As I pack up my books over the next two weeks, I'm gonna highlight some of the weird and/or wonderful gems that I come across--the rectangular slabs of paper that made me who I am. (1/x)

A good place to start: I only have one tattoo, and it's from this book.

One of the best birthday gifts I ever received: The collected wisdom of a musician-turned-cult-leader who's now serving a 135-year sentence at the federal Supermax in Colorado. I don't know a ton about his theology, but he has an interesting take on capitalization.

The book that I most cherish from my "I want to read everything about modern Alaska" phase.

Drunkenly bought this from a @strandbookstore discount table right after getting unceremoniously dumped at the Soho Grand's bar.

Part of this thread's gonna be me bragging about signed first editions. This one from the legendary @carr2n means the world to me.

A novel that deftly explains our dumb yet terrifying moment. (Also, what I increasingly think of when running by the maze of high rises going up in Long Island City.)

The book responsible for adding the A+ word "zorched" to my vocabulary."

Given to me by a kindly Jersey City nun while I was working on a story about the politics of sainthood. The most humble author credit ever.

One of the weirdest memoirs ever written. Published in between Cleaver's brief career as a designer of codpiece pants and his embrace of the Unification Church.

Bought this from @mcnallyjackson with the gift certificate the store gave me for doing a "Now the Hell Will Start" reading. The author was a muralist before becoming a self-taught anthropologist. I'll make it Bali someday...

The main thing I remember about this book is a character's one-sentence description of his Pennsyltuckian roommate: "He called pens 'ink pens.'" So concise, so damning.

I no longer find this book mordantly witty. Irony is a young man's game.

Given to me by one of my father-in-law's gambling buddies--a sweet, slovenly pothead who sold fossils out of a diner in suburban Detroit. I never read a page of this, but the article titles rule.

One of the few books I read in college that I've lugged around ever since. A jewel that taught me how to write about people who are fundamentally unknowable.

When we first moved in here, my landlords' widowed uncle lived in the basement. He was a retired tool and die maker who'd fought in World War II. When he died in 2013, he left me his collection of vintage New York City history books. RIP Angelo Prieto.

The autobiography of an ex-Green Beret who hijacked a plane to Cuba, then claimed that he'd done so as part of a grand conspiracy to kill Castro. He's now beloved in his native Savannah, where he sells copies of this book. (cc: @ColinAMcRae)

Best athlete memoir ever. Worth it just for the scene in which 9-year-old Agassi plays 43-year-old Jim Brown for $10,000--his dad's entire savings.

Another one from the Angelo Prieto collection. You're not a real New Yorker until you use "Manhattan Toe."

I've kept this for years because I love how it highlights Miss Havisham, one of my favorite characters of all time.

The best Pelecanos, mostly because it has the most cold-hearted villain. Also, I'm forever indebted to this kind man for blurbing my first book--I mailed him a random letter and he came through. I remain bowled over to this day.

The best book I've ever read about organizational structure.

Classic photo book by @ninaberman, who covered Defcon with me back in the day. A work of art about the blurring of the civilian-military divide.

I almost never catch my son reading for pleasure. But one morning I woke up and found him enraptured by this on the couch. And I thought, "I know where this kid's coming from."

Read this cover-to-cover a half-dozen times, which explains the poor condition. Everything I know about The Mekons and The Slits I owe to @eweisbard and @craigmarks.

Love this book so much that I once recorded an ode to its odd splendor. https://www.ttbook.org/interview/brendan-koerner-confessions-mask

During an ill-advised foray into Sagaing Region in 2006, this slim volume might literally saved my life.

This was given to me by a Washington D.C. cab driver one night when I clearly intoxicated. I've never read a word, but I keep it around as a reminder that it's okay to care about strangers.

Long before she became one of America's most acclaimed novelists, Dana Spiotta was my boss at a summer job. She once let me crash at her apartment for a night, to her boyfriend's obvious chagrin. I've bought all of her hardcovers as a token of my gratitude.

Bought this on the advice of a Hollywood bigwig who said it would teach me everything I need to know about the industry. He then cajoled me into working on spec for months before ghosting me. Some lessons you gotta learn the hard way, I guess.

