What's a Common Reader -- and what is Uncommon Reading?

Virginia Woolf defined a common reader as someone who is not a scholar; not a critic. A common reader "reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole." By that definition, I'm definitely a common reader -- reading an uncommonly large and diverse collection of books.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Just Added to My Shelves:


I'll be reading (and possibly reviewing) some of these in the coming weeks:
  • The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Library)
  • The Most Dangerous Book in the World by Christopher Krebs (Purchase)
  • Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy (Amazon Vine -- ARC)
  • Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson (UK purchase)
  • Prince by Rory Clements (from the UK - purchase) 
  • State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Library)
  • The Genetic Strand by Edward Ball (Library)
  • Arriving in Avignon by Daniel Robberechts; translated by Paul Vincent (Dalkey Archive sale)
  • SS-GB by Len Deighton (Paperbackswap)
That's just a small cross section of what I've got on hand to read in my tottering TBR (to-be-read) stacks. And tomorrow (Thursday) is "Amazon Vine Day #1", the day on which Amazon sends me a list of items from which I can pick two to review. Under the terms of this invite-based program, the third Thursday is allegedly a targeted list and the fourth Thursday, everything that's leftover is made available. Not surprisingly, my offerings are usually heavily weighted toward books, but I'll be eager to see what's on the list!
Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

  1. MarkJune 18, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    Hi Suz- I love your Blog! Very snazzy! I have not posted on to many blogs before, so it's a bit awkward for me.
    I've been hearing some grat things about "State of Wonder". Can't wait to see your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)