Books

Mentions in some other book I'm currently reading, reading an interesting review in a newspaper, recommended to me by someone, sheer luck.

Sheer luck? I like to roam used book stores, flee markets, yard sales to find a good deal on a book or two (I don't buy piles of them, and will consider myself very lucky if I find 1 or 2 books I want to buy). I seldom go looking for a specific author or title and make myself available for unexpected encounters ;)

Right now, I'm reading Jules Laforgue, a French 19th century poet for that reason. I stumbled upon his complete work in a yard sale here in Paris, hidden in a pile of trash there was this 1913 pale yellow cover, from a back then well known publishers whose work I know and respect, from an author whose name was vaguely familiar to me. I flipped a few pages and was deeply impressed by his verses. Purchased it, put it aside and started reading it a few days ago. I'm so lucky I purchased it! I like his poetry.

For non-fiction. I often follow the sources. I will find myself an introductory work on whatever topic I'm interested in, or maybe some book that is considered 'classical' work, and from there I'll follow their own sources. Since I read a lot of classical works to begin with, this means than I'm reading even more of those and (very) old books.

The thing that is helping me a lot in not needing a reading list, and to never wonder what I'll be reading next, is I always have a pen and paper available while I'm reading and I use them.

I jot down whatever quotation/references/ideas/impressions. And then I carefully store/index those notes with the many pothers I have accumulated along the years. Doing so, I know can always refer back to any notes from any book I've ever read, even years later, to quickly find whatever passage I'm looking for, including references to other books I might be interested in. I takes such notes with every single book I read essays, fictions, poetry (yep, I've already started taking notes on that Jules Laforgue poetry book I'm reading, and there are quite a few already). Even if on some book I end up not taking any note, I still have a card referencing the book and seeing it empty helps me remember I did not find much stuff in it (which in turns may help me decide I might not wish as much to read more from that specific author).

*This is a fantastic way of creating non-fiction reading lists, but I can’t imagine doing this with fiction–I’m just not that much of a literary masochist.

When you're not a scholar reading lists,should not be used to inflict yourself any pain (one is not a student in that class) but as an amazing collection of hints to potentially great reads.

Borrow any book from said list and give it a go. Not just a few minutes, give it a real chance: check the ToC, read the Intro/Preface and read a couple chapters as some books/authors maybe harder to read and to get into than others but still more than worth the effort. If you realize it really doesn't click with you, that's no big deal: close the book and bring it back to the library, pick another one from that same list. No harm done and no money wasted. Do you realize it's an interesting read or that you really enjoy it? Great! You may even decide you like it enough to be wanting to own a copy of that book, or not you will still have read it ;)

That 's how I started reading Milton's poetry and, many, many years ago, Emily Dickinson's. Two of those poets that never left me since I discovered their work.

My only suggestion in regards to reading lists, depending the field they claim to cover, is that one may want to show some caution in regards to the contemporary lists as too often they can be very... self-censored in order to avoid any polemic. It's a sad sign of the sad intellectual times we're living in, but it is still a reality. Older reading lists, say from before the 80s/very early 90s, will often be richer and much more stimulating and challenging intellectually. More demanding, too. Pre-WWII lists even more so.