before i lose my style

tomewing:

This is a list of the books on my shelves which I haven’t read. 

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I’ve meant to copy this idea since it was originally posted. I am really good at buying books, and almost as good at starting them, but pretty bad at finishing them and ever so slightly worse at remembering them. Here is a list of all the books I need to read or sell, organized alphabetically, irrespective of the extent to which I previously read them.

20 Jazz Funk Greats Drew Daniel
69 Love Songs: A Field Guide LD Beghtol
1919: Volume Two of the U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos
1989: Bob Dylan Didn’t Have This to Sing About Joshua Clover

The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Aja Don Breithaupt
All Families Are Psychotic Douglas Coupland
All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence Fox Butterfield
All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community Carol Stack
Aqualung Allan Moore
The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas Diana Taylor
Are We Still Rolling?: Studios, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll: One Man’s Journey Recording Classic Albums Phill Brown
Armed Forces by Franklin Bruno
The Ask Sam Lipsyte
Atonement Ian McEwan
The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves Andrew Potter
Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1

Bee Thousand Marc Woodworth
The Best American Noir of the Century James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, eds.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004 Dave Eggers, ed.
Best Music Writing 2007 Robert Christgau, guest ed./Daphne Carr, series ed.
Best Music Writing 2008 Nelson George, guest ed./Daphne Carr, series ed.
Best Music Writing 2009 Greil Marcus, guest ed./Daphne Carr, series ed.
Best Music Writing 2010 Ann Powers, guest ed./Daphne Carr, series ed.
Best Music Writing 2011 Alex Ross, guest ed./Daphne Carr, series ed.
Beyond the Grey Flannel Suit: Books from the 1950s that Made American Culture David Castronovo
Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish of New York City Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories Otto Penzler, ed.
Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West Cormac McCarthy
Blue Velvet Michael Atkinson
Blues People: Negro Music in White America Amiri Baraka
“Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!”: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959 Eric Schaefer
Book of Clouds Chloe Aridjis
Born in the U.S.A. Geoffrey Himes
Bread Givers Anzia Yezierska
The Burden of Representation: Essays on Photographies and Histories John Tagg
Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound Brian Peterson
But Beautiful: A Book about Jazz Geoff Dyer

The Cabala Thornton Wilder
Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States Laura Hein and Mark Selden, eds.
The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top Janet M. Davis
Comes the Blind Fury Douglas Rutherford
Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers Kwame Anthony Appiah
Court and Spark Sean Nelson
Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America Franklin E. Zimring & Gordon Hawkins
Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s Robert Polito, ed.
The Crisis of Criticism Maurice Berger, ed.
Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo Ned Sublette
Cunt: A Declaration of Independence Inga Muscio
Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism Daniel Harris

Daydream Nation Matthew Stearns
The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs
The Disco Files 1973-78: New York’s Underground, Week by Week Vince Aletti
Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics José Esteban Muñoz
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste Pierre Bourdieu (Richard Nice, trans.)
Doolittle Ben Sisario
Double Nickels on the Dime Michael T. Fournier
Down & Delirious in Mexico City: The Aztec Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century Daniel Hernandez
Drift & Mastery Walter Lippman
Drown Junot Díaz
The Dud Avocado Elaine Dundy
Dusty in Memphis Warren Zanes

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds Paul Zindel
Electric Ladyland John Perry
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II John W. Dower
The Enchantress of Florence Salman Rushdie
The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation Tom Engelhardt
Endtroducing… Eliot Wilder
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Wells Tower
The Evolution of Useful Things Henry Petroski
Exile on Main St. Bill Janovitz

Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing Diana Crane
The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border Claire F. Fox
The Film: A Psychological Study Hugo Münsterberg
Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity Edward Dimendberg
Fragments: Cool Memories III, 1990-1995 Jean Baudrillard (Emily Agar, trans.)
Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity [These days the book is subtitled “How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture”] Lawrence Lessig

