The Nixon Tapes: 1973 Ed. by Douglas Brinkley & Luke Nichter Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

As a young man, probably THE FOUNTAINHEAD. But now, I'm too old to be influenced. I know where I stand, and I know who I am.

When I was in first grade on the last day of school, Mrs. Stafford, our teacher, said, "I want to give out a special present today, to a kid in the class who has tried so hard to improve his handwriting." And she's going through this whole speech about this kid; I'm staring at this kid that I knew that she liked, and I just hated him, and I was getting more and more angry. And then at the end, she said it was me! The present was a Dr. Seuss book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, that I have since thrown out. But I remember it was in purple cellophane wrapping, and I still consider it the greatest honor to have received that gift. So, that was my favorite book.

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr Everything Belongs by RR Love Wins by Rob Bell What We Talk About by Rob Bell Be Here Now by Ram Dass Grist for the Mill by Ram Dass The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Golas The Power of Myth (the book) by Joseph Campbell and Richard Moyers

I am currently reading almost everything I can - loving Spider-Man and Silver Surfer by Slott; bummed Fables is coming to an end; stuff by Jason Aaron is great, just read Ant-Man by Nick Spencer right before this started, and it really had that Superior Foes of Spider-Man feel. Currently re-reading Hickman's FF, which is so complex and well-thought-out, it frightens me from ever attempting something similar.

1. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron 2. Holocaust and Human Behavior 3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 4. Ways of Seeing by John Berger

My favorite memoir is Steve Martin’s “Born Standing Up.” I think that’s the best book about being a comedian, written by a comedian, ever done.

[This link contains all the recommended books - there are more than 100] The list contains City of Thieves by David Benioff, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, and Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang.

The Artists Way was given to me by Frank Conniff (follow him on Twitter!) and it really changed my life (I think).

Well, my favorite author is Mark Twain. He’s smart, and funny. Huckleberry Finn, especially the chapter all the purists hate, in which Tom Sawyer stages an elaborate rescue of Jim, is a writer having as much fun as possible. But my favorite book is a two-parter by Laurens Van Der Post, A Story Like The Wind and A Far Off Place. My favorite book used to be The Plague by Albert Camus.

Moby Dick!

The stack next to my bed is embarrassingly High. the one on my desk right now is "3 Ingredient Cocktails" by Robert Simonson. Great Read!

Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins Memory of Fire: Faces and Masks by Eduardo Galeano Ways of Seeing by John Berger Honey and Junk by Dana Goodyear

My 5 favorite books of 2020: Antkind by Charlie Kaufman Earthlings by Sayaka Murata Little Eyes by Samantha Schweblin Weather by Jenny Offill The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel

The Marx Brothers book is a great book. Before that, I read another book about comedy — I think I’m doing this because it gives me that feeling I’m missing, of being around. When you’re in comedy, you’re like a tropical fish in an aquarium, or at least I am. That’s my life. If you said to a tropical fish, Would you like to go anyplace else, he’s going to go: You know what, I think I’d like to just stay here, I like the aquarium. So I am a tropical fish in an aquarium. And since I can’t go onstage and hang around other comedians, I read about them. So there’s this other book I just found on my bookshelf — I bought it, and never read it — it’s called “Seriously Funny,” by Gerald Nachman. This ...[Read more]

Read Sam Lipsyte's The Ask.

My recommendation for a book is "Masters of Atlantis" by Charles Portis

Most books back then were awful and most books now are awful. The classics stayed on. Reading modern books is like you went panning for gold and had to go through a bunch of rocks to find one single lump of coal. Or, the way I do it, you just go into the store and they give you big bars of gold from the old days and you read those.

Jerry Salz has a great book called How To Be An Artist. Also The Artists Way is worth getting for sure.

Chester Himes! Thomas Pynchon (obviosuly) john o'hara..John Steinbeck...George Orwell....Shirley Jackson! Caroline Blackwood