I did spring cleaning at my house late this year, just finishing the last of it today. For whatever reason I feel like I've been brainwashed into getting rid of books, like giving them away or donating them, or even throwing them in the garbage. I don't know who or what has brainwashed me. I am an avid reader, and I do primarily use a tablet for my day to day reading simply for the convenience of being able to access any reading material I want in a matter of seconds. When devices like the Kindle and other e-readers first came out, I was one of the countless people that said something like:

"I can't read a book on a tablet. I need to feel the cover in my hands and physically turn the pages to really enjoy it."

What a pretentious load of shit that is. I must have sounded like such a douchebag when I was in college.

When was the last time you could access a library at your fingertips almost anywhere in the world? The availability and accessibility of content alone was enough for the logic and critical thinking part of my mind to eventually kick the shit out of that douchebag, and I consolidated most of my everyday reading to a tablet. I think most people who are serious readers today, at the very least, have an app on their phone to turn to for reading on the go, and use it more often than they thought they ever would. But, that being said, there are some books I do like to have physical copies of. I look at it kind of like vinyl records vs digital music. Nice to have for the intrinsic value, and maybe it enhances the experience a bit, but overall, completely antiquated and unnecessary. I will concede there are some books (more the "coffee table" type, but still informative and entertaining , such as the ones below), which are accompanied by photos that definitely provide more of an element of realism when paging through an actual book.

So upon going through my clutter, I found some books that I had almost forgotten about. I must have stored these in haste because, for whatever reason, I felt as though they were perused through so many times they would never be looked at again. I must really not know myself at all. The books I decided to store, many of them would in essence, change my life. That is, they would have a great influence on me as far as my future tastes in art, music, movies, etc. Throughout my life there has been about 50 pieces of literature, that upon absorbing, resonated with me in such a way my perception of reality shifted, emphatically affecting my psyche so to speak. Here are some examples:

FYI - I will not be doing a synopsis or some weird pseudo-psycho analysis on every book.

One of the best horror writers of all time, the father of "weird" horror. I am actually heading up to Lovecraft Memorial Square at the end of the month, which I will hopefully be able document for the Steemian community.

This taught me how to become a great chess player. I stopped playing for a couple years, but started picking it back up. I know this will sound like some philosophical B.S., but, chess playing helps me. My business and family matters are often planned more strategically when I am complimenting my "life tasks" with chess.

My bread and butter in college. Can't read that on a tablet, my cheat sheets are written in the margins.

Algernon Blackwood is an unbelievable story teller. Mostly tales of ghostly mysteries and demons in the woods, and almost all short stories, which I love. His style of writing highly influenced my own.

Starting to see a theme... I am from Jersey and I love the folklore of the Pine Barrens. This story is so insane, I'd like to think its true. When my 8 year old gets a little older, I'll probably scare the hell out her with this.

While this book is more toward the "coffee table" style, it does have an entire catalog of his paintings, as well as quotes, influences and excerpts. Salvador Dali was definitely a ground breaker. One of his more poetic quotes said something like "I don't do drugs, I AM DRUGS."

I'm not a huge fan of biographies, but this was very well written. It's also about one of my favorite musicians of all time, so my opinion is a little biased.

I do have others, but I have a job and have to go, these were on top of the pile. I will maybe continue with a part 2 depending on feedback.

FIN.

This is my first time posting on busy, sorry if there are duplicate hash tags. #life #blog #art #literature #books #photography #fun