"It was the facial expression of their readers, how immersed in their experience they seemed to be with their eyes on the page, as well as their posture and general demeanor." What an act of faith in humanity, to observe and note another person's relationship to a book as a means of choosing what to read next. Never heard of anyone doing this. Of course verbal recommendations by friends are one thing, but following and trusting the body language of a stranger immersed in a book, that's quite another.
I knew you would notice this, Rick. It's been such a surprisingly important aspect of my book selection. And an effective one too! I'd probably say that, more than faith in humanity, I view this as faith in my instinctive ability to detect a "good reading taste" by observation! :) I don't know, jokes aside, so far it's worked beautifully for me. But I do understand it comes across as something weird! :)
Thank you, Steven. Your words are always so nice and encouraging. Yes, I will definitely include a section in this database where I describe how I got to the book. In my case, recommendations are applicable to only a fraction of them, as you can tell! :)
I think we have the same affliction. My entire studio is covered in books. My bedroom, living room, kitchen, all books. I’m currently on a philosophy/theology kick and I buy too many books. But I’ve embraced it even as my wife shakes her head.
...when i was younger i am pretty much sure the only way i could read was by the cover...this is why i have so many books with hamsters & weasels wearing armor and holding swords...those are the stories i needed to read (or imagine to read)....
Lovely homage to books, Silvio. I think I share the same tendency to buy books as you—way more than I can ever read with often pure intuition. I’m typically frugal but when it comes to books I rarely think twice.
Not many people know this but, buying books and reading them are two separate things entirely.
Thank you, Tommy. "buying books and reading them are two separate things entirely" -- absolutely love this. So true! :) Three out of four books that I buy are used. I like used books.
I've also become a big fan of used books -- I almost always buy used on Amazon and have a few used bookstores I often hunt through -- it's the best when you get someone's marginalia or a little note written in the front cover for their 32nd birthday or something
Oh to be sure. When I get those, I always think about how in the world one could sell a book with their own annotations and thoughts. With their own life in it. I've never been able to sell a book myself. Only buy. :)
Funny you mentioned Roberto Bolaño, as I've been reading a compilation of his stories, which includes Putas Asesinas.
Also, didn't know you were so into Latinamerican writers. Have you read Juan Villoro, Guillermo Arriaga or Xavier Velasco? Younger than Bolaño, different among them, though all disciples of Bolaño in a sense.
Thank you so much, Oscar. Now you know what I was referring to when last night I mentioned my boxes of books that I could send your way lol! I'm in love with South American writers. Bolaño is probably my top author based on a number of personal and stylistic reasons. Reading him is always like unveiling mysteries. And that's what I like, broadly speaking, about Latin American literature: the ability to surprise, to suck the reader into mysterious stories and environments. There's an element of magic in all this, to me. Thank you for those names (and for the twitter thread -- really awesome!). I am not familiar with their body of work (not yet), but I've heard of Arriaga and Velasco. Now that you recommend them, I'll definitely read something. Do you have any particular titles to pass on to me?
Magic indeed in those writings, I agree! You expressed so well.
As for titles, yes! Will write them in Spanish and I think you can infer the matching translations in Italian or English):
- Arriaga: Salvar el Fuego
- Velasco: his most famous one is Diablo Guardián, a superb and dirtish novel, and my favorite is a collection of short stories of philosophical account of nights out in Mexico City's (and Acapulco's) legendary bars, called Luna Llena en las Rocas (I took inspiration from that title to name my Japan series)
- Juan Villoro: Dios es Redondo (football-related short stories)
"Books are escape conduits. Portals to parallel lives, adjacent universes" And already here - right at the beginning - you have won me over. Because I've always thought of books as being other lives to be lived but this metaphor - which is similar in some ways - is even more effective: they really are escape routes, and it's best to keep them handy around the house, you know.
Regarding the book database, I started using Readwise some time ago. I used to highlight on paper and on Kindle, which then saved the highlights. Which I would then forget. Now I've imported them all to Readwise and I'm re-reading them, randomly, a little bit every day. And I discover books that I forgot highlighted 10 years ago. I try to remember them and often I can't but I have discovered a new pleasure: that for the decontextualized quotation, and also for the elegance of it. In fact, I realized that sometimes I highlight a phrase for its pure aesthetic value, not because it is important in the narrative. It is a postponed pleasure, which I am now discovering. And I have a database of my books, at least the electronic ones! I recommend it a lot.
Thank you, Martino. Glad that you can relate to my metaphor, but then again I had no doubt you would. I've been using Readwise for years now, but mostly (maybe exclusively) for articles and essays, stuff I decide I'm interested in and I will want to return to and read later (where "later", often means "never" lol -- unfortunately). I'm so in sync with your way of thinking that I'm still nodding away at this: " I have discovered a new pleasure: that for the decontextualized quotation, and also for the elegance of it. In fact, I realized that sometimes I highlight a phrase for its pure aesthetic value, not because it is important in the narrative. It is a postponed pleasure, which I am now discovering." I do exactly the same, and feel exactly the same about it! :)
Wonderful essay, Silvio. I think my apartment probably looks a lot like your home--books stacked on every available horizontal surface. Sometimes I despair that I only read a fraction of the books I buy, but I can't seem to stop!
Thank you, Chris. I used to feel uncomfortable about not having read them all too, but then I got over it and understood that the mere presence of a book in my home, the idea that one day, or whenever, I can reach out to it and read it, gives me peace.
"It was the facial expression of their readers, how immersed in their experience they seemed to be with their eyes on the page, as well as their posture and general demeanor." What an act of faith in humanity, to observe and note another person's relationship to a book as a means of choosing what to read next. Never heard of anyone doing this. Of course verbal recommendations by friends are one thing, but following and trusting the body language of a stranger immersed in a book, that's quite another.
