Of all the books I own – I’m a weirdo who still buys hardcover and paperback books – there are a few short works that have been on my nightstand for years and years. I also travel with them whenever I can. I was thinking about the good company they provide last night as I was packing for a return flight to New York this morning, particularly E.B. White’s Here is New York, an homage to my favorite American city, because within their pages lies inspiration unbounded.
Do I carry them with me because they are short? No, I relish a long read equally. It’s pure serendipity that my appreciation for them is long lived, but that they are compact enough to carry wherever I go. Bound separately as they are, the individual writers’ voices are unarguably distinct one from the other, like paintings on a wall, or buildings rising into the New York cityscape, or Japanese cherry trees in full bloom in the nation’s capital in Spring, or an aperitif before a sublime dinner, not to be mixed with the wine accompanying the main course and to be separated by time and conversational lingering from the dessert wine and, perhaps much later in front of the fire, a satisfying after dinner liquor.
Here is my list, in the pages of which can be found bon mots about my favorite subjects, New York (of course), writing, flying, privacy, freedom, life, death and nature…and fairy tales.
Here is New York, E.B. White (essay)
A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf (essay)
Night Flight, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (fiction)
When One Has Live A Long Time Alone, Galway Kinnell (poetry)
23 Tales, Leo Tolstoy (short stories)
There is one short work I would add to this list, although it is new within the past decade and it is by my favorite writer (if there is such a person), Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Memories of My Melancholy Whores is about an old man’s passion for a 14 year old girl and a must read if you ask me.
I would love to know what your own favorite short works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry…whatever are, if you care to share with me and everyone else!
Meanwhile, cheers…
GM
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/lifetimes/white-newyork.html
January 28, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Giselle Minoli there is a “I miss New York” feeling all over your posts. Sometimes I get the impression that I’m reading the words of the artist in exile… You and Ovid.
January 28, 2013 at 1:05 pm
I’ve been slow to adapt to the eBook trend. Some of it is because my ‘old friends’ – titles I enjoy re-reading … aren’t necessarily available from any of the retailers. (Exceptions have been Lord of the Rings and Dune.)
In some cases, that’s an issue with the estate of an author and/or the publisher. In other cases, it’s may be because they’re not mainstream titles.
But, we’ve had this conversation before – I enjoy the tactile feel of a book.
January 28, 2013 at 1:07 pm
George Kozi I became everything in New York, an actor, director, designer, writer. It is my creative and intellectual home, no doubt about that. How can anyone not love New York??? 😉
Hi Bob Lai I’m with you on this. I do understand the ease of e-Reading and I don’t knock it. It’s just not for me. Now…let’s see if that holds the next time I head to Italy, from where I will return with hard bound books I know I will!
January 28, 2013 at 1:08 pm
well, the paradise lost feeling should feed the muse copiously.
January 28, 2013 at 1:09 pm
by the way, you still are everything you became.
January 28, 2013 at 1:25 pm
I would say George Kozi that New York is an addiction for me. Sometimes I think it would be easier to be addicted to cigarettes or alcohol or something you can put in your pocket, your purse, your wallet. But this is an out-sized addiction and I have had it ever since I was a little girl. It is my Wonderland…
January 28, 2013 at 2:26 pm
i have a autographed copy of “Stuart Little” (E.B.White) that was given to me the day I was born – I was born in New York City, in Manhattan, and your posts always bring back warm memories to me of my childhood and of my career accomplishments that were nurtured in NYC.
January 28, 2013 at 2:30 pm
My favourite companion books are by R K Narayan. The author is not well known outside India. I highly reccommend his books.
January 29, 2013 at 2:13 am
Hi Vineet Kuruvila. Greetings from New York! I am aware of Narayan’s versions of the Mahabarata and the Ramayana. Is there are favorite you have of his?
January 29, 2013 at 2:40 am
That I reread? Well, The Hobbit, and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. Must be others, but I’ve been busy with kids the past decade. 🙂
January 29, 2013 at 2:58 am
Well, then Bill Collins…a list of the things you read your kids would be just great. 😉 Can you believe I neve read the Hobbit. I think I’m the only person who didn’t. I want to see those movies. Didn’t see them either. I go through periods where I read everything and periods where I read nothing (because I’m writing so much). Yes, kids would do it. But then, so does working…
January 29, 2013 at 3:19 am
Hm. We gave a lot away. Okay, here’s some. Heavy on the Margaret Wise Brown, Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle. 🙂
Goodnight Moon
The Big Red Barn
Bunny’s Noisy Book
The Runaway Bunny
A Child’s Good Night Book
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Cat in the Hat
Great Day for Up
Ten Apples Up On Top (as Theo LeSieg)
Because a Little Bug Went Kachoo
Mouse Mess by Linnea Asplind Riley
Sheep in a Jeep
Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester
Papa Get The Moon For Me
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
No David
Smudge
Moo Ba La La La
Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes
There were more, but those were many of the favorites. I read every night for years. Such wonderful times. Thanks for that question! I went down to the cellar and looked at some of the books there, then pulled out one to read tonight before bed.
January 29, 2013 at 3:28 am
I am yet to read his versions of the Indian epics. My favourite R K Narayan books would be Malgudi Days and The Guide.
January 29, 2013 at 11:09 am
Bill Collins I’m smiling the big smile. I love love love these titles. Sheep in a Jeep? Mouse Mess? Ah, me…to be a child again! Thank you very much.
January 29, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Although we have many books in the house (I’ve thought of measuring the shelf footage, but it is a daunting task), it is CDs that I keep within reach. In the past several years, keeping them in reach means transferring the music to an mp3 player of one form or another. I enjoy books serially and music circularly. I have playlists rather than pagelists.
September 11, 2016 at 10:37 pm
Giselle Minoli my nightstand is usually over the years still holding (if I don’t take it along in my purse) The Golden Compass (Pullman), Bukowski in a Sundress by Kim Addonizio, The Black Cauldron (yellowed and old and floppy and wonderful), When Women Run with the Wolves, The Bell Jar, my old friend since sixteen, Harry Potter, Michael Cunningham’s The Hours–yes, I have STACKS in my room of “comfort” books, I could go on
-Amy
September 11, 2016 at 10:38 pm
and OH!!! Gentlemen of the Road!! by Michael Chabon
September 11, 2016 at 11:13 pm
Greetings amy sprague. Thank you so much for chiming in on this post more than 3 years after I wrote it. I love that. A bookie (not the betting kind…) You ought to take a picture (would it be better in color or in black and white?) of your room and write a post called Comfort Books. Do it! And Ping me, would you? Cheers…
September 11, 2016 at 11:18 pm
Excellent idea