This man lived an incredible life: Led a jazz band in Shanghai during the 1930s, played with everyone from Count Basie to Frank Sinatra. You can get lost in the photos he donated to UMKC. https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umkc/islandora/object/umkc:clayton

Twitter's mostly bad, but I appreciate how it's led me to discover a galaxy of folks who love this book as much as I do. The great American novel about desperation.

A book I always return to in times of need. I read the title poem at a friend's wedding--one of my biggest "Welp, I guess we're adults now" moments.

What makes this such a modern classic isn't just the fantastic reporting; it's also the way in which @BarbaraDemick sets up and then subverts the central love story.

My go-to insomnia read. Can't tell you how many times I've thumbed through these pages while battling anxious thoughts at 3:23 am.

The infamous 1972 bestseller by the Dr. Phil of skyjacking. He thought all hijackers suffered from inner-ear deformities that affected their equilibrium.

I paid something like $60 to get this slim volume shipped to me from New Zealand. Worth every penny.

Some wildly disturbing stories in this sleeper classic. I couldn't have written my first book without it.

A dozen years ago, before he was a star Marvel writer, @EvNarc scooped this off his apartment floor and placed it in my hands. That act of kindness ended up changing the way I think about comics.

The only book that I've ever literally read in one sitting.

An awesomely bitchy unauthorized biography of the Howard Hughes of Wisconsin--the dude who built this: https://www.thehouseontherock.com/ 

Another signed first edition for y'all to gaze upon in envy. I'm still plugging away...

Christmas gift from when I was, like, eight or nine. Read much it by flashlight while curled up in a closet. Partly responsible for me choosing such an unrealistic line of work.

Can't believe I kept some zines from days of yore. The writer of this one later moved to Antarctica. RIP Darin Nicholas Johnson. https://feralhouse.com/big-dead-place/ 

This is a fascinating document. Lockwood was a photojournalist who'd previously ventured into North Vietnam at the height of the war. He let the post-Cuba, pre-Paris Cleaver ramble on to great effect.

My formative encounter with Vice. How times and business models change...

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was reading this right after my first kid was born.

I've got a bottomless appetite for stories about Americans who defected into the communist realm. An all-time great right here thanks to the late @jim_frederick.

This was sent to me by the most evil person I've ever met--a true sociopath who, during a prison interview, somehow got me to laugh at a story about him murdering his best friend. I keep it as a reminder to never get manipulated like that again.

I read way too many books about headhunting while researching "Now the Hell Will Start." This is the one that stuck with me the most.

The best McPhee with the snazziest cover typography. Also the closest he ever got to being a @WIRED writer.

Bought this from the author, who was a neighbor of mine back in the '00s. It's incredibly raw and moving.

"What if the Soviet space program was just an absurdist hoax?" is such a killer conceit for a novel.

My wife once told me, with no hint of jest, that this book is far better than anything I've ever written. She ain't wrong, but I still plan on needling her about the putdown until the end of time.

Not usually a big memoir guy, but this one by @AlysiaAbbott blew me away: A girl comes of age in '80s San Francisco as her widowed father, an acclaimed poet, grapples with the AIDS crisis.

Found this sandwiched in between some James Bond novels. Pretty sure I got these newsletters mailed to me by signing a clipboard at @930Club. A relic of a simpler age.

A peek at America's future, I fear.

Written by one of the most interesting folks I've ever interviewed: A South African architect who dedicated much of his life to studying Naga culture. He suffered a fatal heart attack while doing fieldwork in Tamanthi, Burma in 2007. RIP Jamie Saul.

Yinzer perfection.

Grateful to @JamesFallows for putting this in my hands a lifetime ago. I was so wowed that I spent the next year writing poor imitations.

Shout-out to Mrs. Matz, my high-school French teacher, for getting me proficient enough to read this memoir of the "Hijacking Family." (The McNairs now run an orphanage in Normandy.)

Bought this for 50 cents at library sale in Vermont. I feel like the chef who repped the Eagles didn't take the project seriously.

Written by my landlord in DC, a stubby and enigmatic man who never seemed to wear a shirt.

Not gonna box this one up so I can re-read it in September. I need some structural inspiration.