10 books that have had a huge impact on my life... Ill even take it a step farther and try and explain why. 1. The King James Bible. This book has almost every life lesson you will ever need. The psalms alone are a reason to rejoice in humanitys collective and individual soul. I dont buy into the 100% accuracy of it, nor do I buy into the New Testament being written by illiterate fishermen 147 years after they died. But taken for what it says... It can truly be a blessing and is as its called a good book. 2. The Long Walk by Richard Bachman aka Stephen King. I had no idea until Cathy Schluters dad Cedric told me that Richard wasnt real. All I know is that the book compelled me to finish it. It made me see beyond just the words and I felt like I was walking. I felt the book, and it made me want to write. 3. The complete unabridged works of Edgar Allan Poe. Specifically the story A Cask of Amontillado, and the poem Dreams. Cask engulfed me in the duality and depth a writer could actually strive for. Dreams is my monolith. It is my holy grail. That is the poem I judge all others by... Especially mine. 4. The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker. No rules! Pure imagination and the brilliant use of the dead letter office concept. He has written better, and hes written bloodier, but he genuinely created something new. 5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson. Telling a story doesnt have to just be the facts. It can be so much more. It is his masterpiece and a bible to me. 6. Living Buddha Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hahn. My whole life was about dividing and separating and catagorizing... This book showed me the unity. The shared experience... The beauty in similar and separate fashions. A flannel shirt and a Tshirt for example may represent different tastes, different styles, but they are shirts and they are both worn, and both useful. Better doesnt have to be involved. 7. No One Gets Out of Here Alive by Danny Sugarman. The greatest opening and ending paragraphs in the history of mankind. Fact, fiction, truth, mythos, mystique and Jim Morrison. 8. The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra & the Lost Art of Living by Bill Zehme. This book taught me the meaning of friendship, commitment, refusing to give in, give up, or be anything less than the best. To treat the people less fortunate with kindness and generosity and he did everything with style and flair. How much more could anyone ever hope for? 9. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. Friendship. The struggle, the hope, the hardship and the sadness. I could put Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows and many others of this sort into this one category. 10. Memnoch The Devil by Anne Rice. That book helped me with a lot of my issues with God and man and the devil and all of that... It was a good book, not her best. That is LeStat or Blood and Gold. However their was this cute girl that worked at ADC who happened to read that and I thought to myself I now have an in for a conversation. Because of that book I started talking to my wife. So its arguably the most important book ever written. Id also feel remiss if I didnt mention Canterbury Tales, And the amazing Paradise Lost which Ive read maybe 20 times, but when making this list i couldnt justify putting it higher so that would be 11! ---- Im supposed to tag some people. So thank you to Luke for tagging me. I choose Craig Allen Nelson, I choose Floyd Guinn, the beautiful Irma Kaikatsishvili-Brehaut, the always interesting Shishu Krishna Rai, and the brilliant Thomas Poirier. Speaking of brilliant Ingrid Ziebarth Marino, my old injury rehab buddy Shannon Fogarty Whitaker, and arguably the most genius mind I know Patrick Savage.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 23:40:01 +0000
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