The footnotes were better than many novels I read this year. Libraries remain the best recommendation engine ever built. Keeping a reading log turned a habit into a conversation.
The short version
Some books are best read in one sitting; others need a month and a pencil. Rereading a book shows you how much you changed. Poetry rewards reading aloud, even to an empty room.
Rereading a book shows you how much you changed. Good translation is invisible until you compare two of them.
What didn’t
The first chapter was slow, and the slowness was the point. The footnotes were better than many novels I read this year. Libraries remain the best recommendation engine ever built.
- Keep a reading log
- Borrow before you buy
- Write three lines after each chapter
- Reread a favourite each year
A short story can hold a whole life in twenty pages. Keeping a reading log turned a habit into a conversation.
Trade-offs
Reading before bed works best on paper and badly on a phone. Some books are best read in one sitting; others need a month and a pencil. The footnotes were better than many novels I read this year. I underlined less this year and remembered more.
Poetry rewards reading aloud, even to an empty room. The first chapter was slow, and the slowness was the point.
Reading before bed works best on paper and badly on a phone. I underlined less this year and remembered more.
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