Bibliophile or BiblioMANIAC ?
I've come to realise recently that I read quite a lot. When I say a lot, I mean an AWFUL LOT. Since starting Brunel the September before last I have kept a list of all the books I've read and have just been looking over it and apparently in 2008 thus far I have read FIFTY books. Fifty books in three-hundred-and-forty-five days isn't too bad really all things considered: especially if you take into account the work I've been doing on writing my own books in the process and all the work that that therein entails.
This latest blog was inspired somewhat by an article that has just been published on the bbc (see article HERE) which says that apparently 'Many lie over books "to impress".' Now I don't know who exactly people are impressing because I don't think I've EVER impressed anyone with the amount of books I read, or indeed the bredth or difficulty of the said books. It saddens me somewhat to think that there are people out there who feel the need to lie about themselves in order to impress others; I mean if it isn't bad enough being something of a bibliophile-author-student-entrepeneur I find that people feel the need to pretend to be like me in order to impress when I myself don't really impress anyone with just being who I am. Funny really.
For those of you vaguely interested in what I've been reading this year, the list is as follows (*very deep breath*):
Life in the fast lane, Relativity, Three uses of the knife, Penguins stopped play, Into a dark realm, Blink: the power of thinking without thinking, Animal farm, Pegasus bridge, Dear mom: a sniper's Vietnam, The universe in a nutshell, 1984, Neuromancer, Imperial War Museum War in Burma, Tristram Shandy, Do androids dream of electric sheep?, The Forever War, The thousand Orcs, The lone drow, The two swords, Mindstar rising, Pawn of prophesy, Grey knights, Death world, Double Eagle, Alice's adventures in wonderland, Peter Pan, The Railway children, the Secret Garden, The Phantom of the Opera, Moby Dick, twenty thousand leagues under the sea, Jane Eyre, Halo- gosts of onyx, Great Expectations, Dracula (re-read), Adam Bede, Tess of D'Urbervilles, Playing with Fire, Caleb Williams, Sense and Sensibility, The Monk, Wake up and change your life, Only in Death, Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment, The Importance of being Earnest, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Heart of Darkness, From the Earth to the Moon and.... Paradise Lost.
Phew... That was a long list. I do apologise for the very random nature of my capital letters in that list but my finger was getting bored of pressing shift for every other word mentioned there!
Now there is actually a point to this blog I feel, and it is not you may be suprised to know, so that I may wallow in melencholy over the state of our world today and the superficiality of most of the people we have to share this planet with. The point is this: READING IS GOOD. You will see from the above list that I've read quite broadly- taking in books such as Einstein's Relativity and Hawking's The universe in a nutshell to the likes of 1984, Peter Pan and even a book by Gorden Ramsay. To me, reading as broad a range of books as possible is useful in not only expanding your horizons beyond the small world in which you inhabit on a daily basis, but it also serves to give you an appreciation of the world around you and even arguably a greater understanding of the world and not only that, but yourself. As a writer, reading is essential I feel, and there are too many writers (most of whom are on my university course!) who struggle to read the seven or eight books set for the term, let alone read anything else on top of this. There is an oft-repeated quote mentioned in regards to this subject and it goes something like this: "The best writers, are the best readers." To be a good writer you need to be as widely read as possible, and especially in the market in which you write for. I myself want to become the best writer I can possibly be, and so this I guess is the main reason for my recently acquired bibliomania. I note, also, that the escapism books offer is sometihng of a relief from the mundanity of the world around us and especially for me, the mundanity of the inhabitants of my university course.
If you are reading this and thinking, "Yes actually, I'm one of those people who lies about what I have read," why not go out there and go and actually read all the books you profess to having read? You would definately be a better person for it. Even if you're not, then I suggest you go out there and go read more ANYWAY(*). You can never read too much!
Until we meet again.
(*) NB: Take my advice though: stay well clear of Moby Dick - it's awful!