"Blog"trospective 9: Books With Owls In Them

I'm rereading DAY OUT OF DAYS by Sam Shepard because I'm "teaching" it this semester - happy to be reminded there is an owl in it, once again confirming my famous "Owl Theory of Literature." Writes Shepard, "A barn owl looked straight down at me from the rafters with his big white bib." The owl turns out to be "a dummy, planted to scare away mice and varmints," but I say it counts, especially as Shepard includes some general commentary on actual owls: "A Tibetan monk once told me that the owl was a portent of death but I've never felt that way about owls." It seems to me that it is time for "Books With Owls In Them" to become the subject of one of our famed "blog"trospectives, which, when completed, will represent all the learning of humankind. Previous subjects include TOM FRANKLIN, PHIL OPPENHEIM, MOVIES, THE MOON, SANDWICHES, THE UNITED STATES, THE BEACH BOYS, and ARNOLD STANG. And now we invite you to enjoy BOOKS WITH OWLS IN THEM: THE ACCURSED by Joyce Carol Oates---ALPHABET JUICE by Roy Blount Jr.---AMERICAN FANTASTIC TALES: 1940s TO NOW---THE BEHAVIOR GUIDE TO AFRICAN MAMMALS: INCLUDING HOOFED MAMMALS, CARNIVORES, PRIMATES by Richard Despard Estes---BELOVED by Toni Morrison---BEYOND EXPLANATION? REMARKABLE ACCOUNTS ABOUT CELEBRITIES WHO HAVE WITNESSED THE SUPERNATURAL! by Jenny Randles---BIG SUR by Jack Kerouac---BOY WITH LOADED GUN by Lewis Nordan---BRIGHTON ROCK by Graham Greene---CELEBRITY CHEKHOV by Ben Greenman---CITRUS COUNTY by John Brandon---COUNT MAGNUS AND OTHER GHOST STORIES by M.R. James---COUNTRY WISDOM & LORE---DARE ME by Megan Abbott---DAY OUT OF DAYS by Sam Shepard---DEAR WEATHER GHOST by Melissa Ginsburg---THE DEMON by Jack Kirby---THE DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS by Hans Biedermann---DR. SAX by Jack Kerouac---THE DOG OF THE SOUTH by Charles Portis---DRACULA by Bram Stoker---DREAM CABINET by Ann Fisher-Wirth---THE DUD AVOCADO by Elaine Dundy---ESCAPE VELOCITY: A CHARLES PORTIS MISCELLANY---FATALE by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips---THE FINAL CLUB by Geoffrey Wolff---GHOSTS by Cesar Aira---THE GLASS HARMONICA by Barbara Ninde Byfield---GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon---THE GREAT HUNT by Robert Jordan---GRINGOS by Charles Portis---THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson---I OWE RUSSIA $1200 by Bob Hope---IN A GLASS DARKLY by Sheridan Le Fanu---IN THE LAND OF TIME by Lord Dunsany---JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte---THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ALEXANDER WILSON---THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON by James Boswell---LO! by Charles Fort---LUSH LIFE: A BIOGRAPHY OF BILLY STRAYHORN by David Hajdu---MACBETH by William Shakespeare---MARK TWAIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 by Michael Kupperman---MASTERS OF ATLANTIS by Charles Portis---MCSWEENEY'S #36---MISCELLANIES by John Aubrey---THE MOST DANGEROUS THING by Laura Lippman---MUSIC OF THE SWAMP by Lewis Nordan---THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH by Dan J. Marlowe---NO HEROES by Chris Offutt---NORWOOD by Charles Portis---ON RARE BIRDS by Anita Albus---ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac---THE OTHER by Thomas Tryon---OUT OF THE WOODS by Chris Offutt---THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ by L. Frank Baum---RIDES OF THE MIDWAY by Lee Durkee---'SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King---SELECTED CRONICAS by Clarice Lispector---SHADOW BOX by George Plimpton---TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE, VOL. 1 by Michael Kupperman---THAT IS ALL by John Hodgman---TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY by John le Carre---TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson---TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis---A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan---VISIONS OF GERARD by Jack Kerouac---VULGAR ERRORS by Sir Thomas Browne---THE WOMAN WARRIOR by Maxine Hong Kingston---YOUR BODY IS CHANGING. And that is every book with an owl in it.