I gave up trying to pick one book. I would like to thank a facility full of books--the Fremont Public Library--which inspired me to strive and dream and ponder--beyond the cornfields and country roads of Nebraska.

--Sondra Upham,
poet, friend of the Writers' Room

I would like to thank Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman because this book inspires me to wonder "what if" and imagine other worlds in space and time.

--Helen C. Powell,
friend of the Writers' Room

I would like to thank Moby-Dick by Herman Melville because it is a classic of distinctively New England origins, with one of the worst first lines in literary history.

—Jon Marcus, Boston
editor in chief, Boston magazine

I would like to thank The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon because this book allowed me to see the world through a character with a unique perspective.

—Mitchell Bernard,
friend of the Writers’ Room

Though I'm from the West Coast, Lonesome Dove was the first Western I was ever interested in reading (having seen the wonderful miniseries), and undoubtedly the best that will ever be written. It showed me the parts of myself that are "Western," and the parts of the West which I love (and hate), and which are in me. It gave me an exciting, moving tale that I was sad to crushed to have end, and two of the greatest literary characters-the two halves of me-I've ever encountered, in Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. And it confirms that literature can be exciting, moving, funny, realistic, magical, sad, wise, unflinching, and undoubtedly American-all in one book.

—Eric Grunwald, writer,
member of Writers' Room,
former managing editor of AGNI

I would like to thank Returning by Dan Wakefield because this book reconnected me to a college classmate and new friend.

—Rabbi Harold Kushner, author

I would like to thank Catch-22 by Joseph Heller because this was the book that showed me how many other ways there were of looking at the world-and convinced me that I wanted to find my own way as a writer. It was a liberation and a challenge, all at once, and still is.

—Robert D. Dall, Somerville member,
the Writers' Room of Boston

I would like to thank Blue Pastures by Mary Oliver because this book and in particular the essay, "Of Power and Time," gave me one of the great shocks of my lifetime: that I would never be fully happy or fully myself unless and until poetry assumed its proper place in my life, that of a central and almost defining force. Because of her words, I quit my job and became a writer.

—Robin Pelzman, poet,
member of the Writers' Room

I would like to thank Am I the Last Virgin?: African American Reflections on Sex and Love by Tara Roberts because this book engages students without any selling on my part.

—Gwyneth DeGraf, English teacher
at an inner-city school

I would like to thank the King James Bible. For a would-be writer, the Bible has it all: cadence, rhythm, prose, poetry, images from words, besides being a history of the world in myth and fact.

—Josephine D. Appell,
York, Pennsylvania

I lived with Call It Sleep for two years. It was the subject of my graduate thesis at Harvard. It was my obsession, the writing was beautiful, and I was desperately in love...you always remember your first love.

—Doug Holder,
Ibbetson Street Press

I would like to thank the book The Orphic Voice, written by Elizabeth Sewell, because this book carried me for three difficult years in my twenties and helped me honor poetry as the embodiment in language of the same forces that shape all of nature: our bodies and our lives. I wish that someone would bring it back into print!

—Richard Hoffman, Cambridge

I would like to thank the book The Holyoke by Frank Gaspar because this book gave me a new perspective on home.

—Oona Patrick, writer,
member of the Writers' Room of Boston

I would like to thank Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.                             

—Carol Maglitta, Cambridge

I would like to thank Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome because this book and the others by Ransome were my first passion at about age ten.                             

—Jane Langton, Lincoln,
novelist

I would like to thank Memento Mori by Muriel Spark because this book taught me how to write.                             

—Anne Bernays, Cambridge,
writer

I would like to thank the book He, She and It by Marge Piercy because this book shows the way the world could become if we're not careful, and also a message to people who expect idelaized relationships and too much of out them. It gave a good message to people who think they can get perfect uncritical love and who expect all their needs to be fulfilled.                             

—Louise Baxter, South Boston

I would like to thank Ariel by Sylvia Plath because this book taught me that one can shape electrifying poetry from chunks of one's own bone marrow. She struck an unforgettable chord at one end of the human spectrum and gave me permission to be a nut bar as long as I kept writing.   My donation is made in memory of Vera Gold and in honor of her invaluable contributions to young writers and actors at 96, Inc.

—CD Collins, Somerville, writer,
member of the Writers' Room of Boston

I would like to thank War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy because this book was the best six months of my life and convinced me once and for all that art and life and big and small are one.