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets Sudhir Venkatesh
The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy Allan G. Johnson
Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture Simon Reynolds
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why Richard E. Nisbett
The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams
Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild, eds.
Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues David Mamet
Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance: 1950-1963 Kevin Starr
Gringos Charles Portis

Hard Travelin’: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, eds.
Highway 61 Revisited Mark Polizzotti
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Herbert P. Bix
History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt, eds.
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets David Simon
Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture Kathy Peiss
House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski

If He Hollers Let Him Go Chester Himes
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio Philippe Bourgois
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life James Deetz
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Kim Cooper
In Utero Gillian G. Gaar
The Informer Liam O’Flaherty
Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers Anthony Slide

Kick Out the Jams Don McLeese
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society Andy Miller

Led Zeppelin Erik Davis
Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music Eric Weisbard, ed.
The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist Dorothy Day
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 Edward Bellamy
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever Will Hermes
Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 Tim Lawrence
Loveless Mike McGonigal
Low Hugo Wilcken
Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York Luc Sante
Lynching Photographs Dora Apel and Shawn Michelle Smith

The Many Faces of Judge Lynch: Extralegal Violence and Punishment in America Christopher Waldrep
Meat Is Murder Joe Pernice
The Metropolis Case Matthew Gallaway
The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think for Themselves Curtis White
The Ministry of Special Cases Nathan Englander
Mr. Peanut Adam Ross
Murmur J. Niimi
Music and Social Movements: Mobilizing Traditions in the Twentieth Century Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain Oliver Sacks
My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy with Laura Checkoway

Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter
No-No Boy John Okada

OK Computer Dai Griffiths
Oreo Fran Ross
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 Michael Azerrad
Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music

Paul’s Boutique Dan LeRoy
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm Shawn Taylor
Perfumes: The A-Z Guide Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez
Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s) T. Fujitani, Geoffrey M. White, and Lisa Yoneyama, eds.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn John Cavanaugh
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them Elif Batuman
Pretty in Punk: Girls’ Gender Resistance in a Boys’ Subculture Lauraine Leblanc
The Psychic Soviet Ian Svenonius

Ramones Nicholas Rombes
Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean Douglas Wolk
Real Punks Don’t Wear Black: Music Writing Frank Kogan
Red Shift Alan Garner
Reggaeton Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez, eds.
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century Alex Ross
Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies Chandra Mukerji and Michael Schudson, eds.
Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 [UK Edition] Simon Reynolds
The Road Winds Uphill All the Way: Gender, Work and Family in the United States and Japan Myra H. Strober and Agnes Miling Kaneko Chan
Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism Chuck Eddy

, said the shotgun to the head Saul Williams
Savage Pastimes: A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment Harold Schechter
Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin Alice Echols
The Second Shift Arlie Russell Hochschild with Anne Machung
The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family Elisabeth Bumiller
The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke
Short Cuts: Selected Stories Raymond Carver
Simulacra and Simulation Jean Baudrillard (Sheila Faria Glaser, trans.)
Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White [ARC] Tom Sancton
Speaking with the Angel Nick Hornby, ed.
Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island Greil Marcus, ed.
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams
The System of Objects Jean Baudrillard (James Benedict, trans.)

Tally’s Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men Elliot Liebow
The Tao of Pooh Benjamin Hoff
Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, CUlture, and the Past Sidney W. Mintz
The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen
The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle Fatimah Tobing Rony
This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project Eric Weisbard, ed.
Tongue Party Sarah Rose Etter
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992: On the Road: A Search for American Character Anna Deavere Smith

The Ugly American William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
Unmeltable Ethnics: Politics and Culture in American Life Michael Novak

The Velvet Underground and Nico Joe Harvard

Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash Susan Strasser
The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap Stephanie Coontz
Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America Ann Powers
When Movies Mattered: Reviews from a Transformative Decade Dave Kehr
Where We Stand: Class Matters bell hooks
White Noise Don DeLillo
Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race Matthew Frye Jacobson
Who Is This Man? Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? Lorrie Moore
Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist Richard Rhodes
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Maxine Hong Kingston
The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square Ned Sublette