Living for Disco

I’ve been thinking alot about this project that I’m undertaking – the reading of 1001 books chosen by people of whom I know nothing, based on mysterious criteria.

There are just so many books on the list, and so many wonderful ones that are not on it. In fact, I’m working from the 2008 edition. There are over 200 books from the 2006 edition that have been removed – what about those? According to Peter Ackroyd, ‘it has not suddenly become safe to die without having read Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello’, so presumably I have to include these too. Incidentally, I have read Elizabeth Costello, but there are about another 200 off that list alone that I’ve never even glanced at.

I keep looking at the list and thinking, “Why is Northern Lights/We Need to Talk About Kevin/26a/Sour Sweet not on the list?” and “What on earth were they thinking when they removed Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, but kept Sexing the Cherry?” I loved Oranges – it’s funny, bitter, sad and beautifully written. I loved it so much that I set about reading everything that Jeanette Winterson ever wrote, and let me tell you, I’m so glad I did, because it means that I don’t have to go near Sexing the Cherry at any point during this project. What a pile of over-written, self-indulgent bullshit. That goes for Written on the Body too.

And I’ve been wondering, not all books are written in order to entertain the reader, although that’s usually my reason for reading. I’ve never really liked books that require me to make a concerted effort, although I don’t like ones that insult me with their crappy writing and stereotypical characters either (Dan Brown, I’m talking to you). Reading is an escape for me. I think that Alan Bennett is probably right in that the more you read, the better at it you become and some of the books on the list will have to be left until I’ve settled into this more fully and stretched my mental muscles. Proust, for example. And Dostoevsky.

It’s so exciting though – I feel as if I’m training to climb a mountain, as if I’m embarking on a big wild adventure. Does anyone want to start me off on the foothills with recommendations for what I should read next?

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm and is filed under 1001 books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.