Some interesting ideas coming from discussion with twitter fans!
I came up with:
'The Letters Of John Keats'
'Advanced Origami'
and Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'
the latter is causing some controversy...would Hal collect vampire literature? would he scorn it? or secretly enjoy his own condescension while reading it? or avidly collect it in a clandestine/ amused/ affirmed kind of a way?!?
Like it Eileen..Goethe's Faust is suitably tragic. possibly The Sorrows Of Young Werther too? and I can see him getting into Arthur Conan Doyles' works.
Lol Pudas you may be on to something there....romance is not something Hal has had...abstinence or...it usually turns..pretty nasty.. pretty quickly...so Hal may fill the void with romantic fiction, again possibly secretly along with his vampire fiction, perhaps he is not comfortable to display the loneliness of his heart on his shelves.
Perhaps he may also be fascinated with Monster literature: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Stevenson's Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll an Mr Hyde, Persecution of Monsters by humans, the monster within, the creation of monsters by humanity. that kind of thing... possibly a kind of scorn for the gothic depiction of supernatural?
I bought this book a while ago called "I Wonder" by Marian Bantjes. It's basically a work of design art. It's non-linear, doesn't even tell a story (maybe some short stories or recalled memories here and there), but it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. I think Hal would totally own this book, and he would spend from 1:15 to 1:30 in his daily schedule going through any particular section, mentally tracing the designs, or what have you! It seems like something that would appeal to his controlled and precise OCD side.
what a stunningly beautiful book Sattyrn! I don;t know about Hal but I would love it on my shelves!
You say non linear but it has patterns, I think patterns would appeal to Hal, geometric ones..I would have thought also he would be drawn to classical design and symmetry because it is organised. maybe we will see him landscape gardening next episode, progressed from Origami to topiary..if that is not to Edward Scissorhands1
