Reading the First and Ultimate Pleasure

We persevere, because reading still brings information, stimulation, and solace. It is the first and the ultimate pleasure. Willard Spiegelman.

What can I say, but Yes.

I have spent close on 60 years as a reader and I will read until I die. Reading is truly the first and ultimate pleasure of my life.

Samuel Johnson on the Common Reader

“… I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted by literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be generally decided all claim to poetical honours.”—Dr. Johnson , Life of Gray .

Long live the common reader. This is the quote from which Virginia Woolf took the title of her books, The Common Reader1 and The Common Reader2.

I am reading these books again and I'm refreshed with Woolf's style. No academic jargon or philosophical high flying. Just readable essays that we "commoners" can appreciate.

Ciao

DK

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African Writers Bypass World Literature Centres

The flow of global capital is not to be ignored, but equally interesting are the grass-roots networks linking African writers to other regional writers—in South Asia, say, or Latin America—without necessarily going through metropolitan centers such as London, Paris, or New York. This is not the centralized and hierarchical “world republic of letters” that Pascale Casanova equates with world literature. It is a very different paradigm. And those who are spearheading this kind of research are not tenured professors but unemployed graduate students, the hundreds of people who applied for the job we advertised. - Wai Chee Dimock

This quote is from a Chronicle of Higher Education article titled A Literary Scramble for Africa.

This is great news. A grass root movement that is not driven by the West. African, Caribbean, South American and Asian countries have their own vibrant literary networks that are effective for them. In the wired world London, Paris and New York have less sway - and that is an excellent thing. The West has a tendency to see other non Western cultures as back waters populated by non persons(to paraphrase Chomsky). But the "non Persons" don't care any longer what the West thinks and this is excellent for literature.

Bring on the Revolution.

DK

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Virginia Woolf on Fiction

“Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

I love this quote by Virginia Woolf. Fiction is indeed like a spiders web and the anchoring to reality has degrees of attachment. Woolf has a range of attachment in her fictional works. The most loosely connected would have to be Orlando where the main character changes sex in the course of the story. It is in fact impossible to write fiction that is totally unattached to life, as we would have no way of appreciating it. The analogy to me is like a sail that has a great degree of movement but always has strong attachment points to stop it blowing away.

DK

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C.S. Lewis on Books and Tea

C.S. Lewis is a man after my own heart. I loved the quote below that I recently came across:

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis

I fully agree with his sentiments. It is lovely to sit back with a large cup of tea and a lengthy book and just lose yourself in your reading. Currently I am reading The Forest by Ernest Rutherfurd which surely meets the requirement. A great book and it has lasted me through many cuppas so far.

Fond Regards to the memory of C.S. Lewis.

DK

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Glimpsing into the innermost thoughts of Writers

The letters from writers are especially interesting, as they give us a glimpse into their innermost thoughts and feelings in a way their professional work might not. - Jason Diamond

Diamond brings up an important point here. As readers of this blog know I am a great fan of the writings of Virginia Woolf. Her writings, were for the time new, exciting and wide reaching in their subject matter. Her letters shed light on why she wrote as she did and exposes how she was feeling, and what was happening in her life, while the book in question was being written. This insight, which we don't normally see for most books we read, gives us more than a glimpse into the way that Virginia Woolf's mind worked.

For this reason I love to read collections of literary letters. I am currently plowing my way through Volume 1 of the Letters of Robert Frost.

Happy Reading

DK

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Independent Book Stores - Be Proactive or die

“And so many of the indies have partnered with Google to sell ebooks right from their own websites. These stores are embracing the “new technology” instead of hiding from it, because they realize it’s about the story, not the ink on paper. If you want ebooks, your local indie can sell you ebooks. If your local independent is hanging up posters saying that ebooks will kill everything, you should tag that bookstore as a favorite in your GPS doohickey. You’ll get great deals, because that store will have a going-out-of-business sale soon. Yes, even though you try to save it with a letter-writing campaign.”
― Steve Weddle

I love independent book stores but I fear for their survival if they don't embrace the tsunami like move to eBooks.

The independents got hit by the big chains and now we are seeing the chains going under (anyone remember Borders?).

The future lies in the independents becoming the coffee houses where readers of all ilks gather to discuss what they have read. Content is king, the medium matters less. Readers like to discuss what they have read. If you doubt it, just look at the number of book groups that abound.

So get proactive readers and help keep the indies alive but not by fighting the demise of the physical book.

DK

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Aladdin's eReader

Consider the millions who are buying those modern Aladdin’s lamps called e-readers. These magical devices, ever more beautiful and nimble in design, have only to be lightly rubbed for the genie of literature to be summoned.”
― Steve Wasserman

What a great idea and so true. I love eBooks, I love eReaders!!

The genie of literature - that is magic. Transformation of experience by some spinning electrons and eInk.

