James Altucher on Literature, Reading and Writing

"English literature is best learned by reading the books you are passionate about. Writing is best learned by having real experiences, writing every day, and reading the great writers who inspire you" James Altucher.

James Altucher is an inspirational writer and the quotation above is taken from his book, I Was Blind but Now I See. James is an advocate of self education as an alternative to an expensive university education for young people. This makes him a controversial figure but I agree with him that reading and writing with passion help to educate us in life's big lessons. Reading and writing is free and both activities help to form our minds.

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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Academic Novels

Seeing it is the academic break in the US, I bought a number of academic novels to read and the first two were fantastic. One was through the eyes of a first year student in the UK and the other is about a professor with Aspergers syndrome in Australia.

The titles are as follows:

Starter for 10 by David Nicholls and

The Rosie Effect by Graham Simsion.

Both books are available from Amazon in hard copy and Kindle formats. Just search from the box below:

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Buzbee on Book LUST

For the last several days I've had the sudden and general urge to buy a new book. I've stopped off at a few bookstores around the city, and while I've looked at hundreds and hundreds of books in that time, I have not found the one book that will satisfy my urge. It's not as if I don't have anything to read; there's a tower of perfectly good unread books next to my bed, not to mention the shelves of books in the living room I've been meaning to reread. I find myself, maddeningly, hungry for the next one, as yet unknown. I no longer try to analyze this hunger; I capitulated long ago to the book lust that's afflicted me most of my life. I know enough about the course of the disease to know I'll discover something soon.”
― Lewis Buzbee, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, a History

I have to say that I have suffered from book lust from the time I first discovered libraries at the age of seven, and second hand bookshops when I was eleven. Over time I have added book sales, garage sales, charity book fairs, digital archives and of course Amazon for my Kindle requirements.

While it is a lust, I believe it is a harmless and very enjoyable one. And of course it is not all about lust, love comes into the equation as well.

Many of my happiest times have been with a book in my hand. I clearly remember going into a bookshop in Alnwick on a snowy winters day and drinking coffee and reading my purchases in front of a blazing open fire - Bliss.

Book Lust
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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A Sobering but Fascinating Thought for Readers

“If you read one book a week, starting at the age of 5, and live to be 80, you will have read a grand total of 3,900 books, a little over one-tenth of 1 percent of the books currently in print.”
― Lewis Buzbee, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, a History

The only thing worth remembering is that not all books are worth reading or in areas of interest for you so you may get to about 0.9%.

While I will never read every book of interest I will have no shortage of candidates for my shortlist.

Keep well


DK

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