What the $#@! is the Shelf of Fame, & Books 1-5

Quick Note: Although the above image is from one of my bookshelves, it's not my "Shelf of Fame"...but it is part of my library, which you can see and read about here.

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Generally speaking, the Shelf of Fame is the imaginary shelf of indeterminate size that holds all books I absolutely love. Scholars note the origin of The Shelf dates back to circa 1995, as a meager paper list of recommendations my friend Jason and I gave to each other when it was discovered during a lunch break that we had similar tastes in books (I was reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace - to this day we still recall that as the incident that sparked the friendship). The lists slowly transformed into our respective Shelf of Fames (I toyed with writing "Shelves of Fame" but that seemed even more awkward). From there we began recording and discussing each book we read, waiting to see if we could add another to the collection. The only running rule was a candidate for S.O.F. status has to wait for a year. If it still held up, it got included.

Believe me...I know how dorky this all sounds. But now all my books have something to shoot for - tiptoe to the door of my office and listen; I guarantee you it's all my books ever talk about:

The Third Chimpanzee: Hey? Does he pick nonfiction? Huh? Anyone know?

The Everlasting Story of Nory: My brother was picked (The Fermata - ed.)...he said there's a few up there, but they mostly keep to themselves...

The Satanic Verses: Oi! (I have no idea why a book written by a British Indian Muslim woulds speak with a Jewish accent, but there you go) I just wished he'd read me...I've been sitting here ever since he went on a binge after finishing Midnight's Children...and that was over 10 years ago!

Sheesh...you know how books get.

Anyway, a few months back I had a discussion around books with my friend Victoria. Victoria is young, about 13 years younger than me to be exact, and she's at that great age (22) where the world of literature opens up and you begin to discover things outside of school assignments. So when she mentioned to me that she had started reading Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which happens to be one of my Shelf of Fame books, I squealed like a schoolgirl. The discussion jumped back and forth, and eventually the words I've always wanted to hear from a beautiful 22 year old woman escaped from her lips:

"Could you make a list of some other great books you'd recommend?"

Hey, I'm happily married and closer to 40 than 30...what'd you think she was going to say?

So I poured over my library, and out of the 104 books currently tagged as "Shelf of Fame" I came up with 25 modern novels that I'd personally recommend, not only to Victoria but to anyone. And over the next few weeks I decided to share 'em, five at a time.

These aren't my 25 favorite novels (although some are), they're just 25 random selections, all novels, all written after 1938 (the date of the oldest book in this particular list). Here's 1-5:

1. Edward Abbey - The Monkey Wrench Gang: Anarchy and sabotage in the name of the environment, this is a classic comic novel about a a Vietnam vet who returns home to find his beloved landscapes being decimated by greedy developers. Banding together a crew of misfits he wages war against the forces of industry. A wonderful "satire" that closely echoed Abbey's view of the wilderness.

2. Nicholson Baker - The Fermata: Nicholson Baker takes mine and millions of other boys' chief adolescent fantasy - the ability to freeze time - and turns it on its head as a beautifully written study of our need for intimacy and the curious minutia of our lives that can only be examined by looking closer.

3. Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine: This is the novel of my childhood. When I was alone, sitting under the giant weeping willow in my backyard, reading comics and watching the clouds (yeah, I did that stuff), this is what I would read. Bradbury takes the ordinary and through the eyes of youth makes magic.

4. Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita: On the surface? Satan comes to Moscow in the 1930's to visit a man writing a book about Pontius Pilate. Deeper? A scathing attack on Stalinist Russia, a novel-within-a-novel slice of meta fiction, and a wonderful look at the darkly comic soul of Russian literature.

5. Italo Calvino - If On a Winter's Night a Traveler: More meta fiction courtesy of one of Italy's best writers. A curious cousin to A.S. Byatt's Possession, this is the story of a reader trying to read the novel "If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, only to find his copy contains nothing but the first chapter. It goes on from there to explore the nature of reading and writing, wrapped up a tale of romance. Sigh...

I'll be back next week with Books 6-10. In the meantime:

Suppose, just suppose, that you had a Shelf of Fame. What would be on it?