1/17/1895
I am so crazy about reading that I can’t let a book drop until I see its end, even if it is as dull as a cookery recipe.
7/10/1898
I have written a good deal since coming home and am slowly but I think surely, climbing up the ladder. I think my recent work is much better than any I have yet done. I study hard and struggle to improve.
12/31/1898
How I love my work. I seem to grow more and more wrapped up in it as the days pass and other hopes and interests fail me. Nearly everything I think or do or say is subordinated to a desire to improve my work. I study people and events for that, I think and speculate and read for that.
4/4/1899
I have no doubt that it is a wise ordinance of fate — or Providence? — that I cannot get all the books I want or I should certainly never accomplish much. I am simply a “book drunkard.” Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them.
5/1/1899
Dear old world, you are very beautiful and I love you well.
5/1/1900
Oh, as long as we can work we can make life beautiful! And life is beautiful in spite of all its sorrow and care.
5/1/1900
I also re-read “King Solomon’s Mines” lately. I always liked it because it was so full of adventure and I do love that with a love that has outlived childhood. What care I if it be “wild and improbable” and “lacking in literary art”? I refuse to be any longer hampered in my likes and dislikes by such cannons of criticism. The one essential thing I demand of a book is that it should interest me. If it does, I forgive it any every other fault.
4/4/1899 is me to a T. 🙂
🙂
I think this was her saving grace during those long, dark, lonely years living with her grandmother. She did have plenty of time to read and develop her writing.
Love the first one, Caroline. Funny thing is, I even find reading “a cookery recipe” fascinating. 🙂
I could read a cookbook like a novel, sometimes.
This is great, Caroline! I love the one essential thing she demanded of a book: that it interest her. And I love that she was able to forgive other faults as long as the book satisfied that demand. I feel the same way.
I love this, too. I used to be quite a book snob, but now that I write, I realize there are so many great stories, many of which have surprisingly interested me. For those that don’t, I know they’ll interest someone. It’s a generous way to think about books.
As for the faults, every book has them. Comments like this have to come from authors — those of us who know how writing works and its limitations. This is generous, too.
I’m also 4/4/1899 — but not 1/17/1895. I’ve read my share of “cookery recipes” with great interest, but I do give up on books I’m not enjoying.
I love that this post has become a personality profile of sorts!
I like 5/1/1900! I’ve been enjoying this posts, Caroline – thanks!
It’s a great way to look at reading, isn’t it? I’m SO enjoying my “private” reading year. And I”m looking forward to getting your BUTTERFLIES soon.