MyLibrarian: Justin
When I was younger I almost exclusively read older fiction and poetry, and figured that would never change; however in recent years I’ve really been enjoying reading non-fiction (particularly titles covering past and present wars and their effect on people), and over the last year in particular I’ve made an effort to start reading graphic novels, as I find they’re an excellent compromise between reading and watching TV! I tend to like both gritty and experimental/unusual writing and art; poetry is also a major favorite of mine, and I love using the library as a resource to try new music albums.
Personalized Recommendations
Fill out this quick form, and I’ll pick out some books for you! I can place items on hold for you, or simply send you a list of recommendations.
Favorite Authors
Cormac McCarthy
Sylvia Plath
Anne Sexton
Favorite Books
Ariel
Sylvia Plath
An acclaimed anthology of vivid and emotionally shattering poems, written during the last months of Plath’s short life, is accompanied by a brief author profile and an incisive foreword by Robert Lowell.
Cogan’s Trade
George V. Higgins
Jackie Cogan is an enforcer for the New England mob. When a high-stakes card game is heisted by unknown hoodlums, Cogan is called in to “handle” the problem.
The Complete Poems
Anne Sexton
From the joy and anguish of her own experience, Sexton fashioned poems that told truths about the inner lives of men and women. This book comprises Sexton’s ten volumes of verse, including the Pulitzer Prize-winner Live or Die, as well as seven poems form her last years.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jean-Dominique Bauby
The French editor of Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he’d only visited in his mind.
The Good Soldiers
David Finkel
In the tradition of “Black Hawk Down,” The Good Soldiers takes an unforgettable look at the heroes and the ruined soldiers fighting in the Iraq War.
Lights Out in Wonderland
D.B.C. Pierre
Gabriel Brockwell―aesthete, philosopher, disaffected twenty-something decadent―is thinking terminal. He’s decided to kill himself―but not immediately. His destination is Wonderland. The style of the journey is all that’s to be decided.
The Orchard Keeper
Cormac McCarthy
Set is a small, remote community in rural Tennessee in the years between the two world wars, it tells of John Wesley Rattner, a young boy, and Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger who, unbeknownst to either of them, has killed the boy’s father.
Pan
Knut Hamsun
Lieutenant Thomas Glahn, a hunter and ex-military man, lives alone in a hut in the forest with his faithful dog Aesop. Upon meeting Edvarda, the daughter of a merchant in a nearby town, they are both strongly attracted to each other, but neither understands the other’s love.
Steppenwolf
Hermann Hesse
Harry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine.
Favorite Movies
Blue Valentine
An honest, moving and uninhibited love story. The uncompromising portrait of Dean and Cindy, a young married couple who have grown apart, taking one night away from their daughter to try to save their relationship.
The Place Beyond the Pines
A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.
Taxi Driver
A psychotic taxi driver tries to save a child prostitute and becomes infatuated with a political campaigner. He goes on a violent rampage when his dreams don’t work out.