Dorothy posted the other day about being frustrated that there were so many different types of books she wanted to read right now but couldn’t. I know exactly how she feels! She then made a list of the different categories of books she was particularly interested in. So I am going to take her idea and post my own list:
- Science books, especially neuroscience I love brain stuff. I also like books about astronomy and string theory for the lay person. I loved Brian Greene’s Fabric of the Cosmos and want to read his other book. I am also interested in biological and environmental science.
- Technology books. I was going to include this as part of science but I think it warrants a category of its own so I can include the theoretical and the practical in it. On the theoretical side are books like The Singularity is Near and Everything is Miscellaneous. On the practical side are books on website design, semantic web coding, and PHP programming.
- Ancient Greece and Rome. I’ve made a good start on the Ancient Greeks but there is so much more I want to read and then when I am done, Rome seems to follow naturally.
- Victorian novels, particularly the big fat ones. To me this says I have all the time in the world and am not in a hurry. I would really like to be in such a blissful state right now.
- Virginia Woolf. Really for as much as I love Woolf I have shamefully read hardly any of her fiction. I’d like to read all of her writings both fiction and nonfiction and then of course wrapped into that are her contemporaries, or at least the people she knew and admired or envied.
- Philosophy. I would very much like to read through the history of philosophy. In my Ancient Greece category I include Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, but they go here too. I am also interested in modern philosophical books particularly ones on ethics.
- Literary criticism both books and essays. I have Nabokov’s lectures, several books by Umberto Eco, and a book by Elizabeth Hardwick but there are plenty of others I’d like to read too.
- Letters and diaries and books about letters and diaries that delve into the psychological, social and cultural aspects of them.
I’m certain I could think of more, but those are the ones foremost in my mind at the moment. I offer up the reader’s lament, if only I were wealthy or someone would pay me to read all day!
On a side note, completely unrelated, I managed to shelve the cart of legal journals I tipped over the other day without further incident. I also found out from other people at the library that they have done the same thing before. It seems tipping over a full book cart is a sort of right of passage.
Hey, I so agree with you. I see so many kinds of books I want to read, especially fat historical novels that take forever to read, but I struggle for time. I always think how cool it must be to be a book critic, to spend your time just reading, and getting paid for it too.
Do you get a badge for that rite of passage? I think you should
Love this category list Dorothy came up with. And, look at your list, really a wide variety!
I’m sure there must be a job like that… maybe purchasing or cataloguing? What an impressive wish list!
I admit I haven’t read much of Virginia Woolf myself, but if I were bold enough to make a suggestion, I really enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway. The narrative style is amazingly fluid.
And even though I’m but a Library Aide, I’ve knocked over at least two or three trucks myself.
You said it all, right here:
I offer up the reader’s lament, if only I were wealthy or someone would pay me to read all day!
I want it placed right on my tombstone:
WISHES HE COULD HAVE READ MORE!
Seriously, if R.I.P. is somewhere on there, I hope it means READING IN PURGATORY!
If you find someone who will pay you to read all day, could you find out if you’ll need an assistant. I’d like to apply for the job!
And you know I think I’ve not yet knocked over an entire cart of books, but I’m sure I’ve sent a row or two flying on more than one occasion. Love your list–it reminds me I was going to read all of Virginia Woolf’s novels in order that she wrote the. I made it through the first two and have Jacob’s Room all ready to go….
there is something about legal periodicals that just cries out for a good knocking over. I think you should indeed get a badge for that. (And I’m glad they were reshelved without incident!)
I’ve been thinking more about these categories — mostly, I read things that are helpful for the novel I am writing, which in this case involves Shakespeare’s comedies and Harold Bloom’s interesting and always highly individual comments on them in Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human. I am also reading old cookbook’s from my mother in law’s farmhouse, and every once in a while I manage to get through a book recommended by a book blogger. But that’s rare, unfortunately, because what I am paid to read are cases and appellate briefs for my job as a lawyer and no one is knocking MY cart over and telling me to get back to the novels. xo
I simplified my list to one category: books that exist! Actually, I was hoping to read a lot on my train commute, but unfortunately, I have already made friends on the train and we end out interacting a lot.
Important question: did anyone notice your footprint on the side of the tipped over cart?
Good news! Aug 3rd – internet getting connected.
I’m with you in regards to science books. Seeing as it combines two vital parts of my life, I should probably be a bit more familiar with it than I am… But that’s why it’s wishful, right?
My list would look very very similar to yours – all those philosophy, classics and science books are appealing to me. But my first love is fiction so I’d love to just read all the fiction that has ever been written – that would take more than a few lifetimes and its so hard to pick and choose!
I’m glad you picked up on this little meme! Isn’t it fun to create the list? We lists overlap quite a lot, from the science to Victorian novels to Woolf to literary criticism. I don’t think I put philosophy on my list, but it could have gone on there.
great list and comments
I would read all the Henry James and all the Edith Wharton novels-I would read more deeply in the Victorian novel-I would read 21th century fiction dealing with The Reading Life,
I would read more of the writings of Samuel Johnson, read more of the Russians, a lot of Balzac-as much of the human comedy as I could find in English-the Flaubert novels I have not read, all of A S Byatt, reread the diaries of Samuel Pepys,
reread Whitman and Yeats-
As Cip mentions, you have the perfect reader’s lament! You have so many categories here I need to read; ones I’d forgotten about and now my TBR is longer and longer…
What worse is when there’s a stack of books to read but not one of them really grabs you. What on earth is up with that?
Interesting categories! Reminded me I have a few time travel books still to read. Some day, I want them to invent time travel the way it should be. So far…………not much hope.