it's all anyone's talking about on twitter
books, beauty, history, folklore. Dickens lover. married to @littleseamstress. gets dressed up like a pillow so she's always in bed. patreon.com/sketchesbyboze, https://linktr.ee/sketchesbyboze
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it's all anyone's talking about on twitter
The most alarming thing about the internet is how it kills our capacity for delight. People spend hours scrolling glass-eyed through content that brings only crumbs of amusement. Real joy is found in the real world: in reading, in starlight, in birdsong, in service to others.
If you’re someone who still reads for pleasure, you are a marvel. If you’re able to unplug from all the chaos of our entertainment culture and disappear into the warmth and solace of a book, that is a rare gift and I’m very glad to know you.
not reading books is what got us into this mess
just finished SPQR! And I quite enjoy Louise Penny.
If you’re someone who still reads for pleasure, you are a marvel. If you’re able to unplug from all the chaos of our entertainment culture and disappear into the warmth and solace of a book, that is a rare gift and I’m very glad to know you.
Ray Bradbury; a world where no one reads books is no different from a world without books
Students don’t need chromebooks and AI tutors, they need Shakespeare and Jane Austen and the Greek myths, they need the Arthurian Legends and the Arabian Nights, they need constant exposure to nature, fairytales, folklore, poetry and beauty.
People are reading AI-generated synopses of books and then claiming they read 100 books in a week. This is how the abolition of books began in Fahrenheit 451: classics were condensed into five-minute summaries for those too busy to do the reading. Later came the burnings.
People are reading AI-generated synopses of books and then claiming they read 100 books in a week. This is how the abolition of books began in Fahrenheit 451: classics were condensed into five-minute summaries for those too busy to do the reading. Later came the burnings.
I read 186 books in the first six months of this year. In today's essay (link below) I explain how I did it, and how you can rekindle your love of reading and become a voracious reader in an age of distraction.
"Books are portals linking us with all that has come before and all that has ever been thought. To read a book at the drugstore is to transform the drugstore—and ourselves—into “something rich and strange.” Latest from Boze on Biblioll College: bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/how-to-rek...
that wasn't my point! I want folks to know that they are capable of reading daily if they try.
“Reading is now countercultural; a fanatical devotion to books is the surest way to be noticed in an era when countless millions seem eager to dispense with the burden of thinking entirely.” bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/how-to-rek...
I read 186 books in the first six months of this year. In today's essay (link below) I explain how I did it, and how you can rekindle your love of reading and become a voracious reader in an age of distraction.
People say, “if you’re not using AI to write, you’ll be left behind!” meanwhile study after study has shown severe and immediate cognitive decline in those who use it regularly. I’m still capable of reading and have a functioning brain, so who’s really being left behind here?
If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.
![[quoting a tweet by fractalcounty that reads, “today I learned that there are actual people irl who get genuinely upset if they catch you using chatgpt. like they view it as a serious moral failing in certain circles”]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/bafkreihjvnz2ttxl7z4a2b3a4kylubobgvqxmjhwz6yuetuztzoc4g2s4y@jpeg "Click to view full size")
so dystopian
not the same thing and you know it.
"a revolution without dancing is not worth having."
If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.
Frankly I don't like living in an era where no one can read, Big Tech is trying to abolish the educational system as we know it and PBS is gutted because those in power don't see the value in offering children educational programming to counter the ceaseless tide of slop.
The books were chained up so they wouldn't be stolen because they were so valuable. Monks preserved and transmitted classic literature.
it's great
A key point in Fahrenheit 451 is that books were banned because they made people depressed and uncomfortable. The novel's protagonist, Montag, is taken into custody after he reads a poem that makes a woman cry because she realizes the emptiness of her life.
![[quoting a tweet from isabelunraveled in which she rails against depressing books that get branded as “great writing”]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/bafkreidzblpxefncqr2c73v7myen325wvtk767i7rw4zcc32c3hj4gzv5a@jpeg "Click to view full size")
I'm sure I've asked you this but have you seen the Jeremy Brett Rebecca? We've spent the past week watching it. It's fantastic.
A key point in Fahrenheit 451 is that books were banned because they made people depressed and uncomfortable. The novel's protagonist, Montag, is taken into custody after he reads a poem that makes a woman cry because she realizes the emptiness of her life.
Not enough people understand that a world where no one reads books is just as bad as a world without any books. Those who seek to make you illiterate don't need to burn books. They just need to take away any interest in reading them.
