Literary Diet

I have recently made myself a very peculiar — at least for me — resolution for the new year. I am putting myself on a literature diet.

What is a literature diet? I’m glad you asked. It means that I am not going to be reading that which is defined by the term “current literature.” Does it mean that I am going to give up reading books for the first time since I learned how to read? No.

How it came about: I spent all Fall reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I enjoyed that book tremendously, and took a great deal of time over it because it was not just an entertaining read, but because it also gave me new ways of thinking about things that are logical implications of all of the math that I have studied.

While my reading time was taken up with Anathem, I wasn’t totally ignoring the regular swirl of new books that are always popping out at one. There are always books that people eagerly tell me, “Oh, you have to read this one!”

These past few months, it has been The Story of Edgar Sawtelle that has been the most frequently mentioned of possible next-book candidates, at least around me. I have got a copy of that, and am about a quarter of the way through. It is a good book, yet I don’t feel the need to get caught up in the current fire storm of enthusiasm about it. It’s a great book, and I love dogs, and still my thoughts are coming back to the thoughts inspired by Anathem.

I want, through this literary diet, which will probably last only a few weeks, to get rid of all of these feverish bids for my attention, and read something lasting. What I have chosen is the first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. That ought to hold me for a long time.