Exploring Genre Literature with 10 Great Women Authors



We are in for a fast, furious and FUN year in the Rediscovering the Classics group this year! Last year the theme was "An Exploration of Genre", and when I realized that the syllabus I was putting together was 90% male authors I decided to go all-out with all-male authors in each genre. What this means is that this year we get a syllabus full of wonderful WOMEN authors in every genre!

How To Spot A Book Lover

Book Lovers are dangerous people. Avid readers are like rabid creatures—we can't see straight (usually because we have a book in front of our faces), we can't walk straight (same reason), and we often drool or foam at the mouth (when a Really Good Part overpowers our swallow reflex). Luckily, keeping away from the book-toting-crazy-eyes should be easy... as long as you know what to look for.

It’s not difficult to spot a book lover, we avid readers give ourselves away in so many ways:

You can find us at parties perusing the bookshelves instead of hanging with the crowd.

Our go-to conversation starter is “So, what are you reading?” 

We bring books with us to the bank and supermarket (anywhere we might have to wait in line).

We don't think of trees as beautiful things to photograph, draw, or even climb... they're merely another place to sit and read for a spell. 

We don't just walk, we biblioambulate.

We NEVER have enough bookshelves.

We wear T-shirts that say things like “Call me Ishmael”.

Keep in mind that Book Lovers are VERY DANGEROUS CREATURES. Be warned! Should you spot a Book Lover, generally the safest thing to do is to put as much distance between them and yourself as possible.

BUT...

For today, and for today only, because it is National Book Lovers Day, should you come across a Book Lover, you should go up to them, ask them what they're reading, ask if they can recommend any books for you to read, and watch their faces light up with joy. You will have made their day.

Happy Book Lovers Day!!

Three Smart Writers Who Will Knock Your Socks Off

I love Smart Writers.

Now, when I say "Smart Writers" I don't mean stuffy academic writers (although let's tell it like it is, I like reading them too). When I say "Smart Writers" I mean authors who write books that express new and thought-provoking ideas with beautiful, playful, intelligent language. When I say "Smart Writers" I mean writers that I want to pluck off the page and bring home for coffee and conversation. I'm talking about writers who inspire and challenge me, and who make me laugh.

Right now I'm reading Simon Pegg's autobiography Nerd Do Well; and I tell you, that man is a Smart Writer.

My Literary ABCdery

16th Century Illuminated Alphabet

A is for Austen, Jane Austen.

B is for Book Clubs. Really good book clubs, with challenging books, insightful discussion, passionate readers... and wine, of course. (I'm looking at you, Rediscovering the Classics members!)

C is for Canon. The literary Canon may be controversial, it may be weighted toward white European men, and it may sometimes be hopelessly stuck in the mud; but oh! It's filled with so much beauty, history and emotion! It simply can't be ignored, and at the very least it's a great place to start your journey.

D is for Dark chocolate, an end-of-the-day reading necessity.

E is for T.S. Eliot, whose "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" has been the first and last word on poetry for me since I originally came across it at the age of fifteen.

            "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,     

             And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

             And in short, I was afraid." (It still gives me chills.)

The Passion is Back! Looking Back on December and Forward to 2013

Can the last month of 2012 be an indication of what's to come in 2013? I hope so, because when it comes to books, December 2012 was my most satisfying--and hopeful--month in a long time. This wasn't because I read the best books of the year during this month, but because this was the month when I found my passion for reading again. After too many months of reading ennui and halfhearted dips into chapters and verse, December found me falling once again down that literary rabbit hole; getting caught up (delightfully) once more in words and story. And I'm not ashamed to admit that it all started with Romance...

December Books Read

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen
Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Malory Family Series by Johanna Lindsey
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells 
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Words: A Love Story

Most readers and writers are, in the deepest parts of our souls, word lovers. We love how the right word can express with absolute perfection an elusive emotion; we love how certain words roll around in our mouths and drip from our lips; we love seeing sound and meaning put together to create a kind of linguistic music--whether in the form of poetry or prose or (for those who are particularly savvy) in everyday conversation. There are many things I love in my life, but I would have to say that words are my first love.

I was reminded of this love just recently by my eleven year old daughter, who in the middle of a conversation about a deep sea documentary we had just watched, suddenly pulled out a notebook and started writing.

"What are you doing?" I asked

"I'm adding 'phosphorescence' to my list of favorite words." She replied.

