Meme dump

I’ve been getting hit with a massive meme dump on Facebook. Despite how masturbatory it is (or perhaps because of…), I always end up completing the damned things. I think I do it, in large part, because these are the kinds of conversations I have with my buddies at bars, and I’ve been spending a lot less time with buddies at bars.

So, in an effort to get all of these out of my system at once and move on to something (anything!) of substance, here are the memes I was asked to complete this week.

15 Books I’ve read that, for whatever reason, stand out in my mind

Spoonriver Anthology — Edgar Lee Masters
Native Son — Richard Wright
Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess
Catch-22 — Joseph Heller
The Stand — Stephen King
Stranger in a Strange Land –Robert Heinlein
Slaughterhouse Five — Kurt Vonnegut
Lamb — Christoper Moore
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — Hunter S. Thompson
Lolita– Vladimir Nabokov
All Over But the Shoutin’ — Rick Bragg
Another Roadside Attraction — Tom Robbins
The Bonfire of the Vanities — Tom Wolfe
The Making of a Chef — Michael Ruhlman
Kitchen Confidential — Anthony Bourdain

15 Albums that changed my life
Briefly, these albums, with the exception of a couple, didn’t change my life so much as mark several distinct periods of music listening over the past 35 years.

Beach Boys–Endless Summer
The Eagles–Their Greatest Hits (1971-1976)
Motley Crue–Too Fast For Love
The Doors–In Concert
The Beatles–White Album
The Beatles–Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band
Guns and Roses–Appetite for Destruction
Tesla–Five Man Acoustical Jam
Blacke Crowes–Shake Your Moneymaker
Uncle Tupelo (March 16-20,1992)
Bloodshot Records–Hellbent (Insurgent Country Vol. 2)
Steve Earle–Guitar Town
Eddie From Ohio–Portable
Acoustic Syndicate — Acoustic Syndicate
Donna the Buffalo — Positve Friction

States visited (or lived in)

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts Mississippi (1997-1999), Missouri (1973-1997), Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina (1999-present), Tennessee, Texas, Virginia

Countries visited

Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Scotland, Uruguay, USA