Will you read all the books you want to before you die?

[ladderandbucket]

I can make a good estimate of all the books I want to read right now. If I read one book a week until I am 75, read 10 newly published books each year and reread 10% of my books I believe I will be able to read everything I want to, allowing that my tastes may change to a margin of 50% .

But if I did manage to read all the books I would like to I would always be a dilettante, reading superficially in a wide variety of subjects at the expense of becoming an expert in one. Perhaps it would be better to forget about reading everything and just concentrate on one area of interest. But which one? When I think about all the different things I want to read about I feel quite giddy.

And perhaps as I get older the value of reading will diminish. Surely a book read at 20 is worth more than a book read at 60 because you are granted an extra 40 years to live with it.

Perhaps I am strange but I think about this quite a lot. Obviously it is quite an inconsequential thing to worry about and it's not something I would want to discuss with many people, but I thought some people on here might be able to relate.

Georg Simmel wrote about something called the tragedy of culture.

Wikipedia says:

The tragedy of culture is defined as: The condition of modern society that stems from the fact that, over time, objective culture grows exponentially, while individual culture, and the ability to produce it, grows only marginally. Our meager individual capacities cannot keep pace with our cultural products. As a result, we are doomed to having increasingly less understanding of the world we have created and to being increasingly controlled by that world. It is a theory on human culture and how it operates.

I don't know much about this idea but it seems to be the problem I am coming up against.

[dfloyd]

all the books you should read. I don't think much about it, but I don't think many will read all they should read. Hopefully, the dedicated reader's tastes will change over time so he will ovoid the many inadequate books he runs across. What you like at twenty may seem puerile and lack substance at sixty. Contrawise, many of the books you find boring and unreadable at twenty, may seem interesting and substantial at sixty.

[stlukesguild]

There is a line in Verlaine i shall not recall again,
There is a street close by forbidden to my feet,
There's a mirror that's seen me for the very last time,
There's a door that I have locked til the end of the world.
Among the books in my library (I have them before me)
There are some that I shall never open now.
This summer I complete my fiftieth year;
Death is gnawing at me ceaselessly.

-J.L. Borges

[dfloyd]

And when I'm dead
This of me will be said.
All his sins were scarlet,
But all his books were read.

[LitNetIsGreat]

As we seem to be replying in verse, here's another one:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/his-books/

His Books

MY days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old:
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.

With them I take delight in weal
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.

My thoughts are with the Dead; with them
I live in long-past years,
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears;
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with an humble mind.

My hopes are with the Dead; anon
My place with them will be,
And I with them shall travel on
Through all Futurity;
Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.

Robert Southey

[Jassy Melson]

I am sixty-three and I've been a serious reader for about fifty years, so I've read a lot, but there are still a number of books I want to read before I die. There are about twenty books on the list. But there are also books that I've read that I want to reread before I kick the bucket. I'd say there are about forty books I want to read. I think I'll make it because I am a voracious reader.

[Paulclem]

No - because there are books coming out all the time that I want to read

[lichtrausch]

No - because there are books coming out all the time that I want to read
This is my view too. No big deal though. I can be satisfied with far less.

[Virgil]

I'm afraid not. Let's hope there's a library in heaven. :D

[L.M. The Third]

Never. Especially if I take time to deeply study some works and authors. And I don't want to imply that there's nothing that matters besides reading, but why would one want to come to a point where they had no more they wished to read? It would be like declaring themselves a perfect person, with no need of growth or knowledge. Such a person could soon become boring and arrogant.

[JBI]

Not quite. I already have enough books in my possession to last me 10 years of serious work. By the end of this year, my library will add about 500 volumes. I will be swamped, and keep getting swamped probably until print goes out of fashion, and I get a list of books on one of those electric toys that is longer than my life.

[kasie]

I'm afraid not. Let's hope there's a library in heaven. :D

Not only that, Virgil, but you may be able to talk to some of the authors as you read their earthly works.

I read somewhere that the last time it was possible to read everything that had ever been written as around the time the library at Pergamum burned down - so no, there's no hope of my ever being able to read all I want to read in what is left of my alloted three score years and ten. I probably will not even finish the volumes on my To Be Read shelf, to which I've just added a couple with an order from Amazon - they will keep sending me details of newly published things on special offer....

A friend used to smoke all the cigarettes left in the packet before he went to bed in case he died in his sleep, so that he wouldn't miss the pleasure of the ciggies - perhaps I should never go to bed leaving an unfinished book: I may never find out how it ended. :)

[TurquoiseSunset]

Nope. What if I die tomorrow? :D

Anyway, when I was at school and university I had so much more time to read. Now I manage 10 minutes before I fall asleep, lol.

[mortalterror]

If I live another five years, I should be able to read all of the books that peak my interest right now. A man may spend a lifetime familiarizing himself with minor or representative works of a single era, but the cream of the crop does not take long to separate, and is hardly hard to find. I want to read the Islamic classics, followed by the Chinese, and Sanskrit. Throw in a few Japanese or modern Western novels and I'll be happy.

[LuggageFan]

No but it doesn't bother me much, because stories become dated and get stale. So something that is hot now will be tired in five years. With the exception of classics.

[Virgil]

Not only that, Virgil, but you may be able to talk to some of the authors as you read their earthly works.


Yes you're right! I've always said i want to hang around Shakespeare in the after life. :D

[YesNo]

When I was in elementary school I remember reading all the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery stories in the local library. I would scratch each one off a list when I finished reading it. One day I did finally read all of them. I don't know what I was trying to accomplish by doing that.

