As a confused and frustrated middle-schooler in SoCal in the 90s, I developed some very odd reading habits, to put it lightly. I didn’t read too deeply the books presented to me at school and I tried to read things that were very, I guess, not that age appropriate (or, in concerned librarian parlance: “hey kid, that’s not your section”-type of books).
Long story short, I’m not particularly sure how it happened, but I got my hands on one of Sidney Sheldon’s trashy novels—I think it was “A Stranger in the Mirror” (I discovered this because I just googled the only detail I remembered—it was about a comedian hitting it big in Hollywood). I only later learned that Sidney Sheldon was A.) the creator of the hit TV show “I Dream of Jeannie” (my sister and I used to watch this show, FYI) and B.) also an author of borderline trashy adult novels (Astaghfirullah-Astaghfirullah!). But again, I was an oddball 14-year-old completely unconcerned with genres or limited by particular filters put on by my super-busy immigrant parents.
The late-Mr. Sheldon must have been a great storyteller because I think I ended up consuming around 10 or so of his novels in a few months (yes, I know, great use of time!). Note to all (immigrant) parents: Make sure you have some worthwhile things for your children to read and for God’s sake, try to take some interest in what your children are reading—ask questions, damn it! Having said that, my immigrant parents probably took comfort in the fact that I was lugging around a 300 page book and figured it was all good. Oh well.
The years that followed, my reading habits took wild turns in the sense that by the time I was 17/18, I was obsessively reading Dilbert comic books, Bruce Lee Zen books, Carl Jung crap (apologies to all Jungians, but I later discovered it was a lot of bs), Benjamin Graham’s Security Analysis and Intelligent Investor (this served me well, I must admit), Russian short story anthologies and Tolstoy’s two-part personal diary that served as some sort of odd bible-like resource (I know, Astaghfirullah-Astaghfirullah!)! If that’s not diverse reading, i don’t know what qualifies. Oh yeah, I think now is a good time to mention that I worked at a large bookseller during my senior year of high school, so that somewhat explains the diversity. Having said that, my co-workers weren’t exactly big readers so I still find it perplexing.
Thankfully, these days I take a more balanced, thoughtful and slightly calculated approach to reading. Along with short stories that I find in the New Yorker and other similar publications (i.e. book reviews, long read websites, etc)., I dabble in off-the-beaten path anthologies like those put out by Granta (particularly their collection of travel writings from Africa, India, and Pakistan) to help introduce me to new writers (I just ordered the new Spook magazine’s first-ever fiction issue, which I’m very excited about!). I also keep a close eye on short-listed books on various literary prize websites (Booker, Dublin, etc) to help guide my reading. In the age of massive amounts of content, it’s absolutely essential to work on a personal filter for the type of content you desire to consume or you’ll become enslaved by Big Tech algorithms. It takes a little extra time, but I’ve setup these guardrails to help make better use of my time, but it comes at a cost—I’m always years behind the curve when it comes to fiction (and probably also non-fiction) simply because there’s so much quality stuff to read (and it doesn’t help that I’m a slow reader!)
For those of you who made it this far, I guess I should mention my recent reads. My latest two include Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (do you see what I mean, when I said I’m a little behind?). Both novels are absolute must-reads. I find myself saying that over and over again in my reviews, but, self-flattery aside, I think that’s mainly because I’ve forced myself to read only quality stuff due to the aforementioned filters. I’m just starting on Morrison’s collection about two years following her passing! As they say, better late than never!
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