We are stories.
Not just the ones we tell during a job interview, or at the Lucky 13 Saloon, or in some semi-anonymous blog. That’s how we piece together our identities for others. For ourselves, however, there is a greater “story self.” We are more than the stories we tell; we are also the stories we hear.
Ideas and Ideals have different meanings to us at different times in our lives. Educator, child psychiatrist, and author-noted early in this list, Robert Coles believes that through teaching fiction, he has observed in himself and in his students how the amorphously flowing standards of life can be plotted through stories we recall. In his book “The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination” readers recount how certain books have acted like bolts of lightning for the development of their` world view. The books are external validations of what we hoped -and feared- to be true. Stories solidify our “preconceived notions of what matters, what doesn’t matter, what should be stressed, what should be overlooked…”
More so, Dr. Coles believes stories are the very vehicles of our moral development. For better or worse, the development of your spritual self and your moral self can be traced through your story self.
For me, it’s a little simpler.
This is diary.
This is a list of all the books I read from cover-to-cover since 1989. I have kept this list in many forms. From hand scribbled notes in college notebooks, to this internet published collection of hyperlinks.
Buddies, classes, ex-girlfriends, vacations – many seem random and detached in the decades escaped; but occasionally, they come back to the calendar. Given the perspective of something they influenced me to read at a certain time, for a certain reason, from the book, I remember them.
I remember me.
The format is not perfect, but very few modifications were needed over the years. The bare bones information of title and author kept it from being a chore. The real chronology (instead of reverse) is much like walking forward on a path, the act of getting older or just reading a book from cover-to-cover.
So, without further ado – the Booklife: part 1
Chapter One: 1989
Interview with a Vampire ……….Anne Rice
The Vampire Lestat………………Anne Rice
The Queen of the Damned ……… Anne Rice
The Books of Blood1…………….Clive Barker
The Books of Blood2……………..Clive Barker
The Books of Blood3……………..Clive Barker
The Damnation Game …………….Clive Barker
Red Dragon ……………………….Thomas Harris
The Silence of the Lambs……….…Thomas Harris
Democracy ………………………..Joan Didion
Play It as It Lays …………………..Joan Didion
Mother Night ………………….Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Lancelot……………………………Walker Percy
Fade………………………………..Paul Cormier
The Catcher in the Rye………………J.D. Salinger
A Confederacy of Dunces……John Kennedy Toole
Chapter Two: 1990
Wild Cards1………(edited by) George R. R. Martin
Wild Cards2………(edited by) George R. R. Martin
Wild Cards3………(edited by) George R. R. Martin
Wild Cards4………(edited by) George R. R. Martin
Wild Cards5…… (edited by) George R. R. Martin
Wild Cards6…… (edited by) George R. R. Martin
Different Seasons…………….Stephen King
The Stand…………………….Stephen King
Rules of Prey ………………..John Sanderford
Shadow Dancers………………Ron Lieberman
If a Traveler on a Winter’s Night..Italo Calvino
The Descent of Man ……….T. Coraghassan Boyle
Chapter Three: 1991
The World According to Garp ….John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany………John Irving
The Inhuman Condition …………Clive Barker
Weaveworld……….……….…….Clive Barker
Family Literacy……….…………..Denny Taylor
Learning Denied………….……….Denny Taylor
In the Middle……….……….…..…Nancy Atwell
The Call of Stories……….………..Robert Coles
S/Z……….……….……….………..Roland Barthes
Ulysses……….……….……….….James Joyce
The Name of the Rose……….…….Umberto Eco
Travels……….……….….…….….Michael Crighton
The Little Prince………Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Illustrated Man….……………Ray Bradbury
Deathbird Stories ……….………..Harlan Ellison
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…Douglas Adams
The War of the Worlds……….……H.G. Wells
Chapter Four: 1992
