What Do I Read Next?

Once is a reminder, twice is synchronicity, three times confirms.  I have been reminded recently of the necessity to distinguish want from need.  Then I picked up a small book by Marietta McCarty titled How Philosophy Can Save Your Life.  The first chapter is dedicated to the simple life to the philosohy of Epicurus (amongst others) and to the idea of prudently distinguishing between what we want and what we truly need.  And finally I went today to see with wife and son, The Princess and the Frog. Besides being a delightful, colorful, musical film, it also imparted an essential message--go after what you need, not what you want.  Add to this that I was watching Up! again and something that had slipped by me the first time struck me upside the head.  In order to get his house to fly at a crucial point in the film, the old man needs to discard everything within--everything that is unnecessary to do what is necessary.  Now, I tend to be somewhat slow on the uptake, but this many things converging on this one point kind of made me think about what is necessary (needed) and what is desired (wanted).

I have spent a lifetime in reading without a plan.  I doubt seriously whether now is the time I adopt some systematic approach to reading.  But in reflecting on need and want, I did ask myself a key question--why am I reading?  Other than for enjoyment and filling up time--what is my purpose in reading?  How can I decide what to read next if I don't know what I'm reading toward?  Is there a goal--a reason for reading that can guide what is read?

I know that one purpose is to read the best that has been written.  But why do I want to do that?  What ultimately do I hope to gain from reading the best that has been written?  And how do I recognize it?  How do I know the best when I bump up against it?  And what exactly constitutes "the best?"  Reams of lists, thousands of opinions, erudite commentary and thought that goes into the review of each book, and yet I am no closer to knowing what is really the best.  And what is worse, I don't really know why I'm looking for this elusive best--what is it I hope to achieve by reading it?  If I read the best and am not changed by it, has the reading any purpose? 

Obviously, I have just barely come to terms with the questions, so I certainly can't offer any answers or advice on what to do about it.  But as we compile our lists of things to read, perhaps some thought should be directed to WHY we are reading and what end we hope to accomplish in our steady consumption of the best of literature. In thinking about purpose, undoubtedly we will be better able to come to terms with the what of reading.