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My favorite book recs
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items Books That Changed the Way I Look at the World
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the things we read shape the way we see everything else—people, places, light, even silence. These are some of the books that stayed with me over the years. Some...
A timeless classic. Who hasn't felt like Holden from time to time?
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Paperback
The goal. The inspiration. I own 3 copies.
The Americans: Frank, Robert, Kerouac, Jack
Hemingway proves you don’t need a lot of words to say something powerful. The quiet moments in this book say more than pages of explanation. Sometimes restraint is its own kind of honesty.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
This book makes me want to throw a camera in the car and just keep driving. There’s something honest about drifting and letting the road decide things for a while. Freedom always looks a little messy.
On the Road (Penguin Classics Deluxe)
One of those books that leaves you thinking about it long after you close it. Camus has a way of making you confront the quiet absurdity of life. Sometimes meaning isn’t given to us—we have to build it.
The Stranger By Albert Camus: Books
Murakami writes loneliness in a way that feels strangely comforting. It’s quiet, melancholy, and beautiful all at once. The kind of book that feels like a song playing somewhere in the background of your life.
Norwegian Wood: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin - Books
Wild, strange, funny, and devastating all at once. Vonnegut somehow makes chaos feel poetic. “So it goes” might be the most honest phrase ever written.
Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel (Modern Library)
This one means a lot to me as someone trying to make art while figuring life out. The way Patti Smith writes about youth and creative struggle is beautiful. It reminds me that every artist starts somewhere.
Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner
Beautiful writing about beauty itself—and the danger of chasing it too hard. Wilde understood aesthetics in a way that still feels modern. It’s a reminder that art and vanity can be closer than we think.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Dostoevsky dives deeper into the human soul than almost anyone. Every character feels like they’re wrestling with something eternal. A heavy book, but worth sitting with.
The Brothers Karamazov: Dostoevsky, Fyodor
This one challenges you—in a good way. Wallace captures the weird chaos of modern life better than most writers. It’s messy, brilliant, and strangely human.
Infinite Jest: Wallace, David Foster
Nietzsche forces you to question the structures we build around meaning. Some passages feel like lightning bolts. Definitely a book you return to more than once.
Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche
A powerful reminder that photography can document real lives with honesty and dignity. Evans had an incredible ability to see beauty in ordinary places. This book makes me want to slow down and really look at the world around me.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Agee
Seeing the contact sheets behind famous photos changed how I think about shooting. It shows how many imperfect frames come before the right one appears. A good reminder that photography is as much patience as talent.
Magnum Contact Sheets: Lubben, Kristen
Shore made everyday American landscapes feel iconic. Gas stations, motels, empty streets—things most people drive past without noticing. It’s proof that the ordinary can become extraordinary if you’re paying attention.
Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places
Avedon strips everything down to the person in front of the lens. No distractions, no glamour tricks—just presence. It reminds me that a portrait is really about the energy between photographer and subject.
In the American West
Newton understood that photography could be bold and confrontational. His work pushes right up against the edge of fashion, power, and performance. Even if you disagree with it, you can’t ignore the confidence behind it.
Helmut Newton. SUMO (Hardcover)
Leibovitz shows how many different ways strength and beauty can exist. The portraits feel intimate but powerful at the same time. It’s a reminder that photographing someone is also about respecting who they are.
Annie Leibovitz: Women: 2025 Edition
A quiet book about searching for meaning and learning to listen to the world around you. It’s simple but somehow very deep. Every time I read it I notice something different.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
This book feels like philosophy disguised as a love story. Kundera writes about freedom, chance, and the strange weight of our choices. It’s one of those books that makes you slow down and think about the life you’re living.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
I love the way Hemingway writes about young artists trying to figure things out in Paris. There’s something romantic about that period of life when you’re broke but chasing something meaningful.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway