10 BOOKS FOR GRAZING

[@sara-yk1sq]

I wish if there were more people around like you. Just someone to have a conversation with about great books. Also you're shelves rock! Love you're reviews

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Very, very kind of you to say!

[@leoquesto9183]

Many continually grazed on Montaigne. One notable grazer was Shakespeare.

[@jennyhirschowitz1999]

Deliciously pilled up in my bedroom/ library for quiet indiscriminate grazing: ……. I treasure my old first ed. The Anatomy of Bibliomania. Holbrook Jackson’s beguiling opening essay is transporting. Allow me to suggest in addition: Bouillabaise for Bibliophiles, edited with introduction and notes by William Targ (editor of Carousel for Biibliophiles); the little masterpieces contained in Machado de Assis’ Epitaph of a Small Winner; Isaac Babel’s collection of shorts You Must Know Everything; A Treasury of Yiddish Poetry, edited by Irving Howe & Eliezer Greenberg; Roget’s International Thesaurus; The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera ………. I’ll really must curb my enthusiasm right now. A mere ‘Thank You, Sir’ is woefully inadequate for the hours of delightful erudition you gift so generously to so many. Miss Jenny

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I absolutely adore _The Anatomy of Bibliomania_ ! I had a book review published in _Rain Taxi_ on the latest translation of de Assis’s masterpiece! Thanks for sharing some of your grazing pasture with me. 😁

[@arafatsafin650]

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. Its my favourite book. No matter which page I open up there's something beautiful and profound to read.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I finally dove into Pessoa about 2 years back with the poetry collection A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe (trans. Richard Zenith), and I was pleasantly shocked at how good it was. The more I read of and about Pessoa, the more intrigued I am--so it was a great treat to grab the recent 1,000-page biography from Zenith. As for Book of Disquiet specifically, I'm saving it for when I know the time is right. It's like a Christmas present I've long been hoping for and now that it's in my hands, I want to admire its wrapping for a while longer.

[@arafatsafin650]

@@LeafbyLeaf The poetry collection is very good but The Book of Disquiet is perfection. You will be amazed to find out how someone can write a whole book full of deeply moving and aesthetically astounding sentences without explanation. His contradictory statements and perennial sense of irony makes the book quite funny despite being constantly melancholic. I am envious of you because you get to read it for the first time. You are in for a treat, man. I haven't read his biography but it should be very very interesting considering according to Pessoa himself Fernando Pessoa does not exist.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

"contradictory statements and perennial sense of irony makes the book quite funny despite being constantly melancholic"

[@AnneSofieLovesMozart]

I'd like to be more of a grazer of physical books. I think I do most of my grazing on wikipedia and similar websites, looking up random articles, let one article lead me to the next. I can spend hours that way. But there is definetly something about sitting down with a physical treasure of words and knowledge. What I really love, is looking at all kinds of maps, especially old ones, and historical maps, see how borders and contries have changed through the time. I used to love sitting down as a kid, reading and looking at pictures in Children's encyclopedias, with lots of graphs and tablets, like "these are the 10 fastest animals" and "an overview of ancient civilizations".

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I have always loved maps, too! It started with flipping through my dad's old leather Bible as a child in church. I always wanted to remain in the adult service, but I would get bored--so Dad would let me leaf through his Bible. In the back were thick, glossy pages of the land of Palestine and Israel throughout millennia, the route of Paul's 3 crusades; Jesus' ministry routes, etc. I loved it! That carried over to graphic encyclopedias, just like you say. I don't go down digital rabbit holes too often these days, as I work hard to save my eyes from screens (I work in IT, so I'm glued to them all day).

[@Azzy1921]

My top choice for grazing is the Complete works of Borges that I keep at my night stand. I probably read most of it, but I just can't get over it. I'm a Borges stan through and through.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ahhhh, yes! Borges! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@the_Fisher_King]

i totally understand the dictionary grazing lol. When i was a kid my dad got me this big oxford illustrated dictionary, which was a massive investment for him, and it was one of the few books that i owned. I was just fascinated by it and spent countless hours reading it, probably memorized the appendices, and it had so many awesome photos of birds and minerals and stars and knots and seeds and semaphore and so much more. So yeah, i will definitely find a good dictionary one pf these days

[@AshInTrees]

Bertie Russell's History of Western Philosophy is probably my favorite grazer.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Great choice!

