acquisitions...

On sat.21.mar on the first day (or is it the second?) of spring 09, I have acquired the following pretty books (for between 4.95 to 6.95) at strand bookstore:

From knitting project photos

from left to right:
housekeeping by marilynne robinson
northanger abbey by jane austen
essays of e.b. white by e. b. white (mickey i am finally going to read the essay you sent me)
the learners by chip kidd

How do you know what to read?

I started reading Gilead entirely because of Alice. I've seen it in bookstores but the cover wasn't sufficiently pretty and the premise not terribly attractive. Besides, I am always skeptical of novels, probably because I have read so many terrible fiction. But anyway, Gilead was Alice's discovery. And because I like Alice, I trusted her and read the book. It is an amazing account of existence. That sounds really vague and pretentious. A better way to put it is perhaps that Gilead makes me want to write positive books and live a positive life. But the book is not cheesy. Really. Argh. It's hard to talk about Gilead. You should just read it and remember to thank Alice.

Anyway, I got to thinking about how we choose the book to read. It can be a daunting question especially for people who do not read. Whenever someone asks me how I know what to read, I give a detailed response devoid of an answer...I ramble on and on because I really should know the answer to that question. So sorry about that (esp to my students)! Well, I hope this entry sorta answers your question.

Picking books has become effortless. I have an ongoing list of books I want to read in my mind and on my Amazon wishlist (mostly because I don't trust my memory and neither should you). When I walk into a bookstore, I can identify right away the book I wanted to read, how much I wanted to read it, and whether or not the price is right.

But I guess what people are asking me is how I pick the books to go on the wishlist. Well, reading is addictive, isn't it? Initially, you have no idea what to read. But books pull you in. It's all very dangerous. You read an author you like, and then you read something else by that writer. Then you realized that you like to read a certain genre in general. You start reading the NYT book review every Sunday and drool. Your cool friend Natalie sends you Russian lit, and you are open to another genre. Then you find Alice's favorite book and you read it. Yea, that's what happens. The more you read, the more you know what book you will like before opening the book. Unfortunately, you inevitably do read a lot of bad stuff to get to this point.

And that's particularly discouraging, I know. It happens to kids. They read bad stuff (to them) in school and they think reading is bad. Adults too. They want to read. But there's a lot of bad stuff out there. They keep hearing about some awful fiction so they start reading it, get through the tediousness of it all, and well, by the end, they don't want to pick up another book.

But no, you have to plug on. Sometimes you pick a lemon, but that happens less and less as you become more experienced. I guess that statement can apply to every skill. So I guess my answer to THE question is that you kind of have to go by faith that the more you read, the more you'll enjoy reading.

Anyway, for fun, I am going to try to see how I picked the books I am currently reading and the books I have recently read:


Currently Reading:

"The Lost Art of Walking" by Geoff Nicholson: NYT Book Review + I liked one of his novel a lot + I am into walking now and thought maybe reading the book will inspire me to exercise more.

"The Nicomachean Ethics" by Aristotle: Alice got me in the mood for positive books + reading "Ours" reminded me of Natalie who asked me once if I had read this book + I really want to read Montaigne more but this book was shorter.

"Communicating Science" by Scott L. Montgomery: I like to read about writing than actually writing + book has info about academic publications that interested me.

"Interpretation of Dreams" by Sigmund Freud: I had interesting dreams + I missed reading Freud + I missed reading psychoanalytic literature.

Books I Recently Read:

"Ours: A Russian Family Album" by Sergei Dovlatov: I missed Natalie + I liked his other book + it was short and I wanted to read something that I can finish in one day.

"Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson: Alice Alice Alice.

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other stories" by Robert Louis Stevenson: Reading Poe made me want to read scary stories + the book was small and portable + felt like reading some classics.

"The Raven & Other Poems and Tales" by Edgar Allan Poe: I missed my old gothic lit class + the book had a pretty binding and nice paper.

