So Many Books, So Little Time
The reader's lament. And it's not going to get any better. If all book production stopped this minute, we would still have more books than any one person could read in a lifetime. Even prodigious and rapid readers couldn't master all the languages required to take in the literature available in print today. The problem then becomes one of deciding how one should spend one's reading time. How does one choose the best of the best to read?
To start, the best of the best is a necessarily subjective categorization. Best how? Best written? Most provocative? Best to me? And even, to some extent, the question of best written does not stand up well to scrutiny. Is James Joyce better written than Saul Bellow? By what criteria? Is Virginia Woolf better written than Eudora Welty? We have a general view of the morphoscape of literature--we know that Shakespeare occupies something near the pinnacle and that various other luminaries are arrayed on their own peaks. But where does one place Kurt Vonnegut? David Markson? William Burroughs?
To some extent what we must select is a matter of individual taste. But are there "classics" that transcend mere taste and become works "required" of everyone? If so, what does this list of classics look like? Some call it the Western Canon. Harold Bloom made an attempt at codifying such a list some years back, and even the "short list" is far too long for even the most serious reader who has anything else to do in life other than read. If your occupation is not "professional reader," then it would not be possible for you to make it through this list with any deep understanding of the great number of works on it.
So, we come back to the question--how do we choose what we read? Certainly by taste, for me it is often by mood--but are there objective criteria to be used in the evaluation of reading, and if so what are they? I know that one of mine is certainly a major constraint--whatever I read must be in one of the languages that I can read with some fluency--English, French, and to a far more crippled extent Latin. I can puzzle out some Spanish and Italian, but not enough to say that I've truly read anything. So, that's one, highly limited criteria of my reading. Fortunately, we have very capable people opening up worlds of literature in translation. Thanks to them I can read Naguib Mahfouz and Herta Muller.
How do YOU go about choosing something to read? What are your limiting criteria? Is enduring value a "selling-point" for you or is it more likely to be a barrier? Given our limited time, I would be most interested to know, if you would be willing to share.
To start, the best of the best is a necessarily subjective categorization. Best how? Best written? Most provocative? Best to me? And even, to some extent, the question of best written does not stand up well to scrutiny. Is James Joyce better written than Saul Bellow? By what criteria? Is Virginia Woolf better written than Eudora Welty? We have a general view of the morphoscape of literature--we know that Shakespeare occupies something near the pinnacle and that various other luminaries are arrayed on their own peaks. But where does one place Kurt Vonnegut? David Markson? William Burroughs?
To some extent what we must select is a matter of individual taste. But are there "classics" that transcend mere taste and become works "required" of everyone? If so, what does this list of classics look like? Some call it the Western Canon. Harold Bloom made an attempt at codifying such a list some years back, and even the "short list" is far too long for even the most serious reader who has anything else to do in life other than read. If your occupation is not "professional reader," then it would not be possible for you to make it through this list with any deep understanding of the great number of works on it.
So, we come back to the question--how do we choose what we read? Certainly by taste, for me it is often by mood--but are there objective criteria to be used in the evaluation of reading, and if so what are they? I know that one of mine is certainly a major constraint--whatever I read must be in one of the languages that I can read with some fluency--English, French, and to a far more crippled extent Latin. I can puzzle out some Spanish and Italian, but not enough to say that I've truly read anything. So, that's one, highly limited criteria of my reading. Fortunately, we have very capable people opening up worlds of literature in translation. Thanks to them I can read Naguib Mahfouz and Herta Muller.
How do YOU go about choosing something to read? What are your limiting criteria? Is enduring value a "selling-point" for you or is it more likely to be a barrier? Given our limited time, I would be most interested to know, if you would be willing to share.
Great topic! - with endless answers. The idea over what to spend your limited time reading is a recurring argument with a friend of mine who teaches at Hillsdale. For a long time he resisted reading Wendell Berry because he thought WB not worth the time, and next thing you know he's helping organize a conference on Berry's work (last year). I tend to be an omnivorous reader, and if I like an author, I'll check out all of his books and try to get to know him. Sometimes disappointed, but being unemployed, I have more time to waste. Since I spent my college years with the Great Books (so I do think there are books that everyone should read, even if not your taste), I spend more time now reading "B" list books looking for hidden gems - predominantly books that are recommended by others, a conversation of sorts. Am adding Uwem Akpan to my list. Still trying to define for myself why some books stand out as luminous (usually it's obvious why others are duds).
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the phrase "too many books, too little time" sums up my feelings of anxiety every time I look at my ever changing book stack. It is a symptom of a reader's mid-life crisis, perhaps? I admit that I spent years during which my book piles were the brain food equivalent of cotton candy. As a recovering junk book reader, I especially feel the need to make better choices. The content of my reading list is heavily influenced by the recommendations of others--friends, reviews, book groups, top xx lists, promotions, author interviews, jacket blurbs, and even (I will confess) the book covers. And then there's my mood, and how much time I know I'll have. Can I teach Algebra and devote the appropriate attention to the book at hand? In one way, the library's new ten book request limit has forced me to think a bit harder about what I'm ordering. I'm less likely to be tempted by the latest Dan Brown novel when that request will eat up one of the coveted ten request spots! Maybe it's the use of language, a mood invoked, or an idea that's stirred up months or years later... I always hope that a book will have some lasting value, something, so a big thumbs up to your question about enduring value. When I pick up non-fiction, I gravitate towards books that address food and its preparation, farming practices, plants, raising children, faith--all those topics that have some connection to the life I'm living. Great topic!
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