Favorite books

"Little, Big" by John Crowley -- The most miraculous book I've ever read, Crowley's "Little, Big" has had a profound effect on my life and work and I reread it frequently. It is the single most important influence on my artwork and my thinking in the last ten years. It's the life-story of an nondescript young man once he connects with a family who have their own connections to... he's not exactly sure. Crowley interweaves Keats, Shakespeare, the romantic poets, the Brothers Grimm, Mother Goose, science, pseudoscience, the pre-Raphaelites, Germanic legend, and more into what becomes a modern faerie-tale and ultimately a far-reaching love story.

"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Inga Moore, published by Walker Books -- There have been many editions of this "children's" story of friendship and loyalty, but Moore's illustrations are the most touching I've seen. 

"Macbeth" and almost anything else by William Shakespeare -- Shakespeare's plays should always be seen first, not read, and many teens are given the wrong introduction to them when they're made to read or "act" snippets while waiting for a class-bell to ring. I believe there is no creative mind more knowledgable about humanity, and a great performance can show it. Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare, but not by much -- I also love Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night, as well as researched spoofs like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Shakespeare in Love.

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien -- The escapist medieval-fantasy that has never been approached by its imitators. There are plenty of greater and more important books, but there is no story that more clearly (and less realistically) divides the world between good and bad, and makes good the obvious choice. For years after college I was convinced I'd never find another story that I could love as much, but then I read Crowley's "Little, Big". Ultimately I tired of Tolkien's faux-legendary wordcraft (see "Moby Dick" below), but Rings is still an escapist's dream-come-true. Utterly unlike the movie series, though I like them in their way.

"The Arrival" by Shaun Tan -- An entirely pictured story, and a must-see for anyone interested in telling stories without words.  Tan's drawings are haunting and elegant, and depict the world of early twentieth-century America as it might have been seen by awe-struck immigrants landing in New York, unaccustomed to American excess, shimmer, and symbolism.

"Tempest-Tost" by Robertson Davies -- A small Canadian town attempts a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest (albeit the title is a phrase most famously from Macbeth), and small-town squabbles, pettiness, and passions surface in many ways, recounted by Davies with universal compassion and understanding.

"The Deptford Trilogy" by Robertson Davies -- Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders describe the generations-long consequences of a stone within a snowball which hits a pregnant woman in the head (page 2 of the first book). Davies' humanity and depth is matched by his skill as a storyteller, and he is obviously a Shakespeare worshipper, extra points on my scorecard anytime.

"Moby Dick" by Hermann Melville -- Re-reading Moby Dick as an adult was a completely different experience than when I was forced to plow through it at age eighteen. The writing is beautiful (something I didn't learn how to recognize until after college), even poetic at times, the symbolism is astonishing and universal, and the visual descriptions are enough to keep any artist thinking for a lifetime. Insanely long, and requires some life-experience to appreciate what he's getting at.  Forcing high school students (with rare exceptions) to read it is irresponsible, and maybe cruel and unusual.

"Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy -- Set in the old west and written to be a treatise on how evil and good manifest in human nature (evil being stronger in the end), Blood Meridian is beautifully written and disturbing. The "kid," unnamed throughout the entire book, is the protagonist set against Judge Holden, a seven-foot-tall, educated, sophisticated, and wholly demented albino who is one of the most unnerving characters in literature. Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom equates Holden with Aaron from Titus Andronicus, who actually repents during his execution of any good he may have committed during his life. Blood Meridian also contains multiple passages of visual descriptions which are riveting, such as a critically acclaimed description of an ambush that is nightmarish and overwhelming.
     I don't like extreme violence in books or movies but, like Harold Bloom, I couldn't turn away from McCarthy's poetic and highly visual writing. Great literature, but not meant for the faint-of-heart.

Comments

[eb]

Thanks Bill. Little-Big is quite unusual, and I've attempted other Crowley books without success, but LB is a gem. Interesting that you've read Davies -- not many fans out there, but we're loyal. Send me any related recs you have.

[Bill Carman]

Nice list. Interestingly I've read everything except Little, Big. Guess that's next on my list.