Biblioteca Personal

Last updated: Fri Nov 29 2024

In honor of Jorges Luis Borges’ biblioteca personal, here’s my own list of media that has been deeply influential on me. (Incomplete, but I’ll finish it off later!)

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

I reread this every Towel Day, so it’s essentially scripture. I disguise it well, but all my writing is essentially a copy of Douglas Adams.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The only show so good I keep it on my keychain. Beneath an (admittedly cool) story about robots fighting aliens is one of the most heartbreakingly realistic depictions of depression, anxiety, and trauma in any medium.

Satoshi Kon

Each of Satoshi Kon’s works is special in its own way. Perfect Blue is such an assault on the senses I doubt my own existence after leaving the theater; Millennium Actress is so bittersweet I used one of its songs in my wedding; Tokyo Godfathers is my go-to Christmas movie; and Paranoia Agent is tied with Neon Genesis Evangelion for my favorite television show. Only Paprika stands out as merely good, and even that has some of the wildest visuals ever animated.

Scott Pilgrim

My favorite comic; it has my favorite last-act reveal in literature. What it means to me changes every time I revisit it as I grow older, which was only furthered with the release of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Bryan Lee O’Malley’s follow-up, Seconds, is also recommended as a tale of realizing you’re suddenly 30 and your life is rapidly approaching middle age.

World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt)

The only entry on this list that I’ve largely memorized, particularly Emily’s final monologue (“You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all the dead…”). Heartbreaking, despite being stick figures. Its predecessor It’s Such A Beautiful Day also comes recommended.

The Last Samurai (Helen deWitt)

The great masterpiece of 21st century literature; a constant reminder of all I could achieve if I only set my mind to it.

Warhammer 40,000

I spent an (embarrassing?) amount of time reading Warhammer 40,000 sourcebooks growing up. It still seems like one of the few fantasy settings that really gets feudalism and faith, and the Chaos gods are never far from my mind.

In the Mood for Love

A film about yearning that is secretly a film about nostalgia; the ending intertitle gives me chills every time I reach it.

Y Tu Mamá También

A film about going on a sexy road trip that is, yep, also secretly a film about nostalgia. The scene of Luisa calling her ex-husband while the boys play pool is one of my favorite in cinema.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

A film I rewatch every year; deceptively bittersweet beneath its formal (but iconic for a reason) exterior.

Wishbone

I can’t actually remember watching this show about a Jack Russell Terrier acting out Shakespeare and other classic literature, but it definitely explains some things about me.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

The earliest television show I can remember watching, and the ultimate source of my love for witches and snarky talking cats.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Endlessly multilayered — a film about intergenerational trauma and missed opportunities and East Asian philosophy — but personally I appreciate it as possibly the greatest story about neurodiversity ever told.

Tampopo / The Making of Tampopo

A sketch comedy about talented amateurs fighting the odds to produce something great, and that’s just the making-of documentary!

Half-Life 2

A landmark in diegetic storytelling, an underrated classic of the dystopian genre (“Dear Dr Breen, why has the Combine seen fit to suppress our reproductive cycle? Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen”), and one of the major sources for the lambda I use as a favicon.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

The ultimate comfort food, but deceptively feminist beneath the surface. “Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn’t marry a girl just because she’s pretty, but my goodness, doesn’t it help?”

The Kiss Quotient

Another milestone in neurodiverse fiction — an autistic woman as the protagonist in a romance novel, written by an autistic woman. Even better, it’s effortlessly charming, too.

Don Quixote (Cervantes)

Still laugh-out-loud funny and surprisingly progressive; well deserves its central place in the Western canon, and easy to recommend despite its heft.

Divine Comedy (Dante)

Much more subtle than most give it credit; the scene of Dante finally coming face-to-face with his true love Beatrice is one of my favorites in literature.

Faust: A Tragedy (Goethe)

So idiosyncratic it’s difficult to recommend, but “Verweile doch, du bist so schön” is one of my favorite lines in literature.

The Tempest (Shakespeare)

My favorite Shakespeare, even if I’m not convinced it’s his best. Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban are among my favorite characters in literature.