Although stocked more completely than one might expect of a prison library, Crossroads has precious little of the literary material I prefer. It was some time ago that I pulled the last enticing book off the selves here. For years, I have kept a list of authors and titles of books I intend one day to read — culled from choice reviews and the recommendations of friends. It's a long one. Shortly after the DOC policy change I wrote about, I compiled, at a certain someone's ingenious suggestion, a short version as an Amazon wish list, so that those who asked about sending books in the past could now know which books I most desired. It took only a couple of months for that list to dwindle and require an update.
Bypassing the deliberately difficult process of requesting titles for the librarian's next order has yet to lose its edge of excitement. Like a starving man invited to a sumptuous banquet, I have been consuming more than I'd have thought possible, and savoring every delectable moment. So, for graciously helping appease my hunger for the written word, I want to thank the following individuals.
In no particular order, much gratitude goes out to Little Miss Sunshine, Graham P., Matt C., the Wicked Witches of the West, Tom at Prospero's, Josie S., Jen J., Jim at The Hot Air Quarterly, the nameless stranger at Crazyhorse, my dearest Mum, the Skeptical Juror, Lynn A., the fine people of The Sun, and the mysterious few whose names did not appear on their orders for me to acknowledge.
Now, here's my better-than-usual year in books.
* * * * *
Matt Ruff, Bad Monkeys
Mark Garvey, Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's Elements of Style
Gary Krist, Extravagance
Pierre Laszlo, Salt: Grain of Life
Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes
Fracis Flaherty, The Elements of Story: Field Notes on Nonfiction Writing
Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
Nancy Friday, My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies
J. Bennett Allen, The Skeptical Juror and the Trial of Byron Case
Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Patrick Süskind, Perfume
Jesse Ball, The Way Through Doors
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life Ivan Denisovich
Thomas S. Kane, The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Rick Moody, The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions
Sol Stein, Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies
Thomas Pychon, Gravity's Rainbow
Steven Weisenburger, A Gravity's Rainbow Companion: Sources & Contexts for Pynchon's Novel
Warren Ellis, Crooked Little Vein
Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian • Dead Eye Dick
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
Jessica Anthony, The Convalescent
Hansjörg Schertenleib, A Happy Man
Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin
Mary Oliver and Robert Atwan (editors), The Best American Essays 2009
Liane Holliday Willey, Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome
J. Bennett Allen, The Skeptical Juror and the Trial of Cory Maye
Dan Chaon, Await Your Reply
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War
Michael Adams, Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies: A Film Critic's Year-Long Quest to Find the Worst Movie Ever Made
Bill Brown, Dream Whip No.14 [Note: this publication may techincally classify as a zine, but it's nevertheless perfect-bound, bears an ISBN, and represents 336 pages of some fine, thoughtful travel writing.]
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
J. Bennett Allen, The Skeptical Juror and the Trial of Cameron Todd Willingham
Charlaine Harris, An Ice Cold Grave
Jim Carroll, The Petting Zoo
Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser (editors), It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Robert Graves, I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54
Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
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Byron does not have Internet access. Pariahblog.com posts are sent from his cell by way of a secure service especially for prisoners' use. We do read him your comments, however, and he enjoys hearing your thoughts very much.