230 ratings | 81 reviews | avg rating:4.20

Jim’s Year In Books

Jim’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Jim’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

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Jim Arnold’s Followers (39)

Jim’s Bookshelves

to-read (69)
currently-reading (6)
read (232)
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fiction (30)
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Jim’s Friends (216)

Belinda

779 books | 1,830 friends

Preston

2,887 books | 122 friends

Erik Laiho

4,211 books | 67 friends

Mark

1,975 books | 2,173 friends

Marc Nash

1,933 books | 844 friends

J. Schlenker

591 books | 2,068 friends

Patryk O'really

2,345 books | 462 friends

Dan

1,391 books | 404 friends

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Jim Arnold

Goodreads Author

Born

Sacramento, The United States

Website

http://www.jimarnoldblog.com/blog

Twitter

JimArnoldLA

Genre

Gay and Lesbian, Suspense, Mystery

Member Since

November 2009

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Jim is the author of the award-winning novels Benediction (2009). The Forest Dark (2013), Kept (2016) and Benefits (2019).

Jim also directed the critically-acclaimed documentary short Our Brothers, Our Sons, about generational differences around HIV/AIDS in gay men, (nominated for Best Documentary at the 2002 Turin International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival).

Jim has worked extensively as a free-lance journalist and has published in Frontiers, Variety, Prime Health & Fitness, Age Appropriate and other periodicals, online and in fiction anthologies. He began his career in musical theatre and holds a BA in journalism and film from Marquette University, and has studied film production/writing in the MFA program for Cinema/TV at the University of ...more

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Combine Editions
Jim Arnold’s books

Average rating: 3.55 · 64 ratings · 27 reviews · 5 distinct works

	Kept 3.40 avg rating — 20 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Benediction 3.47 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wanderslut 1996: A Gay Road Trip Across America 3.64 avg rating — 11 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Forest Dark 3.25 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Benefits 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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385 posts
Jim Arnold's Blog

Los Angeles Fires – The View from My Apartment

I consider myself extremely lucky to not have been close to the Los Angeles Fires of January 2025 that have ravaged neighborhoods in my town this month.

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I live in Valley Village, a neighborhood in the southeast corner of the San Fernando Valley, which is almost equidistant from the Palisades Fire to the west and the Eaton Fi

Jim is Currently Reading

Jim is currently reading

The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings

by Nick Gray (Goodreads Author)

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Jan 01, 2024 10:41PM

Jim is currently reading

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

by Chris Voss (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Dec 10, 2023 12:01PM

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Heartbroke

by Chelsea Bieker (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Dec 28, 2022 10:07AM

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Jim’s Recent Updates

Jim entered a giveaway The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 22, 2025 08:03AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jim entered a giveaway Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jim rated a book really liked it Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jim rated a book it was amazing Mexislang: The key to understanding what the hell your mexican friends are saying by Raúl Jiménez	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 27, 2025 11:05PM · like
Jim has read The Book Publisher's Toolkit: 10 Practical Pointers for Independent and Self Publishers by Independent Book Publishers Association	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 28, 2024 10:11AM · like

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Jim’s Quotes

“I really would like to stop working forever–never work again, never do anything like the kind of work I’m doing now–and do nothing but write poetry and have leisure to spend the day outdoors and go to museums and see friends. And I’d like to keep living with someone — maybe even a man — and explore relationships that way. And cultivate my perceptions, cultivate the visionary thing in me. Just a literary and quiet city-hermit existence.”
― Allen Ginsberg

213 likes

“Late Fragment

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.”
― Raymond Carver, A New Path to the Waterfall

tags: love, poetry

787 likes