As the son of a librarian and a university professor, I can barely remember a childhood that didn’t involve books. Books were everywhere: the oversized, illustrated volumes stacked arms high as I stumbled out of the children’s section; the popular science fiction and fantasy novels that defined my youth and teenage years; the thick, boring-looking volumes with the word “work” in the title that crowded the shelves in my dad’s office; the middle-class, mainstream paperbacks neatly stacked next to my mom’s bed.
When I read Freya Howarth’s “Guide to Building Your Own Library” PsycheBut then I realized how much my relationship with books had changed. Instead of reading, Book.
At the risk of self-promotion, this isn’t the first time I’ve written about my relationship to reading and stories. Here’s one: Wiredand one in my personal newsletter.
First came the decluttering that the wandering youth knows so well. I moved many times in my 20s and 30s, lamenting the space and weight. Finally, I reached my limit. My wife and I thought, what if we had an e-reader? Would we really miss fiction in physical form? Power Broker I dumped the books I’d carried for 15 years into libraries, bookstores, tag sales, and “Keep Left” sidewalk bins. Boom. Libraries got dramatically smaller.
But the fun thing about print books is that they keep coming back. Maybe there’s a great independent store close to home. Maybe you’re on vacation and are pleasantly surprised to come across a Barnes & Noble again. Maybe you’ve spent days reading hackneyed interpretations online and are craving something heavier, so you’ve got a cart full of avant-garde French translations. Or a Japanese murder mystery. Or Nigerian godpunk. Or all of the above.
The point is, you might have done what I did once. Your library might be a quarter of the size it once was. Don’t regret it. Rejoice, because now you can buy books again. And who knows, Howarth’s article might spark a new shopping fad.
In his essay “Why Read the Classics” (1991), Italo Calvino created an itemized list to define the concept of classics and to explain the value of reading classics. This list is not a definitive, universal list of books that everyone should read. Instead, Calvino created a framework for determining a much more personal list of books that will take a permanent place in one’s reading life. These are books that one rereads and continues to think about, and that become a point of comparison for all subsequent readings. Some of these books are widely recognized as classics, for example those published in the Penguin Classics with their characteristic black covers, Penguin Modern Classics, or the Popular Penguin series with their orange covers. On the other hand, some classics are not on these types of lists. What matters is that they are important. to you.
It’s convenient to have classic works on a shelf so you can refer to them quickly. Novel Treatment (2013), bibliotherapists Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin recommend creating a shelf dedicated to your favorite books as a way to rediscover your tastes and remind yourself of the joys of reading when you get bored. “If you like having a few comforting series that you can return to when you’re feeling down or a bit down, it might be worth keeping those around, too,” suggests librarian Dew. Your favorite old books can be a reliable source of comfort.
Finding your own classics also means breaking free from the limited idea of what constitutes a “great book.” While you may learn a lot from reading the books on that list, it’s also beneficial to broaden your own classics. The Paris ReviewExamples of ways to intentionally broaden your reading include sources of books by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors and BIPOC “Feminize Your Canon” series.
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