Today, I realize that I no longer have such lists to complete. There are no lists of books to read before I die, no list of movies to see, no list of music to hear. I just read books, watch movies, and listen to music for its own sake. There is nothing to accomplish in the process of doing all that.

[loe]

I would be glad if I could read all the books I've bought before dying.
But as I won't stop buying books (although I buy less and less), this aim will be hard to reach.

But finally it doesn't matter - when I'm dead I'm dead...

Best regards

[kaleidotroph]

As I obviously cannot predict the precise date of my death (which, I hope, will arrive with a tray of tea and biscuits), the answer to this confounding question should not confound me in the first place, but you know, I wasn't exactly extremely confounded to begin with--the word "confound" adds a kind of elegance to a sentence, in my perspective, and I consider elegance foremost while typing a reply to a discussion on literature. I need to keep my reputation as a snooty literature nerd with a superiority complex, after all. To return to the primary question: no, it would be impossible of me to read every single book I'd like to before I died, because I'd like to read thousands of books, and I sincerely doubt I'll ever get to reading even 40%.

[Mona ..]

God knows ..

I don't know when I will die to decide if I will read it or not ! :sosp:




.
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[Patrick_Bateman]

I don't think i ever will because the list of books I want increases every time I finish a book

[inbetween]

probably not. even without the new one's comming along the list is already too long for a lifetime... that's why I sometimes wish I was some vampire or something

[remy3x]

No, because the list of the books I want to read keeps growing.

[dfloyd]

library card.

[TheSycamoreLady]

What you like at twenty may seem puerile and lack substance at sixty. Contrawise, many of the books you find boring and unreadable at twenty, may seem interesting and substantial at sixty.

I'm not yet at 60, but already I've come to realize reading books five, or ten years after first discovering them is oft like reading an entirely different book. Given this, the fact that there are so many books I want to read that I know about, so many books that I want to read that I have not yet discovered, and so many books I want to read that have not yet been written the answer is: no. I will never read everything I would like.

But I will still attempt it.

[Midnight Pete]

Will you read all the books you want to before you die?

I don't think so, because there will always be more books to read as long as writers keep writing them. And I by no means a speed-reader.

[oshima]

Nope. I skim through many books that look interesting at first glance and give up on them if they're not absolutely fascinating . For me, reading is sustenance. I read good book's to sustain my reason, enlarge my perspective, and replenish my curiosity for life. Reading for the mind, jogging for the respiratory system, sex for sanity.:D

[sjb77d]

And perhaps as I get older the value of reading will diminish. Surely a book read at 20 is worth more than a book read at 60 because you are granted an extra 40 years to live with it.

You most definitely shouldn't think this. I think that books will continue to have relevance to your life as you age, and as you gain life experiences you may find that greater insight and maturity will help you to enjoy them more than when you were younger. You'll be able to identify with more of the characters and their moral dilemmas after you've had a few of your own (characters AND moral dilemmas, that is :wink5:)
P.S. No, I doubt that I'll read all of the books on my list. That's why I'm moving more toward the classics.

[Voivod30]

The short answer is of course not. One would be doing well to read one percent of every thing they might enjoy that's been written. Having said that I don't think it matters what so ever. My biggest criticism with literary types is often the ingrained sense of competition. More doesn't mean better in most cases when it comes to all mediums of art. I'd rather read one book a year that really profoundly affects my sense of emotion that a book a week that I read just to be keeping up with the literary jonses so to speak. Finishing a novel is not the important part in my opinion it's the chase is better than the catch sort of admittedly cliche phrase situation. I think a person could read a dozen books during their entire lifetime and get more out of them then some one who has read a thousand books just to make themselves feel smart. I read because it's enjoyable and couldn't care less about any other aspect when it comes right down to it. I know I sound a bit harsh and really I think personal goals are fine but again to me reading is about art and creativity and I refuse to reduce such personal wonders to what comes down to an ego stroke for many.

[Buh4Bee]

There are so many wonderful stories to dive into, that I could live 3 lives and never be done.

[KilgoreT]

Interesting question, I have wondered about this too. If my appetite for reading keeps up for the next several decades the way it is now, there is no way I will be able to read all I want to. Furthermore, I have realized that I don't want to reach that point. When I was younger, I used to read a book (Harry Potter sticks out in my memory) and when I was done I would lament that I could never possibly find a book I enjoyed that much again. But I always did. Now I've gotten a little older, expanded my tastes, gained more of a sense of adventure, and now I am sure that there will always be more books out there to read.

I just hope I don't miss too many good ones.

[laymonite]

The short answer is no, but, if I had more days like the one Raymond Carver describes here, I would be a bit closer to my dreams:

Rain
By Raymond Carver

Woke up this morning with
a terrific urge to lie in bed all day
and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.
And gave over. Put myself entirely
in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my life over again?
Make the same unforgivable mistakes?
Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

[Orestes]

I am afraid I cannot..

I want to read all Gabriel García Márquez's books..
I want to read all Nikos Kazantzakis' books..
I want and I want....!!

[MarkBastable]

Yes, I expect so. There are only thirteen or fourteen left on the list, and I have a few years yet.

[hellsapoppin]

There are far too many books on my wish list and know that I will not get to read every one of them. But I'll likely come close as I do most of my reading via audio book.

[KCurtis]

Not if I die tomorrow.