The Reading List

Quickly making the rounds on Facebook is this elucidating exercise: List fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you.

Participants are challenged to take no more than fifteen minutes to list the first fifteen books they can recall. It's a glorious opportunity to demonstrate (i.e., show off) how well-read one is.

As a voracious reader, my challenge was to narrow the list to only fifteen titles. I immediately eliminated childhood favorites such as "The Sticky Book of Sticky Things." Then I crossed off all of the college text books that shaped my world-view, starting with "Marxist Semiotics and Liberation Feminism in the Age of Reagan."

Having trimmed my list, I then took extra time to jot down some notes to accompany each entry. Readers are welcome to add their own favorites to the list.

Here goes:

The Stabby Butler
Warning: Don’t read the title first.

Sometimes a Great Motion
Not what I expected, but still good.

Don’t Grow up to be a Cowboy
A collection of motherly advice from a woman who knows.

Too Old For this Shit
If you think this is Danny Glover’s memoir, you’d be wrong.

The Cat-Faced Killer
Spoiler alert: It was the dog.

One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Vest
Again, I don’t know who Kent Keesey is, but the man can write.

The Necromancer of Wembley Falls
Can’t remember the plot. Necromancy? Remember being scared.

By the Beard of Xerxes!
A history of Babylonian revolt. Gripping.

14 Days to a Pustule Free You!
Took 15 days, but hey. No pustules!

Harvey Fenster and the Harrowing Glibbet of Howth
If you’re a J.K. Rowling fan, don’t miss this one.

Lady’s Knight
What can I say? I’m a sucker for Gothic Romance.

Lady Chatterley's Hovercraft
A steamy look at the future.

Pleasure Island
A coming-of-age pirate adventure. It's "all hands on deck" as a young man learns secrets from Billy Bones and encounters Long John Silver.

Flaubert’s Moustache
The natural history of a Frenchman’s upper lip. Engaging, though it droops at the end.

Pride and Prestidigitation
Elizabeth Bennet meets a surprisingly arrogant Harry Houdini