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.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Just Added to My Shelves:


The books just keep coming and coming and coming... The "good" news is that I was able to donate about 970 volumes from my non-cyber library to the Brooklyn Public Library's annual sale!

Here are some of the latest additions, however...

  • From Germany to Germany by Gunter Grass (Amazon Vine ARC)
  • The Goldberg Variations by Susan Isaacs (Kindle)
  • The Liberator by Alex Kershaw (NetGalley)
  • From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra (Brooklyn Public Library)
  • The Resistance by Peter Steiner (Brooklyn Public Library)
  • The Potter's Hand by A.N. Wilson (Amazon UK purchase)
  • The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling (Kindle)
  • When it Happens to You by Molly Ringwald (Kindle)
  • Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie (Kindle)
  • The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey (Brooklyn Public Library)
  • How to Think More About Sex by Alain de Botton (NetGalley)
  • Tombstone by Yang Jinsheng (NetGalley)
  • The Watchers by Stephen Alford (NetGalley)
  • Semper Fidelis by Ruth Downie (NetGalley)
  • Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell (NetGalley)
  • Better Off Without 'Em by Chuck Thompson (Kindle)
  • In Sunlight and In Shadow by Mark Helprin (Amazon Vine ARC)
Too many books, too little time... Hence the deaccessions. I was fairly ruthless: if a book didn't strike me as something I was highly likely to re-read, had no sentimental value or isn't in an area of interest of mine, I marked it for disposal. I now have open shelf space once more -- well, for the time being...

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