reading your reading

it is amazing how what i read inspires me to read more. i was incredibly proud of myself for reading james joyce's ulysses - a definite feat. but nothing makes me happier than to read something that mentions a book i have read. i am currently reading a collection of essays by george orwell, and multiple times he mentions joyce's book. the best mention is in describing something else. for example, in "inside the whale" orwell compares ulysses to henry miller's tropic of cancer. no matter if the comparison is positive or negative (in this case it is positive), it compels me to read the other book. i know what my feelings were about one of the pieces; i want to know if my feelings about the other will be as described. the only drawback is with difficult reads. ulysses is a notoriously hard book to read, and i tackled it without any assistance. if i had previously read tropic of cancer and then read this essay, i think reading ulysses would have been much easier.

it is a nice feeling when a writer is referring to other pieces (novels, songs, art, what have you), and you can say that you know about what they are talking. in another part of this essay orwell mentions two books i have read previously. one of which is wuthering heights. he describes it as a "perverse and morbid book". oh, how true! at that moment, it was like an old woman in a gospel church, "hallelujah!" reading that put me in the author's thoughts, established his point of view, and showed that i agreed with him. which makes me want to follow his recommendations, like reading tropic of cancer.