MetaFilter posts tagged with books and reading

And that absurd nom de plume! John le Carré, like some addled saint...

Trochanter — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:51:11 -0800

At Slate.com, Ted Scheinman has written a nice appreciation of John LeCarré. Confessions of a John le Carré Devotee

"...I could tell there was more than politics, class, and acts of stratospheric treason to be found in these pages. I adored the psychological acuity with which he roamed his characters’ heads..."

Reading? Ain't Nobody Got Time That!

huguini — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 03:53:13 -0800

If the bird is the word, three must be the number. Do you feel you don't have time to read everything you want? What about establishing some ground rules?

"His writing is not about something; it is that something itself."

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:15:58 -0800

In theory: the unread and the unreadable - "We measure our lives with unread books – and 'difficult' works can induce the most guilt. How should we view this challenge?"

The Secret Lives of Readers

jason's_planet — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 11:14:25 -0800

The Secret Lives of Readers Books reveal themselves. Whether they exist as print or pixels, they can be read and examined and made to spill their secrets. Readers are far more elusive. They leave traces—a note in the margin, a stain on the binding—but those hints of human handling tell us only so much. The experience of reading vanishes with the reader. How do we recover the reading experiences of the past? Lately scholars have stepped up the hunt for evidence of how people over time have interacted with books, newspapers, and other printed material.

My little piece of Heaven

growabrain — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:23:36 -0800

People posting photographs of their bookshelves:
Father in Law's Library, built by hand in about 5 years: The card file. Details & overview.
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare: Building Wall Shelving for 9000 Books.
“…first time in years I've been able to get most of my books out of cardboard boxes and onto shelves…”
My desk after four months of working in a bookstore.
Nigella Lawson's library. Turning a spare bedroom into a library. Bookshelf of wine crates. I've wanted to upgrade my massive plank-on-ciderblock bookshelves for years. My goal was to build shelving for 1000 books for less than 100$. Using lots of scrap wood, It ended up costing about 80$. It took my girlfriend and me about a week to put it together. A staircase. Chromatic Coordination: This was a horrible idea and now I basically can't find anything and it doesn't look that good... Made my daughters' playroom a book wall with three gutters for $36 Piano turned bookshelf. (From)

How and Why We Read

mrgrimm — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:12:34 -0800

"Reading is always an act of empathy" - John Green of Crash Course (previously) explains "How and Why We Read" (... and recommends his favorite books). More videos on "Why We Read," from The Center for Fiction: Mary Gaitskill E.L. Doctorow Francine Prose New York Times' dump: "A Good Mystery: Why We Read" & "Online, R U Really Reading?," both by Motoko Rich "What Literature Does" by Elif Batuman (part of a roundtable discussion link on "Neuro Lit Crit") More tangent than counterpoint: "Is there any reason to read?" by Alberto Manguel "We Can't Teach Students to Love Reading" by Alan Jacobs

"I often read dozens of books simultaneously."

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:22:22 -0800

My 6,128 Favorite Books - "Joe Queenan on how a harmless juvenile pastime turned into a lifelong personality disorder."

Henry Miller's "The Books In My Life"

Egg Shen — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:13:36 -0800

They were alive and they spoke to me! That is the simplest and most eloquent way in which I can refer to those authors who have remained with me over the years. - Henry Miller, The Books In My Life There were times when reading [Blaise] Cendrars - and this is something which happens to me rarely - that I put the book down in order to wring my hands with joy or despair, with anguish or with desperation. Cendrars has stopped me in my tracks again and again, just as implacably as a gunman pressing a rod against one's spine. Oh, yes, I am often carried away by exaltation in reading a man's work. But I am alluding now to something other than exaltation. I am talking of a sensation in which all one's emotions are blended and confused. I am talking of knockout blows. Cendrars has knocked me cold. Not once, but a number of times. --- Rider Haggard is one of those imaginative writers who undoubtedly fed from many streams. We think of him now as a writer of boys' books, content to let his name fade into oblivion. Perhaps only when our scientific explorers and investigators stumble upon the truths revealed through imagination will we recognize the true stature of such a writer. --- [Jean Giono's] poetry is of the imagination and reveals itself just as forcibly in his prose. It is through this function that Giono reveals his power to captivate men and women everywhere, regardless of rank, class, status or pursuit. ... Like our own Faulkner, Giono has created his own private terrestrial domain, a mythical domain far closer to reality than books of history or geography. It is a region over which the stars and planets course with throbbing pulsations. It is a land in which things "happen" to men as aeons ago they happened to the gods. Pan still walks the earth. The soil is saturated with cosmic juices. Events "transpire". Miracles occur. And never does the author betray the figures, the characters, whom he has conjured out of the womb of his rich imagination.

What Kind of Book Reader Are You?

rollick — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:57:39 -0800

What kind of book reader are you? More types of book reader.

We read to know we are not alone.

Isadorady — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:47:16 -0800

American Photojournalist Steve McCurry has posted a series of photographs of people reading around the world on his blog. He also connects them with quotations on books and reading. McCurry is the photographer of the famous photograph Afghan Girl on National Geographic's cover a few years back. Earlier posts on Metafilter on McCurry include this and this And here is some music to listen to while thinking about books.

