A fun little list on reading HERE.

Some fun ones:

Sorry, but reading books—even great ones—will not make you a better person. If that were the case, there’d be fewer illiterate saints and well-read assholes. (Remember, they found great books in Nazi trenches.) So read, and with fear and trembling ask the Spirit to use even this to your edification.

Reading and understanding the greatest of books doesn’t make us better in this world. It’s a good reminder.

Listen first, then respond. Reading is not a business meeting: the less of an agenda you have, the better. NB: If you’ve gone to grad school, my apologies: you’ll have some unlearning to do.

We are too entrenched in our echo chambers these days. I am better for reading widely. I want to go into a book with discernment, but not an agenda.

Patronize the local library often. Unless of course you are on the run because of overdue fines. Then pay those first or move to a new town.

I am not a user of the public library and need to work harder to be present there. (And save some serious money in the process!)

Invest in the future. Buy and borrow books you have no time to read with the inkling that some strange, yet-unknown descendant of yours might.

My one hope is that whoever is in charge of clearing out my books after I die will respect what I’ve built and not back a dumpster up to the house and just toss them out.

Reading is not solitary. You will break bread with many authors who, although long dead, will seem more alive to you than your neighbours.

More importantly, I shouldn’t read alone in this era. I should be sharing what I am gleaning or raging with others about what is challenging me. I can’t read alone! I need to share with others and exchange ideas. Not just with the authors!

I have also learned to read not just for content, but for what that book represents. I am currently in the first volume of Robert Caro’s massive biography of Lyndon B Johnson. Four volumes currently, each well over 700 pages each. And a fifth one is being completed.

Not on the life of Lincoln or Kennedy or MLK. And that’s why I’m reading it. I’m fascinated with Caro. He has an attention to detail that is immense and I’m in awe of it. And listening to him talk about this work is so impressive. He had to get the details right. He didn’t just want to rely on an anecdote to put in a story on LBJ. He had to track it down.

The book represents an amazing author with incredible skills.

I read/listen to the stories of Hemingway in the same way. I learned more about Hemingway himself so when I read his work I see more of him in them and it simply fascinates me.

So… HERE IS TO BOOKS! AND MORE OF THEM!