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Discover new books - and share your favorites!

What are the books you can't do without? Want to turn others on to your favorites? Jot down your top ten, and send the list. (You can use your full name, first name, or a nickname.) Lists can be either ranked 1-10, or in no particular order, and feel free to add comments if you like. If accepted, we'll feature your list here. Click on any of the archived lists below to discover lists contributed by other Empty Mirror readers...

Halloween recipe: crispy roasted pumpkin seeds

Empty Mirror

roasted pumpkin seeds

I've been making roasted pumpkin seeds for probably 25 years now; before that it was a family tradition. My recipe has evolved over the years. Here's the current recipe. 1. Scoop the seeds out of a … [Read more...]

Joerg Haeske’s Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Joerg Haeske, author of Anywhere Road: Retracing Jack Kerouac, shares his top ten list, in no particular order: Jack Kerouac: The Dharma Bums (a tough one to choose between that and On The Road, … [Read more...]

Linda Lenhoff’s Top Ten Books

Top Ten List Contributor

Independence Day by Richard Ford

Linda Lenhoff (@LindaLatte) is a reader and novelist. She tells us she can't bring herself to order the books, so here they are in an unordered list, with her thoughts on some of them. Independence … [Read more...]

David Gitin’s Ten Favorite Books

David Gitin

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters Flash of the Spirit by Robert Farris Thompson The New American Poetry, … [Read more...]

Gloria Avner’s Ten Favorite Books

Gloria Avner

The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav

The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by Joseph Chilton Pearce The Amazing Adventures … [Read more...]

Gary A.’s Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

steppenwolf

1. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse 2. The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac 3. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway 4. Ask the Dust by John Fante 5. Sixty-Seven Poems For Downtrodden Saints by Jack … [Read more...]

Ten Favorite Books List Contributed by Josechu C.

Top Ten List Contributor

Artificial Paradises by Charles Baudelaire

1. Artificial Paradises by Charles Baudelaire. In perfect style the author praises the marvelous effects that wine and hash have on him. 2. Stomping the Goyim by Michael Disend. How to be gay, … [Read more...]

Bruce Hodder’s Ten Favourite Books

Bruce Hodder

In Watermelon Sugar

1. In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan 2. Big Sur – Jack Kerouac 3. Desert Solitaire – Edward Abbey 4. Ulysses – James Joyce 5. The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Matsuo Basho 6. … [Read more...]

Mark A.’s Top Ten Books List

Top Ten List Contributor

jerusalem bible

1. The Book Of JOB in the OT, La Bible de Jerusalem preferably There was once a man in the land of Uz & the final word was with Yahweh. 2. A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud Emotion, Images, … [Read more...]

Ten Favorite Books List Contributed by Little

Top Ten List Contributor

Complete Fiction Bruno Schulz

1. The Complete Fiction by Bruno Schulz As close to a dream as writing can get. 2. Cages by Dave McKean The safety of illusions, the golden cage of lost hopes. McKean is the Stanley Kubrick of … [Read more...]

Christina C.’s Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

desolation angels

1. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac Ahhhh Ti Jean...in my eyes you're best 2. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins Zany and great 3. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran One of those life books … [Read more...]

Poet A.D. Winans’ Top Ten Books List

Top Ten List Contributor

steppenwolf

1. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse 2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller 4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest … [Read more...]

Eric D. Lehman’s Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

Lord of the Rings

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 2. The Magus by John Fowles 3. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 4. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller 5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 6. One … [Read more...]

Hammond Guthrie’s Ten Favorite Books

Hammond Guthrie

i-ching

1. The I Ching or Book of Changes (original translation) 2. The Tibetan Book of the Dead (original translation) 3. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 4. The Scripture of the Golden Eternity by … [Read more...]

Top Ten Books List Contributed by John W.

Top Ten List Contributor

V - Pynchon

1. V. by Thomas PynchonOpened my eyes to what modern writing could do 2. Little, Big by John CrowleyThe best American magic-realist novel ever 3. Dhalgren by Samuel R. DelanyBlew my mind 4. … [Read more...]

A William S. Burroughs top ten from Jed B. with his comments

Top Ten List Contributor

William S Burroughs copyright Christiaan Tonnis http://www.flickr.com/photos/christiaan_tonnis/3678726329/

comment: So you have read Naked Lunch and Junkie and maybe even paged though the Nova Trilogy of Soft Machine, The Ticket That Exploded and Nova Express, you think you know William Burroughs. Well … [Read more...]

Peter’s Top Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

Jitterbug Pefume

Dune by Frank Herbert A magnificent creation, we come back for the religion, the politics and the myths, which are so much more powerful precisely because he does not expound them. The Collector … [Read more...]

Jim Camp’s Ten Favorite Books

Top Ten List Contributor

1. You Can't Win by Jack Black Here's a book that was way ahead of its time, and right now, it's my all-time favorite. Next week, I'll have another new favorite...in fact, probably by next week I'll … [Read more...]

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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  • Seeing Las Meninas in Madrid, 1994
  • Visual poems from 23 Bodhisattvas by Chris Stephenson
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  • Panic In The Rear-View Mirror: Exploring The Work of Richard Siken and Ann Gale
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