false 2 323 289 true 8063859 read 4 true 8063858 currently-reading 8 true 8063857 to-read 20 true 8443145 reminders--stuff-to-look-for 2 true 8524533 great-works-i-fear-i-won-t-get-to 12 false 8443230 sequential-art- 7 false 9008660 the-books-that-drove-me http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79176178 to: The Complete Stories (Paperback) by Franz Kafka
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
i spent my whole childhood reading books. enchanted by fairy tales, mythology, sci-fi, fantasy, horror. . .

then, at 16, during a pivotal moment when i had been cut off from books by homelessness, someone passed me a paperback of kafka stories and told me i must read them. It was pretty much my introduction to literary fiction, and changed my understanding of what a book can be

more than raising questions in me of being, it was the descent of language onto thought, exposing the great wealth i had never seen.

to this day, when i read "the hunger artist" i am reminded that we are alive. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77933277 to: The Unconscious Civilization (Paperback) by John Ralston Saul
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
i encountered this book just after my daughter was born. It articulated the sense she had given me, about civic responsibility, and my connection, however tenuous to society around me.

it is still the most concise argument available that demonstrates the need for citizenship and the dangers of narcissistic individualism.

it should be in highschool curriculums everywhere. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77731451 to: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Paperback) by Michael Chabon
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
this tale encompasses decades of european and american history, some of the hardest times in modern history. and it does it all through the lens of comic artists.

the only thing that should ever be said about this book, is read it. if you didn't like some other book by the author, read this one anyway.

in one of life's dark moments, this book reignited my faith in narrative. i hadn't enjoyed, or felt valuable a single book of fiction in years, despite being a student (in and out of school) of literature, mythology, fable, and semiology.

love, drama, heroics, sacrifice, banality, the truth of everyday existence, it is all here.

i purchase and give this book away at least once a year, because it says something important to our lives. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77731267 to: Stranger in a Strange Land (Mass Market Paperback) by Robert A. Heinlein
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
i realize that this book is dated, sexist, a bizarre mixture of pagan hedonism and right wing individualism, and i have never evaluated heinlein as an adult.

but when i read this book at 14, it said things to me i had never heard. very simple things about caring and community, about loyalty and environment, about soul and god.

i was not ready for this book, and it robbed me of my senses. i ran amok and accosted people with it, as an apostle.

it's a foolish memory now,and yet i am grateful for the chasm it bridged.

i dont think this book is useful to adults as anything other than a laugh or historical artifact, but it may still be inspiring young people. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77731877 to: The Bradleys (Paperback) by Peter Bagge
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
I read a dog eared copy of this in a flop house, during my roving hobo punk years. gulped it one morning with vodka.

its nothing more than a sardonic tale of suburban teenage angst. . . but for me it was the first time i heard a voice given to the torments of family. it was the first narrative i encountered (despite being a bookworm) that spoke to my feelings as an alienated family member

I've followed the author and character of "Buddy" ever since, but the connection is that one brief moment that shone a light on something unspoken. it connected the horror kafka felt with my modern world. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79177185 to: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Paperback) by Philip K. Dick
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
i would be hard pressed to name a single dick book i didn't read in a single gulp. this was one of the first i read. i devoured three dozen in two weeks, while unemployed during a bland vancouver summer. they spoke to my frailty, my uncertainty, my small madnesses, and my occasional high madnesses.

and they questioned everything. the value of things, the nature of reality.

one doesnt read dick for amusement or diversion. one enters into a contract to become uncomfortable with ones self and the world around. there is much imaginary, much nightmarish, and much implausible, and yet it all connects you to being more aware. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79177554 to: The Maze in the Heart of the Castle (Mass Market Paperback) by Dorothy Gilman
bookshelves: the-books-that-drove-me
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77005472 to: The Ingenuity Gap: Can We Solve the Problems of the Future? (Paperback) by Thomas Homer-Dixon
i dont't know what to say about this book. it spelled out too many things. too much for my head to hold, even in its simplified form. it tried to be hopeful, without misleading. it did not succeed.

think about that. we alll thought people would pay attention to this book becuase he was a reocgnised scholar. it was not the case.

in the beginning, i might have wondered why so many cities were planning on their own, without and support from on higher up. bit i dont any longer.

but right then in 2001, i just felt afraid, wondering who would actually listen ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79179940 to: A Collection of Essays (Paperback) by George Orwell
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79179934 to: Burmese Days (Hardcover) by George Orwell
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