Favorite Books

• Ah, now this is a tough one. "Favorite" books or "best" books? Because that's two entirely different things...

  Still, here are a few of the ones that have stayed with me longest...and if you'd like a more complete roster, go to the relevant posting on my "Beautiful Desolation" site:

  http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/his-masters-voices

  There something to be said about adding a dash of magic to your realism--thus I have a great fondness for writers like Paul Auster, Nicholas Christopher, Jack O'Connell and Jonathan Carroll (Carroll's LAND OF LAUGHS is a delight).

  Love the hard-boiled genre--Chandler, Lawrence Block's "Matt Scudder" series but especially adore the work of James Crumley--if you haven't read this guy you don't know what you're missing.

  Other authors that come to mind: Anthony Burgess and Cormac McCarthy and James Carlos Blake;
  Robert Stone and George Saunders; Annie Dillard and David Mitchell...

  Etc. etc.

Favorite Authors

• Certain authors inspire me by their example, their dedication to the printed word:

  Samuel Beckett
  James Joyce
  Annie Dillard

  But, really, I'm drawn to ANY author who writes with originality and intelligence and grace, creating ground-breaking works for little or no gain, receiving nothing in the way of praise or encouragement, yet forging on "in defiance of all the world's muteness" (Nabokov).

  This humble scribbler salutes your courage and perseverance!

What I'm Reading

• A little of everything; I try to be as eclectic as possible. Not much in the way of junk reading, although I have been known to partake of Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series...

  Overlooked authors:

  Martin Booth (DREAMING OF SAMARKAND)
  William Fairchild (THE POPPY FACTORY; aka NO MAN'S LAND)
  Daren King (JIM GIRAFFE)
  Colson Whitehead (THE INTUITIONIST)
  Denton Welch (A VOICE THROUGH A CLOUD)
  Elizabeth McClung (ZED)
  William Kotzwinkle (FAN MAN)
  Martin Millar (LUX THE POET)

Web Links

• Beautiful Desolation