I'm a Gullible Sap After All--or--How to Sell Books to Cynics

Yesterday's Indiespensible delivery was its usual treasure trove of literary fun. The main attraction was Naomi Benaron's Running the Rift; and judging from the two pages I've been able to read since it arrived, I anticipate an emotional but engrossing journey. The dust-jacket describes the book as the story of Jean Patrick Nkuba, "a Tutsi in a world that has become increasingly restrictive and violent for his people." The novel "follows the progress of Jean Patrick from the day he knows that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save his life." It doesn't sound like it will be a light and easy read, but I'm certain it will be an enriching one.

Of most interest to me thus far in the shipment has been The Algonquin Reader, Volume 1 Issue 1, from Algonquin Books. When I first caught sight of the small, creamy, cardstock-covered folio I thought it was a new literary magazine and my heart leaped with joy. Upon perusal I discovered that it was not a literary magazine after all, but a "periodical in which [Algonquin] authors introduce their new work in their own words." My initial response upon reading this was to be disappointed; after all, I already get too many e-mails and ads from everybody and their brother trying to sell me something. This marketing overload has made me cynical and wary of every sales pitch, even the ones from the publishers I like! As I read that first page of The Algonquin Reader my jaded cynicism reared its ugly head and whispered we aren't gullible enough to get trapped by this clever bit of marketing.

The Busy Parent’s Guide to Finding More Time to Read

The end of the year is very hard for me as a reader: My calendar suddenly gets full, I’m trying to finish up projects I’ve had going for too many months, there’s shopping to do, etc. As if all this wasn’t bad enough, this is the time of year when everyone publishes their “Best Books of the Year” lists. The Millions’ Year in Reading 2011 has been particularly devastating to my TBR list this year, not to mention to my self-confidence as a reader. How did I miss all these great books? What have I been doing with all that time I could have spent reading?

I know I’m not the only one feeling this way, and it’s time to take some action. Let’s take back the book! Who’s with me?! 

I have to warn you that it won’t be easy. I know this sounds antithetical, but making time to read requires some sacrifice. You’re going to have to be disciplined. You’re going to have to enlist the help of your family. But most of all, you’re going to have to give yourself permission.  Here we go...

Contemplating the Western Canon: What's Wrong, What's Right, And Why We Should Care

I am currently reading a non-fiction book about classic literature “from Homer to Faulkner;” and in the introduction to the book the author states that she will be addressing Western literature as we traditionally know it, without attempting to redress imbalances or redefine the canon.  This statement got me thinking about “the Western canon”: What is it? What does it include? And what is its relevance and meaning in our culture and academic institutions?

The Sliding Mind (and a bit about what's in the mail...)

The Sliding Mind

Van Gogh's "Woman Sitting on a Basket with Head in Hands"

Last week was a very frustrating and frightening week for me because I temporarily lost the ability to write. Any writer will know that writing is not only something we do to pay the bills or entertain our friends, it's what we do to stay sane--or happy, or fulfilled, or whatever label we want to give it. So most of us write every day... But last week I couldn't write.

That looks so innocuous sitting there at the end of a paragraph. That last sentence should actually be accompanied by foreboding music: "Last week I couldn't write." Dun dun dun!

It wasn't writer's block (as far as I know). I didn't feel like I was banging up against a brick wall. Rather, last week, every time I tried to sit down at my computer to write for business, or with my yellow notepad and pencil to write for pleasure, my mind simply veered off ever so slightly to the side. Trying to write was very much like trying to catch a fish from a river with oily bare hands. I would sit down with a focus in mind and that focus would slip and slide just out of reach while I tried (with more and more fear and desperation) to catch it and make it stick. By the end of the week my mental health was shot. I was hovering somewhere between depression and insanity, trying mightily to look to the outside world like everything was normal.

The Guest Room Bookshelf

Every home should have a guest room bookshelf. Every hotel, every time-share, every cabin in the woods; all should have a guest room bookshelf. Every one of these places should have a guest room bookshelf not only because reading is important and one should always have a book within arm's reach, but because reading is one of the first things we want to do when we have leisure time. Now, I don't have a guest room. I don't have enough rooms (or enough guests) to devote one whole room specifically to that occasional purpose. Any guests of mine, I'm sorry to say, have to sleep in the kids' room or in the office (I promise I'll tidy up and put out clean sheets and towels!)--but I DO have a guest room bookshelf!

