5-5
B is for: beauty and being (surprisingly slim pickings)
Summary: Read however you want, but keep an open mind.
Bonus: Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Commentary: Apparently I need to read another one of these. Or I'm just a masochist. I think that's 3 "How to read..." articles and a whole book, plus the intros from the Gateway (which, btw, I recommend over pushing through all of How to Read a Book unless you have a good reason).
Woolf is more flexible than Adler. While he offers some options in the exact technique you go about reading and marking a book, he's fairly specific on what the questions you should ask, what you should mark, etc. Woolf opens as follows:
Even if I could answer the question for myself, the answer would apply only to me and not to you. The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions.
"Squirting half the house to water a single rosebush," is a great metaphor for doing things carelessly. All of you should use it in your blogs this month, let's get it into the lexicon.
Both Adler and Woolf emphasize working with the author to understand their writing, and waiting to criticize until you've read and understand, though both agree criticism is an important part of reading (Woolf is more forceful here). We often talk about how good writers need to read a lot, but I think Woolf is the first person I've read recommending that a reader try writing to get an idea of the process.
I don't know how I feel about her contention that most non-fiction isn't art. Is a portrait or a landscape of a real thing not art, but fantasy art is?
I think I'm getting close to the part of my classics journey where she talks about starting to find books that relate to our tastes in other books. I was thinking about doing either the full Gateway or maybe a Norton Anthology, but I think my to read list seems long enough to just dive in.
This accidentally paired nicely with last night: the art of writing and that of reading. Another 3/5 on the Classics scale (the Classics scale is very judgey. "Good" starts at a 2.)
I'm grateful for all the Beautiful books I get to read.