A Brief History of Time………..Stephen Hawkins
The Time Machine……….……..H.G. Wells
Focault’s Pendulum……………..Umberto Eco
At The Mountains of Madness…H.P. Lovecraft
The Handmaiden’s Tale …………Margret Atwood
The Call of the Wild ……….…….Jack London
Wild Mind……….……….……….Natalie Goldberg
Spider……….……….……….……Patrick McGrath
Animal Farm……….……….……..George Orwell
Paingod……….……….……….…..Harlan Ellison
The Nine Billion Names of God……Arthur C. Clarke
Inferno……….….Larry Pournelle & David Niven
Slaughterhouse 5 ……….……….….Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The Legend of Sleepy Hallow ……..Washington Irving
Steps ……….……….……….………Jerzy Kosinski
Chapter Five: 1993
No Exit & 3 Other Plays…………Jean Paul Sartre’
Death of a Salesman……….…….Arthur Miller
The Grotesque……….……….…..Patrick McGrath
Blood and Water and Other Tales…Patrick McGrath
The Cipher……….……….………..Kathe Koja
Shatterday……….……….…………Harlan Ellison
Writing Down the Bones……….….Natalie Goldberg
Rising Sun……….……….…………Michael Crighton
The Tao of Pooh……….……………Benjamin Hollf
Cider House Rules……….………….John Irving
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe………….Carson McCullers
Sexpunks……….……….……….…..Richard Suhtpen
The Painted Bird……….……….…….Jerzy Kosinski
Chapter Six: 1994
The Beast That Shouted Love at the
Heart of the World………………………Harlan Ellison
Alone Against Tomorrow……….………Harlan Ellison
Language in Society……….…………….Suzanne Romaine
Voices of the Mind……….……….…….James V. Wertsch
Speech Genres & Other Late Essays……M.M. Bahktin
Basic Principles of Curriculum Instruction…Ralph Tyler
The Mists of Avalon……….….Barbara Zimmerman
Chapter Seven: 1995
The Essential Ellison……….……………Harlan Ellison
Strange Wine……….……….……………Harlan Ellison
The Lord of the Flies……….……………Michael Goldings
The Story of the Eye……….……………George Bataille
Frank’s World…………………………….George Mangels
Crash ……………………………………..J.G. Ballard
The Tattooed Map………………Barbara Hodgeson
The Waltz Invention……………….…….Vladimir Nabokov
The Trail…………………………………Franz Kafka
…………………..David Zane Mairowitz & Robert Crumb
White Noise………………………………Don Dellilo
The Alienist ………………………………Caleb Carr
Our Town………………………………..Thornton Wilder
Chapter Eight: 1996
The Man Who Folded Himself …..David Gerrold
The Lathe of Heaven …Ursala K. Leguin
The Most Beautiful Girl in Town…Charles Bukowski
Oleanna…………………………….David Mamet
Angry Candy……………………….Harlan Ellison
Ellison Wonderland…………………Harlan Ellison
The Virgin Suicides…………………Jeffrey Euginedes
Chapter Nine: 1997
Edgeworks: Volume One……………Harlan Ellison
Memoirs of a Bookie’s Son…………Sydney Offit
The Prince……………………………Nikkolo Machiavelli
Extinction……………………………Thomas Bernhard
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas……Hunter S. Thompson
Thank You for Smoking……………Christopher Buckley
Imagined Worlds……………………Freeman Dyson
Chapter Ten: 1998
Slippage…………………….…Harlan Ellison
An Underachiever’s Diary……..Benjamin Anastas
My Idea of Fun………………….Will Self
The Quantity Theory of Insanity..Will Self
The Country of Last Things……..Paul Auster
American Psycho …………Bret Easton Ellis
Paradoxia: A Predator’s Diary……Lydia Lunch
Beloved……………………………Toni Morrison
Kundalini: The Arousal of Inner Energy
……………………………Ajit Mookerjee
Chapter Eleven: 1999
Geek Love …………………Katherine Dunn
The Perfect Storm…………Sebastian Junger
Great Jones Street………….Don Delillo
Things Fall Apart………….Anache Chiobe
Neuromancer……………….William Gibson
From the Land of Fear…….Harlan Ellison
Stories……………………T. Coraghessen Boyle
Giuliani: Nasty Man…………Edward I. Koch
Fetish Blonde………………..John Gilmore
Illusions……………………..Richard Bach
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
………………………………H.P. Lovecraft
……………………Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama
Chapter Twelve: 2000
Opium: Portrait of a Heavenly Demon
…………………………….Barbara Hodgeson
What Matters Most is How You Walk
Through Fire………………Charles Bukowski
Angela’s Ashes…………..Frank McCourt
Fight Club………………..Chuck Palahniuk
Survivor………….……….Chuck Palahniuk
Invisible Monsters………..Chuck Palahniuk
The Professor and the Madman..Simon Winchester
Stalking the Nightmare….Harlan Ellison
High Fidelity…………..….Nick Hornby