The idea came from Michael Dirda's book entitled Book by Book, Notes on Reading and Life. (Great book, review to come later.) Dirda points out (in chapter 3, "Work and Leisure") that any true reader will take books with her when she goes on vacation, but occasionally a traveler will find herself without a book to read, what then? According to Dirda, "in a properly appointed world you would simply borrow from a well-stocked shelf of guest-room books." Well, far be it for me to deny any of my guests a "properly appointed" travel experience. As soon as I read this I set about creating my own guest room bookshelf.

Dirda's guidelines for a proper guest room library are that it "avoid all the normal requirements of a 'good read.' Nothing too demanding or white-knuckled suspenseful. Ideally, items should be familiar, cozy, browsable, above all soothing..." A guest room library should contain one book from each of the major categories (listed below) and "all guest rooms are presumed to start with the Bible, Shakespeare, and at least one novel by Jane Austen." In his book Dirda then goes on to list his top 3 choices in each reading category, but this is my blog and you're going to have to be satisfied with my choices. If you want to read Dirda's choices (and they're very good, I highly recommend you do) you can buy his book.

Here are the books on my guest room bookshelf (as pictured above) from left to right:

1. The Yale Shakespeare (for the Shakespeare category)
2. The Stories of Hans Christian Anderson (Children's Classics category)
3. The Pre-History of The Far Side (Humor)
4. The DaVinci Code (Mystery category. This is, I admit, the only mystery book in my house)
5. 50 Great Short Stories (My own addition, there was no short story category)
6. Bartlett's Poems for Occasions (Poetry)
7. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar (for the "deep--but not too deep--thoughts" category)
8. The Hobbit (Fantasy)
9. Treasure Island (Children's Classics)
10. The Book of Great Books (Reference)
11. In Our Own Words, Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century (another Reference choice)
12. Pride and Prejudice (the Jane Austen contribution)
13. Dracula (Horror)
14. Everyman's Library Pocket Collection of Love Letters (Journals and Diaries)
15. Robot Visions (Science Fiction)
16. The Book That Changed My Life (Odds and Ends--and because I love this book)

The only category of Dirda's that is not represented on my bookshelf is the Biography category. Stephen King's On Writing is my choice for that category, which is currently lent out. I also have chosen, for my own reasons, not to include the Bible on my guest room bookshelf. (I can hear the cries of "heathen!")
Whether or not you have the room (or desire) for a guest room bookshelf, this was great fun as an exercise! I thoroughly enjoyed spending an afternoon going through my personal library, considering which would be the perfect book (or books) in each category. In many cases you're not choosing "the best of the best", and you're not even necessarily choosing your own favorites, you're choosing with an eye to what might inspire a visiting reader to settle in and get lost in a new adventure. Perhaps (and I may be reaching here) even inspire that visiting reader to discover a new author or genre. And I must admit, that challenge, that inspiration, is one of the things I love best.
So... if I don't keep my guest room bookshelf in an actual guest room, you may be wondering where I do keep it? In the hallway, of course! Between the two rooms that do serve as guest rooms when friends or family come to visit. And if its presence in the much-traveled hallway inspires my kids, their friends, or any dinner guests to pause and peruse--all the better!
What would your guest room bookshelf contain? Please comment and share your own choices!
Happy Reading!

New York Times Lists Their "10 Best Books of 2008"

Christmas has arrived early! The New York Times as just released their list of the 10 best books of 2008. Apparently I am shamefully behind in my contemporary reading, because I've only read one of them: Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. I can't feel too bad though, because it means that when I finish the book I'm currently reading (Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms for my lit. class) I'll have 9 more pre-screened, highly recommended books to sink my teeth into. There is no greater joy.

Happy Reading!

May I Introduce You...? The 5 Best Book Introductions Ever

I must admit that I rarely read the introductions to books, especially if it's a book I'm reading for the first time. Introductions tend to give away too much about the story, or they provide a level of history or criticism that is simply unhelpful for first-timers. In fact, when the students in my Rediscovering the Classics classes ask about introductions I almost always tell them to skip it, and come back to it after they have finished the book, and see if it catches their interest at that point.



There are, however, a couple of books that have exceedingly good introductory material, which should not be missed under any circumstances. I am listing them below, in no particular order.