Okay, I can obviously go on and on and on but I get the feeling that this info is interesting to no one else. My survey seems to say that a mixture of these primary factors dictate my reading choice: past reading, recommendations (friends and reviews), nostalgia, and the aesthetics of the book. Coming up with the precise formula is beyond my math skills.

a cheap safe.

I definitely knew what Henry Alford was talking about in his essay, "You never know what you'll find in a book" in Dec 21, 2008 NYT Book Review. Books become a receptacle not just for the ephemeral thoughts of the writers but for the physical relics of the book owner. I have often inherited, when buying a used book, not just the book but receipts, notes, and bookmarks. And because of my promiscuous reading habits, my bookshelves have become a purgatory of bookmarks.

Here are some other things I found in my books: postcards; pressed flowers; letters; post-its with notes sometimes relevant to the subject ("review integration by parts!") and sometimes not (a first draft of a really bad poem); class notes; essay assignments; sleep diary entry; drawings; and my letters to o-chem.

And why not? A book is a marvel of engineering that holds a surprising number of things. Books are prefect for preserving and hiding (from self and others). So why not take advantage of these storage spaces? Here are a couple of things I am planning on putting into books:

1. Perfume samples in large textbooks: You know, those folded papers that hold the scent, usually found in fashion/women's magazines. I figured if I put them in my large (usually science) textbooks, I'd make the reading of thick textbooks a more pleasing experience. Some of these textbooks go on and on for a thousand pages or so and they don't treat you like a human being with feelings. Besides, reading a science textbook is more like reading a magazine than a book: The reading material is not linear on the page because you constantly have to consult the illustrations (figures); there are columns of writings; and pictures and graphs abound. At least the Women's or fashion magazines are lovely to read because the colorful layout is visually appealing and there is a whiff of something nice every time a page is turned. Now of course good magazines don't smell quite nice due to the lack of perfume samples (The New Yorker, for example) and some magazines are too saturated with the samples resulting in a crowded elevator smell. But the point is, maybe adding a little scent to the textbooks will make reading those books more fun.

2. Notes to the next owner of my books: I also thought about making the process of leaving things for the next owner more incidental than accidental. I think I should write a brief note to the next owner of the book. I guess something like , "Hey you, I am the previous parent of this book. The fact that you have this book probably means I am now dead. I loved this book so very much and I hope you enjoy it too." And if I ever get really famous, this person can get super rich by selling the copy on ebay.

the notepad technique

Even though I obsess about reading, I am a pretty inefficient reader. I envy my friend shee, who reads super fast.

My problem seems to be intruding thoughts. It's too noisy in my head even when I read. And any reading material spins out a web of thought all fascinating and entertaining to me but causes me to slow down to a grinding halt with the book. A sentence later, same thing happens. My mind is like a nagging child who won't let me read.

So I started employing the notepad technique: I have a little notepad with me when I read and when there is an intruding thought, some related to the reading some not, I jot it down and move on. My mind does protest--I have to think those thoughts NOW! But I assure her that the ideas will be there to obsess over after I finish reading so please leave me alone with my book or now.

This method once helped me in college when I had too much on my mind and had trouble studying. I hope it helps me become a more efficient reader as well. The danger of course is having too many notebooks where my thoughts and lists proliferate. I feel I spend more time planning than living.

spring

Casually, shee and I commented that the worst must be over. It was Saturday and I went from two to one layer of down. And yesterday, we hit 60 degrees and it was bright. I predict we'll have a stretch days when it'll be freakishly cold, but yes, the worst must be over.

As I was trading my one layer of down for the pink spring coat yesterday, I thought about a couple of other trades I am making.

I will soon be shedding Middlemarch. Yes, I am still reading that, but I read seven other books in the process, so there. It's a lovely book, in fact one of my favorite. But it's long and bulky. The book is also white like the snow. And I think my reading spirit would be lighter after I am done with the concerns of Middlemarch. I found it unbearable at times to read the book because it was so poignant, piercing and true. I think, though I like the book a lot, I am ready to trade Middlemarch for a lighter, springy, sit in a park and read in the sun kind of a book.

