Whenever I write for The Epoch Times or other outlets about books, which is frequently, a reader or two will email me asking if I might send them a list of authors and titles worth their while. Most of them are looking for suggestions for their children and grandchildren, seeking to supplement their education with quality literature and histories. A few are autodidacts who, feeling that they are missing some fundamental part of their education, seek books to fill those gaps.
Though my responses are, I am certain, sometimes inadequate, these inquisitive folks have in one sense come to the right guy. “Books about books” constitute one of my favorite genres for reading.
In my home library are a dozen or more such books, ranging in size from Nick Hornby’s plump “Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books” to Michael Dirda’s slim and elegant “Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life.” Roberto Cotroneo makes far fewer recommendations in “Letters to My Son on the Love of Books,” but writes beautifully about the power of literature and its effect on our lives.
Somewhere in my collection—messy and scattered from packing and unpacking for an anticipated move that has yet to occur—is Pat Conroy’s user-friendly “My Reading Life.” Two books—Emma Beare’s “501 Must-Read Books” and James Mustich’s “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List—stand side by side and are together over 3 inches thick.
The public library offers a wealth of such titles, and the internet sports many sites recommending all sorts of literary works.
Advice From 3 Bibliophiles
We’ll start with Michael Dirda’s “Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life.” Dirda, who in 1993 won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, divides his book into topical chapters like “The Pleasures of Learning,” “Work and Leisure,” and “The Books of Love,” and fills each of these chapters with quotations, short literary essays, and reviews of many books.
As Dirda writes in his Preface, “Over the past fifty years I’ve spent a lot of time—some might say an inordinate amount of time—in the company of books,” and thank heaven he did. His lifetime of reading and writing has enriched our literature. If you like “Book by Book,” try another of Dirda’s books from my collection, “Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments,” his collection of essays on the joys of books and reading.
Novelist Nick Hornby’s “Ten Years in the Tub” has introduced me to many authors and books unfamiliar to me. Hornby wrote these long reviews, which reflect his own tastes and eccentricities, for the literary and arts magazine “The Believer.” Each review begins with an impressive list of “Books Read” and another of “Books Bought.” Hornby expresses himself with humor and wit, and blends passions other than literature into these reviews, with soccer and music at the top of the list.
If you’re looking for a collection that includes modern books and classics, an enormous variety of subjects, and an erudite author who like Dirda and Hornby is an inveterate reader, “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die” should make the top of the list as well. James Mustich used to write the reviews for selected books for his catalog, “A Common Reader,” which was cause for celebration every time it arrived in my mail. In “1,000 Books,” he displays the talents honed in producing that catalog and creates a treasure house of titles and authors.
For the Kids
Many excellent books of recommended reading for our young people are available. Given that contemporary children’s literature sometimes favors political correctness or consists of propaganda for certain social causes, parents might consider turning to guides that stress either older books or morality in literature.
Online Resources
Here, we need to exercise caution. When I Googled “best books for teens,” for example, one site that popped up suggested 20 books that teens should read before leaving high school. None of the books were older than 80 years, and nearly all of them were written in the last three decades. When you look over such a list, be vigilant and discerning to see if the recommendations align with your values. Search out online reviews, and read the description of the book, its characters, and its plot before handing it over to your child.
Shared Reading
One of the great joys of reading is a book shared with a friend. Using the resources mentioned above, we can easily organize a book club for ourselves or for our children. Young people find such get-togethers to discuss a shared book an incentive for reading the book in the first place, but they also see them as just plain fun. Several of my grandchildren have participated in these clubs and return home excited by the conversation and their friends.Who’s Noah?
In one of the books I looked over while preparing this article—I can’t recollect the book—a professor recounted an incident from his classroom. At one point during a discussion, a student raised his hand and asked, “Who’s Noah?”This ignorance is not unusual. In my own classes were students unfamiliar with certain commonplace nursery rhymes. Some had only a vague notion of our Founding and our Constitution, or had little or no knowledge of American figures like John and Abigail Adams, Booker T. Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt.
One mission of The Epoch Times is the celebration and preservation of culture. Sections in the paper like “Arts & Culture,” “Life & Tradition,” “Home,” and “Mind & Body” all include many articles that emphasize handing over the gifts from the past to the present generation. We can all take part in this mission by actively engaging with history, the arts, and the customs of our ancestors; in other words, by reading books.
The guides mentioned here—and these are but a fraction of what is available—point us to titles and authors that can help accomplish that task. All we have to do is pick up these tools and put them to use.