1. The introduction by Susan Shillinglaw to Cannery Row , found in the Penguin Classics edition. Susan Shillinglaw is the most engaging and interesting Steinbeck scholar I've found. She has also written a short biography of Steinbeck which is well worth reading.
2. The introduction to The Magician's Book, A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller. I loved the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis when I was a kid, and when I read them as a non-Christian teen and found all the Christian symbolism I felt almost as if I was betraying my beliefs to continue loving them. Laura Miller's introduction took me right back to that time, to the emotions and angst surrounding it.
3. The preface (sorry, this is the only one that isn't an introduction, but it's still there in the front, let's let it go for argument's sake, shall we?) to The Story of Scotland by Nigel Tranter. I think this one can be summed up with the following sentences, "Let there be no mistake about this--I am not setting out to write a history book... all too often historybooks are dull, and that in my eyes is a crime. How anyone can make history dull and boring is beyond my conception." Amen, brother!
4. The introduction by A.S. Byatt to Possession, by A.S. Byatt. Byatt's prose is lovely, so lovely that I can lose myself in her introduction as easily as I lose myself in her novel. The novel was so engrossing I actually had to put it down and take deep breaths at times while reading it. Her introduction describes the conception of the book, and is a delightful peek into the inner workings of a brilliant writer.
5. The introduction to ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett. I admire these two men very much, and am a subscriber to the ProBlogger blog, but to be honest, I had no intention of buying the book. It was the way the introduction immediately grabbed my attention that changed my mind. It's a revelation, not in the light bulb above the head way, but in that it reveals the history and humanity of these people who have an almost rock-star status in the blogging world. It was so personal that it made me feel almost as if I was sitting down next to them, becoming friends.

If there is a book that I've missed, with an introduction that knocked your socks off, please comment and share!

Twits, Tweets, and Opening Lines

(Picture courtesy of NicksFlickPicks.)

"The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years--if it ever did end--began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain." 1

"Howard Roark laughed. He stood naked at the edge of a cliff." 2

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." 3

And of course, quite possibly the best opening lines ever, "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta." 4

I don't know about you, but I love opening lines. They can tell you so much about a book right off the bat. You know that Gunter Grass, for example, isn't going to be an easy bathtub read when The Tin Drum begins with "Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peep-hole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me." Wow! (Hmmm, I had forgotten how good that book is. I'm going to have to sit down and read that again as soon as this post is finished...)

Most people standing in a bookstore will choose a book based on the cover, or the blurb on the back, or perhaps the reviews. All of those are good things to know before committing to a book, but me, I like to read the opening line.

Which is why I am absolutely delighted to have found "TwitterLit", a member of the Twitter community who, as her profile says, is "Twittering the first lines of books so you don't have to." I'm not sure how many of you readers out there are on Twitter, but if you are I HIGHLY recommend following @TwitterLit. Every day she tweets the first line of a new book, and includes a link to the book on Amazon.com. Some of the first lines I've been intrigued by so far are:

"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad" http://snipr.com/5sdsd

"The day the stock market falls out of bed and breaks its back is the worst day of your life" http://snipr.com/552wt

"I started puberty very late" http://snipr.com/5n71k

"It is its own religion, this love" http://snipr.com/5gnn8

It's a potential new addiction delivered directly to you every day! I'm only upset that I didn't think of it myself! Now if you'll excuse me, I have the first line of a book calling my name...

(If you are not familiar with it, Twitter is a micro-blogging application somewhat like Facebook, but with only the status updates. The gist of it is this, if you join Twitter (become a Twit?) you have 140 characters in which to say something, absolutely no more. You may "tweet" as often as you like, and include links to interesting web finds or photos. I started "tweeting" about 3 or 4 months ago, and I've met some interesting people, but I'm still not sure if it's the application for me. If you decide to give it a try, or are already on Twitter, let me know. My profile is @ghostblogger.)

1 It by Stephen King

2 The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

3 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

4 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

What Are You Reading?

This is one of my favorite questions to ask of friends--or even strangers! With friends I ask unapologetically as I rifle through their shelves or peer into books left lying around on counter/tabletops. Strangers will inevitably get the question when my infamous inability for small talk rears its ugly head; "Hi, nice to meet you. Beautiful weather we're having. So... what do you like to read?" Or even worse, I stop and crane my head to rudely stare at the covers of books I see people reading in parks or while waiting in lines.

