Christopher K. Starr OONNEE TTHHOOUUSSAANNDD BBOOOOKKSS Zardhenge, Ohio 2007 Cover illustration: The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg (1850) CONTENTS Introduction ....................................................................................... 3 Books I Would Like to Read ..................................................................... 5 Books I'm Glad I Read ........................................................................... 31 1 2 INTRODUCTION Like modern people everywhere, I am enchanted by the written word. I regard books as a thing of wonder. Quite a number of famous writers, in an unabashed display or modernity, have seen fit to share with us the books that have meant much to them, and we thank them for it. I have perused those of Jorge Luis Borges (1961), Henry Miller (1952) and John Cowper Powys (1916), with interest and delectation. It has occurred to me that a very few people might care to see that my own booklist would look like. Going a step beyond Borges, Miller and Powys, I have listed those books that I have not yet read but would like to (Part 1), as well as those that I can recall having read with appreciation (Part 2). To be sure, some of the books that I think I want to read will almost certainly turn out to be foolish choices when I get to them, but no matter. Unlike the three aforementioned luminaries, I have no literary reputation to lose. Each part lists about 1000 books. Where a particular volume has an english version, this title is given first. If it has an alternative english title or (more often) if the original title is in another modern language that uses roman script, this follows in square brackets. Whether I read a particular book in English or another language is irrelevant. Following the title is the date of composition or publication. A bracketed date indicates that publication (usually posthumous) was long after the work was written. And in a few cases I have favoured the reader with my own opinionated comments. What use should you make of this book? Well, anything you please, really. Anyone wishing to psychoanalyze me -- a dirty job, but for all I know someone may want to undertake it -- will find plenty of data in these pages, I have no doubt. This list is not exactly a set of recommendations, but a young person looking for suggestions on what to read might very well derive some profit from it. Without claiming to understand the minds of librarians, it occurs to me that some might find some professional value here. After all, these are the thoughts of one who has been reading books almost constantly for 50 years and serious grown-up fare for more than 40 years. Finally, I am mindful that some of you like to have cookouts, and these pages, once printed, will burn, so at the very least I can help you to get the barbecue up and burning. References Borges, J.L. 1961. Biblioteca Personal. Madrid: Alianza 173 pp. Miller, H. 1952. The Books in My Life. New York: New Directions 316 pp. Powys, J.C. 1916. One Hundred Best Books. New York: G.A. Shaw 73 pp. 3 4 Part 1. BOOKS I WOULD LIKE TO READ This is not exactly a list of those books that I definitely want to read. Rather, it is those that I think I will want to read when I get the chance. As often happens, one eagerly looks forward to reading something, based on what one has heard, what one has already read by the author, or maybe just because the topic sounds so cool, only to find the book an utter disappointment. (The Lord of the Rings springs readily to mind; what a letdown.) In addition, even if an especially prolific author's books are uniformly good, one may not have appetite for more than a few of them. For example, I have a strong appreciation of H.P. Lovecraft and would very much like to get acquainted with Jules Verne, but do I really want to read more than three or four books by either one? With those cautions in account, I would be happy to have any of the following volumes in my hands. Will I ever, in fact, read them? Yes, most of them, unless I get hit by a bus tomorrow. Author(s) unknown. The Domesday Book. 1087. Egil's Saga. c.1220-1240. Golden Lotus. 16th century. My Secret Life. 1966. Das Niebelungenlied. c.1200. Njál's Saga. [The Story of Burnt Njál.] 13th century. Saga of Eric the Red. prob. 13th century. Viga-Glum's Saga. c.13th century. Let's face it, I can never pass up an epic. Edward Abbey. The Monkey Wrench Gang. 1975. Jack Henry Abbott. In the Belly of the Beast. 1981. Pierre Abélard. The Story of My Misfortunes. [Historia Calamitatum.] c. 1140. Roger Abrahams. Deep Down in the Jungle. 1964. Octavio Aceves. Siete Vidas Esotéricas. date? José de Acosta. Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. 1588. Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams: An Autobiography. (1985.) If it hadn't been for Adams, I might not have seen what an elegant and high-minded colour grey is. Shmuel Yosef Agnon. The Bridal Canopy. 