—Dax Bayard, Jamaica Plain,
writer, member of the Writers' Room of Boston

There was a book that shaped my life, and I first read it when I was eight years old. Louisa May Alcott's Little Women gave a figure to my sense of what it was to be a different kind of girl from the standards of my suburban neighborhood. I was already a tall, gangly girl with a weird sense of humor, and a member of the only Jewish family in our neighborhood or school. An outsider. That Jo March had the obsessive inspiration to be a writer in addition to being a "tomboy," ungainly, outspoken, "rude"-and tall-must have meant something as I grew into the idea of being a writer myself. 

As a child, to read about this clever, creative, privacy-seeking adolescent (of course, this was before adolescence was invented, so Jo was a "little woman"), to understand her misbehavior, her feeling selfish, her inability to conform, as a necessary part of her nature as a writer, instructed and supported me.

Little Women was, for over a century an extraordinarily beloved book, the first "crossover" book, written for children, yet a favorite with adults.  I read all her books, but the first was the one I lived by. Jo seethed with passions and ideals (like Alcott herself, like Walt Whitman, too, she went alone to nurse wounded Civil War soldiers in Washington.) And she was plagued by resentments, an ardent young woman living in the midst of a family in genteel poverty, getting by on her wits, watching her more favored younger charming sister get all the goodies she craved-including a year in Europe as companion to the wealthy old Aunt March. Alcott supported generations of her extended family with this book and the ones that followed. 

Of course, Jo can't quit, she pursues her dream as a writer, she even moves to New York (as a governess who sends her earnings back to her improvident parents and sisters) and writes lurid tales in her room in a boarding house.  Alcott's alter ego, Jo March, may be America's first real fictional feminist heroine. It's a terrific family story, it still brings tears to my eyes. Someone asked me just yesterday what I did as a child when I felt depressed, which I often felt, and I said without having to think, "I'd read Little Women again."My daughter and granddaughter liked the films, but I could never get them to read the book through. My dream, I guess, not theirs. And my companion in the art.

—Gail Mazur, poet in residence,
Emerson College, Boston

—Trish Rogers, Salem

I would like to thank the book Comet in Moominland, written by Tove Jansson, because this book, with its page-turning adventures and whimsical illustrations of the Moominvalley creatures, captivated my seven-year-old imagination and inspired me to become a writer. This was the first real novel I owned. At 175 pages, it seemed quite fat and important, and I remember writing my name proudly on the “This Book Belongs To” page. My dog-eared, food-stained copies of this and the other books in the “Moomintroll” series still occupy a place of honor on my bookshelf. Moominvalley, a fictitious place somewhere in Finland, still appeals to me as a place to live or to travel to.

—Diana Renn, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, because this book instilled a healthy mistrust of pigs, infants, and queens.

—Ann Wachman, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because this book challenged my memory, kept me up for nights, and showed me the magic of language, culture, and imagery.

—Letitia Reed, Boston

I would like to thank Selected Poems, volume III of The Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov (edited by Ronald Vroon; translated by Paul Schmidt) because this book gave me a new insight in regard to experimental turn-of-the-centry poetry. When I read this book, several years ago, I was working on a collage series about Russia. It was extremely helpful to me in drawing parallels between events that took place in his writing and current events that were taking place in Russia at that time.

—Kathryn Lloyd-Compton, Cambridge

As someone who has worked through a difficult manuscript in the Writers’ Room, I choose to support this precious resource by making a dollar-a-page donation ($437) in the name of Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières for showing that far from being man’s finest hour, war is his greatest failure.

—Bernice Buresh, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
member of board of directors
past president

I want to show my appreciation for Gift from the Sea by Ann Morrow Lindbergh. My wife, Joan, read the first edition in the fifties, and that book changed her life and the lives of countless millions of other women who read it—and who continue to read it. I am grateful to Gift for the gift it gave to Joan and continues to give her. Many years ago, I wrote Ann Morrow Lindbergh asking her to inscribe Joan’s tattered copy, something she almost never did. She made an exception, and it is by far Joan’s most treasured possession.

—Tom McCann, filmmaker, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
member of board of directors

I would like to thank the books Duino Elegies and The Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke because they taught me I had a soul.

—Diana Korzenik, writer and painter

I would like to thank Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. When I read this book at 17, it made me want, want, want to write. To this day, I blame Bellow’s effortless prose for conning me into thinking I could, could, could.

