It is within these things that I have found some piece of my heart. Growth happens most through observation--we see something quite attractive and think to ourselves, “why not I also?” Soon the masks we fashion, with small trinkets for eyes and a precious gem for a nose and ears that lift us up off the ground, become the reality of the world we envision within ourselves. It is with great joy that I have constructed my mask, and with greater joy even still that I share where I have found such indelible treasures.


Prose

Novels
  • What is the What - Dave Eggers
  • The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
  • Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
  • Kim - Rudyard Kipling
  • The Books of Earthsea - Ursula LeGuin
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
  • Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
  • Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Richard Feynman
  • A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
  • Mountains of Spices - Hannah Hurnard
  • The Road Less Traveled - Scott Peck

Short Stories/Collections
  • The Heart is a Full-Wild Beast - John L’Heureux
  • World of Wonders - Aimee Nezhukumatathil
  • One Minute Wisdoms - Anthony de Mello
  • Fears of Your Life - Michael Bernard Loggins
  • The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights - John Steinbeck



Poetry

Individual Poems
  • Untitled (For Margaret Danner) - Nikki Giovanni
  • Poem to My Child, if Ever You Shall Be - Ross Gay
  • Poem for a Fieldmouse - Chelsea Harlan
  • The Valley of Vision - A Puritan Prayer
  • Ways of Talking - Ha Jin
  • The Truelove - David Whyte
  • Listen, Lord — A Prayer - James Weldon Johnson
  • You Reading This, Be Ready - William Stafford

Poetry Anthologies/Collections
  • Dream Work - Mary Oliver
  • The Peace of Wild Things - Wendell Berry
  • Wind Song - Carl Sandburg
  • And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou
  • Everything Comes Next - Naomi Shihab Nye
  • And the Earth Abideth - William Soutar
  • New Cowboy Poetry - Hal Cannon
  • Rilke’s Book of Hours - Rainer Maria Rilke
  • The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran



Audio

General
  • The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Ms. Lauryn Hill
  • Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett
  • In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
  • A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
  • The Only Reason I Feel Secure - Pedro the Lion
  • For Our Mothers - Ezra Bell
  • Glitter - Pasteboard

Ambient/Classical
  • Moth - Mick Turner
  • Partly on Time: Recordings (1968-1970) - Kinloch Nelson
  • Mia Gargaret - Gia Margaret
  • Reflections - Loren DiGiorgi
  • Last Date - Floyd Cramer
  • Marginalia - Masakatsu Takagi
  • El Dorado - Frank LoCrasto
  • Ethiopiques, vol. 21: Emahoy - Emahoy  Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
  • Gems and Minerals - Golden Brown
  • Music for Turntable, Guitars and Sampled Instruments - Slow Attack Ensemble
  • Modern Country - William Tyler
  • Letting Go - Hayden Pedigo
  • Wander Into - Ann Annie
  • Who Tends a Garden - Alaskan Tapes
  • Beethoven: Opp. 132, 135
  • Days as Echoes - Misha Panfilov



Visual Media

Movies
  • The Wind Rises - Hayao Miyazaki
  • Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola
  • Perfect Days - Wim Wenders
  • Everything, Everywhere, All at Once - Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
  • Spaceship Earth - Matt Wolf
  • O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? - Coen Brothers
  • In The Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai




Television
  • Joe Pera Talks with You - Joe Pera