I would say that this is a page of my favorite books, but that is incredibly impossible for me to put together. I fall in love with each book that I read, and for that day it is my favorite. I will say that these books shaped the way I write, the focus of my literary studies and what I hope to share on this blog.
A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid | I read this on the first afternoon a spent alone in St. Louis, while Joe was away on job training for a week. It changed the way I think about traveling, writing memoir and the use of brevity in writing.
A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway | I'm still not sure how I can hate a man so much and absolutely adore everything he puts on a page. I read this to ready myself for writing in France, and I feel like I was truly born a few decades later than I was intended.
Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin, Marion Meade | Before I ready A Moveable Feast, I read this, my favorite Christmas present from Joe (with the exception of our engagement, obviously). I learned so much and got excited to learn so much more. I am now obsessed with Gertrude Stein's "lost generation."
Main Street, Sinclair Lewis | Another piece of that time period (are you sensing a pattern)... and I admit, I won't finish it until Summer 2010. I can't put my finger on what I love about this–the simple language that flows into clear images; the struggle that can exist without weighing the book down. There's something simply beautiful in it.
The Good Housewife's Encyclopedia, Pamela Fry | I admit, I found it on a used UK book site and ordered it for a class project, but mostly for the cover (which ended up not being included). It's a product of the early 60s, and it's inspired my first book project: looking at domesticity through the lens of liberal feminism. I find myself referencing it a lot and seeing how its ideas work for "modern women," in whatever sense they exist.
