Keeping it simple: novels
For a long time I treated second-hand books as an afterthought. I abandoned it halfway and came back a year later, glad I did. Most problems with diaries turn out to be problems with time. I keep a short list of things to try next; reading aloud is near the top.
What I kept
Margins are where reading turns into thinking. I read it once in a hurry and once bit by bit, and they were different books. This is less a guide and more a record of what worked for me.
What did not work
If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. Short books are not lesser books; regularly they are the opposite. Every autumn I revisit the same questions about second-hand books. Every winter I revisit the same questions about novels.
Closing thoughts
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. The difficult part is rarely the hard part; consistency is. The result is not perfect, but it is truthful. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes.
It took me nine attempts to see the pattern. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. Good short stories is largely a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. It is not glamorous, but it holds up.
- Ask someone at the library
- Revisit second-hand books after a week
- Do less reading slowly, more reading aloud
- Compare against last spring
Notes along the way
There is no single right way to approach reading aloud, but some ways are kinder than others. There is no single right way to approach reading bit by bit, but some ways are kinder than others. Most problems with libraries turn out to be problems with time. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about reading lists. The well-worn part is rarely the hard part; consistency is.
Somewhere between a second-hand bookshop and home, the notion finally made sense. Most problems with margins turn out to be problems with time. I shifted my mind about reading lists twice while writing this. Most problems with second-hand books turn out to be problems with time. Nothing here requires a library card, though it does make things easier.
Between annotating and browsing second-hand shops, the second one taught me more. The particulars matter less than the practice of paying attention. Here is what shifted, and what stayed exactly the same.