“One should only read enough fiction to develop style and taste.” – Thomas Jefferson
I’m lucky to have grown up in a household that loves, admires and appreciates books and their contents. From the start I was surrounded by books and literature. I learned how to read at a young age, thanks to my parents and my grandmother who read both to me and with me. It was my mum who suggested that I read 1984, and my dad who got me into non-fiction. My grandmother let me page through her precious medical textbooks from the 1940’s, and one of my most memorable presents was a small collection of novellas from my great aunt and my godmother. These people also happen to be the ones who most supported my decision to go on to college, and I think there’s some kind of positive correlation between their interest in reading, and my personal inclination towards becoming better educated.
With that said- I’m not a book-blogger, nor do I ever plan to be. I’m not really the type of person who can write appealing reviews of books, and I’m not particularly interested in trying to upsell certain authors or titles in any way. There are people out there who are much better at that task. What I think is interesting, however, is how to contextualize the information that I gather from the books that I read, and what kind of information I find engaging enough to share. So here’s a list of books that I hope to finish by the end of April, with a little information on why I think you might find them entertaining enough to pick up off the shelf. My intention isn’t to sell these books to anyone, but rather to point out their merits:
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan:
Depending on what kind of liberal arts courses you may or may not have taken, you might recognize McLuhan as that guy who wrote “The Medium is the Massage.” Understanding Media is more of a tome about communications and the effect of mass communication in the modern age, and reads more like a collection of essays than a traditional thesis. I picked up this book at a small anarchist-y bookstore at the corner of Powell and Main, more or less on the hunt for a used copy of “The Medium is the Massage.” Finding this book, instead, I gave the shop owner a twoonie and took it home.
Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Every time I open this book I get distracted. It really doesn’t help my guilt that this book comes highly reccommended by my Ecological Perspectives on Design teacher, and being that the subject matter is specifically about global warming and sustainability, the pertinence of the information between the covers is essentially time-sensitive. Interestingly enough, I’m confident that I already know exactly what the book is going to tell me- but I’m enjoying the reading of it anyway simply because it’s very well written. I should add that the book is waterproof. That blows my mind.
Modern Times: Selected Non-Fiction by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Sartre is such an ass that I can’t help but enjoy what he has to say. There really isn’t much more that I could possibly say about this book, the name itself speaks volumes. Even if you aren’t interested in Sartre, his words are worth a read.
Nadja by André Breton
I’m madly in love with the work of André Breton. The French Surrealists (and later, the Situationists) are some of my most favourite characters in western history, and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about their work. It came as some surprise to me to see this book sitting in the literature section of the Vancouver Public Library, and I’m sure that I’m going to rack up the late fees due to my complete inability to find the time to read this book. I’m enchanted by its subject matter (a surrealist romance? you don’t say…) and I’m finding myself inspired by the words. And the fact that, to some degree, this book reads like a really, really good blog post.
The Loom of Language by Frederick Bodmer
This book because it is going to be the death of me. There’s no way that I’ll finish this massive block of text by the end of April, let alone by the end of the year. On the bus it took me nearly 15 minutes to complete a two-page spread, thick with new vocabulary and somewhat abstract concepts about the fundamentals of western languages. I’ve never been more engrossed in a book, let alone a wordy collection of concepts about linguistics. Grammar was never my strong interest (and still isn’t) but I’m finding myself becoming more able to understand my language and others, simply by reading about them. Who would have thought?
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 1 Comment )
Dang! The Medium is the Massage is on my to read list too. As you could probably tell from my presentation last week. It’s really hard to find a used copy.
Parveen Kaler added these pithy words on
Apr 15 08 at
22:37
