TERRA LIGHTFOOT

Hamilton musician talks about the books that have influenced her most.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski Ham on Rye is the portrait of a young man growing up in L.A. during the Great Depression. I should forewarn anyone who decides to read this that Bukowski can be a bit of a misogynist. I read this when I was in high school. I got it from an older friend who was in university and I got a lot of what I had been looking for from this book. Bukowski is a cynic and sometimes brutally honest. Basically this book helped me deal with rejection and the hardships that would come up in my life because I figured I would never have it as bad as the main character did. It had an unhappy ending and was the first time that I had read a book that ended this way. I think it was important for me to see the other side.

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins A co-worker gave me another one of Tom’s books when I worked at a record store as a teenager. I loved that first book so much that I moved on to some of Robbins’ other titles. Jitterbug Perfume is about two lovers who want to evade death and then discover rituals to keep themselves alive for centuries. It was an important book for me because of the little moral lessons that uncover themselves throughout the book. It also uses a lot of anthropology terms, which was interesting because I was studying anthropology at the time. Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut is an ethical writer who challenges societal standards. I read this collection of short stories in high school for a literature class when I had to do a reflection on a book. I picked up this book — the themes I was reading were about ethical suicide, television and how it negatively affects our society; stories about what’s right and wrong and questioning the societal “normal.” Plus all of the women in Vonnegut’s books are tall and beautiful, so as a tall woman myself it was nice to see these characters who men found beautiful.