Revisit the List
Rather a novel approach, books I’ve bought, given away, and purchased again.
Can’t say I would repeat that process, though.
However, because it keeps popping under on my social feeds? Recommended books.
- Snow Crash Snow Crash
- Stranger in a Strange Land Stranger in a Strange Land
- Practical Demon Keeping Practical Demon Keeping
- Florida Road Kill Florida Road Kill
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Lonesome Dove Lonesome Dove
- The Haunted Mesa The Haunted Mesa
- This is Shakespeare This is Shakespeare
- Dreyer’s English Dreyer’s English
Not exhaustive, but a good start? Of note, just off the top my head, the last two, This is Shakespeare and Dreyer’s English — I have both hard copy and digital versions. Bought twice, use both of them often enough to warrant library and digital versions.
Revisit the List
Snow Crash will always top this list, I’ve reread it several times, marveled at its ingenuity, loved the ideas. There’s an urgency to the prose and style, missing in his latter works, but the writing is there. As good as any introduction to the author’s complete works.
Stranger in a Strange Land, according to myth, barely sold as a hardback when it was first released, early Sixties, but then, the paperback version developed a cult-like following amongst the hippies. As a piece of literature that stands between the old and the new, and the ideas encompassed, better yet, the premise itself?
Practical Demon Keeping, not the author’s first, but my first introduction to the canon that follows? Worth it. Very much worth it, and to this day, there are still scenes that stick with me, from that first time I read the book. Worth rereading.
Florida Road Kill, decades old reference, fits alongside the aforementioned Practical Demon Keeping, as there’s a sense of urgency about the prose, the narrative’s frantic pace, just good stuff. Alas, the author is no more, but at over two dozen books, this is the introduction.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas deserves a special footnote in the canon of American literature. “New Journalism” and “New Wave” pop culture, the Beats, and everything in between is wrapped in this tiny novel. Part fever dream, part deconstruction of the American Dream, and part adventure into the seamy underbelly of post-Vietnam life, it’s all there. Sex. Drugs. Rock’n’Roll. I think it was a “a savage journey into the heart of the American dream.” I’ll periodically reread it.
Lonesome Dove was, to me, a fat paperback that opened my eyes to the McMurtry canon of work, and the first time I read about an accent that was properly captured on paper. Means the characters came alive. Later, in a more academic setting, I recall the Freudian analysis of the work, and that added layers to the tale. As an entry point, as a standalone, as part of the canon of great Western American literature, or even as a cornerstone for it?
I think I I’ve only read two or three Louis L’Amour books, Haunted Mesa at least twice. There’s imagery and thoughts, processes, and ideas that have stuck with me, as I’ve traipsed about the American Southwest, mostly the Phoenix area, Santa Fe and bits of Northern New Mexico, all of that. Gentle recollections. Fits with the way the lands and landscape embrace magical realism, where the spirits inhabit the land itself. Holy ground, so to speak.
The final two books, This is Shakespeare and Dreyer’s English are more reference books. As noted, I’ve purchased both book and e–book versions of each. In part, to keep a handy reference available when I’m working on just a tablet, but in part, as they are “Emotional Support” books. The Shakespeare text, This is Shakespeare offers insight into how to approach a problem, not just an analysis of the plays, but how to tackle issues.
Dreyer’s English is similar in that it is like a toolkit for writer. I won’t ever be a better writer, but I can hone the craft, and that’s where it helps. Plus, he’s an engaging author.
