{"id":193,"date":"2012-08-29T23:54:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T06:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/?p=193"},"modified":"2012-08-29T23:54:10","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T06:54:10","slug":"a-readers-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/a-readers-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reader\u2019s Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEric is in the country finishing a novel.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0He\u2019s not a writer, he\u2019s just a very slow reader.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ancient Barry Cryer joke.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do I keep my Reader\u2019s Diary so assiduously when I eschew all other tasks?<\/p>\n

Good question.\u00a0\u00a0 But who\u2019s asking?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am.\u00a0 Aha!\u00a0\u00a0 Who are you<\/em>?\u00a0 I am me.<\/p>\n

Who are we talking to when we talk to ourselves?<\/em><\/p>\n

I think all writers talk to themselves.\u00a0 That is why they write.\u00a0 That is why I write anyway: to find out what I think.\u00a0 To discover that hidden voice inside yourself is the great joy of writing.\u00a0 Oh look what I think!<\/em>\u00a0 Writing is a search for the undiscovered self.\u00a0 But writers also write because they read.\u00a0 Would it be possible to find a writer who did not?\u00a0 Someone who hadn\u2019t come to writing first through the joy of reading?\u00a0 I doubt it.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t be much of a writer. Reading opens up the realm of the mind, reading connects you intimately with the voices of hundreds of great thinkers, and reading keeps you honest.<\/p>\n

I love books and I love reading and a long time ago on my first computer I began to list the books in my London library for a game we were working on.\u00a0 So I have an incomplete list of books from before 1992, \u00a0and then from 1993 I listed books as I read them.\u00a0 Even in those days I was getting to the age when I would be half way through an Elmore Leonard and have a sudden feeling that I knew what was about to happen.\u00a0 Keeping a list was a simple and efficient aide memoir, made possible by the computer age.\u00a0 I began to add brief comments for myself, so I could recall what I thought about a particular book and often I included notes on where I was when I was reading something.\u00a0 (Hence this summer\u2019s sub heading:\u00a0 Reading Jane Austen in Venice<\/em>.) \u00a0\u00a0Occasionally I would rant at some poor author, or the title would be followed by a cryptic \u201cChucked it!\u201d\u00a0 I am an intolerant reader, forgiving in public but ruthless in the study.<\/p>\n

Barchester Towers.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anthony Trollope\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 March 1993<\/p>\n

So memorable I have forgotten the title. (Irony marks needed)\u00a0 Something to do with becoming Dean of somewhere.\u00a0 I find him effete and I\u2019m afraid dull.\u00a0\u00a0 John Major\u2019s favourite.\u00a0\u00a0 Figures.\u00a0\u00a0 I left the book in Mustique….<\/p>\n

May Week Was In June.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Clive James\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 April 1993<\/p>\n

Clive and I!\u00a0\u00a0 The ego has landed.\u00a0\u00a0 More tales of the man who took Cambridge by storm.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was love at first sight.\u00a0\u00a0 Clive James fell in love with himself at first sight.\u00a0 Curiously touching, funny and pretentious at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0Just like Clive.<\/p>\n

Discreet references to friends would creep in.\u00a0\u00a0 Mike Nichols invariably introduced me to some new writer I would enjoy, and since the list was only for myself there was no reason not to mention this.\u00a0\u00a0 So, bit by bit, it became a kind of intellectual journal, a map of where my mind had been and what it had been thinking while reading.<\/p>\n

Why did I begin to share my reading list online?<\/em><\/p>\n

That is harder to explain.\u00a0\u00a0 Did I want to say \u201cLook at clever me, look at all these books I\u2019ve read?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Partly I suppose.\u00a0 Ego is extremely hard to deny.<\/p>\n

I first published my reading list after I moved to California in the Nineties, when I was still running PythOnline<\/em>, a quotidian task which eventually became promethean.\u00a0 My ambition had been to create an amusing web site to which the Pythons could contribute and where I could vent my occasional spleen and unfold my propensity for satire.\u00a0 But as the Python contributions soon dried up and I was left to deal with it solo, \u00a0the task became increasingly frustrating.\u00a0\u00a0 Each day there would be an ever growing mountain of Python questions to answer, and when I did attempt to answer them:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not Eric Idle\u201d they would say.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes I am\u201d I would reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo you\u2019re not\u201d they would insist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen fuck off\u201d I would add.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh.\u00a0 You are <\/em>him.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I shared my reading list initially out of desperation to keep it real, and to provide fresh material, for soon I found I had a highly unpaid job, a monster that daily demanded new food.<\/p>\n

There were\u00a0a couple of\u00a0unexpected bonuses from publishing.\u00a0 First\u00a0there was a small but grateful feedback from lonely readers round the world who were happy I had shared with them.\u00a0 This was an encouraging step forward from fielding endless Python questions, (\u201cWhich one were you?\u201d) and secondly, the splendid Dave Eggers, whom I had got to know when he wrote a very amusing profile for The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0about the chair I wrote Spamalot<\/em> on (which, yes, I have carefully preserved in plastic wrap for The Rainy Day Sale<\/em>) emailed me to ask if Michael Chabon could be in touch.\u00a0\u00a0 What a lovely gift that was.\u00a0 And yes Dave, I will always do your Reading Benefits despite being rather tired of performing.\u00a0\u00a0 We must encourage reading.\u00a0\u00a0 It is the great escape for the young.\u00a0 It opens doors into the mind of ourselves and others.\u00a0 It permits the solitary to communicate, even when they feel most isolated.\u00a0 What possible use is it?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 Every single possible use.\u00a0\u00a0 It defines us.\u00a0 It creates us.\u00a0 It involves us.<\/p>\n

So I have been assiduously keeping my summer reading list, \u00a0it\u2019s been a good one with new books by Martin Amis, William Boyd, Jake Arnott, and (my tip for The Booker<\/em>) John Banville.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll publish it shortly.\u00a0 \u00a0Meanwhile if you check out Reading <\/em>\u00a0you\u2019ll see where I got to so far this year before I set off on my travels\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEric is in the country finishing a novel. \u00a0He\u2019s not a writer, he\u2019s just a very slow reader.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ancient Barry Cryer joke.   Why do I keep my Reader\u2019s Diary so assiduously when I eschew all other tasks? Good question.\u00a0\u00a0 But who\u2019s asking?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am.\u00a0 Aha!\u00a0\u00a0 Who are you?\u00a0 I am me. Who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}