70 books (not novels) I’m glad I read

As I was assembling my list of 70 novels I’m glad I read for yesterday, my eyes kept passing over books on my shelves and in my memory that had a deep impact on me but were not novels — poem collections, non-fiction, short stories, and all that.

I realized I needed another list of 70 books for all those other volumes. The first one I thought of was my first collection of Ray Bradbury short stories, the second was Bradbury’s fine book about writing, and the third was my well-worn book of poems by another person on my short list of heroes.

Here’s the whole list, in no particular order — I only numbered them to make sure I hit 70. And no doubt I’ve forgotten something important.

1. R is for Rocket – Ray Bradbury

2. Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury

3. 100 Selected Poems – E.E. Cummings

4. Do It (Let’s Get Off Our Buts) – Peter McWilliams

5. Thou Shall Prosper – Rabbi Daniel Lapin

6. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott

7. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

8. Resistance to Civil Government – Henry David Thoreau

9. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

10. As A Man Thinketh – James Allen

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70 novels I’m glad I read

I have been obsessed with the number 70 of late — go figure. And I have always been obsessed with lists. For this next week leading up to, well, my 70th, I have compiled lists of 70 things that have affected me over the years. I hope you find them interesting; if nothing else they’ll tell you something about me, probably more than I intended.

We begin with 70 works of fiction that shaped me into who I am, for better or for worse, presented in no particular order — I only numbered them to make sure I hit 70 — although this is the order in which I thought of them, so maybe that means something.

1. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. The Martian – Andy Weir

3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon

4. Dandelion Wine – Ray Bradbury

5. True Grit – Richard Portis

6. Night – Elie Wiesel

7. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

8. The Haunted Bookshop – Christopher Morley

9. Bambi – Felix Salten

10. The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

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W.B.’s Book Report: Storyteller

Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop by Kate Wilhelm has been in my possession since shortly after it was published in 2005. It spent much of its existence in storage — but I think it’s earned a spot on my shelf.

I put it on my “to-read” shelf but packed it in a bin when we moved and built the house in 2012. It lost its dust cover, I seem to recall, to an incontinent cat. Its last resting place was in a plastic bin in the garage, where a family of mice discovered the lid was not as secure as I believed.

This summer I discovered about two dozen books in that bin had become shredded mouse bedding. Storyteller emerged with bits of spine nibbled off at the top and bottom. Apparently Small Beer Press makes its covers out of a material that mice do not find tasty. That turns out to be good news for me.

I had heard wondrous things about this book from writers I respect, and finally this weekend I took it off the “Why haven’t I read this yet” list, devouring it (not in the same sense as the mice) in two days.

It is partially a memoir of her time working on the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop with her husband, Damon Knight. Mostly it is one of the most clear, concise, educational and honest books about writing I have encountered.

Storyteller got me excited about telling stories again. That’s the highest praise possible for a book about writing.