I can't help it. I love to know what's out there: What's good, what people are reading, what I'm missing, and what I absolutely shouldn't miss. So here is a list of what I'm reading right now (I always have more than one book going at a time, there's too much good stuff out there to limit it to one), and I hope you'll comment to let me know what you're reading. And please tell me what you think of it as well. The recommendations of friends is the best way to find great new reads!

• Cannery Row- My very favorite Steinbeck. This is the November read for my literature class, so you can expect some commentary or biographical trivia about this book and its author in future posts.
• 3 Minutes or Less, Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers- Presented by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. A collection of humorous, heartwarming, inspiring or confessional short speeches from writers presenting at the annual gala at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
• The World Before Her- by Deborah Weisgall. A fictional account of a year George Eliot spent in Venice on her honeymoon with a man not quite her soul mate, intermingled with the account of a modern woman in Venice with her husband to celebrate their 10 year marriage which has become stale over time. Their parallel stories are told in alternating chapters as they each search for love and identity in the city rich with beauty and history.
• Living With Books- By Alan Powers. I am LOVING this book! Filled with beautiful photos of homes in which people make books an intimate part of their lives and decor. Rather than making room for books in your home this book tells (and shows) you how to beautifully and tastefully build your home around your books. This can be a dangerous book, as I guarantee it will make you want to completely re-organize/ -decorate your house and incorporate the ideas you find in here. I've already taken the cabinet doors off my linen cabinet to make an eccentric but charming new book-nook.

And I can't finish this post without mentioning that I just finished reading Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Bill Bryson's Shakespeare, the World as Stage. Both are extremely worthwhile reads.
Happy Reading!


(Girl with book photo at the top of this post courtesy of Urban Photo)
If you are reading this on Facebook you can click here to go to the original post on my blog, Banquet of Books

Weathered Reflections on Human Nature

We've had a little bit of rain in Southern California this weekend, and in a state where there is precious little dew on the ground in the morning, let alone out-and-out rain, this is news in and of itself. Being a person whose moods are susceptible to changes in the weather, I have been walking around with a spring in my step all weekend. I suppose you could say that the presence of clouds in the sky have lifted the clouds in my soul.

(I know what you're thinking--"poor little weather-rich girl with all her pretty sunshine"--but a monotony of sunshine can be just as oppressive as a monotony of rain.)

The rain also inspired me to find a short story to which I was first introduced in elementary school, and which has remained linked in my mind to the rain ever since. The story is Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day." It is a very short read, and certainly not one of Bradbury's best works, but it is piercingly painful. I have always cried for Margot, the wan little girl who waits five years for a two hour glimpse of the sun, only to be locked away from it by her ignorant classmates.

I've spent the morning wondering why it is that this tiny, insignificant story has stuck with me for decades. I think part of it is the story's distilled quality; the shortness of length makes the strength of emotion all the more potent. The other part of it is that I think all of us can relate to Margot's longing, her willingness to wait five years and look with hopeful eyes into a never ending rain, hoping for a glimpse of the sun, afraid to give in to the joy of believing it will actually appear, but unable to live without that very hope.

I don't know if that hope is good or bad. Is it right to be satisfied with feeling the warmth of the sun only every seven years? Is it apathy or endurance that keeps the residents of Venus from fleeing the oppressive rains?

W.W.T.D.? (What Would Tolkien Do?)

A good book will draw you in and hold your attention regardless of your knowledge (or lack thereof) of the political history surrounding the story. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien is a good example of this. Very few people love Middle-Earth enough to get through the textbook-like Silmarillion, and yet The Lord of the Rings is an almost universally appealing saga. This is because at its core The Lord of the Rings is about the characters—about Frodo and Sam and Strider—and their adventures right now, not about the dates and history that brought them to the Prancing Pony on that dark and stormy night. Sure all of those facts and figures have a bearing on our heroes, but it’s enough for Tolkien to allude to that history. What we as readers are really interested in is the thoughts and actions of our heroes in the here and now.

The same is true for just about any good adventure tale or romantic ballad out there. If the tale is told well enough, we can trust that the narrator is giving us the history we need to appreciate the story.

However . . .

As anyone who has read The Silmarillion will tell you, appreciation and immersion are two very different things, and Tolkien knew it. That’s why he wrote an entire history textbook for his fantasy world. Your enjoyment and experience of the story is expanded and enriched if you take the time to learn the history of your characters and their culture, to really immerse yourself in their world and understand it as they understand it; as the author understands it.

