Awesome Things

Below is a chaotic collection of books, comics, TV shows and films I've loved or drawn inspiration from, with huge gaps and glaring omissions. I include it here as a collection of tips (I loved these things, I think you would too) and also just because there's something very enjoyable about listing things in this manner; skimming them off the top of my brain as they appear. It makes for quite an interesting reflection on why I like them and what it is that connects the things I like, if anything. This kind of thinking was important in developing whatever writing style I have, particularly my absolute favourites: Jaws, Alien, Skellig, Coraline, Groundhog Day.. claustrophobic, tight narratives rather than sprawling epics).

I'll keep adding to and editing these as I go.


Books/Comics

  1. The Island of Doctor Moreau                            H.G. Wells
  2. Frankenstein                                                     Mary Shelley
  3. Jaws                                                                 Peter Benchley
  4. Hellboy                                                             Mike Mignola
  5. The Discworld novels                                        Terry Pratchett
  6. His Dark Materials                                            Philip Pullman
  7. American Gods                                                 Neil Gaiman
  8. Coraline                                                            Neil Gaiman
  9. Skellig                                                               David Almond
  10. Lord of the Flies                                                William Golding
  11. The Summer Book                                             Tove Jansson
  12. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen             Alan Moore
  13. Watchmen                                                         Alan Moore
  14. Tender Morsels                                                 Margo Lanagan
  15. Trainspotting                                                      Irvine Welsh
  16. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde      Robert Louis Stevenson
  17. Ham on Rye                                                      Charles Bukowski
  18. All the Books Written by                                    Roald Dahl
  19. Anno Dracula                                                    Kim Newman
  20. A Monster Calls                                                Patrick Ness
  21. The Chaos Walking Trilogy                                Patrick Ness
  22. The Wasp Factory                                             Iain Banks
  23. All the Sherlock Holmeses                                 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  24. The Weight of Water                                         Sarah Crossan
  25. Breakfast of Champions                                     Kurt Vonnegut
  26. Slaughterhouse 5                                                Kurt Vonnegut
  27. The Walking Dead                                             Robert Kirkman
  28. Britten and Brulightly                                          Hannah Berry
  29. Boxer Beetle                                                      Ned Beaumont
  30. Of Mice and Men                                              John Steinbeck 
  31. Cannery Row                                                    John Steinbeck
  32. Proof                                                                 Alex Grecian & Riley Rossmo
  33. American Psycho                                               Bret Easton Ellis
  34. Double Whammy                                               Carl Hiaasen
  35. Selected short stories                                         Ernest Hemingway
  36. Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls                            Robert Rankin
  37. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse   Robert Rankin


Films/TV

  1. Groundhog Day
  2. Alien/Aliens
  3. Jaws
  4. Back to the Future
  5. O' Brother, Where Art Thou?
  6. Trainspotting
  7. Toy Stories all
  8. Up/Wall-e... Pixar
  9. Dumbo
  10. The Big Lebowski
  11. Rare Exports
  12. Band of Brothers
  13. Rocky III (the thinking person's Rocky IV!)
  14. Gremlins
  15. Ghostbusters
  16. From Hell
  17. Pan's Labyrinth
  18. The Lives of Others
  19. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
  20. Wayne's World
  21. Arrested Development
  22. Frasier
  23. Friends
  24. Let The Right One In
  25. It's a Wonderful Life
  26. Deadwood
  27. Up in the Air
  28. Father Ted
  29. Moon
  30. The Dark Knight
  31. Sleepy Hollow
  32. The Fifth Lement
  33. Die Hard
  34. Terminator (1&2)
  35. Predator
  36. Saving Private Ryan
  37. The Emperor's New Groove
  38. Team America: World Police
  39. The South Park Movie
  40. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  41. Ace Venture: Pet Detective (plus sequel...)
  42. Cliffhanger
  43. Sin City
  44. Payback
  45. The Office
  46. Spaced
  47. Lethal Weapon
  48. The Bourne Series
  49. Jurassic Park
  50. In Bruges
  51. Role Models
  52. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
  53. Star Wars (original three... plus Revenge of the Sith)
  54. I'm Alan Partridge
  55. Blackadder Goes Forth
  56. Indiana Jones trilogy... not Crytal Skull.
  57. Patriot Games
  58. Casino Royale
  59. Skyfall
  60. Airplane!
  61. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  62. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure/Bogus Journey
  63. The Man with Two Brains
  64. Memento
  65. Coming to America
  66. The Naken Gun pts 1 & 2
  67. Signs
  68. Blazing Saddles
  69. Trading Places
  70. The Running Man
  71. My Little Eye
  72. Near Dark
  73. Snatch
  74. Pulp Fiction
  75. Phoenix Nights
  76. The Shawshank Redemption
  77. Se7en
  78. Fight Club
  79. Paranorman
  80. The Raid
  81. The Usual Suspects
  82. Being John Malkovich
  83. Braveheart
  84. The Silver Linings Playbook
  85. Blade Runner
  86. The League of Gentlemen
  87. Django Unchained
  88. Rush 
  89. Casablanca


2 comments:

  1. Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, David Almond, Patrick Ness, Mary Shelly, Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells ... brilliant! Dream list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did really enjoy lumping these things together. I'm fond of lists, in a very male, High Fidelity, kind of way, and I can see myself cutting the above shambles into categories and such at some point.

    Mmmm. Lists.

    ReplyDelete