• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Author's libraries

sparkchaser

sparkchaser

Administrator and Stuntman
Staff member
I am a huge HP Lovercraft fan and when I saw this book, I had to buy it:

http://www.amazon.com/Lovecrafts-Library-Catalogue-Revised-Enlarged/dp/0967321573/ref=sr_1_3/002-2920857-2395202?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186144923&sr=8-3

aec1.images_amazon.com_images_I_51HAGXYS0FL._SS500_.jpg

Basically it is a listing of books in Lovecraft's personal library when he died. It's really interesting to see what books influenced an author. Then I started thinking: are there other books like this for Twain, Hemingway, etc.? What about still living authors like William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaimen, Terry Prachett, and Chuck Palahniuk? I'd love to see what Neil Gaiman and William Gibson have on their bookshelves (although I suspect that Gibson would have very little).

My question to the group: are you aware of any books like this for other authors? They have to exist but I am coming up empty handed.
 
I am bumping this thread in case any of the newer folks can offer any information.
 
Sometimes the individual authors (if they are alive) will list the books they are reading on their website - I know George R. R. Martin does.

I agree that it can be interesting to see which books influenced a particular writer. I haven't actually come across anything like the Lovecraft book though.
 
I would certainly be interested in the titles of the books that were in Vonnegut's library when he died.
 
I am bumping this for the new people.

I am still on my quest to find if similar books have been published for other authors. Or even statesmen.
 
Here I am answering my own question.

I found three:

The Browning Collections by Philip Kelley and Betty A. Coley

The Library of Henry James by Leon Edel and Adeline Tintner

The Libraries of George Eliot and George Henry Lewes by William Baker

Hitler's Forgotten Library: The Man, His Books, and His Search for God by Timothy W. Ryback. Review of the book here.


There has to be more.
 
Palahniuk lists his favorite books on his website - chuckpalahniuk.net.

I search for books my favorite authors have written forewards for. It's one thing to give a book a blurb, but to write a foreward means that author really likes the author and the book.
 
Bumping this for the new folks.

I am still on the lookout for dead tree resources.
 
Not a book, but a website for Art Garfunkel. I don't know that he owns and houses all of these books, but he's kept a list of his reads for years.
Art Garfunkel's Reading List

A few years ago, I came across a similar list for a man who was not famous, but he'd listed everything he had read since he learned how. I'd like to find that site again too...
 
Yeah, Brandon Sanderson has a pretty good site where he not only talks about who has influenced him, but also give detailed information about the status of his writing. In addition, he talks about what he was thinking when he wrote portions of some of his books. It makes the books that much more interesting.
 
booktags said:
Yeah, Brandon Sanderson has a pretty good site where he not only talks about who has influenced him, but also give detailed information about the status of his writing. In addition, he talks about what he was thinking when he wrote portions of some of his books. It makes the books that much more interesting.
Click to expand...

Neil Gaimen does that too.
 
sparkchaser said:
Neil Gaimen does that too.
Click to expand...

Ann Rinaldi usually includes a section at the end of her historical fiction that provides background information and discusses some of her thought processes for the book. Most of her books are labeled YA, but they're enjoyable for not so YAs too.
 
Very interesting...Google is a wonderful tool! I always wanted to know what some authors were reading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top