I taught a graduate course in which mature and experienced teachers tried to list all the books they could remember reading. Many lists were 300 to 500 titles long. Some students hardly read and had short lists. Looking at each other's lists was a popular activity and often reminded someone of a book they had read but not recalled. Yesterday's blog post referred to a list in which seasoned writers and readers mention one book per person as one that stood out for that person during the last ten years.
The list and its aim intrigued me. I have been writing this blog for about ten years and I wondered what books have stood out for me. I memorized long ago the names C.S. Lewis and Jacques Barzun as authors that charmed and armed me with good ideas and language. I have benefitted from the writings of John Kemeny and many others. Still, I find I can't recall many books without some aid or prompt. I looked through my blog archive and my web site, at https://sites.google.com/site/kirbyvariety
There are many pages on that site about books. I found this list of fictional characters that I have read at least two books about:
https://sites.google.com/site/kirbyvariety/characters-that-i-have-revisited
I read "Incognito" within the past two years and have found it surprisingly helpful in thinking about my mind, my actions and those of others. I read "Educated" aloud to Lynn and have participated in a discussion of the book with others. I read "Leaving the Witness" by Scorah aloud and watched her TED talk. Those two books do show good examples of personal and important education, sometimes blooming only after schooling ends.
Buddhism and its American cousins as well as natural maturing process shows that we are different people at different times in our lives. What I find, delight in, and remember from "The Once and Future King" can be quite different when I am 20 or 50 or 80.
