A bibliophile's obsession

Following my earlier post about my love of books and a short discussion with some students and ex-students about certain books, I thought it is high time I include here some sites which I visit obsessively.

To students who don't read often and hence are not sure what books to read, you can always refer to lists of recommended books compiled by bibliophiles, respectable publications or book publishers.

One list which I refer to quite often in the last year is flamboyantly called "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". It is not merely a list of 1001 titles, the suggested book list is actually compiled into an impressively heady tome, complete with reviews and pictures and interesting snippets about the book's and its author's history. The book has now taken pride of place on my bookshelf.

Then I discovered, to my delight, that someone has actually prepared an Excel spreadsheet which lets you tick the books (out of the 1001 titles) which you have read, and then calculates the number of books you must read in a year if you were to complete the 1001 target before you see your Maker. Call me crazy but I take a perverse delight in actually wanting to know what that insane number is. Filling in the spreadsheet transports me instantly to giddy exhilaration. I encourage all book lovers to visit Arukiyomi's site, download the spreadsheet and then see how many of the 1001 you have consumed and discover your reading target for the rest of your life. You can take comfort that I have so far achieved a mere 3.5% of the target and would need to read 24 books per year from the list if I were to complete this massive mission.

Something less intimidating which any compulsive or casual reader can do is to visit the Amazon website and check out ratings and reviews of popular books you have seen or heard people talk about. I like to do what I call a book chain search. Say I have finished reading a James Patterson novel and like it a lot, I then search for titles similar to James Patterson's book in Amazon. I'm then  led from one book to another to another until I'm utterly intoxicated by the sheer number of great books waiting for me to read! Hence, I'm never short of ideas on what to read next. I always have a list of at least 10 books I can read after the current one and I often visit bookstores or the library deliberately or randomly to check up on books I can buy or borrow. 

I am also thrilled that our local library does stock many of the bestsellers. To find out which branch of the library has the book you want, simply search for it and you can reserve the book or visit the branch that carries the title. (Xiao Wei: The Handmaid's Tale is available in the public library. Just do a search and visit the branch that has the title.)

Perhaps I'm boring some of you who can't fathom my love of books. It'll be a real pity if you can't enjoy the world of reading. Reading nourishes your mind, enlarges your vista and enriches your life experience. It'll also make you a more interesting person to talk to. It's never too late to start reading.  The rewards are too numerous. So what are you waiting for?