Happy Reading

DK

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Fuelling my eBook Obsession

I have finally turned the corner and have become an eBook fanatic. I only have one book that I am reading in paper form. This transition has taken many years but I have now stopped buying physical books. Sure I miss having additions for my physical library but I now have a portable library on my iPad that is where I am at anytime. The Kindle App on the iPad is excellent and I just love having instant delivery from Amazon though I do miss the Smiley boxes from Amazon.

I have just pre-purchased the first volume of Robert Frost's Letters as an eBook, delivery due tomorrow.

Long Live the eBook!

DK

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Death of the Book, Long Live the eBook

Well it had to happen. In the last year the tipping point has been reached and now more eBooks are published than physical books. Ten years ago people said that this would never happen, but they were wrong.

The introduction of the Kindle has done much to hasten the decline of the physical book. It is such a convenient device with a long battery life of weeks if not months.

I shed a tear for the death of the book but progress will always win out. Those of you who have been following this blog over the years will remember the various dramas related to my shift to the UK and back from New Zealand related to physical books.

I am now living in Qatar and all my books are on my iPad using the Kindle or iBook readers. Convenient, bulkless and very easy to get new books loaded 24/7.

A great example of a disruptive technology.

Long Live the eBook!

My prediction is that the next casualty will be the higher education sector where so many are blind to the democratization of learning that technology is introducing... A subject for another blog post.

DK

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Another language, another literature

One advantage of learning a new language is that it opens up a new literature to enjoy. I am now living in Qatar and learning Arabic. This is providing me with the opportunity to read Arabic books. I am at a very basic level currently but with perseverance I should be able to unlock some of the beauties of Arabic literature. This is not the first new language I have learned but I still have the brain ache from exercising my tongue and brain with an unfamiliar alphabet and vocab. Still I put it down to lifelong learning and I'm enjoying my new language. Practice makes perfect.

As one of the philosophers said, "He who has another language has another mind". I attribute this quote to the veritable Anon. but if anyone knows who this quote should be attributed to please let me know.

DK

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Reading: the Joys of Familiarity and Surprise

There are two wonderful joys in reading. The first is the joy of familiarity and the second the joy of surprise.

The Joy of Familiarity

I love to reread certain books because they are like old friends. Pride and Prejudice is one such old friend. I have read this book a number of times but I still get a real buzz from reading the familiar. Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy are old friends.

The Joy of Surprise

Much as I like reading old favorites, I also like getting surprised in my reading. I was recently given a recommendation to read a book by Jasper Fforde called the Eyre Affair. This book really took me by surprise with its quirky approach and dystopian vision. The idea of entering into a book and interacting with the characters and its final form was not something that I had thought of before. There is a surprise at every turn. I am now onto my third Fforde book.

Drop me a comment on your familiar books or surprise reads.
DK

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I am with Jane Austen on this one

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

― Jane Austen

Being one of those trivial personages who enjoys novels, I have to agree with Janes sentiments. A good novel brings much pleasure to the reader who engages. Non fiction is informative, but the novel illuminates human nature.

DK

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A Tribute to Andrew Carnegie - Libraries

Andrew Carnegie a well known American (born in Scotland) tycoon was also a philanthropist of note. While not many remember his role with relation to steel, many still treasure his contribution to the dissemination of knowledge through his funding of the establishment of hundreds of libraries worldwide.

I for one, applaud this generosity of spirit, from someone who had no need to do so.

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji.

Few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

This is a truly amazing educational legacy.

DK

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A Fun Suggestion to use when Throwing books out

I hate discarding books, it is like breaking up with an old friend. Still the inevitable has to be done if you are space constrained, and all book lovers reach a constraint some time. To slave the help try this trick I found in one of my ambles through an online course. Make a poem consisting of the first or last sentences of the books you are throwing away. By doing this you retain some of their DNA and have a record of past friends. I know it sounds strange, but it is fun. Give it a try next time you have to downsize your book collection.

DK

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Technology as an Aid to Literary Research

I have a keen interest in the works of Virginia Woolf. Woolf was a prolific writer. I have found that technology in the form of within text seraches and collation opens many veins of information and avenues for new research.

Whenever I add to my blog on Woolf, titled Virginia Woolf - Radical Writer, I am careful to use tags that I can later collate. The latest avenue I am exploring is looking at Woolf's mood in different months over her writing lifetime.

I have got the raw data for this from my reading over the years and the use of a month and year tag for relevant diary and letter entries. It is then just a matter of extracting the relevant entries and analysing the content.
DK

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The Solid Mandala

I have just started reading books by an Australian novelist called Patrick White. He is a recent discovery prompted by someone asking why New Zealanders don't read the literature of our closest neighbour.

The Solid Manadala tells the story of two brothers, Waldo and Arthur Brown, and the mutually dependent butantagonistic relationship they share: Waldo is cold and supremely rational in his behaviour while Arthur is warm-hearted and instinctual, so that together they represent what White saw as the two conflicting and complementary halves of human nature.Although Arthur would be considered by most in society as slightly "retarded", by the end of the novel he is shown to have a better grip on life than the conventional Waldo.

This is not a novel for those who love fast pace, but it is insightful about human nature and what goes on in our minds.

DK

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