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April
23 marks World Book Day, an event sponsored by UNESCO, the
United Nations group concerned with education. In honor of
the event, a poll was conducted in the United Kingdom to determine
the nation's "can't live without" books. [See
the top ten here.]
The Hipster
Book Club decided to call attention to some of the books we
need in order to survive. We tapped staff members, HBC's Livejournal
members, and even a few writers to contribute some lists.
Some are thoughtful; some are personal; and in the case of
Glen David Gold, some are long enough to be libraries in and
of themselves.
JANICE ERLBAUM
10. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer
I read this book whenever something really fucked up happens
in my life, and it always brings me comfort, because no matter
how bad things are, I am not freezing or dying of hypoxia
in a blizzard on the side of Mount Everest.
9. See
also: Alive by Piers Paul Read!
8. Random
Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
A ten-year documentary following a teenage girl and her family
in the Bronx. One of the best reality shows I've ever read.
 7.
Chances, by Jackie Collins. The Stand,
by Stephen King. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
I'm trying to get the guilty pleasures out of the way all
at once.
6. The
Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six Others,
by Roald Dahl
One of the books I treasured as a kid that made me want to
become a writer when I grew up—these stories still hold
up as an adult.
5. The
Art of the Proposal, by Eric Maisel, and Susan
Rabiner's Thinking Like Your Editor
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to publish a book.
4. The
Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, Bob Selingher
with Len Testa, 2007 edition
Don't judge me.
3. Chelsea
Girls, by Eileen Myles
This collection of autobiographical short stories is pure
Personism.
2. Push,
by Sapphire
This was the book I tried to live up to when I was writing
Girlbomb.
1. An
8" x 5" spiral bound notebook from Staples
Janice
Erlbaum is the author of Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir
(Villard, 2007). Her blog is http://girlbomb.typepad.com
 GIVEMEATTENTION
from the HBC Livejournal community
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
I've read it three times and been more and more amazed each
time. Toni Morrison has super-human language creation skills,
and she puts them to brilliant use in this novel in order
to make us look squarely in the face of slavery. She forces
us to avoid making excuses for the horror of it (to accept
a dehumanizing dominant narrative of slavery that still persists
to this day), and shows the humanity and intelligence of people
deemed animals. There are very few authors who come close
to Morrison in taking me over emotionally so completely and
shaking me to the core.
JENNIFER
HADLOCK
HBC Copy Editor Extraordinaire
Not in
order of preference:
1. The
Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
As a kid I consistently spent all of my book fair money on
Scholastic's Calvin and Hobbes books. As an adult, I spent
$150 to get them all back—the books themselves are a
bit unwieldy and awkward, but it's worth all the trouble to
be able to remember and find the one with the smock, the one
where Calvin drives the car into the ditch, and the one with
the duplicator.
 2.
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
I once had a dream that I was hanging out with the Weasley
twins at The Burrow. This is because I reread the books every
year. Rowling's storytelling, inclusion of fantastic magic
and images, and wordplay reel me in.
3. The
Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Magical realism at its best. I can't summarize in only a few
words why I can't live without this book; just suffice it
to say that the whole thing, in Joan Didion's words, shimmers
for me. I can't forget it.
4. The
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I first read this book as a teenager—eighth grade, I
think—and have read it roughly 16 times since. I see
myself in Holden (as many people do) and respect the dry humor,
the clean prose, and the clear voice in the novel. I always
sob at Phoebe and Holden, and after every read, I realize
that the book is not about angst or teenage years; it's about
getting by.
5. Whatever
I'm Currently Reading, by Whoever Wrote It
I'm a book junkie, and even if I don't finish something (which
is rare) it's always still my favorite at the moment. Currently
it's Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Tom
Robbins's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and—yes—a
Harry Potter book.
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