I am also shifting from one-skein knitting to cardigan knitting. That signals to me that the warmer days are coming when I have no incentive to produce massive amounts of hats, scarves and mittens to adorn myself as well as protect myself from the cold. Now come the lazy, unhurried knitting of the time consuming lace projects or cardigans. I bought the 101 Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders book, a concrete proof that the knitting weather is changing. There are lots of lace patterns there that'll keep me knitting very slowly, and frogging frequently. And who cares? it's the summer. I am not in any hurry to wear any of these things...

Another very attractive book, which I will get closer to the summer is:

French Girl Knits

They have patterns for things that I imagined as a non-knitter for things that I would make if I knew how to knit. In other words, a perfect, dreamy book. There are lots of lace patterns for cardigans. Lace + cardigans = lots of very slow knitting in front of the teli, wacthing House in an air-conditioned room. I like lace knitting. You get a very hole-y diaphanous stuff that makes you feel slightly more feminine than jeans.

Ah so I am getting excited about slow knitting. I am shedding middlemarch. We've come to a full circle; the spring is here. sorta.

more self-help adventure

Ah... so it turns out, the title of that self-help book about interpersonal relationship is "how to WIN friends and influence people," not "how to MAKE friends and influence people." Now I find it a little creepy that there exists a manual for winning and influencing people. But I am going to try it anyway because the "how to stop worrying..." book was so good. And if I am truly honest with myself, I guess I would like to know how to win and influence people!

self-help books

To combat excessive and persistent anxiety, I bought myself:

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
by Dale Carnegie.

To my mortification, about three other people, whose opinions I do care about, joined me on the trip to the bookstore. I explained that this is the first time I am getting a self-help book because I've gotten desperate about my anxiety. Thankfully, my friends were nonjudgmental. However, Arthur pointed out that I need the How to Win Friends and Influence People badly. This is not the first time someone told me about that book. Mel confirmed my suspicion that it's not a good thing when multiple people recommend that book to me.

But the point is, I realized I had inadvertently lied to my friends for it was NOT my first time buying a self-help book. In fact, looking at my reading history, I consult a self-help book quite often. The book, It's all too much: an easy plan for living a richer life with less stuff, really helped me with decluttering and organizing my things. And my last entry in this blog was kind of a review of a self help book about graduate school.

So am I one of those people now who head for the prominent self help section at Barnes and Noble? Please tell me I am not one of them... When I was there with Shee a couple of weeks ago, I saw a waste of good shelf space devoted to cheesy and colorful books for illiterate and lonely people. There were way too many chicken soup books for distinctly afflicted souls. When a salesperson came up to ask if I needed help, I wanted to ask if there was a section on anxiety self-help books. I chickened out and asked instead if the self help books were organized by subject or author.

Okay, so it seems I am the judgmental one. I admit it. Ironically though I am kind of sold on self-help books. The "Stop worrying and Start living book" was amazing and it not only helped me to feel less anxious, but made me a better, happier person. I thought the book was going to teach me how to stop worrying, but it somehow hit at all my issues from interpersonal relationships to insomnia. Now I am actually starting to accumulate a list of self-help books to read.

It can be the recession of course. I read in the paper that people focus more on self-improvement during bad economic times. It can't be that these books contain novel jems. In fact the worry book told me things I already knew or things my parents, teachers, and friends have already told me. The book, though captivating and somewhat well-written, was not literary. So what is it about (good) self help books that actually allows me to help the self?

I came up with two things:

1. It's much easier to hear things (sometimes) from a total stranger who will never see you than from earnest friends and a loving family.

2. Reading these books delude me into feeling that I am making progress towards helping the self when in reality I am further procrastinating doing something about my flaws by reading.

Okay, those two things are rather cynical. I guess I don't want to accept that I am destined to watch Dr. Phil in two years. But I have to admit that some of them actually help. The worry book is awesome. Try it. Reading self-help books is probably a better way to cope than reading depressing poetry anyway.