I am currently re-reading one of my favorite contemporary books, Kartography, for the third time. The author, Kamila Shamsie, grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, in the 1970s and 1980s, and this is where and when her story is set. The first time I read the book I was so blown away by the beautiful language and compelling story that it barely registered when I came upon reference to Pakistani history that I didn’t understand. All I wanted to do was devour the story in the book, and Ms. Shamsie gave me all the information I needed to fall in love with Kartography without knowing the history of Pakistan.

The second time I read the book, I couldn’t let myself off so easily. I was curious about the war the characters kept referring to, and why there was tension between the Punjabi and Bengali characters. I picked up on some new subtleties, and was not so quick to skim over the unfamiliar references. I looked up the words I didn’t know, such as muhajir (immigrant) and Ami (Mother). But still I must admit that I didn’t probe too deeply into the history of the story or the region.

This time, however, in my third reading of this excellent novel, I can’t seem to get enough of the history of these characters that I have come to know as well as I know my own children. My atlas is permanently open on my living room floor as I look up cities and roads that figure in the story. I have Wikipedia’s explanation of the Bangladesh Liberation War bookmarked in my internet browser, as well as the history of the British colonization of India. And I must admit, I now appreciate the book on a whole new level. My understanding of the main characters has much more depth, and even peripheral characters have taken on an importance I would never have seen in my first or second readings. My historical research increases not only my appreciation of the book itself, but also my appreciation of the author’s storytelling abilities. As much as I loved the book before, I understood only a fraction of the thought and subtlety that must have gone into the creation of Kartography.

If you’ve made it this far down in your reading of this blog post, I thank you. I won’t keep you much longer. What I’m trying to say with this lengthy diatribe is that the great books—the ones we love, that get a hold of our hearts and won’t let go—deserve to be read more than once; sometimes three or four times. Not only that, but they deserve a closer look. Do a little research into the setting, the time period. Find out as much as you can about the author, and the circumstances under which she was writing her novel. All of these things will enrich your reading experience ten-fold. It will bring you a greater understanding of literature, of writing, of human nature—and even of yourself.

Why Do YOU Read?

Barnes & Noble recently came out with a short video called Why I Read, in which they record interviews with L.A. readers and edit the responses together into a nice little YouTube style production.

I love this idea of mixing medias. But I love even more the idea of going out and asking people about books and reading. Good lord, I do this as often as I can, and sometimes feel a little like an oddity when I do. But the fact is that I'm always wondering what people are reading. I love asking my friends what they're reading, that question is my favorite conversation starter at parties, and whenever I see someone reading in a park or at a bus stop I have to slow down and try to catch a glimpse of the title. On a recent trip to Boston I nearly gave myself whiplash walking through the Public Gardens. (Boston is a city of readers, and the Gardens were full of people with books.) I applaud Barnes & Noble for taking literary questions out into the public space, making books less of an oddity and more mainstream.

As for the question itself, "why do you read?", I'm not sure that would be such an easy question for me to answer. The dramatic answer is that I read because I must. I can't remember a time when I didn't read, and can't imagine life without it. The more tame answer is that reading enriches my life and educates me. The person I am today is an amalgam of all the characters I have read over the years, incorporating the traits I found admirable and being wary of the traits I found distasteful.

(The best answer to this question, given by Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society, and more recently by my friend Mark Merenda, is "we read to woo women!")

So now I ask, why do YOU read?

Currently Reading

"The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry" and Harold Bloom's "The Best Poems of the English Language" for my summer poetry group;

"American Gods" by Neil Gamon, not sure what to think of this yet, the first paragraph turned me off, seemed to be a description of a Vin Diesel character, but I was urged to continue and it's getting better;

"The Paris Review Interviews, volume 1", love it, love it, LOVE IT! Interviews with Parker, Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Vonnegut, and more. These are intelligent, in-depth interviews, full of quirks and insights. Highly recommended!!;

"Clear Blogging" by Bob Walsh, for business purposes, of course. Wonderfully informative.

Just finished

"Red Sox Rule" by Michael Holley, excellent read! Wonderful insights on Boston, the game of baseball, and Red Sox manager Terry Francona;

Also finished "Love Poems" by Pablo Neruda, his poetry is so touching and image-rich, it's impossible not to be drawn in;

Would have finished "The Man Who Loved Jane Austen", but it just couldn't grab me.