Exercise is for non-book-readers!

vorfeed — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:14:52 -0800

How To Read A Book takes us through the trials and tribulations of finding reading-time comfort. (SLYT)

The frantic career of the eyes

shakespeherian — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:19:51 -0800

Picturing Books: What do we see when we read? (Other than words on a page.) What do we picture in our minds? A consideration by Knopf's senior designer Peter Mendulsund. Bonus: Q&A with Mendelsund and Tom McCarthy.

Reading Along the Lines

zamboni — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 09:25:00 -0800

Underground New York Public Library, a photo tumblr of NYC Subway riders and the books they read.

YES - Fiction please! - NO

Think_Long — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:26:19 -0800

Teach.com's Summer Reading Flowchart.

“Why should I put down George R. R. Martin during the short trek from couch to bathroom?”

Fizz — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 08:00:45 -0800

A Book Lover's Guide to Reading and Walking at the Same Time by Lev Grossman [Time.com]

What becomes a legend most?

Horace Rumpole — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:30:00 -0800

In 1929, John Galsworthy won a Guardian poll as the novelist most likely to still be read in 2029. Three years later, he won the Nobel Prize, and the prices of his first editions skyrocketed. His reputation has since been on a 80-year wane that shows no signs of abating. The New Yorker asks Why is Literary Fame So Unpredictable? And who will they be teaching in literature class a century from now?

Adding a sense of drama to the living room.

shakespeherian — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:24:24 -0800

To expose a bookshelf is to compose a self. The Paris Review towards a history of bookshelves.

Bookstore cats

Trurl — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:42:01 -0800

Bookstore Cats from Different Parts of the World These five Mental Floss posts contain 58 bookstore cats - the collective term for which is "catalog". Not enough? Here are 8 more compared by attitude towards customers, favorite place to sleep, and estimated hours per day not spent sleeping. Here Dee Xtrovert provided her customary depth of wisdom on the origin of the bookstore cat.

Top Ten books of famous authors

the man of twists and turns — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:42:31 -0800

Top Ten Favorite Books from authors: Stephen King's 10 favorite books. David Foster Wallace's 10 favorite books. Sue Monk Kidd's 10 favorite books via the CS Monitor.

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." ~William Blake

Fizz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:28:00 -0800

Winter Reads: [Guardian.co.uk] a new series matching the story to the season. The Terror by Dan Simmons. A chilling speculation on the fate of Franklin's ill-fated expedition to the Northwest Passage, with added horror to thoroughly freeze your blood. Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The unforgettable depiction of the devastatingly 'Great Frost' contains some of Woolf's warmest writing. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. This potent rite-of-passage tale offers readers some useful pointers on keeping the heart warm in allegorically wintry times. The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston. Christmases past evoked by this magical story of an ancient manor house. My Ántonia by Willa Cather. A story of the hardships of a bitter winter in the American west, this is also a stirring tribute to unfreezable human spirit. Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy. The lethal cold is clearly freighted with symbolism in this wintry parable, but it is realised with tangible bite. Myths of the Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green. This re-telling of the Norse sagas delivers an icy gust from the distant kingdom of childhood. The Bear's Winter House. Quentin Blake and John Yeoman's tale of keeping out the cold is as warm and welcoming as its hero's lair. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. This classic novel of career invalids snowbound in the Swiss Alps is much more fun than its reputation suggests. The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura Ingalls Wilder's chilly but cheering descriptions of snow, ice and Christmas dinners in Dakota. The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. It may not be free from sentimentality, but this sad, sweet tale has an elemental power that makes it soar. A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin. Larkin's mysterious tale of an exiled woman in wartime Britain. Ice by Anna Kavan. A frozen post-nuclear dystopia is the setting for this raw, brutal tale. It may not cheer you up, but it will compel your attention. The Castle by Franz Kafka. K's struggle with bureaucracy is only the surface of a story that plunges into the deep end of pain, aloneness and the longing for companionship.

For MetaFilter, in remembrance of so many happy hours--HR

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:35:24 -0800

Bookdedications is a collection of gift inscriptions found in used books. Some background from the blog's author.

"P.S. I would like to start with 'The Myths' by Robert Graves."

overeducated_alligator — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:40:34 -0800

Christopher Hitchens responds to a nine-year-old's question: "What books should I read?"

When two readers love each other very much, they raise a smaller reader

burnfirewalls — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:34:01 -0800

"It’s a mistake to rarify reading and put books out of reach."

"Somebody should set up the ‘I Hate the I Hate Reading Page!"

Fizz — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:08:41 -0800

We hate the “I Hate Reading’ Facebook page. "Here is the official AbeBooks.com reply to the ‘We Hate Reading’ Facebook page – it’s a video entitled Long Live the Book created by Lindsay Thompson. We love this video and Lindsay did an amazing job – she even wrote and performed the soundtrack. We love reading, we love books."

There can be only ten.

mygothlaundry — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:55:47 -0800

NPR Books is asking people to vote for their ten favorite science fiction / fantasy books of all time. The list is exhaustive; the picking only ten is hard.