Books to Bury Me With: Elizabeth Ellen

The book I’d want to take with me to the grave:

Nine Stories, Salinger 

The first book that hit me like a ton of bricks:

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Blume (child); WOMEN, Charles Bukowski (adult)

The book that’s seen more of my tears, coffee stains, and cigarette burns:

Love Is a Dog from Hell, Charles Bukowski 

The book that shook my world like a goddamn hurricane:

Cherry, Nico Walker 

The book I wish I’d discovered when my liver was still intact:

A Moveable Feast, Hemingway 

The book I’d shove into everyone’s hands if I were king of the world:

American Psycho, BEE 

The book that nearly drove me to madness:

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh

The book I can’t keep my hands off of, no matter how many times I’ve read it:

The Stranger, Camus and The Bell Jar, Plath

 

The book I’d hide in the back of my closet, pretending I’m too highbrow for it:

Steve O’s memoir(s)

The book that left a scar I wish I could forget:

A Beautiful Mind, Sylvia Nasar

The author who made me think, "Now that’s a soul in torment":

Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue 

The book I’d get a tattoo of if I had the nerve:

Play It as It Lays, Didion 

The book that made me question everything I thought I knew:

Catcher in the Rye, Salinger

The book that’s so damn good I’d never loan it out: 

I Look Divine, Christopher Coe

 

The book that’s been my companion through the darkest nights: 

Patricia Highsmith’s and Andy Warhol’s diaries (both)

 

The book I’d throw in someone’s face during a heated argument: 

Molly, Blake Butler 

 

The book that reminds me of a lost love or regret:

The Price of Salt, Highsmith or The End of the Story, Lydia Davis 

The book I wish I could have written, but know I never could: 

The Talented Mr. Ripley or Strangers on a Train, Highsmith 

 

The book that makes me want to drink myself into oblivion:

The Lost Weekend, Charles Jackson

 

The book that’s been my refuge from the world’s cruelty: 

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald