I did the math and realized that (on average for my own reading pace and poor math skills) I will likely only be able to read ~10'000 books in my remaining life time, and that's a fairly generous number. Lately I've been doing my best to figure out what to do with that number, how to read as wide a variety of books as I am able, I've been trying to figure out how to distribute between genres, cultures, languages, movements, styles, authors, intersectionality, etc, and while there is no perfect answer I am hoping your feedback on this will help me read more widely.
So tldr as a specific request: I would like advice on how to read as wide a variety of books as I can in my lifetime
by dooplets
3 Comments
honestly that’s kind of a beautiful problem to have – being so aware of the finite nature of reading time. i’ve been thinking about this too lately and one approach that’s worked for me is doing mini “theme months” where i’ll pick something super specific like “books by authors from countries i can’t locate on a map” or “sci-fi written before 1970.”
you could also try the whole “for every popular/mainstream book, read something totally obscure from a different culture” balance. keeps things interesting without getting too systematic about it. the math is depressing but at least your being intentional about the choices.
alternate between dead white guys and contemporary international authors, keeps it balanced
Ah, truly the scariest problem to all literary lovers, and one I struggle with a lot. The number one thing I’ve done in coming to terms with this is really prioritizing reading things I actually want to – reading is such a uniquely personal experience and you never owe ANY explanations or justifications about why you’re reading a given book. At the end of the day, read whatever makes you happy.
One of my favorite activities to really work on reaching the full breath of literature is to walk into a used bookstore or a thrift store and pick up any random book. I page through it, read the summary, and then if it looks “good” to me I’ll purchase it. No pretenses. No explanations. Not that I haven’t loved mag mainstream books, but with this method I’ve unlocked some of my all-time favorites that I never even knew existed.