1. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X
The first time history happens, it’s tragedy. The second time it happens, it’s parody. This is the tragedy of our shining Black prince. A model for both reinvention and revolution. One of the most important books anyone could ever read.
2. habibi
This graphic novel taught me the beauty of both Arabic and Islam. Littered with meditations on poverty, love, and the horrors of humanity (read: men). This is a tender, surreal, heart-racing tale about two humans in the desert.
3. the art of dramatic writing
Not the only writing book I’ve ever read, but definitely the one I should’ve started with. This is the text that should be leading film schools. Ok, maybe that's a stretch. But I definitely give it to all of my friends.
4. The UnderGround Railroad
As thrilling and relevant as everyone says it is. One quote hung above my bed for my entire semester off:
"To walk around with that in your mind and do nothing was to die."
5. we were eight years in power
A collection of essays by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It has all the poetic language of Between the World and Me, coupled with a critical and equally poetic look at the Obama Administration.
6. the godfather
Open admission: I’ve never seen The Godfather. My mom never let us watch it growing up. So I decided that I had a rare opportunity to experience the story, for the first time, through another medium. I can’t tell you how great of a decision that was.
7. giovanni's room
My first Baldwin book. I learned invaluable things about the way men and women operate. Nothing before or since has ever inspired so much warmth, insight, and dread within me. And if it did, it certainly wasn’t written this beautifully.
8. Slaughterhouse-five
The inner workings of time (travel), war, and confused men. Equal parts hilarious and thought provoking. Definitely reading more Vonnegut next year.
9. meditations
Stoicism! The philosophy that rewired my thoughts on death, my place in the universe, and the definition of salvation. Definitely a huge part of the journey outlined here.
10. THE ALCOHOLIC
This graphic novel started my own journey into dismantling my vices, and my ego. The main lesson being that we can’t have or handle everything, even if the ego begs us to try time and time again.
11. killing and dying
An anthology in the vein of Will Eisner’s seminal The Contract With God trilogy. Every character seems to come so far out of left field that by the time you realize how close to home they really are, you’re already floating elsewhere.
12. creative quest
A great book on creativity because, as should be the goal for any book about creativity, I never finished it. Think on that.
13. Bird by Bird
Admittedly, I read the Idiot's Guide, but the point still stands. This book won’t make you a “sex-god”, but it might reshape your perspective on intimacy. Such that, you’d never feel inclined to use a term as silly as “sex-god” again.
14. Diary of an oxygen thief
A narcissist's brain is made of quicksand. This book puts you knee-deep inside of one and forces you to confront which parts of yourself you can, and can’t, separate from the narrator.
15. Flow my tears, the policeman said
A brain bending mystery from the man hailed as one of science fiction’s best writers. Why’s he the best? Because there’s enough philosophy, enough ideas, and enough story here to constitute an entire college minor.
16. catching the big fish
I got this book 2 years ago and never finished it. I started meditating this year and decided to see what David Lynch had to say about it. Great anecdotes. Even better spiritual advice.
17. When Einstein Walked with Gödel
I was led to believe that mathematics was dull and unimaginative in grade school. This book has taught me that mathematics is an art form. A pursuit of things both beautiful and mysterious.
18. Directing Actors (reread)
No matter how many times I read this book I can never take it all with me. But the pursuit and the vague idea of what to try has helped me to sit side by side with the souls of my collaborators.
19. Zora Neale Hurston: The Complete Short Stories
Ugly. Crooked. Hilarious. Pained. Intelligent. Confused. And above all else, filled with light. These are the complete Black characters that Zora Neale Hurston writes about in her anthology of short stories.
