An Attempt at Future Significance
As some of my readers may be aware I have a somewhat surprising ‘inferiority complex’ where my reading is concerned. OK, it might be a bit on the strong side (being actually quite proud of my reading achievements) but I am moderately haunted by the whisper of an idea that my reading just isn’t ‘up to snuff’. Maybe at some point in my long lost youth I was told that I was ignorant, ill-informed or some such because I hadn’t read a particular obscure book? Who knows? But I do have a nagging feeling that, although the quantity of the books I read is good – and at over twenty times the national average I’d hope so – but that the quality falls short. Maybe it’s because I haven’t (yet) read a great many of the classics that come up in conversation. I mean, until a few months ago I’d never read Dickens! I’m yet to read Woolf or Hemingway or Tolstoy or Steinbeck. Classically I’m barely literate (working on that) and in other ways I’m ignorant of many of the books that have changed the course of human affairs. I call these books ‘Significant’ and have, lately, been trying to increase my knowledge of them. My aim is to read at least three significant books every year. So far I think I’m doing OK despite the fact that I’m starting from a very low level and from a deep ignorance of what actual books I should be reading to address my perceived inadequacy. The list as it appears presently is this (with the latest additions in bold):
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The War of the Flea – A Study of Guerrilla Warfare Theory & Practice by Robert Taber
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton
Seize the Time – The Story of The Black Panter Party and Huey P Newton by Bobby Searle
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
The Autobiography of Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
Achtung Panzer! – The Development of Tank Warfare by Heinz Guderian
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
About Looking by John Berger
A Vindication of The Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
War on Wheels – The Evolution of an Idea by C R Kutz
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Design as Art by Bruno Munari
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz
The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Rebel by Albert Camus
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
A Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality among Men by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara
All in all that’s not a bad list. It’s not a great list but it’s not bad. There’s quite a few obviously significant books that have yet to make it on there and I’ll see about addressing that as soon as I can. I do have one significant book in my review pile and another two coming soon so I’ll definitely make my minimum again this year. I might even get around to reading some classical philosophy from cover to cover. It’s high time I did. I might, just might, sneak in come classic political texts – from the Left naturally…..
6 comments:
In my opinion you should read what you want to read. I love the Classics but I also love a lot of other kinds of books. With that, the more Classics that I read I find that the more I want to read them. I begin to find connections and common themes that get more and more interesting.
Either way, happy reading!
i know the feeling; i finally decided that since people who have read everything seem to spend their time disagreeing and arguing with each other, there wasn't much point in trying to copy them since i don't like acrimony anyway; so i just read what i want to... now that i've got my own blog, i try to include some things that i think others might appreciate, but i'm not glued to that... quite interesting list you have there... oh, "O", a blogger up near the Scottish border just posted on Meditations; she's pretty interesting and blogs mostly on the classics...
O's log is "On Bookes"
You should not feel inferior about your reading, when you read as much as you do. I think it's a good idea to expand your horizons and read things outside your comfort zone, but I don't think you should do so just because someone made you feel insecure. Some people are book snobs, others like to posture and feel better than you because they've read things you haven't. Don't get pulled into their fiction. Read what you love. Read what makes you curious, uncomfortable, happy, outraged, read what takes you places you've never been, or could scarcely have imagined. Read because you love it. I've only read a couple on this list and that was ages ago. Most of the classics, while enjoyable, did not change my life, and I never think about them all these decades later. There are just a few books that still haunt me all these decades later, or cross my mind when I see parallels in life today. Here are books/stories that still resonate for me: Ralph Ellison's _Invisible Man_, John Knowles' _A Separate Peace_, Chinua Achebe's _Things Fall Apart_, and Albert Camu's _The Stranger_. Good luck with your reading list. I always enjoy your reviews.
@ Brian: I do read what I want to read - I hate being forced into reading something even if it's just to make someone else feel good and didn't do Eng Lit in school because of that. But something I have a nagging feeling that my entertaining read isn't 'quality' enough. I know its wrong (Mostly) but the feeling is still there. I did feel, years ago, that I must read the classics to become more 'educated'. I tried and found them unreadable. Then I discovered Sherlock Holmes and then Raymond Chandler, HG Wells and Jules Verne. Once I discovered Austen I was hooked on classics for life!
@ Mudpuddle: I mostly read whatever I fancy but I do like pushing at the edges from time to time. I'm always up for something new and different. Plenty of that coming up. Thanks for the Blog recommendation. I'll heck it out.
@ VV: I'm probably a lot more adventurous, reading wise, today than I ever have been. In my callow youth I read SF and military history almost exclusively. Now my reading hardly knows any bounds. I even have *sport* books on my Amazon Wish List! People @ work sometimes ask my what I'm reading now (usually with either raised eyebrows or rolling of eyes) and have even been amazed at my leaps into areas (like Economics) that I'd previously known nothing about. I am insanely curious about things and doubt if I will ever run out of new areas to explore! 'Invisible Man' is coming (fairly) soon. I'm looking forward to it.
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