So many books, so little time. Maria Bustillos gives advice on deciding what to read next:
Here is a sad reflection for the ordinary reader, faced as he is with lifetimes upon lifetimes worth of books on entering even a small public library or a reasonably well-stocked bookshop. Since we can’t have very many, we must husband our time and attention carefully. But how to choose? The melancholy may lift a little when we realize that so many wise souls who have come before have been willing to serve as guides. And by guides, let’s be clear that I mean fellow-enthusiasts, not poseurs.
The fire of personal enthusiasm is what really makes for the best advice on what to read next, a quality rarely found in an ordinary book review. That burst of incandescent awareness and pleasure that only a good book can give us often becomes an uncontrollable desire to grab complete strangers by the lapels and demand that they, too, read this book, right now, on the double. Drop everything. Do it.
She goes on to explore how George Orwell, Henry Miller and John Waters have served as her guides to picking books. For more guidance, Electric Lit corrals 150 of the most essential essays and articles from the world's best writers and journalists.
(Photo: From the series "An Outdoor Library in Ghent" by Massimo Bartolini via Colossal)
The Dish 