I am a huge non-fiction fan, so I have a few favorites I’m going to nominate for the “One Book, One Tumblr” thing. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson

I am a huge non-fiction fan, so I have a few favorites I’m going to nominate for the “One Book, One Tumblr” thing.

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson

Goddamn good for nothing bluejays
via ghoulnextdoor Witchcraft and Black Magic, Peter Haining (by S. Elizabeth) A wicked parcel arrived on my doorstep this evening, courtesy of my creepy pal Drax.  Thank you, sir! He has lovingly restored this tattered tome and has documented a bit of the process, along with a ton of beautiful full colour scans, over at his blog. I almost laughed when I saw this because I think I own that exact book, or at least inherited it from my mother. I remember reading it surreptitiously in my bedroom, and honestly, since I read it when I was around eight or nine, it probably messed me up a little. Oh well, I think it made me more interesting.
PART FIVE/? Cinderella’s Big Score by Maria Raha This is an important book for me personally, since it was pretty much one of those ‘everything you know is bullshit and fuck everybody’ catalyzing moments. I discovered a lot of my favorite artists now through it, and how cool my mom is. Turns out she used to be one of these ladies, or maybe she still is, who knows. I’d say Raha’s writing sometimes slips into the overly idealistic and lacks a little subtlety, but it was perfect for what it was: an introduction.

PART FIVE/?

Cinderella’s Big Score by Maria Raha

This is an important book for me personally, since it was pretty much one of those ‘everything you know is bullshit and fuck everybody’ catalyzing moments. I discovered a lot of my favorite artists now through it, and how cool my mom is. Turns out she used to be one of these ladies, or maybe she still is, who knows. I’d say Raha’s writing sometimes slips into the overly idealistic and lacks a little subtlety, but it was perfect for what it was: an introduction.

“Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”
“He had the feeling that everything he saw was a broken-off piece of some giant blank thing that he had forgotten had happened to him.”
“I’m a member and preacher to that church where the blind don’t see and the lame don’t walk and what’s dead stays that way.”
PART FOUR/? Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor If anyone understands, the South, it’s my gal Flannery. Her prose is weird, disturbing, and roaringly funny. My kind of stuff. This book, with the character of Lily Sabbath in particular, has been a big influence on my own writing. Many people say this book is anti-religion, and I frankly find that laughable. Just because O’Connor recognized the horror and hilarity in Christianity doesn’t mean she was against it. Just the opposite, in fact: I would say she loved it enough to truly know it.

PART FOUR/?

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

If anyone understands, the South, it’s my gal Flannery. Her prose is weird, disturbing, and roaringly funny. My kind of stuff. This book, with the character of Lily Sabbath in particular, has been a big influence on my own writing.

Many people say this book is anti-religion, and I frankly find that laughable. Just because O’Connor recognized the horror and hilarity in Christianity doesn’t mean she was against it. Just the opposite, in fact: I would say she loved it enough to truly know it.

“I suppose I do have one embarrassing passion- I want to know what it feels like to care about something passionately.”
PART THREE/? The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean This is probably the first adult book I ever read. I was really young when I did, like nine or ten. I found it completely mesmerizing. The stories in here are completely engrossing and occasionally unsettling. I appreciate that. But really, it’s hard not to make a book set in Florida boring. I think my favorite digression might be the 19th Century orchid hunters, with the 20th Century American real estate scams a close second. 

PART THREE/?

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

This is probably the first adult book I ever read. I was really young when I did, like nine or ten. I found it completely mesmerizing. The stories in here are completely engrossing and occasionally unsettling. I appreciate that. But really, it’s hard not to make a book set in Florida boring.

I think my favorite digression might be the 19th Century orchid hunters, with the 20th Century American real estate scams a close second. 

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