Here’s a list of ten of my favorite books which have influenced me in some way. As you’ll see, they run the gamut from fiction to non-fiction and from short stories to self-help. It’s not my top ten list, but it’s a top ten list on this particular day. They’re not listed in any particular order.
Truman Capote, “In Cold Blood”
My own writing has been heavily influenced by literary non-fiction writers like Capote and Joan Didion. “In Cold Blood” combines that writing genre with horrific true crime, a combination that’s like catnip to a reader like me. I’ve been warily interested in the Clutter family murders since my dad took me to the film version of “In Cold Blood” in 1967 when I was about 12. This is an incredible book.
Joan Didion, “The White Album” and “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”
Actually two books, but they’re both non-fiction essay compilations, from the period of late 50s to early 70s. So much of her writing defines the myth of California for me. I’m a native but didn’t spend my childhood in the state, also born in Sacramento, as was Didion. Guess I felt she was kindred. Her way with a sentence is really unmatched. I find her writings hypnotic; don’t know how many times I’ve read these essays and they don’t ever age. I never get tired of them.
Paul Monette, “Becoming a Man – Half a Life Story“
This is an autobiography, a writer’s autobiography, which fascinated me because not only was the writer (Paul Monette) a gay man, but one I already admired from his amazing memoir of AIDS, “Borrowed Time.” I remember looking for some hint in these pages of how I should live my own life — what experiences I should have as a gay man in Los Angeles, how I should think about them, how I should write about them. As much as a kind of blueprint for an existence as a window into someone else’s remarkable life, as gay men (of my generation, anyway) have had so few role models. It’s hard not to fall in love with the spirit of this beautiful but very human and flawed man, which infuses each and every page.
Michael Cunningham, “A Home at the End of the World“
I really felt very connected to both the men in the story (fiction, about a relationship triangle over the course of many years). One is straight, one is gay, and they are both contemporaries of mine – so there were many touch points I could so easily identify with. The structure of this novel, where alternating chapters are written from each of the main characters’ point of view, has influenced how I put together “The Forest Dark,” my own second novel. I also loved the epic nature of the story, in that it follows an enduring friendship over many years. I found myself longing for the kind of love expressed in this book.
George Chauncey, “Gay New York“
This is a real history book with an 80-page source notes section! It’s a fascinating look at how and why what we know today as gay urban culture came together. In writing about gay people in the fictional present, knowing our past and how that forms us is a crucial exercise in back story. Until I read this book, I never knew how recent (big picture-wise) a recognizable “gay community” was. This book covers a ton of topics, including looking at the police repression of gay men and lesbians and how wars and the industrial revolution hastened our community’s formation. In the United States, it all starts with New York.
Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, “Your Money or Your Life“
Told you there was a self-help book in here! Chose this one because it literally changed my life, from not really having any kind of spending plan to becoming frugal and being able to get out of debt and save/invest enough money in a few years to work part-time (or not at all) for 16 years. That’s up until this year (2020) when I will mostly retire. I was interested in doing this for a number of reasons, but the main one was having time for my creative interests. This scheme really delivered.
Armisted Maupin, “Maybe the Moon“
Great story about a dwarf actress whose claim to fame was starring in an ET-like movie. I’ve always loved stories/books/movies about those who (like myself!) came to Hollywood to make it in some way. Most of us, of course, don’t make it or have many strange twists and turns on that journey, and this is such a story. The heroine, Cady, is a take-no-prisoners little person who somewhere in the book refers to herself as a “fat baby with tits and pubic hair.” It’s hard not to love a character like that. I found this a somewhat more serious and touching novel than the “Tales of the City” series, just a beautiful piece of work.
Jon Krakauer, “Into Thin Air“
A non-fiction account by this mountaineer-outdoor writer about the ill-fated Mount Everest climb in 1996. Krakauer was actually part of this group, so the access and immediacy is unparalleled. Generally I wouldn’t say I’m the type of person to like outdoor sagas, but this is something else. For me, it was a literal page turner, I could not put this book down – was hooked from the start, and man, what a story. And it’s true.
Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain“
When I first started reading this short story, I realized I’d have to slow down, as it seemed to be written in a dialect of English with which I was totally unfamiliar. Unfamiliar territory, indeed, and so authentically wrought western talk. I think the story sneaks up on you. Like so many Americans I probably have a fascination with the West, its promises as well as its dangers. In my case, it’s also my native yet adopted part of the country, though California could be put in another category entirely. I believe the rural parts of my state and Wyoming have more in common than California’s coastal cities have with its interior. Here was a genuine rendering of love between two men. A feat so rare in art that when it finally appears it’s really quite astounding, and in this particular case, broke my heart.
Denis Johnson, “Jesus’ Son”
Amazing group of loosely-related short stories. I was inspired to reach far beyond my current writing effort by this. The publisher’s note: Jesus’ Son, the first collection of stories by Denis Johnson, presents a unique, hallucinatory vision of contemporary American life unmatched in power and immediacy and marks a new level of achievement for this acclaimed writer. In their intensity of perception, their neon-lit evocation of a strange world brought uncomfortably close to our own, the stories in Jesus’ Son offer a disturbing yet eerily beautiful portrayal of American loneliness and hope.
So there’s 10. By no means my entire list, just 10 of my favorite books.
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