I knew you would notice this, Rick. It's been such a surprisingly important aspect of my book selection. And an effective one too! I'd probably say that, more than faith in humanity, I view this as faith in my instinctive ability to detect a "good reading taste" by observation! :) I don't know, jokes aside, so far it's worked beautifully for me. But I do understand it comes across as something weird! :)
It's one of the most unique superpowers I've heard of!
My database is far from complete but one of my most loved bits is connecting a book with the person who recommended it to me or how I discovered it.
Well done yet again my friend. I eagerly await the published collection of your works.
Thank you, Steven. Your words are always so nice and encouraging. Yes, I will definitely include a section in this database where I describe how I got to the book. In my case, recommendations are applicable to only a fraction of them, as you can tell! :)
I think we have the same affliction. My entire studio is covered in books. My bedroom, living room, kitchen, all books. I’m currently on a philosophy/theology kick and I buy too many books. But I’ve embraced it even as my wife shakes her head.
Definitely, Latham. And it's never "too many". :)
So identified!
...when i was younger i am pretty much sure the only way i could read was by the cover...this is why i have so many books with hamsters & weasels wearing armor and holding swords...those are the stories i needed to read (or imagine to read)....
I totally get you, CansaFis. You just killed me at "weasels wearing armor and holding swords", man. Lol :)
Lovely homage to books, Silvio. I think I share the same tendency to buy books as you—way more than I can ever read with often pure intuition. I’m typically frugal but when it comes to books I rarely think twice.
Not many people know this but, buying books and reading them are two separate things entirely.
Thank you, Tommy. "buying books and reading them are two separate things entirely" -- absolutely love this. So true! :) Three out of four books that I buy are used. I like used books.
I've also become a big fan of used books -- I almost always buy used on Amazon and have a few used bookstores I often hunt through -- it's the best when you get someone's marginalia or a little note written in the front cover for their 32nd birthday or something
Oh to be sure. When I get those, I always think about how in the world one could sell a book with their own annotations and thoughts. With their own life in it. I've never been able to sell a book myself. Only buy. :)
I'll take a box of books in Italian!
Funny you mentioned Roberto Bolaño, as I've been reading a compilation of his stories, which includes Putas Asesinas.
Also, didn't know you were so into Latinamerican writers. Have you read Juan Villoro, Guillermo Arriaga or Xavier Velasco? Younger than Bolaño, different among them, though all disciples of Bolaño in a sense.
Finally, here's an awesome thread on Latinamerican writers I recently saw, hope there's some you haven't read https://twitter.com/feguz77/status/1753205452781797387
Thank you so much, Oscar. Now you know what I was referring to when last night I mentioned my boxes of books that I could send your way lol! I'm in love with South American writers. Bolaño is probably my top author based on a number of personal and stylistic reasons. Reading him is always like unveiling mysteries. And that's what I like, broadly speaking, about Latin American literature: the ability to surprise, to suck the reader into mysterious stories and environments. There's an element of magic in all this, to me. Thank you for those names (and for the twitter thread -- really awesome!). I am not familiar with their body of work (not yet), but I've heard of Arriaga and Velasco. Now that you recommend them, I'll definitely read something. Do you have any particular titles to pass on to me?
Almost a month later but here I am haha...
Magic indeed in those writings, I agree! You expressed so well.
As for titles, yes! Will write them in Spanish and I think you can infer the matching translations in Italian or English):
- Arriaga: Salvar el Fuego
- Velasco: his most famous one is Diablo Guardián, a superb and dirtish novel, and my favorite is a collection of short stories of philosophical account of nights out in Mexico City's (and Acapulco's) legendary bars, called Luna Llena en las Rocas (I took inspiration from that title to name my Japan series)
- Juan Villoro: Dios es Redondo (football-related short stories)
Thank you! I'll be all over them! :)
"Books are escape conduits. Portals to parallel lives, adjacent universes" And already here - right at the beginning - you have won me over. Because I've always thought of books as being other lives to be lived but this metaphor - which is similar in some ways - is even more effective: they really are escape routes, and it's best to keep them handy around the house, you know.
Regarding the book database, I started using Readwise some time ago. I used to highlight on paper and on Kindle, which then saved the highlights. Which I would then forget. Now I've imported them all to Readwise and I'm re-reading them, randomly, a little bit every day. And I discover books that I forgot highlighted 10 years ago. I try to remember them and often I can't but I have discovered a new pleasure: that for the decontextualized quotation, and also for the elegance of it. In fact, I realized that sometimes I highlight a phrase for its pure aesthetic value, not because it is important in the narrative. It is a postponed pleasure, which I am now discovering. And I have a database of my books, at least the electronic ones! I recommend it a lot.
Thank you, Martino. Glad that you can relate to my metaphor, but then again I had no doubt you would. I've been using Readwise for years now, but mostly (maybe exclusively) for articles and essays, stuff I decide I'm interested in and I will want to return to and read later (where "later", often means "never" lol -- unfortunately). I'm so in sync with your way of thinking that I'm still nodding away at this: " I have discovered a new pleasure: that for the decontextualized quotation, and also for the elegance of it. In fact, I realized that sometimes I highlight a phrase for its pure aesthetic value, not because it is important in the narrative. It is a postponed pleasure, which I am now discovering." I do exactly the same, and feel exactly the same about it! :)
Wonderful essay, Silvio. I think my apartment probably looks a lot like your home--books stacked on every available horizontal surface. Sometimes I despair that I only read a fraction of the books I buy, but I can't seem to stop!
Thank you, Chris. I used to feel uncomfortable about not having read them all too, but then I got over it and understood that the mere presence of a book in my home, the idea that one day, or whenever, I can reach out to it and read it, gives me peace.