Ignite Boise 2 Speech
Here is the full text of what I intended to say at Ignite Boise 2. I maybe got about half of this out and it was probably a bit garbled too. Maybe is should just stick to writing…
Good evening. My name is Amanda Patchin and I’m here to talk about books.
On January First 2008 I had a two week old baby, an eleven month old todler and I owned and perated a bookstore/coffeehouse. I planned to read 200 books in the ensuing year in an effort to retain my sanity and avoid the dire effects of mommy-brain. The plan was a little nuts but it worked. I leaned a lot about myself, about literature and about intentionality.
Although I have always been a reader, simply making a plan for my reading changed my experience of it dramatically. I encourage you to be disciplined with your reading. If you think that discipline has no place in your leisure then you simply do not understand its true operation. Undisciplined leisure first bores, then palls, and finally, sickens. Let us avoid that slow death.
To start a good reading plan I highly recommend two excellent books on learning and humanity. They will challenge you to sharpen your mind and increase your efforts.
Gilbert Highet’s Man’s Unconquerable Mind will give you hope for the future of mankind by teaching you about its past. His premis is simply that learning always triumphs. His evidence – history.
The other is C.S. Lewis’ Abolition of Man. Of course, Lewis is the essential 20th century author. He is so much more than Narnia. He will stir in you a deep longing for great literature and teach you how to think critically about an author’s rhetoric. Both of these boods are quick and delightful to read.
I’d love for everyone to read hundreds of boods a year but simply reading something is a start. The following is a list of those books you must read before you can really live. It is painfully short…but they only gave me five minutes up here! For more complete lists of suggested reading, check my website.
My first recommendation comes from the year 397. I know. That’s OLD. But chronological snobbery is not only easy and common but also asinine. The writings of the 4th century theologian St Augustine are an excellent antidote to this foolishness. He was urbane, wise and a close reasoner and he can teach us that there have been ages wiser than ours. The Confessions will introduce his great mind although The City of God is his mightier work. It has been said – and justly said – that all of Western thought is but a footnote to Augustine.
Next: Samuel Johnson was a witty and acerbi man. Boswell’s biography captures this and is supremely entertaining. Johnson’ own work is monumental. The man single-handedly wrote an entire dictionary of such scope and accuracy that it stands today as a landmark of lexicography. Read this bio and you will find yourself constantly quoting it as Boswell’s rendering of Samuel Johnson’s conversation is roaringly funny!
Next: Homer’s great epics. The Iliad and The Odyssey have been justly revered for millenia. They are strong, brave, and bloody adventures. One ought to read them quickly to enjoy their natural momentum. The Odyssey was the lat book I read in 2008 and it kept me at the edge of my seat as I tore through it in a single day. I triumphed in Odysseus’ victory as I realized my own, finishing my project on December 30th. These poems are full of pathos, full of nobility and tragedy…much like life with 17 poopy diapers a day.
All six Austen novels are beyond necessary. They are rife with everyday wisdom and will enrich the life of an attentive reader. Man or woman, you must read at least one, if not all, of them. These books cannot dissapoint.
Finally, no life is complete without a thorough consumption of the novels and stories of P.G. Wodehouse. No one else has been so funny, so consistently, for so long. The man wrote 96 hilarious novels and countless short stores. The Code of the Woosters is one of the brightest but choosing is like picking a favorite star in the heavens. Reading them all should be on your bucket list! Because laughing until milk comes out your nose is an essential part of life.
Now. If I have inspired you even a little, I implore you, go out and start reading more, reading better. To riff on Michael Pollan’s dictum: Read books, Read them well, Mostly Classics.
I close with a quote from Anthony Trollope. “The habit of reading is the only enjoyment I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade, It will be there to support you when all other resources are gone. It will make your hours pleasant as long as you live.”
Thank you!