Two years ago, a Los Angeles friend and I decided to trade a list of our ten favorite books. Both of us are (were, was, in his case, sadly) inveterate readers. Such a list proved impossible for both of us so we made the list a bit longer; fifteen. Then, thirty. Then endless. We never traded the lists, but having known Michael for most of my life, I’m quite sure we shared many of the same books on our endless lists. I know one that was on there, Catcher in the Rye, as we both read that one early in high school, the same copy, and discussed it for weeks afterward. It was the beginning of our rebelhood. If not the inaugural moment, at least the validation of our feelings at that age.

But, what got me started here was a question from someone else; what are the most important books you’ve read, in terms of influencing your being, not your writing? It was an interview question but one I’d not heard before.

Those few books are Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Maxwell Maltz’ Psycho Cybernetics, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and Malcom X’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

These were all books I read in my twenties, trying to get a grasp on where I was in the scheme of things, if there was, indeed, such a scheme. Then, again, in my middle years for much the same reason. Then, in my later years. Maybe again someday.

To oversimplify, Hill helped me get somewhere in business and in my ad years. Maltz helped me face up to home truths and overcome obstacles. Frankl’s amazing philosophy is so aspirational, so inspirational, it’s transcendent. And Malcolm X’s words show what authentic dignity and shedding bullshit is all about. All well worth reading.

Did they make me a saint? Hardly. As soon as I’d set a book down I’d go off and decimate a tenet or two. Then maybe try again to, at least, imitate the processes that I admired. And in so doing, some of it rubbed off on me. For awhile.

I offer those for anyone who questions or is on a quest. Couldn’t hoit, as the standup guy used to say.

And here’s a portion of that endless list that Mike and I were going to trade. A portion. And these are just favorites. The poetry collections and nonfiction—those are other lists.

The Cadence of Grass, Thomas McGuane (and everything else he ever wrote)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John LeCarre (and everything else he ever wrote)

Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy (and everything else he ever wrote)

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (and, yes, everything else)

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (same for this guy)

 Eyeless in Gaza, Aldous Huxley

 Los Alamos, Joseph Kanon

The Ultimate Good Luck, Richard Ford (and everything else he ever wrote)

The Comedians, Graham Greene

 Democracy, Joan Didion (and everything else she ever wrote)

 Yonder Stands Your Orphan, Barry Hannah (same)

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

 Dog of the South, Charles Portis

 Blind Corral, Ralph Beer

 Women and Thomas Harrow, J.P. Marquand (and everything else)

The Moviegoer, Walker Percy (and all his others)

 Crow Fair, Thomas McGuane

 The Last Thing He Wanted, Joan Didion

 All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

 The Arrangement, Elia Kazan

 Dispatches, Michael Herr

The Last gentleman, Walker Percy

 Ninety-Two in the Shade, Thomas McGuane

 The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, Bob Shacochis (and all his others)

 Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey

 Zeroville, Steve Erickson (most everything else, too)

 Naked Lunch, William Burroughs

 Bats Out Of Hell, Barry Hannah

 On The Road, Jack Kerouac

Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck

Winter's Bone, Daniel Woodrell (ALL his others)

Tenth of December, George Saunders

 For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway (all the rest)

 The Pugilist At Rest, Thom Jones

 Montana, 1948: A Novel, Larry Watson

 The Last Picture Show, Larry McMurtrey

 Boys and Girls Together, William Goldman

 My Dark Places, James Ellroy

 The Last Cattle Drive, Robert Day

 The Road Home, Jim Harrison

 The Magus, John Fowles

 The Second Happiest Day, John Phillips

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

 Chilly Scenes of Winter, Ann Beattie

 In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

 Rabbit, Run, John Updike

 Rubicon Beach, Steve Erickson

The Beautiful and the Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Motel Chronicles, Sam Shepard

Play It As It Lays, Joan Didion

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Evan Connell

The Good Lieutenant, Whitney Terrell

 The Laughter of Strangers, Michael Seidlinger

 Nebraska: Stories, Ron Hansen (most of the others)

 Let Me Be Frank With You, Richard Ford

 The Counselor (screenplay) Cormac McCarthy

 And many more, thank God. Books, man. What marvelous things.