Lis has a subscription to the New York Review of Books. And it has a personals section.
( So, what is it like, then? )

. . . is that it is what it is -- a list of the books that the people who responded to the survey read and re-read. That means that it's a closed system. It reflects a culture, but does not expand the culture.

I would find it more interesting to talk about a different sort of list -- a list of books selected by, well, experts as things that are worth reading. I won't apologize for preferring the opinions of experts to the fancies of the crowd. The latter is a legitimate area of study -- it teaches things about the people who choose those lists. It teaches things about the people, but not about the books. And it does, usually, point to books that are fun. And that's an important consideration.

But what about that other kind of list?
( Read more... )

You ever have that thing where your brain is just completely nonfunctional, because two completely different poems are running through it, and you can't get rid of either of them, so your head is just swimming and you feel dazed?

I've got A E Housman's "Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries" and T S Eliot's "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" running through my head simultaneously. AARRGH!