About reading

I have written before in dialogue with blogger Asbo (on “diary-by-asbo”, a blog to which this one is inevitably indebted) that BEING is preferable to READING.
It may seem strange, therefore, to begin postings to “About being here” with “About reading”. However, in writing a blog, this present exercise is clearly about reading, so this will be our starting point.
Here is an extract from my dialogue with Asbo:`

“ABH: Ultimately reading is a poor substitute for living (as opposed to merely existing), but as there are times when real living is impossible, it is good to have the substitute.
ASBO: My entire readership has commented that reading is a kind of OK second-best to real life when real life is not possible.
ABH: Admittedly I was being a bit provocative last time. I seem to have spent a large part of my life reading and continue to do so. So why do we read? To approach it from the other side: why do we write? We write to set down our thoughts, ideas, experiences, emotions (or just to tell a good story) so we do not forget them, to give them form and maybe to share them with others. So when we come to read we share that and gain an insight into others. Our own experience and direct knowledge is inevitably limited by the time, place and circumstances in which we live. Reading extends and expands our experience, albeit vicariously. Inevitably not as vividly as the real thing, but in its infinite possibilities in a very enriching way. Sometimes, indeed, in a more enriching way than some of our repetitive daily routine.
ASBO: Isn't there a Sufi saying to the effect that a man whose intellect is stuffed with information, but whose being remains untouched by the reality of the truth is as a donkey carrying a large load of books?
ABH: The image of the donkey prompts me to elaborate on my earlier comments about reading being a second best.
The risk of spending too much time reading books (of becoming bookish) is that of not devoting enough time and attention to experiencing reality firsthand, that is gaining knowledge directly from living (preferably in full awareness). Indeed certain kinds of knowledge can only be gained firsthand, never from books. So the disadvantage of spending too much time reading is that of losing a direct vision of reality, thereby becoming like the donkey.
Similarly, the glut of information in the much vaunted "information society" can stand in the way of greater wisdom. We run the risk of becoming donkeys overburdened with facts and indiscriminate opinions but without any organizing perspective: holding countless pieces of a puzzle but not having a picture of the whole with which to assemble them.”

So we reach the paradox of Larkin the librarian writing “Books are a load of crap”.
Yet reading is a wonderful and valuable pastime. Montaigne lists books as one of his three favourite ways of passing time along with friends and women (perhaps a more erudite version of wine, women and song if we take it that the pleasure of wine is in its being drunk in company).
So having accepted the value of reading, what shall we read?
We read incessantly. In fact in the internet age with eyes glued to the screen, reading is what we’re doing most of the time (what you’re doing now) and often for very practical purposes. No it’s not that, of course: what I want to write about is reading books, especially gratuitously, that is books not immediately necessary for our everyday living.
But which books ? There is a finite number of books we can read in a lifetime. Therefore, each book read represents the missed opportunity of several other books unread.
In Montaigne’s day , the late 16th century, there weren’t quite so many books as now and most of those of note were still in Latin or Greek. He probably had most of them in the library in his tower where he used to write his essays. It was just still possible as renaissance man to have an encyclopaedic reading knowledge, but even then the possibility was already receding.
We, however, will have to select. Maybe we should just follow our fancy and dip in to as many different authors as possible. We shouldn’t be afraid to give up on something that is not having any impact on us (just think of what we could be reading instead) though a certain amount of patience and persistence can yield unexpected rewards.
I myself confess to the boyish habit of list making - “I must read these books this year”. But I never get to the end, I go off on a new tangent - and maybe come back. I am also an incorrigible re-reader. As my memory becomes cluttered with too many things, sometimes I can scarcely remember the plot and main characters’ names - but I do remember if I thought it was good and may want to come back to it. Why else, indeed, keep books if not to re-read them ?
Ruskin said “a book worth reading is a book worth buying”. I buy too many books. I’ll get round to them some day, they represent previous lists of good intentions. If I never bought another book, I probably would have enough to keep me going for the rest of my life. But which book shall I read next ?
Perhaps while I reflect I can share with you what I read last, over the course of my fiftieth year.
As I studied literature at university, I have a marked preference for fiction with literary pretensions, though I also read books on among other things history, biography and philosophy. I try to read at least one book a year in my other languages - French, German, Italian, Spanish.
The main projects -
Virginia Woolf: all nine novels, including “the Waves” which is one of my favourite books, often re-read; and a “Room of one’s own”
Montaigne: most of the essays (95/107)
Classics -
Homer: “the Odyssey”, “the Iliad”, More: “Utopia”, Voltaire “Candide”, Machiavelli “il Principe”, Goethe “Faust I and II”, “die Leiden des jungen Werthers”, Borges “Ficciones”, Basho “The narrow road to the deep north”,
New novels -
Hosseini: “the Kite-runner”, Pamuk “Snow”, Haddon “A spot of bother”, Camilleri “La pista di sabbia”, Rowling “Harry Potter 7”
Other novels -
Greene: “the Confidential agent”, Lessing: “the Golden notebook”
History -
Gibbon “Decline and fall” books 2 + 3, Wilson “After the Victorians”, Hobsbawm “Age of extremes”
Biography -
“Autobiography of the Pythons”, Seth “Two lives”
Other -
Levitt/Dubner “Freakonomics”, Paxman “the English”

I clearly have been reading quite a lot. So I must enjoy it.
I shall return to some of these authors in greater detail in future postings.