—Joe Fox, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book Prisoners of Childhood by Alice Miller because this book opened my eyes.

—Jan Hoffman Keeling, editor
Nashville TN

I would like to thank the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley because it was a wonderful antidote to the pious nonsense taught in my high school. It excited my imagination and ignited my skepticism.

—Kathleen A. Rogers
Brookline

I would like to thank God after Darwin by John F. Haught because it explained how evolution could be reconciled with the Christian faith by understanding the “kenosis” of God.

—William Oehlkers
Barrington RI

I would like to thank the book Darkness Moves, written by Henri Michaux and translated by David Ball, because it makes my mind feel good like few others. Michaux is kind of a rogue naturalist of the human imagination, starting with his own. His eye sees the poignant and true and is therefore hilariously funny. David Ball’s 1994, 342-page translation is a gift to the non–French-speaking world.

—Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright, writer and translator
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank First Love and Other Sorrows by Harold Brodkey.

—Lisa Perkins, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
member of board of directors

I would like to thank Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky because this was the first Russian novel I read in high school, and it so impressed me that I immediately read every Russian novel I could find.

—Irwin Oppenheim, theoretical chemical physicist at MIT
who spends a good deal of his time reading
and enjoying both good and bad literature

I would like to thank the books Time of Our Time by Norman Mailer and Testing Tree by Stanley Kunitz. They are so different—one prose, the other poetry. I love the books for their language and wisdom. I love the authors as men: Norman, for allowing me to use his words; Stanley, for coming as close to me as a father.

—Carol Dine, poet
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
member of board of directors

I would like to thank the book [unknown] written by [unknown] because this book rearranged my molecules. It was a paperback novel I’d found on the street that had been kicking around, rained on, run over, and survived—but with no front or back cover or identifying pages. Thus, I’ve no idea who the author was or what the title might be. But that story, about a young black man exploring the fringe of some southern city, entered my body as if the language itself were a warm liquid poured into me.

—Pam Bernard, poet
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
president of the Writers’ Room

I would like to thank the book The Red Badge of Courage"by Stephen Crane because this book was the first, many years ago, to reveal to me that style and content are, ultimately, one.

—Blair F. Bigelow
Department of English, Suffolk University

I would like to thank the book Rebellion Is the Circle of a Lover’s Hands by Martin Espada because this book introduced me to Jorge the Janitor, the Sisterhood of Legal Secretaries, and students overhearing hurtful conversations—who are all around me. Now I am aware of them.

—Eileen Feldman
Burlington

I would like to thank the book Moby-Dick by Herman Melville because it changed my life completely!

—Gail Coffler
Brookline

I would like to thank the film Ivan the Terrible, part I, written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein, because films are also written—visually! When I first saw Ivan, I was overwhelmed by the stark and elaborate images used to tell a story of high political intrigue, deceit, betrayal, loyalty, lust, and love.

—Brian Kaufman, Emmy Award–winning writer,
director, and producer of film and video
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book Geography III by Elizabeth Bishop. Where else could you find, in a book of only 50 pages, poems that matter-of-factly break and repair your heart, one after the other, poems like “The Moose,” “Crusoe in England,” and “One Art” . . .

—Jennifer Barber, poet; editor of Salamander
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg because this book has shown me that it is possible to write about complicated and serious subjects plainly and without complications.

—Nina Mishkin, attorney
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee because this book introduced me to Atticus Finch, who became my lifelong hero. And, before that, who the heck knew what a “chifarobe” was?

—Patricia Russell

I would like to thank the book It All Started with Columbus by Richard Armour because this book showed me that there’s even a place in publishing for studious types with warped senses of humor.

—Howard Zaharoff, attorney
member of the Writers’ Room board of directors

I would like to thank the book War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy because I love history and novels. War and Peace provided insight to Russian culture and the French influence on that culture during the 19th century.

—Don Cecich,
assistant vice president, PB Power
treasurer of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn because this book illuminated Philippine history—my own family’s history—to me in a way I’d never read or studied in my history classes before.

—Ricco Villanueva Siasoco, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
member of board of directors

I would like to thank the book Sophie’s Choice by William Styron because this book touched me in a way, hit a primal spot I had once thought the province of Mozart. It’s my honor to recognize this masterpiece and the Writers’ Room.

