Today, there are many books to read. What do
you think of the choice of books?
Nowadays in one language only, scores of new
books are published in a month, and thousands in a
year. Think of the number in all the languages in the
world!
Thinking of books in English only, no one can hope
to read them all. Even a man of leisure can read
only a limited number of books in a year. And most
readers are busy people, they can spare only a little
time a day to reading. Try as we can, a large
number of books must remain forever unread. So a
choice of books must be made.
On what lines should the choice be made? Well, it is
good to begin with classics. A “classic” of a book has
stood the test of time, and has been placed by critics
and readers of taste in the first class. A book that is
the rage of the moment may be forgotten in a few
years, it may be worth reading, or it may not. But a
book that has been read for generations with
pleasure and profit, has proved itself to be worth
reading. So let the young reader begin with some of
these. Let him read, in fiction, some of the novels of
Scott, Dickens, Thackeray; in history, Macaulay,
Gibbon, Green; in poetry, Milton, Wordsworth,
Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning; in general
literature, Lamb’s Essays, De Quincey, Ruskin,
Carlyle, Stevenson, and so on. These books will
help to form his taste for good literature.
For the rest, individual taste must determine the
choice. Some will take to history and biography;
some to travel and adventure; some to science and
philosophy; others to general literature and poetry.
Whatever the subject chosen, the best books, old
and modern, should be sought out and read
carefully. After all, it is not the number of books one
reads that counts most. A few books read
thoughtfully will be of more value to the reader than
many skimmed through and forgotten.
