Suggest More, please? You guys know me way better than I do, and I think this is a good idea.

[mostlikely2]

(To a 23yo college student who asked.)

What's actually hard to believe is that I still don't have a good answer. I figured once I got all my books onto the bookshelves and properly sorted, I would easily be able to make the list. Seven years later and I just bought bookshelves this weekend, so... This is off the top of my head. These are the things

Comments

[rosmar]

It really kinda scares me how much of this stuff I own and/or have tattooed on my brain. And I want to check out the rest! (Meaning, I don't have any recommendations off the top of my head, but I enjoy seeing your personal sources.)

[mostlikely2]

"Scares" = I am Jack's Total Lack Of Surprise

[rosmar]

Hah. Well-played, sir.

For that, I'll ask if you've seen the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion because I don't remember. A fellow Pullman lover recommended it to me, rightly claiming that you can never have too much Gnosticism in your life. I dislike the main character, but others make up for the lack, and its delightful intersecting weirdnesses of family, religion, friendship, and the end(s) of the world(s) are awesome. (Except for the final episode, which I hated. But the movie was great!)

There's also a broken Phoenix character. Who is Lilith. So!

[spectralbovine]

Jacob! If you have not seen NGE, here is my pimping post to whet your interest. I agree that it's up your alley.
By its conclusion, Eva touches on sense of self, the very concept of personal identity, the importance of individuality, the nature of the soul, the evolution of humanity, the quest for parental acceptance, teenage sexual awakening, the evaluation of self-worth, complex psychoanalysis of one's actions, and the personal apocalypse.
Damn, that's like all of your favorite things in one show, right? Also, I am fairly certain I stole the phrase "personal apocalypse" from you.

(Except for the final episode, which I hated. But the movie was great!)
I think I like some bits of the final episode, but I would probably dislike it more if I didn't have the movie. They both have merit.

[mostlikely2]

DF is one of the all-times for me, too. Nobody wins over Philip Bond, but DF has such a ... like this wild looseness where you can't believe it adds up to an image, you know?

[pastels_badge]

There's a lot of stuff on this list that I'm a big fan of, especially in the comics part of the list, though I've never heard of this Milligan fellow somehow so I'll have to look him up.

Mostly this list just makes me think I ought to have a nice long-ranging book discussion with you one of these days. But for now I'll just say if you haven't read any Angela Carter, you should do so ASAP. My favorite of hers is Nights at the Circus.

[pastels_badge]

Oh, good call! My favorite is Wise Children, just by a smidge. "Lashings of Lolly! Lashings of Lolly!"

[grapefruitzzz]

Bartheslove xxx, oh Bliss and we-all-write-the-stories-as-we-read-them.

It's true that there were some good things from the 90s "inward thinking" movement, and they need reappraising.

[anonymous]

I am super late to this party, but I have to say something because, I feel happy reading that there are people like me out there. Or people like I perceive myself. Margaret Atwood, Ursula Leguin (especially The Dispossessed) and comic books or graphic novels like Cruddy I had Ali Liebegott as a professor, who shoved Lynda Barry down my throat and I'm very grateful. I'm going to go through those I'm not familiar with and familiarize myself. I also love that you included song lyrics; can I suggest "the national" as inspiring lyrics? Thank you so much for this post.