42
Why forty-two? Perhaps because it hints at finality while offering none. Or because it falls at that curious threshold, too many to carry in memory, too few to slip into disorder. This is not a ranking, and it is never complete. It is a revolving set of books, recordings, films, and other artifacts, kept not for their acclaim but because they left a trace. Some marked a season, or a place. Others, a first encounter, or a threshold. Now and again I return to them. I remove one, add another. Like the number itself, the list is not a thing but an invention, a placeholder for what remains long enough to return to.
Books
A Civil Action, Jonathan Harr, 1995
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson, 1997
A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle, 2001
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, Nick Bilton, 2017
The Art of Dying, Peter Schjeldahl, 2019
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, 1957
Balthazar, Lawrence Durrell, 1958
The Black Pill, Elle Reeve, 2024
Bluets, Maggie Nelson, 2009
Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe, 1987
Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961
The Cartel, Don Winslow, 2015
The Collected Short Stories, W. Somerset Maugham, 1963
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen, 2001
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene, 1951
The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer, 1979
The Fall, Albert Camus, 1956
The Forever War, Dexter Filkins, 2008
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, 1818
Gone Girl: A Novel, Gillian Flynn, 2012;
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
Horizon, Barry Lopez, 2019
The Hot Zone, Richard Preston, 1994
Independence Day, Richard Ford, 1995
Integral Spirituality, Ken Wilber, 2006
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain, 2000
Mating, Norman Rush, 1991
Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana, 1994
Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow, 1986
Quiet, Susan Cain, 2012
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, 2011
The Razor’s Edge, W. Somerset Maugham, 1944
The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles, 1949
Shogun, James Clavell, 1975
Solaris, Stanislaw Lem, 1961
Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli, 2000
Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy, 2022
The Stand, Stephen King, 1978
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carré, 1963
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera, 1984
The Word is Murder (Series), Anthony Horowitz, 2017
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig, 1974
Movies (21st Century)
A Good Year, 2006
A Prayer Before Dawn, 2017 (violent)
American Sniper, 2014
Arrival, 2016
Atomic Blonde, 2017
Before Sunrise (trilogy), 1995–2013
Birdman, 2014
Blade Runner 2049, 2017
Casino Royale, 2006
The Diving Bell & Butterfly, 2007
Drive, 2011
Eastern Promises, 2007
End of Watch, 2012
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
Ex Machina, 2014
Hell or High Water, 2016
Her, 2013
Knight of Cups, 2015
The Killer, 2023
Layer Cake, 2004
Lost in Translation, 2003
Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015
Margin Call, 2011
Moneyball, 2011
My Octopus Teacher, 2020
No Country for Old Men, 2007
Oldboy, 2005
Perfect Sense, 2011
Phantom Thread, 2017
The Prestige, 2006
Secretary, 2002
Sicario, 2015
The Social Network, 2010
Southpaw, 2015
Spy Game, 2001
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, 2006
The Tree of Life, 2011
Up, 2009
Whiplash, 2013
The Wrestler, 2008
Zero Dark Thirty, 2012
Zodiac, 2007A Good Year, 2006
Movies (20th Century)
12 Angry Men, 1957
After Hours, 1985
Alien, 1979
All the President’s Men, 1976
Amadeus, 1984
Apocalypse Now, 1979
Blade Runner, 1982
The Blues Brothers, 1980
Bottle Rocket, 1996
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
Casino, 1995
Charade, 1963
Chinatown, 1974
Dog Day Afternoon, 1975
The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
Eyes Wide Shut, 1999
Fight Club, 1999
Full Metal Jacket, 1987
The Game, 1997
Goodfellas, 1990
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 1966
Heat, 1995
The Insider, 1999
In the Mood for Love, 2000
Jaws, 1975
The Killing Fields, 1984
L.A. Confidential, 1997
Magnolia, 1999
The Matrix, 1999
Narc, 2002
Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
Raising Arizona, 1987
Risky Business, 1983
Rocky, 1976
Rope, 1948
Saturday Night Fever, 1977
The Silence of the Lambs, 1991
The Thin Red Line, 1998
The Thing, 1982
The Usual Suspects, 1995
Three Colors: Red, 1994
Wings of Desire, 1987
Music
Balmorhea, The Wind (Live from Marfa), 2022
Beck, Sea Change, 2002
Ben Harper, Fight for Your Mind, 1995
Billie Eilish, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, 2019
Billy Joel, The Stranger, 1977
Bob Marley and the Wailers, Legend, 1984
Cocteau Twins, Heaven or Las Vegas, 1990
Coldplay, Parachutes, 2000
The Cure, Disintegration, 1989
David Sylvian, Secrets of the Beehive, 1987
Dire Straits, Dire Straits, 1978
Eagles, Hotel California, 1976
Elton John, Honky Château, 1972
Explosions in the Sky, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, 2003
Frank Ocean, Blonde, 2016
INXS, Kick, 1992
John Barry, Out of Africa, 1982
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, 1963
John Mayer, Born & Raised, 2012
Journey, Infinity, 1979
KC & The Sunshine Band, Part 3, 1976
Led Zeppelin, IV / Zoso, 1971
Lenny Kravitz, Mama Said, 1991
Mac Miller, Circles, 2020
Max Richter, Sleep, 2015
Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate, 2016
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, 1959
Moby, Live Ambient Improvised Recordings, Vol. 1, 2020
Natalie Merchant, Tiger Lily, 1995
New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies, 1983
Pearl Jam, Ten, 1991
Radiohead, The Bends, 1995
Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tony Takitani, 2007
Sade, Love Deluxe, 1992
Seal, Human Being, 1998
Steely Dan, Aja, 1977
The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, 1995
Supertramp, Even in the Quietest Moments, 1977
U2, Unforgettable Fire, 1984
Wilco, Wilco, 2009
Willie Nelson, Stardust, 1978
The xx, xx, 2009
Poems
Ask Me – William Stafford
Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her – Christopher Brennan
Bluets – Maggie Nelson
Brownacre – Monica Youn
Caught – Kay Ryan
Crush – Ada Limon
"D" – Charles Bukowski
Date Night – John Kenney
Don’t Do That – Stephen Dunn
[Even in Kyoto] – Kobayashi Issa
Fiction – Mark Strand
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos – Tim Donnelly
Getting It Right – Matthew Dickman
Goat – John Kinsella
Head, Heart – Lydia Davis
Hope – Kay Ryan
I Sat in the Sun – Jane Hirshfield
The Invitation – Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It Was Like This: You Were Happy – Jane Hirshfield
The Man with Many Pens – Jonathan Wells
Mirror – Mark Strand
Neither Here Nor There – W.S. Merwin
No Warning No Reason – Michael Ryan
The Old Poet, Dying – August Kleinzahler
One Flew Over the Machine Shop – Fred Voss
Orgy – John Kenney
The Piano Player Explains Himself – Allen Grossman
Poem for Everyman – John Woods
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note – Amiri Baraka
Private Equity – Sophie Cabot Black
Ray – Hayden Carruth
Realism – Beth Bachmann
Shopping for Pomegranates at Wal-Mart on New Year’s Day – Campbell McGrath
Some Say – Maureen N. McLane
The Straightforward Mermaid – Matthea Harvey
Table Talk – Billy Collins
[Untitled] ("Even after all this time...") – Daniel Ladinsky
Unlimited Soup and Salad – Timothy Donnelly
What Do Women Want? – Kim Addonizio
What Is There Beyond Knowing – Mary Oliver
What That Moon Language – Hafiz
Wild, Wild – Mary Oliver