The Buie Knife

Your 15 Most Influential Authors?

This is going around Facebook, so I thought I'd post mine here as well as on FB. Such a list changes with time, obviously -- the list I post today might not be the list I'd post next year or the year after that, or last year, or 10 years ago, though some of the authors would be constantly on my list.

The Rules:  Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag at least fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what authors my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note). Hat tip: Deb (she started it).

 ‎1. Frederick Buechner

2. Pat Conroy

3. Irfan Orga

4. Mark Twain

5. William Shakespeare

6. Harper Lee

7. Lillian Secrest Buie

8. A.M. Secrest

9. James Thurber

10. Russell Baker

11. Eric Sevareid

12. Eugene O'Neill

13. Dr. Seuss

14. Martin Luther King Jr

15. Herman Wouk 

My Virtual Bookshelf

I've always liked to be surrounded by books. In 2009, when I had to pack up and store all my books for an impending move to Turkey, and with no practical possibility of bringing my books with me, I started using Living Social's Virtual Bookshelf application.

With the knowledge that visual images of my books would be readily accessible online, in categories, where I could share reviews and exchange preferences with friends and associates, somehow it became easier to separate myself from my books. And also to discover new ones I might be interested in.

As something of a bookaholic, maybe I have OCD when it comes to books. The lists on my Virtual Bookshelf site (and in some categories on this blog) represent a good bibliography of what, in my humble opinion, well-informed people should read if they want to discuss the subjects with knowledge and depth. Maybe some of them are out of date and aren't worth reading any more. You be the judge. To some extent it's a matter of taste.

On the Internet it is so easy to have strong opinions without having read a single book on a topic. That, to me, is one of the drawbacks of our age -- an epidemic of shallowness based on sound bites and gut-level thinking.  Pointing to the books we've read as backup for our opinions gives an indication of our level of knowledge.  When we express opinions, others can see whether our opinions are based on knowledge or just plain guess work.

Related:

Books On My Virtual Bookshelf About:

• Civil Rights
• Christianity
• Children's Literature
• Economics
• Internet's impact on society
• International Relations
• Journalism
• Middle East
• Russia
• Self-help/mental health
• US Congress
• The American South
• Turkey

Best Books About Economics?

I'm by no means a specialist in economics, but I try to maintain a layman's understanding of the subject. Here are some of the books I've read on economics. Click. What books would you add to the subject?

Best Self-Help or Mental Health Books?

I used to read a lot of books about self-help or mental health, partly because I was interested for reasons of personal growth and insight and partly because I needed to do so for work -- I covered mental health policies and trends for about seven years as a journalist. I've mostly moved on to other topics, but looking at my library, here are some of the best books I've read on the topic. Click. What books would you add?

Best Books About Civil Rights Struggles in America

Here's my partial list of the best books I've read about civil rights struggles in America. Click. What would you add to it?

Best Books About the US Congress

Here's my (partial) list of books I've read by or about members of the US Congress. Click. What would you add to this list?

My 'Blook' On My Mother Cited As One of the Best for History Buffs

What a surprise to discover that my blook -- blog plus book -- Teacher of Our Town: Lillian Secrest Buie -- was cited in August 2009 by "Online School" as among the "100 Best Book Blogs for History Buffs: This nonfiction blog will point you to historical books....This blog acts as a 'living memorial' for Lillian Secrest Buie, and it follows her story, her writings, and the book inspired by her life."

Previously, Cheryl Hagedorn of "Blooking Central" wrote a piece about my work, "Living Memorial Becomes Autobiographical Blook." 

A Bookaholic Tries to Detach Himself from Books

"A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight." - Robertson Davies

I'm afraid I took this philosophy too much to heart, and have always found it difficult if not impossible to part with books. I guess it was partly the way I was raised. My mother was an English teacher who believed that books represented something eternal, something sacred. Discarding a book, not to mention even the contemplation of burning one, was a terrible thing, if not an unforgivable sin.

But when my mother, upon her death, left me with the task of sorting through and deciding what to do with her collection of 3,000 books, I began to believe that discarding books, even if a sin, was a forgivable one. Trying without success to find a place that would accept sets of encyclopedias from 1930 and 1950 led me to the awful conclusion that I would either have to discard them in a dumpster or burn them myself.

The downstairs of my former home was packed with books, almost wall to wall,