Last December I stumbled across a lovely article about Dan Pelzer, a man who had kept a list of the 3,599 books he’d read in his lifetime. That list is publicly available in two different formats (pdf) and his website, along with some great information about Dan’s life.
I bring this up because I realized that I’ve been keeping a similar book list since high school, and it’s actually pretty far along. No, I haven’t read 3,599 books yet, but I up to 816 odd books. I don’t post that number to boast (hell if I wanted to boast I’d go to my parent’s house and scour the shelves for all the books I can remember reading before high school - and from there I’d have to go to my old library and look for all the books I’ve read from *there*.) No, I bring it up because because 1) Dan’s life story is lovely and should be shared and 2) it raises interesting ideas about reading habits.
Scrolling Dan’s list for books you’ve read is kinda fun, there’s the obvious classics you would expect (ie Sherlock Holmes, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Charles Dickens) but you’ll also find books on a diverse range of subjects form Buddhist theology to the ethics of animal rights to contemporary history. He had his favorite genres of course, mysteries, thrillers and theology were pretty common genres, but he also didn’t seem to care about the perspectives of the books. Conservative, liberal, believing, atheist, Dan read them all. You can wonder why. For my part, I assume Dan had two reasons.
First, because he was curious about the world, and his library was the best place to learn. I presume he had his own perspectives on the world that guided his decisions after reading, but Dan still took in all the diverse perspectives on the world that he could lay his hands on. From any country, from any religion, from any political system, from any joke available.
Second, for the pure joy of it. Look at the list and try to understand the order that he chose books to read. Outside of stretches where he was working on a book series or was just on a mystery kick (I sympathize) Dan basically read everything he could get his hands on, nonfiction and fiction alike. I’m reminded of a video where Ray Bradbury addressed a class at Point Loma Nazarene University, encouraging them to read widely on any subject that interests them. He exhorts people to go to the library (or a movie theater for that matter) without prejudice and find anything that speaks to them. One line from Bradbury in particular stands out, “I want your loves to be multiple! I don’t want you to be a snob about anything!” (Check out 15:00 though 18:25 in the video.)
I feel like Dan embodies the spirit of Bradbury’s suggestions, and I can only hope that’s why I read. I look back over the list of books I read, and I think most of my reading during college years were assignments for various literature classes. In the years after that, I can see a development in my reading, going from books I knew to similar books, to related genre books. That’s mostly how I bought books or found them at the library.
My family has a tradition of giving bookstore gift cards out for Christmas, and this past January I went into a HPB with my card. I had some good finds, all by authors I didn’t know or who were only vaguely familiar. Most of the time I made these selections because the cover was striking and the back cover or inside slips sounded interesting. Three of them were translations from modern French, Italian and Japanese authors. They join a huge TBR pile that I can’t wait to sink into. I wonder if Dan would’ve been interested in them.
Anyways, last week I mentioned I had read Dante’s Inferno and A Clockwork Orange again. I was going to write about them, but I really couldn’t think of anything interesting enough for a blog post. So, brief thoughts:
Dante’s Inferno (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation.) My sister recommended Longfellow’s translations as it was fairly similar to the Esolen translation she and I had read before, but in her opinion the poetry scanned better. I’m not in any place to comment on that, but I did enjoy this version. To be honest, as profound and beautifully written as Purgatorio and Paradiso are, I’m not surprised most people skip them. Inferno is simply more fun that the other two, and not just for the amount of self-aggrandizement that Dante indulged in.
A Clockwork Orange. Probably best known for Kubrick’s 1974 adaptation which has more or less shaped the popular understanding of the book. I mean, really, what can I say? Yes, the book still tackles issues of free will, government overreach, juvenile delinquency, systemic failures, communication breakdown between generations, sex and Beethoven, but to be honest I didn’t find the book as profound as when I first read it. My first experience reading the book left me horrified at the violence and sexual assault that the protagonist Alex perpetrates, but what struck me more with this read through was the language.
Final Word: both good to reread, but I’m eager for something new.
So what I have I been reading?
This week I’ve been reading Brandon Sanderson’s massive epic Oathbringer, book three of his Stormlight Archives. I don’t know if I’ll write about that book or just write a general Sanderson appreciation post. We’ll see.
For my bookclub I read Something Close to Nothing by Tom Pyun, a story about a couple that breaks up right as their surrogate daughter is going to be born. I don’t really know what to say about this one just yet other than it made me laugh and cry alternatively.
If It Bleeds, a collection of Stephen King’s novellas that was generally pretty good.
What Am I reading Next?
Skeletons in the Closet by Jean-Patrick Manchette, a French mystery (thanks New York Review of Books)
Cierce by Madeline Miller