I've just spent three days on holiday at the sea-coast and I'm sorry to say I completely get why Victorian doctors prescribed trips to the sea for the nerves.
No. Ignore this. You are capable of reading books again. The brain is highly malleable and you only need a few screen-free weeks to recover your focus. You will be amazed how quickly the hunger for reading returns. You will be inhaling words
Feeling more and more thankful I grew up before the internet was omnipresent, when we spent most of our time watching old movies on cable or browsing encyclopedias and accidentally acquiring a level of literacy that will cause future generations to think us wizards.
That's totally fine! People are free to enjoy different things but the tone of that other person was quite rude.
everything you said is wrong, but cool!
I'm begging everyone who hasn't yet to read this book. The premise, about a man living in an infinite house, is terrifically inventive, and it goes in a direction you don't expect. No other living author writes with such a keen sense of horror & beauty. The book of the decade.
I read that story to Mrs Owl last year on our honeymoon. Someone on twitter said it's their favorite short story of all time!
I debated including Cat's Cradle, my favorite Vonnegut novel
Just a reminder that I don't endorse the personal opinions or private behavior of every author on this list. Happy reading! bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/bozes-eigh...
I wrote an essay reviewing and ranking my eighty-five FAVORITE books from thirty years of reading - the plays, poems, mysteries, fantasies, diaries that have shaped me. Please tell me in the comments which books I missed. (link below)
“I asked Grok.” “I asked Chat.” I didn’t ask anyone because I grew up without screens and reading encyclopedias was our sole source of entertainment. Now I’m a living compendium of useless knowledge and for the next twenty minutes we are going on an adventure of learning, Brian.
People say, “There’s zero benefit to studying dead languages and old books.” The benefit is that you won’t grow up to become the sort of person who spends your one precious life online, yelling at strangers that they must never learn beautiful things.
Very unpopular opinion but I think in a healthier world our schools would teach the so-called “useless things”: Latin, old poetry, classic cinema, how to read and enjoy challenging novels. Studying these things won’t make you a better person. But they will give you a better life.
these vintage library promotional posters go so hard
We need a return to analog culture: handwritten letters, seeing films in the cinema, reading books, in-person visits, time in the outdoors. We weren't meant to spend our whole lives online. The joys of tangible living are something no one can take from you.
I kid you not: I was just leaving the library when an old lady, seeing my tower of books, said to my wife, “All these books will keep us out of trouble—and they didn’t cost a penny! Everything is so expensive, I can’t afford groceries… I may as well go to the library!”
Dress it up in progressive language but you're cheating yourself by not doing the work. This is the worst thing about AI: millions of students refusing to learn, taking zero interest in the world around them, empty in mind and heart. Your punishment is the person you will become.
Changing my syllabus rn to include a section on why students should not use IA and finish it with "but if you are so inclined to use it, your punishment is the person you will become".
you wouldn't be having to do this if we lived in a sane society
Dress it up in progressive language but you're cheating yourself by not doing the work. This is the worst thing about AI: millions of students refusing to learn, taking zero interest in the world around them, empty in mind and heart. Your punishment is the person you will become.
On my blog I’ve compiled a list of 35 more books for children and teens (and perhaps even you, ambitious reader) to enjoy during the summer. Happy reading! bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-ultima...
Holes, by Louis Sachar. Wrongly convicted of stealing sneakers, Stanley Yelnats is sentenced to a camp in the Texas desert where he and other kids must dig holes for unexplained reasons, in a story that gets wackier and more labyrinthine with every turn of the plot.
The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. A series of lyrical vignettes centering on Esperanza, a young woman coming of age in a Latina neighborhood, and her colorful neighbors, from Elenita the witch-lady to Cathy, who has “cats and cats and cats.”
The Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of my favorite series in the sixth grade, these books follow young Laura and her family as they traverse the plains, battle snowstorms & starvation, and carve out a home on the frontier. The Long Winter is the best of the lot.
Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman. “If I had to be born a lady, why not a rich lady?” laments Catherine, the daughter of a medieval noble, to her diary. Her family seeks to marry her off to a number of unsuitable suitors, but the headstrong Catherine isn’t having it.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry. The story of a world in which no one writes or paints or makes music because making art is too difficult and evokes too many complex emotions. One boy is chosen to experience the memories that the rest of the world has given up.
Tom’s Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce. The story of a boy whose garden transports him several decades into the past, where he befriends a young woman. Philip Pullman loves this book, and Steven Moffat has called it an inspiration for his work on Doctor Who.
Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi. Similar to the Percy Jackson books, but with Hindu mythology rather than Greek. After foolishly lighting a lamp on a dare at a museum, Aru Shah inadvertently releases a demon who seeks to awaken a god who could destroy time.
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, by Sir Roger Lancelyn Green. Green succeeds in adapting the Arthur stories because he understands that they’re defined by their mystery and weirdness. Outside of Malory, this is probably my favorite Arthur anthology.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas. After escaping from an island prison, Edmond Dantes finds a fabled treasure and seeks revenge on the friends who put him there. I can’t think of a single reader who doesn’t adore this book. Among the most beloved classics.
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. Mole, Ratty and Badger undertake jaunts along the river, their rambles intersecting with the escapades of rambunctious friend Toad, who takes a keen joy in fast cars and mischief.
Nevermoor, by Jessica Townsend. My favorite middle-grade series of the past decade, centering on a girl named Morrigan Crow who’s rescued from death by the enigmatic Jupiter North (a loving homage to the Doctor) and taken to the London-esque Nevermoor.
The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights, by John Masefield. Before Narnia, before the Pevensies, there was Kay Harker. This delirious brew of witches, talking foxes, Roman soldiers, time travel, Cockney baddies and sinister old ladies was much admired by Lewis.
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. Essential reading for all children of a certain age. My eight-year-old nephew became obsessed with these books when we read them aloud together, standing atop his bed and blowing a toy horn whenever Susan’s horn was mentioned.
The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart. Really delightful series narrating the peculiar adventures of Kate, Constance, Sticky and Reynie, who must solve a number of puzzles as they work to defeat a sinister organization.
The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin. When paper mogul Samuel Westing dies, his sixteen surviving relatives learn that he’s leaving his entire 200 million-dollar fortune to the one who wins the Westing Game. There’s some great character work here and I cry, hard, at the end.
First: please make sure your kids read this summer. We’re in a crisis. The percentage of kids who read for pleasure has dipped from 35 percent (in 1984) to 27 percent (in 2012) to 13 percent (in 2023). As Faith Moore says, “Civilization literally depends” on kids reading. That said...
Summer is here, and many of you are seeking books to keep your kids occupied during the school break. Today I bring a summer reading guide with essential classics for kids and teens. THREAD:
this is key
kindles are essential!!
And by the way, if you want more suggestions, Matthew Walther has written an excellent essay on how he reads one hundred pages or more each day. thelampmagazine.com/issues/issue...
06. Remember that reading is fun. There’s a reason books were the chief entertainment for American pioneers and British coal-miners of the nineteenth century. We once had a massively literate working-class, and I believe we could revive a culture of reading for pleasure.
05. Keep a reading diary. It can be something as simple as jotting down the titles of every book you complete. Seeing those titles begin to add up is enormous fun, and will motivate you to want to keep reading.
But once you realize those diversions are the very things keeping you from reading, it becomes easier to prioritize reading as a hobby. Books are both good for the brain (in the same way exercise is good for the body) and more emotionally rewarding than much of what we consume.
04. Reduce the level of non-book entertainments. This is the main reason most people struggle with reading, because we live in a world of infinite diversions. Harold Bloom said, “There are enormous obstacles to deep reading now. The tyranny of the visual is a frightening thing.”
03. Read before falling asleep. This is actually where I get most of my reading done. Resolve that for the next hour or however long, you’re not going to look at your phone. There’s something almost hypnotically soothing about reading in silence at the end of a day.
02. Carry a book with you. I find it very unsettling when I visit airports and everyone—babies, kids, parents—is glued to a screen. We spend a good chunk of our lives in DMV lines and sitting in diners. You can get a shocking amount of reading done in those spare moments.
01. Start with shorter books and build up your reading stamina. If you’re like me a decade ago, your ability to focus has been sapped by other media. Luckily, this is a problem with a simple solution. The more you read, the easier reading will become.
I went through a massive reading slump in 2014. Today I typically read 30 books in a given month. And I want to offer some practical suggestions on how to get back into reading, from someone who’s done it. Thread:
We just hosted a dinner party and someone said, “I wonder where the word raspberry comes from?” I leapt up, shouted, “LET’S FIND OUT” and ran to my study, emerging a moment later with Skeat’s Etymological Dictionary (1883). (This is why I don’t get invited to parties.)
the cultivation of curiosity is essential. I fear that curiosity is dying from our world.
