Bookhunting Tip# 5,280

Here's an interesting theory. luis katigbak says in kyu's post about finding good books in secondhand book dives:

Ever since the 90s, whenever I find myself surfing through book reviews online, I've been listing down the titles that seem interesting to me in one Word file.

I think a list helps activate one's Book Sale powers because looking back at mine now, I'm amazed at how many of those titles I've managed to subsequently find in bargain bins. ;) Though it usually takes a year or two after I list them down before they pop up in the bins.

That's surprising to note since I also like to compile lists of books I'd like to get, something that I thought only I did. These books-- whether new or old-- are usually hard-to-find on these shores because: (a) they're not available here, (b) they're out-of-print and thus are really hard to find, or (c) they're both. However, through mountain-moving patience and sheer determination to dumpster dive through every book bin of Booksale, Chapters and Pages and the once-a-year Powerbooks warehouse sale, I've managed to score the odd book or two that makes book-collecting worthwhile.

Is this a list-driven power developed as one continuously searches for books, as luis says? I hope so. I do know having the lists help.

I currently have a number of lists that I source through the Internet. These lists of books are usually recommended by editors, writers, or fans favoring conceptual/thematic books like Steampunk or literary fantasy. Others I compile on my own because of good word-of-mouth recommendations (usually the new ones) or because these are 'canonical' or 'classic'.

Here's a few links where I've picked up my lists:

*I always check out the recommendations of fantasist Jeff Vandermeer so it was interesting to see his picks for 10 Books for "Mainstream" Readers and 10 Books for "Genre" Readers.
*The Mind Meld of SF Signal is also a good place to pick up book recommendations like this one about the Forgotten Books of SF/F/H, Non-Genre Books for Genre Readers (see also Matthew Cheney's Literary Fiction for People who hate Literary Fiction).
*Genre chronicler David Pringle's 100 Best Fantasy Novels as well as his 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.

On the other hand, good word-of-mouth recommendations are a priceless treasure and I'm thankful to the irrepressible doug candano for this (culled from his creative writing classes and his own searches through the bookshelves). A quick-check on the 'Net reveals these books are definitely fascinating fiction for those interested in the strange and the wonderful like me:

*The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
*Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernandez
*Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kis
*Gogol's Wife and Other Stories by Tommaso Landolfi
*Rhinoceros and Other Plays by Eugene Ionescu
*The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau
*The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
*The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki

Any book talk will obviously involve a few recommendations of my own especially for books I'm still searching for, like Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nightmare or Edwin Abbott's Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. I also cited Steven Millhauser's Edwin Mulhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright though doug wasn't that impressed with this one. One book I did think I should have recommended to him is Porius by John Cowper Powys but alas, I forgot. But we did agree that anything by Adolfo Bioy Casares is a good find, especially if it's The Invention of Morel.

So, do you also use lists to help you look for books? What books would you recommend?