Five Books

Five Books




I have five books that have been with me for a while. All of them are from various places, mostly used and maybe one was new. I have read all of them and thought about each one and at different times in my life. They all have a different tone and voice. They all mean something different to me and when I think about them I associate with the things that were going on in my life then.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Lennon in America (1971-1980, based in part on the lost Lennon Diaries):

I was a couch monkey then, when I got these books. I had hardly any clothes and no money for food. A friend of mine used to loan me like a dollar each day. He never expected me to repay him, but the circle goes round. It did sometimes. I got a job in phone line chat room sales. I had fun, but nothing I would want to do for a long time. Yeh, did it for three weeks and bought an ounce. But mostly I drank, got drunk and fell asleep on a sweaty leather couch. On nights when a lot of people where around you might pass out on the floor and wake up next to the dog taking a shit next to your face. One of the guys had a couple turn tables so I had a few records and learned to scratch. Because I slept on the couch a lot, I had a lot of change. I would buy a single menthol cigarette for a quarter. Or I could buy a Red Dog for a Dollar eight. I knew a girl that would go in with not quite enough, dig around for a while and give the guy a pathetic look. She always caught his simpathy and got what she wanted. But for the most part I did it because I wanted to be around my friends. I hated being lonely. Enough to be a poor, broke, drunk ass couch monkey.

On the Road :

The next book I would get would be a travelers book of inspiration. A writers writer. Somewhere along the way I picked up the need to write and I started writing journals of my thoughts and I researched writers and bought there literature. I wanted to try something new. I remember going to buy the book and then looking for a bar to sit at and read it. I thought that sounded like an adventure at a time when everything in my life seemed to be falling apart. My girlfriend at the time was pregnant, and she lost it. It was still in her and she hated me. I wanted out of my life but I couldn’t leave. My girlfriend was adopted by her parents. They are all she’d ever knowen. I thought that was interesting and her parents where real nice too. Educated and proper and wealthy. He worked for IBM, she was a ex school teacher who found adoption familys for Chinese infants and children. But there was not enough glue between us to stick together. She was searching more than I was and seemed to be lost. We were a lot a like on are good sides, but are bad sides where to different to get along. For example I get mad easy and sometimes have a low tolerance for frustration. She would pull away and isolate herself . The end. So I was going to schedule a great road trip and ended up in Minnesota.

New York Rocker(My Life in The Blank Generation)

I wanted to read a book that felt the way I felt or wanted to feel like. Rock and Roll baby!

The Grapes of Wrath:

I bought this book for a quarter at a book stores side walk sale in Dinkey Town neer the U of M. The same street is where I would get coffee with my friends and breakfast with my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. The whole time I was there it was like a vacation from my life, which I needed then. I connected with the area that I was born, but I wasn’t really going to stay long enough to connect with the people. Minnesota is beautiful and especially the Mississippi river that flows through the campus. I had a lot of fun for myself there. When I was there, I sort of lived a mini life different from my usual life. I had a few close friends who where really good friends to me also. Aside from Hye Jin my girlfriend, I had Jinny, Hye Jins best friend, and Son Lee who was a nother friend from South Korea. And we used to hang out with this computer science major named Tommy or something, it will come to me. Any way, I was on the road and I found this book and It sort of threw purpose into the mix. If all these books were defining my life, this one made me feel like life was bigger than me, at a time when My life back home sucked, my uncle was months from dying of cancer, and My girlfriend back home had a miscarriage after three months.