I keep hearing that long-form storytelling (whether television or books) is endangered because folks today don't have the attention span, and it worries me.
School ingrains in us that reading is a chore. It helps to remember that you're not being tested; you're engaging in a pastime that has given people pleasure for centuries. Learning is fun, reading is fun, and immersion in a good book is one of life's greatest joys.
Kurt Vonnegut said, “Only well-informed, warmhearted people can teach others things they’ll always remember and love. A computer teaches a child what a computer can become. An educated human teaches a child what a child can become” and THAT is why AI will never replace teachers.
Lastly, I wrote a lengthy essay on Moby-Dick, the medieval Titanic, the Book of Job, the death of Joy Davidman and the mystery of suffering. This was an enormous labor of love; please check it out! bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/the-shadow...
Oh, and here’s a complete list of all the books I read this month:
BONUS: I’m reading The Plantagenets by Dan Jones and When Christ & His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Jones belongs in the first tier of medieval historians. Penman is unmatched in the genre of historical fiction, her books both scrupulously researched and deeply comforting.
O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker. Barker only wrote one novel, but oh, what a novel. This tale of a sixteen-year-old girl who would rather be reading Gothic fiction and traipsing about the Scottish Highlands with her pet raven is very nearly perfect. One of my favorite books ever.
Wonderstruck, by @helendecruz.net. “Wonder is a sudden surprise of the soul,” said Descartes, and de Cruz traces the effects of wonder on science, religion and magic, in the process weaving in Pascal, Socrates and Brandon Sanderson. We are lucky to have this book, and her.
Gisli Sursson’s Saga. One of the more beloved sagas of Iceland, featuring cursed swords, deadly quarrels, a man who uses whey to extinguish a housefire, and yet another in a long line of heroic outlaws who flout society’s mores and are hunted to their deaths. Thrilling!
A Grief Observed, by C. S. Lewis. “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” When his beloved wife Joy died of cancer at the age of 45, after three years of marriage, Lewis penned four intensely personal journals recording his crisis of faith. This is his Book of Job.
The Penguin Book of Hell, by Scott Bruce. From ancient Sumeria to the present day, Bruce documents how afterlife journeys have evolved. Pope Gregory the Great wrote a story that sounds oddly like the plot of The Good Place. Purgatory visions used to be more common. Fascinating!
Why Read Moby-Dick?, by Nathaniel Philbrick. The acclaimed historian explains his lingering fascination with a book that tends to provoke obsession, making the case that Moby-Dick is, indisputably, the greatest work of fiction written by an American.
Briefly, a Delicious Life, by @nellstevens.bsky.social . One of the oddest books I read this month, the story of a young woman who died in the Middle Ages and whose ghost now spies upon two lovers, Frederic Chopin & George Sand. The premise is irresistible, the narrative voice infectious.
A Month in the Country, by J. L. Carr. A veteran of the Great War, an artist, is assigned the task of restoring a medieval mural in a rural English church. During the ensuing month he makes friends, falls aimlessly in love and puzzles over mysteries of time and eternity.
The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia, by @lauramille.bsky.social. The best non-fiction book I read this month was Miller’s loving dissection of her fraught relationship with the Narnia books and their place in the English canon. Astute and enjoyable, a pure pleasure.
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. Dr. Frankl was deported to Auschwitz for the crime of being Jewish, where he lost his pregnant wife. Here he describes life in a German concentration camp and ponders how we might find meaning in our most terrible afflictions.
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, by Ian Mortimer. One of the best books written for a popular audience about social life in the Middle Ages. Mortimer tells adventurous time-travellers where to travel, what money to carry, and the best places to grab an ale.
In May I read 30 books, among them a Holocaust memoir, a neglected Gothic classic, a collection of afterlife visions, several books on the Middle Ages, a saga, a very strange ghost story and a late masterpiece by C. S. Lewis. Today I’m sharing my favorites:
People think I'm kidding when I say there is a fascist agenda behind the promotion of AI. These devices are designed to kill literacy. We grew up in one of those rare periods of history where most people could read, and those who can read are harder to control.
![[post from Jessica Malone Grinder that reads, “Just your friendly neighborhood English teacher turned librarian here to remind you that literacy has always been political.”]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/bafkreidtlyfbubjnuc2ackp4xwzaamleocwfys5qyobjuwmfok377qe57e@jpeg "Click to view full size")
