On rereading and annotating
I keep coming back to second-hand books, largely because it rewards patience.
I am Soren, a writer in Portland. This is where I write things down
I abandoned it halfway and came back a year later, glad I did.
What we do
Reading lists
Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years.
Monthly reading notes
The best passages are the ones I copied out by hand.
A small book club
Margins are where reading turns into thinking.
Essays on books
Little, repeatable steps beat big plans nearly every time.
Letters
A shelf of well-worn short stories
I read it once quickly and once gradually, and they were different books. A good library card is the cheapest luxury there is.
Revisiting novels
I tested the well-worn version first. It did not last. Margins are where reading turns into thinking.
Starting over with diaries
Every reading list says as much about the reader as the books. The result is not perfect, but it is truthful.
Keeping it simple: translations
For a long time I treated letters as an afterthought. The first four weeks were largely about unlearning.