Amsterdam: A Brief History of the City
……………………………Mak Geert
Waiting for Godot………Samuel Beckett
Chapter Thirteen: 2001
The Stranger ………..….Albert Camus
The Fuck-Up……………Arthur Nersesian
The Fall of Hyperion……Dan Simmons
Dancing After Hours…….Andre Dubus
Bears Discover Fire……..Terry Bisson
Skinny Legs and All……..Tom Robbins
Kavalier and Clay………..Micheal Chabron
Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and
Fundamentalism…………Ahmed Rashid
The Invisible Man………..H.G. Wells
E Tu’, Babe? ……………..Mark Leyner
The Image of the Beast ……Philip Jose’ Farmer
Chapter Fourteen: 2002
Blown……………………….…Philip Jose Farmer
Tantric Awakening……………Valerie Brooks
The Universe in a Nutshell..…Stephen Hawkins
One More For the Road………Ray Bradbury
Choke…………………………Chuck Palahniuk
The Unnatural………………..David Prill
Second Coming Attractions….David Prill
No Windows, No Doors …….Harlan Ellison
After the World Trade Center: Rethinking
New York..(edited by) Michael Sorkin & Sharon Zukin
The Good Soldier ……………Ford Madox Ford
The Snows of Kilimanjaro……Earnest Hemingway
Ender’s Game…………………Orson Scott Card
Chapter Fifteen: 2003
The Quiet American…………Graham Green
Werewolves in Their Youth..Michael Chabon
Cat’s Cradle…………………Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Breakfast of Champions…….Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Sirens of Titan……………….Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Deadeye Dick………………..,Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Still Life with Woodpecker….Tom Robbins
Maus (I & II) ………………..Art Spiegleman
The Old Man and the Sea…..Earnest Hemmingway
The Sun Also Rises………….Earnest Hemmingway
The Picture Of Dorian Gray…Oscar Wilde
Chapter Sixteen: 2004
The Sweet Smell of Psychosis …..Will Self
Everything’s Eventual……………Stephen King
The Jaguar Hunter………………..Lucius Shepard
Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned…..Kinky Friedman
Lullaby……………………………Chuck Palahniuk
Moth Smoke……………………..Moshin Hamid
Kidwatching: Documenting Children’s Literacy
Development….Gretchen Owocki & Yetta Goodman
Miscue Analysis Made Easy………Sandra Wilde
The Doom that Came to Sarnath…H.P. Lovecraft
Chapter Seventeen: 2005
Rod Serling: The Dreams and Nightmares
of a the Life in the Twilight Zone…Joel Engel
The Rum Diaries………….Hunter S. Thompson
To Have and Have Not….Earnest Hemingway
The DaVinci Code………………Dan Brown
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
………………………..Jonathan Safan Foer
Haunted……………………Chuck Palahniuk
Beggars in Spain…………..Nancy Kress
SpiderTown………..Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.
Monster………….…Walter Dean Myers
Flowers for Algernon…..….Daniel Keyes
The Collector……………….John Fowles
Chapter Eighteen: 2006
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon..Spider Robinson
Rich Dad, Poor Dad…………..Robert Kiyosaki
You Remind Me of Me………..Dan Chaon
Dangerous Visions .(edited by) Harlan Ellison
Twilight of the Super-Heroes…Deborah Eisenberg
The Insult………………………Rupert Thomson
The Curious Incident of the Dog In the
Night Time….…………….……Mark Haddon
Magic for Beginners……………Kelly Link
Chapter Nineteen: 2007
The Hero with a Thousand Faces………..
…………………………..…..Joseph Campbell
Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art…
…………………………….….Scott McCLoud
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer………
………………………………..Patrick Suskind
One thousand and One Nights.Lara Tupper
The Wind Up Bird Chronicles..Hirachi Marakami
In the Miso Soup……………..Ryu Marakami
The Night of Power………..…Spider Robinson
Pattern Recognition …..…..….William Gibson
Men and Cartoons……………John Letham
Edgeworks III…………………Harlan Ellison
The Kite Runner………………Khaled Hosseini
The Complete Short Stories: Volume I……..
………………………………….Isaac Asimov
(The Complete) Persepolis……Marjane Satrapie
Fun Home……………………..Allison Bechdel
The Road………………………Courmac McCarthy
No Country for Old Men………Courmac McCarthy
The Last Picture Show…………Larry McMurty
Reinventing Comics……………Scott McCloud
Ham on Rye…………………….Charles Bukowski
The Terror……………………….Dan Simmons
Cycler…………………………….Lauren McLaughlin
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