1967. Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Rashômon. 1915. The Spider's Thread. 1918. In a Grove. 1921. The Man of the West. 1927. Chris Albertson. Bessie. 1972. John R. Alden. A History of the American Revolution. 1969. Ciro Alegría. Gabriela Mistral Intima. 1968. Ciro Alegría. Siete Cuentos Quirománticos. (1978.) Sarane Alexandrian. Marcel Duchamp. 1976. 5 Abdul Alhazred. The Necronomicon. Date unknown. Described by H.P. Lovecraft as "the ghastly soul-destroying symbol of the forbidden corpse-eating cult of inaccessibility in Central Asia", the nonexistence of this book is cause for regret. Tariq Ali. Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope. 2006. Dante Alighieri. The New Life. [La Vita Nuova.] 1294. Saul Alinsky. Reveille for Radicals. 1946. Rules for Radicals. 1971. Gay Wilson Allen. The Solitary Singer. 1955. About Walt Whitman. Isabel Allende. Eva Luna. [Cuentos de Eva Luna.] 1990. Aphrodite. [Afrodita.] 1997. Dorothy Allison. Bastard Out of Carolina. 1992. Kenneth Allsop. Hard Travellin'. 1967. Roald Amundsen. The South Pole. 1913. Jon Lee Anderson. Che Guevara. 1997. Roy Chapman Andrews. Ends of the Earth. 1929. Roy Chapman Andrews & Yvette Borup Andrews. Camps and Trails in China. 1918. Maisie Angus & Travers McNeice. Lion Children. 2001. Michael Anthony. Green Days by the River. 1967. Cricket in the Road. 1973. Guillaume Apollinaire. Calligrammes. 1915. Le Poète Assassiné. 1915. Les Mamelles de Tirésias. 1917. Herbert Aptheker. American Negro Slave Revolts. 1943. Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion. 1966. Louis Aragon. Le Paysan de Paris. 1926. Les Beaux Quartiers. 1936. Holy Week. [La Semaine Sainte.] 1958. Francisco Aranda. Luis Buñuel: A Critical Biography. [Luis Buñuel: Biografía Crítica.] 1969. Alonso de Arcilla. La Araucana. 16th century. An epic about the war between Lautaro and Pedro de Valdivia. Hannah Arendt. On Revolution. 1963. Ludwig Achim von Arnim. Tröst, Einsamkeit, alte und neue Sagen und Wahrsagungen, Geschichte und Gedichte. 1808. Der Wintergarten. 1809. Armuth, Reichthum, Schuld und Busse der Gräfin Dolores. 1810. Die Kronenwächter. 1817. Der tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau. 1818. Landhausleben. 1826. Juan José Arreola. Mujeres, Animales y Fantasías Mecánicas. 1972. Narrativa Completa. 1997. Tres Días y un Cenícero, y Otros Cuentos. 2000. Muhammad Asad. The Road to Mecca. 1954. 6 Dore Ashton. A Joseph Cornell Album. 1974. St Augustine. Confessions. 397. François V.A. Aulard. The French Revolution: A Political History, 1789-1804. [Histoire Politique de la Révolution Française.] 1901. Kofi Awoonor. The Breast of the Earth. 1975. Ride Me, Memory. 1973. Liyana Badr. A Balcony over the Fakihani. 1985. Gaston Bachelard. Lautréamont. 1939. The Psychoanalysis of Fire. [Psychanalyse du Feu.] 1964. The Poetics of Space. [Poétique de l'Espace.] c.1964. Mikhail A. Bakunin. God and the State. 1871. Statism and Anarchy. 1873. Anna Balakian. Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute. 1959. André Breton, Magus of Surrealism. 1971. James Baldwin. Another Country. 1962. Blues for Mister Charlie. 1964. Going to Meet the Man. 1965. Tell me How Long the Train's Been Gone. 1968. Hugo Ball. Flight out of Time: A Dada Diary. [Flucht aus der Zeit.] 1927. J.G. Ballard. Empire of the Sun. 1984. The young Ballard was never the same after that. Made into a fine movie starring Christian Bale. Honoré de Balzac. Louis Lambert. 1832-1833. Eugénie Grandet. 1833. Joseph Banks. Journal of the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks during Captain Cook's First Voyage in HMS Endeavour in 1768-71. (1896). Imamu Amiri Baraka. Black Music. 1967. W.N.P. Barbellion (Bruce F. Cummings). The Journal of a Disappointed Man. 1919. W.H. Barrett. Tales of the Fens (1963) and More Tales of the Fens (1964). Christine Barrows (ed.). And I Remember Things. 1992. John Barth. The Sot-Weed Factor. 1960. J.R. Bartholomew. The Formation of Science in Japan. 1990. Roy F. Barton. The Half-Way Sun. 1930. Philippine Pagans: The Autobiographies of Three Ifugaos. 1938. William Bartram. Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Choctaws. 1791. Jacques Barzun. Darwin, Marx, Wagner; Critique of a Heritage. 1941. Thomas A. Bass. Camping with the Prince, and Other Tales of Science in Africa. 1990. Georges Bataille. Guilty. [Coupable.] 1944. H.E. Bates. Through the Woods. 1936. Wood engravings by Agnes Miller Parker. Presumably a sequel to Down the River. Marston Bates. Gluttons and Libertines. 1967. 7 Charles Baudelaire. Artificial Paradise. [Paradis Artificiels.] 1860. Paris Spleen. [Le Spleen de Paris.] 1869. J.C. Beaglehole. The Exploration of the Pacific. 1934. Simone de Beauvoir. The Second Sex. [Le Deuxième Sexe.] 1949. The Mandarins.
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