Readers and their ways

 I like interviews with people who talk about their books and reading habits.

I’m interested in the habits and the finds of all kinds of readers, but recently I was struck by how often celebrities are not that interesting when it comes to talking books.

The interesting Q&As are with good readers. Being a good reader is not the same as being famous, powerful, intelligent or educated.

Here are two bits of advice from good readers. The first is from Seneca, advising a friend to focus on one good book, or at most a few:

 

You should be extending your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable … To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life traveling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships. The same must needs be the case with people who never set about acquiring an intimate acquaintanceship with any one great writer.

 

The second is from my friend Melvyn, who was still practicing medicine as an old man when he wrote these lines:

 

I’ve started reading Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin, making five in all the books I’m reading at once. I do it because it pleases and enlarges me, challenging me to keep my mind fresh and active. Some say that is the secret to preventing premature serious memory loss and general decay. We’ll see.

Great readers don’t necessarily think alike.

• Sources: Seneca, Letters from a Stoic, translated by Roy Campbell; London: Penguin Books, 1975, p. 33. The unpublished note from Dr. Melvyn Schreiber was dated Aug. 22, 2000. Melvyn died in October 2024 at 93. Reading several books at a time worked for Melvyn. He was sharp and acerbic until the end. He was planning a book-buying expedition on the day he died, a detail about his life that I admire.