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20 Influential Books

Since I threw in with a bunch of readers, artists, photographers, and writers on social media, I’m learning a lot about being “social” in that context. Mainly, we have to interact or what’s the point? I also try to say positive things when I do comment about a piece of writing, painting, photograph or whatnot.

There are games. One of them was to post as follows:

The challenge is to choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 consecutive days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (Unless you ask…)

Recurring meme on Threads. March 16, 2024.

I’m going to try this and see if it yields engagement. Positive engagement is what social media is all about. NOT in order of importance, but in the order I posted them:

  • Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow.
  • The White Album by Joan Didion.
  • The Politics of History by Howard Zinn.
  • Spring and All by William Carlos Williams.
  • A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
  • The Actualist Anthology edited by Morty Sklar and Darrell Gray.
  • Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker.
  • The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski.
  • The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois.
  • Dubliners by James Joyce.
  • Adventures: Rhymes and Designs by Vachel Lindsay.
  • Complete Poems by Carl Sandburg.
  • Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective by New York Museum of Modern Art.
  • The End of the World as We Know It by Donald Kaul.
  • An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler.
  • The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz.
  • Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor.
  • The Assault on Reason by Al Gore.
  • What Is Cinema? by Andre Bazin.
  • I Seem To Be A Verb by R. Buckminster Fuller, et. al.

Editor’s Note: I posted through the 13th photo and this project is something of a fizzle. Threads views began minimally and decreased from there. I will finish out the series, but won’t try it again.

3 replies on “20 Influential Books”

Interesting list. I’m often embarrassed by what I think of has my lack of reading, but I’ve come to grips with at least some of your list.

Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. Never read any Bellow. No reason why other that novels aren’t often for me.
The White Album by Joan Didion. read this one. I’ve always thought she writes well, but doesn’t think well. But then I weak on both aspects most days.
The Politics of History by Howard Zinn. I’ve not read that one, but think his history books are a great corrective to what many of us learned in public school.
Spring and All by William Carlos Williams. I’m coming back to admiring at least early WCW.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I read at least one Irving novel when he was the coming thing in commercial literary fiction decades ago. I remember liking it, but can’t recall why.
The Actualist Anthology edited by Morty Sklar and Darrell Gray. Know nothing of this.
Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. Actually tried reading some cookbooks, including parts of this one, once. I’ve now resigned myself to being as good a cook as my mother, which means barely functional.
The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski. I draw another blank.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois. Not the first time I’ve thought I’ve got to read this one.
Dubliners by James Joyce. I think it’s a great, great, work.
Adventures: Rhymes and Designs by Vachel Lindsay. You’ve mentioned your admiration for Lindsay before. I may have to press on and see if there’s something I’m missing over reading the most famous works.
Complete Poems by Carl Sandburg. I have abiding love for Sandburg.
Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective by New York Museum of Modern Art. Exhibition catalog? I think he’s a vital artist.
The End of the World as We Know It by Donald Kaul. You and I both. I grew up on Over the Coffee and loved him even though I appreciated Iowa girls basketball.
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. Another cookbook. Cooking’s a great skill, just not one of mine.
The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz. Another blank. Interesting title.
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor. I still think he was onto something, maybe he lost it or wore it out, but I didn’t follow his later books. A coworker I hardly knew.
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. Likely worth reading, but I didn’t.
What Is Cinema? by Andre Bazin. I once read cinema criticism, may have read some of this. No memory of Bazin’s ideas now.
I Seem To Be A Verb by R. Buckminster Fuller, et. al. I’m not sure how sound he was an engineer, but I can feel the Ralph Waldo Emerson in his thoughts.

Now of course my opinions are just mine. An admirable list on your part.

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In a sense, it is unfair to post titles without context but that was the premise of this exercise on Threads.
Morty Sklar, Darrell Gray, and their self-described actualist movement were a reaction to the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. In 1973-74 I lived in a shared house where most of these artists and poets gathered. It was a wild time. The Picasso book went with the first major retrospective after his death. Seeing everything, all in a single day, was exhausting and inspiring. Fuller was often criticized for his engineering work, the dymaxion car especially. Reading him in 1970 broke the mold of conventional thinking about most things. Thanks for the comments.

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