complete Stories
Southerners can write too.

Lou Reed
One of my rock and roll muses.

Lorna Sass: Complete Vegetarian
Sass taught me all about the pressure cooker.

Eric Lax: Woody Allen
My engagement included a Woody Allen immersion program.