Literary Exposure

Posted: November 1st, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Literary Exposure

Whenever chats about the greatest movies of all time strike up around the office or social scene, I am not loathe to admit that I usually end up referencing AFI’s list of 100 Greatest American Movies. Typically I do this when someone says they’ve never seen Citizen Kane or The Godfather. I think mentally mock them and imagine they spend their weekends watching Steven Segal marathons while eating KFC by the bucket and wearing sweatpants purchased at Wal-Mart. Yes, I jump to conclusions, but that’s neither here nor there.

Along these same lines, years ago, I tried to find a similar list for great books to read and make myself feel accomplished. Alas, most of the sources I found had a dramatically English slant and I ended up just buying whatever hardbacks were on clearance at the book store, or occasionally whatever I could remember having been mentioned in Esquire recently.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I found this list on Yuri’s blog

Then I realized that while I knew and could relate the store is the vast majority of these works, I’d only actually read 10 of them. Compared to Yuri’s 56, I seemed nearly illiterate.

Aaaargh! I swear, I’ve read more than 10 books in my life. I promise.

Then I took solace in the idea that since Yuri is foreign, maybe they indoctrinated him differently and he had an innate advantage over me. Additionally, I’ve probably read tons more Spider-Man and really anything written by Brian Michael Bendis or Frank Miller. Plus where’s my credit for the non-fiction works I read, like Machiavelli or Gladwell or Hawkings or Pollan? I’m totally at a disadvantage due to my habit of alternating between fiction and non-fiction everytime I finish something.

So I shared the list with fellow podcaster (and gaming blogger), Swabby, and he told me his total was only 22. Crap, that’s like double mine.

Ok folks, so it’s time for a plan for action. I need to come up with a number of these books and get to work on reading them.


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