you should join a literary society
i did, and now i know how much i don't know
Only a little over half of the US read even one book last year. That doesn’t feel surprising when I think about years and friend groups past, where I would be hard-pressed to find anyone aware of recent bestsellers, much less anyone interested in a more in-depth conversation around literature.
Now, many of my friends are avid readers. We get to lend each other books and make new suggestions. We sometimes talk about doing a book club, but who has the time? No one wants to be the bummer who didn’t do the assignment because they had a busy month, and understandably so.
Enter, the literary society.
I recently joined a literary society, one started in the pandemic by a group of current and former teachers and friends, which has picked up steam in the years since and now boasts around twenty members. We’re doing a summer book project, similar to the challenges they had (have?) for kids at the library growing up where you got stamps for reading a certain number of books. Our goal is one book for the summer, and the bonus level is two or more, so participation isn’t stressful. The structure is “eras” — yes, a Taylor reference — and everyone could decide what their own era was and what books they would read within it.
As I’ve been exploring writing a novel and bringing back this Substack and taking writing classes with Hugo House (huge shoutout!!!), I’ve become very aware of my lack of knowledge of literature. It’s very much a “the more you learn, the less you know” situation. I was a good writer and a happy reader growing up, so I stayed in the lowest level of Lit classes throughout my education to maintain that joy and not have it clouded by the insane pressures of GPAs and college applications. I’m deeply grateful to my parents and my guidance counselors for making that call, I don’t think I’d be back here now if they hadn’t.
But knowing that my knowledge is limited, I want to push myself outside of my comfort zone, leaning into areas that make me nervous, for lack of education on technical details of language.
My era for the summer is The Classics, and I’m trying to read one novel from each decade, from the 1800s through the 2020s.
I’m terrified of this decision, which I’ve learned means that it’s something I should push myself to do (a new concept for me, not enjoyable but ultimately rewarding).
I did a lot of research going into this project, and ultimately, I’m excited about the list I came up with (see the end of this newsletter for the full version!). I already read Persuasion by Jane Austen (worlds better than the Dakota Johnson movie adaptation), and next up is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
I’ve always been very affected by public sentiment, particularly what people I admire on the Internet say is Right or Wrong1, so it’s interesting for me to set reading goals like this one, with numbers and timelines, when it appears controversial to do so. Some seem to be of the mind that reading goals — on Goodreads, or shared on BookTok and BookTube2 or Bookstagram — are a commodification of reading, creating pressure of consumption for no sake other than to hit entirely subjective numerical goals and show them off to the world as achievements. Yes, they are subjective, but with only half the US reading at least one book last year, I find myself hard-pressed to see any issue with these goals and deadlines if it’s a motivator for people trying to increase their reading habits. At the end of the day, this is a habit, our brain is a muscle, and repetition and exposure are the only things that will increase our processing and understanding.
So I’m working on building my literature muscle — and if you want to join me on this ~journey~ please do tell me all about it.
What era would you pick to read? Are there any books I need to add to my Classics list?
The Classics Era Reading List
1810s - Persuasion, Jane Austen
1820s - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
1830s - Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
1840s - Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
1850s - The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
1860s - Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
1870s - Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
1880s - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
1890s - Dracula, Bram Stoker
1900s - Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
1910s - The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton
1920s - Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf (+ A Room of One’s Own)
1930s - Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
1940s - 1984, George Orwell
1950s - Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
1960s - The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
1970s - Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
1980s - Beloved, Toni Morrison
1990s - The Secret History, Donna Tartt
2000s - White Teeth, Zadie Smith
2010s - My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
2020s - Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
(People also say that too much of Substack is writing about process, but this is just all I think about right now so it is what it is.)
Highly recommend watching Jack Edwards for book commentary and recs! And I am obsessed with Christy Anne Jones for cozy writing process and general lit-world vlogs.