Tag Archives: John Rechy

Twenty books that have stayed with me

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Fight Evil. Read Books.

There’s a Facebook meme going around where you get tagged by friends to list 20 books that have stuck with you over the years. I thought that subject fit equally well on my website where I sometimes talk about books and authors who have influenced me.

It’s not precisely a list of favorites. As I understand it, the point is to call up the titles that come to mind the quickest. They’re books that made the strongest impression on you in some way.

I read about 20 books each year, and I’ve been doing that for oh, about 35 years. So this task wasn’t easy. Also, my forty-something brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be. I broke the rules a bit because I didn’t want to focus entirely on books I read recently just because those are the freshest ones in my head.

In the end, I chose books that represent different periods of my life as a reader, and I focused on the ones that still recall vivid scenes, characters and/or imagery. They’re books that I feel like I know like the back of my hand, and some of them I read 30, 20 or 15 years ago.

In alphabetical order by title:

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

City of Night, John Rechy

Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger

The Front Runner, Patricia Nell Warren

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling

The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin

Mordred: Bastard Son, Douglas Clegg

Mysterious Skin, Scott Heim

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

The Persian Boy, Mary Renault

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

Saul’s Book, Paul T. Rogers

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

The Wicked Years series, Gregory Maguire

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

 

Yeah, I gave three slots to J.D. Salinger. Go sue me. 🙂

A Quickie

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I’m jotting off a little post in the midst of a heavy work week and health insurance headaches (health insurance companies are Evil, medical facilities are Evil, they are all EVIL!!).  But I’m nearly done with an article on John Rechy’s City of Night, and it should be cross-blogged here and at La Bloga soon.  I haven’t returned to editing my novel, somewhat intentionally.  Now with two weeks distance from the last draft, fully de-pressurized I think, I’m ready to go back.  To get a leg up on “angel” novels, I started reading Anne Rice’s Angel Time.

And a word about the Oscars…

Sometimes it’s more about the acceptance speeches than the cinematic performances, isn’t it?  So while I’ve seen neither The Blind Side nor Crazy Heart, I was delighted that Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges won.  I did see Precious and loved that MoNique got Best Supporting Actress.  Beyond that, I decided it was time for me to see The Hurt Locker and Up In The Air.  Wish there had been more of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and less Best Picture segments.  I agree with the principle of nominating more movies to encourage folks to check out worthy, sleeper flicks, but it sure made the awards show drag.

This and That

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The big news this week:  I’ll be writing a book review for La Bloga, the award-winning blog for Latino/Latina literature!!  La Bloga features news and views from a wide range of Hispanic authors and poets and has frequently included gay and lesbian writers such as Michael Nava.  I’ll be reviewing John Rechy’s groundbreaking City of Night.

Then, in the “boo hoo” category, I received my third rejection for MIKE’S POND.  My pity party lasted about 12 hours, and now I’m looking for another journal to sub to.

I’m closing in on the end of WHEN THE FALLEN ANGELS FLY.  280 pages.  72.5K words!!  I’m wrapping up the climactic scene, and I have the denouement to work out.  Feeling pretty optimistic about having the full first draft done by the end of the month.

What inspires me this week:  the Olympics.  My Honey-Bunny (HB) and I have been watching all of the events.  Plenty of tragedy and drama so far, from the heartbreaking death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, the wipe-out of two Korean skaters in the short track final and Canadian skier Alexandre Bilodeau ending his country’s gold medal drought on the moguls.  I have to confess that it’s been hard for me to root on the US team.  Maybe it’s the strident TV coverage.  The US always comes across as cocky bullies, and I find myself pulling for the underdogs, which is pretty much athletes from every other country.  Big news – the US leads the medal count!  What a surprise.  We’re the wealthiest nation in the world with more resources going into athletic training than any other country in the world.  It takes a kid on skates in a sequined body suit with a pink tassel for me to get behind the US team.  Go Johnny Weir!!