50 Books I’d Love To Read

While I may not be *quite* as enthusiastic as Reading Rainbow‘s Levar Burton, the summer after graduating college is finally the time to start reading what I want to again. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t read for pleasure in years. Trying to navigate through the library or a Barnes and Noble is sometimes overwhelming . . . and distracting (arrogantly loud blenders and espresso machines, an army of store associates asking if I can find everything, no places to sit, people talking on cell phones, etc). So I usually order something online, blissfully anticipate filling a perceived sense of future leisure time by reading, and when then once the book arrives, my life always gets too hectic again (I like to read for a couple of hours, not in 20 minute sprints before bed). While I’m trying to get better at that, I’m also interested in reading a collection of books that have a common theme. Something real and meaningful, as a way of self enlightenment, to deepen my perception and understanding of this crazy world.

Newsweek’s article “What To Read Now and Why,” instantly sparked my interest. According to the article, “. . . No one needs another best-of list telling you how great The Great Gatsby is. What we do need, in a world with precious little time to read (and think), is to know which books—new or old, fiction or nonfiction—open a window on the times we live in, whether they deal directly with the issues of today or simply help us see ourselves in new and surprising ways.”  The list includes titles, some hundreds of years old, that are in some fashion relevant to the political, cultural, economic, and historical times of the present.

I’m particularly interested in Nicholas Carr’s The Big Switch, William H Whyte’s City: Rediscovering The Center, and Don Watson’s American Journeys.  Click here to view the entire list.