—Rick Hendrie, writer and marketing consultant
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book Across the Dark by Pam Bernard because this book suggests to me, in “Called Back,” that struggle in this life is like meat close to the bone—sweet. Perhaps even heaven would be anticlimactic.

—Judy Heitzman, poet

I would like to thank the Roman poet Horace for his 103 odes, which taught me first how to read poetry and, much later, how to write it.

—Nancy Kassell, classicist, poet, librettist
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
vice president/membership of the Writers’ Room

I would like to thank the book Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman because this book brought the thrill of poetry—of the music of words—to me for the first time. I was excited, too, by such lines as “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.”

—Robert K. Johnson, poet
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau because this book gave me courage in my emerging selfhood when I first read it at the fearful age of 12, and confirmed my discovery that, truly, the sun is but a morning star.

—Shelli Jankowski-Smith

I can’t imagine a “fairer House” than the prose of William Carlos Williams’s In the American Grain, my introduction to the lyric essay. I first read the collection in a class taught by Paul Mariani 29 years ago this spring, and took from it permission to step out of the silence of “Possibility” into the peculiarities of my pink-collar life where I have found my voice.
I would like to thank Dr. Williams and Mr. Mariani by making a dollar-a-page donation ($234) to the Writers’ Room of Boston, hoping to keep it “. . . numerous of Windows / Superior—for Doors—”

—Anne Welch, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston
clerk of the Writers’ Room corporation

I would like to thank the book Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich because Rich’s poetry was the first that encouraged me to find my own woman’s voice, to say things that I did not even know I wanted, really needed, to say.

—Betty Buchsbaum

I would like to thank the book Travels with Charleyby John Steinbeck because this book inspired my wanderlust. A great adventure that I would like to duplicate. My donation is also given to the Writers’ Room in gratitude for my fellowship.

—Jack Canavan, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I thank the Random House 2d Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. True, it didn’t have much of a plot and wasn’t suitable for reading on thetrain. But there has never been a book that I consulted more. Out of date now, it’s more an object of veneration than a useful tool, a reminder of the greatness a panel of editors could achieve.

—Nan Fornal
executive director of the Writers’ Room of Boston

I would like to thank two books for my friends Debbie and Peter as a way to honor their recent marriage by making a donation to the Writers’ Room of Boston.
Peter thanks One Hundred Years of Solitude by G. M. Marquez “for the perspective it gave on life at many simultaneous levels.”

Debbie thanks The Left Hand of Darkness by U. K. LeGuin “because it showed me that written language can sound beautiful and that fiction can affect the mind as well as the heart.”

—Mary Schaefer, executive director
Merrill Lynch / MIT partnership
Writers’ Room volunteer
through Business on Board program
of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston

I would like to thank A History of the Modern World by R. R. Palmer because this book started my lifelong interest in history.

—James J. Mongan, MD, president and CEO,
Partners HealthCare System;
professor, Harvard Medical School

I would like to thank the book My Antonia by Willa Cather. Read so long ago, I feel this book as a soft breeze touching my shoulder, a smell in the kitchen, the emptiness of the vast plain, a loneliness, the joy of friendship, the love of children, the great women who teach us.

—Fran Leitz, Newburyport

I would like to thank the book Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke by making a $1 per page donation to the Writers’ Room of Boston because this book spoke to me 25 years ago and still speaks to me today. It seems to grow with me, ringing more true and poignant each year.
“ . . . We must always hold to the difficult, and then that which now still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust and find most faithful.”

—Cindy Veach Lappetito, Manchester

I would like to thank Look Homeward, Angelby Thomas Wolfe because this book unveiled to me, for the first time, the flash and magic of poetic prose. I read this borrowed, beat-up paperback in the backroom of a gas station between fill-ups. Later, Hemingway would tech the importance of discipline and word pruning, so I could never quite read Wolfe again with the same gusto. But for one summer his words grew like wildflowers: beautifully out of control.

—Bob Boucher, Watertown

I would like to thank the Betsy-Tacy series written by Maud Hart Lovelace because these books showed me early on what good fiction can do—help us learn about the world, ourselves, through characters who are true.

—Maureen Rogers, writer
member of the Writers’ Room of Boston

Contact us!
The Writers' Room of Boston
111 State Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02109
Info@WritersRoomOfBoston.org
617.523.0566