[@Rafa-uj2oi]

Not for studying philosophy but yes, a lough-out-loud kind of book

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Lol

[@leoquesto9183]

Reading field guides to a child is amazingly rewarding for both parties. The precision and economy of language and learning in snapshots is snacklike and memorable. Incredibly fun thing to do.

[@marcusklugmann4293]

I love your enthusiasm here, especially for the dictionaries. I graze a lot of diaries (Delany, Jonas Mekas, Gide, Pavese, Pizarnik, Joseph Cornell), as well as Pessoa, Leopardi, and Roland Barthes' Preparation of the Novel (although I read that one from cover to cover before - the best book on writing I know besides Delany's On Writing). Oh, and very often stories by Robert Walser (and a big coffe-table book on his life with many photographs, there's also one about Arno Schmidt (in German only, I guess) I love; I like grazing picture books on writers, i.e. Minihan's photographs of Beckett or Stefan Moses' photographs of Ilse Aichinger, and one with pictures of Peter Kurzeck (the greatest german writer not translated into english)). Poems by Marilyn Hacker, James Tate, an Russell Edson. Jean-Henri Fabre's writings on insects.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much for this informative comment. Gave me some solid suggestions. You’re right-diaries and journals make for good grazing.

[@Ferrari1504]

I'm grazing sylvia plath's journals, its pretty great. Even when she's not writing poetry her writing is usually stunning. Also i HAVE to thank you for getting me into confessions of an english opium eater in your short books you love video. Thomas de quincey is a great read and confessions is so precise and true to the addicts experience that i think only an expert or an addict could write it and as a recovering addict it really made an impact on me. Plus i loved how in spots the euphoric writing/language mirrors the euphoria of the high. Thanks a ton! Love what your doing here! Just ordered some theroux as well.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I’m grazing Thoreau’s journals right now (thanks to NYRB’s single-volume compilation). Makes me want to leave society for the woods. I’ll have to check out Plath’s! So glad you hear you are enjoying de Quincey! I think you’re the first person I’ve swayed into reading it.

[@Focaminante]

I’m always grazing essay, poetry and short story collections as well. There are books which take me a very long time to read, like Spengler’s Decline of the West, although I wouldn’t call that grazing, is just that there is so much information in there that every now and then I have to stop so I can relate those ideas to the world and learn more about their context. I’m currently grazing Ricardo Piglia’s Los diarios de Emilio Renzi and Alexander Theroux’s Primary Colors (what a strange and oddly fun read). And I think the best grazing book of all is Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Glad to hear you’re enjoying some Theroux! I was supposed to read Pessoa this year but I was never ready for it (know what I mean?). Maybe next year!

[@Focaminante]

@@LeafbyLeaf You’re in for a treat. I just looked at the available English editions, and _A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe_ seems like a good place to start. I think it is important that you are somewhat familiar with his poetry before going for the Book of Disquiet.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Focaminante thanks so much for this input. I’m buying that book now!

[@alankian4686]

What a fun concept that I can use as well, so thank you Chris. Eases up my still-present anxiety of "having to finish" books. Huh. Grazing. Who would have known!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

No problem! Glad you enjoyed. I understand that anxiety very well. Anything I can do to help!

[@rickharsch8797]

If you ever want to see your Pelican again...

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I knew it!

[@ajithpr4909]

Love your channel man... Ignited my passion for reading and for pursuing research. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. ♥️

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! So thrilled to hear this!

[@marinamaccagni5253]

Very interesting and unusual video! The best books I'm currently grazing are books of poetry such as leopardi and montale along with sylvia plath.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Grazie, Marina! Ahhh, I love Leopardi!

[@dqan7372]

I like "This Day in History" style books. I try to keep Burg and Purcell's Almanac of WWI around, but it always gets buried. Recently restarted Duvall and Verbrugge's Devotions on the Greek NT. I find the Crossley ID Guide is a good bird book for grazing. 20+ (tiny) photos of a bird at different angles all on one page; it's a beast to carry so it stays at home for armchair bird watching.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

GREAT recommendations for grazing!

[@sventhemoose1218]

Another great review. I really like that you discuss the different versions and translations of books. I would love to see a review of books about books - there are several great ones out there.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! I’ve got one up here with 31 books on reading. But you’re right-I should do one on books and books. I’ve read at least 20 such titles.

[@sventhemoose1218]

@@LeafbyLeaf My favorite is Nabokov's "Lectures on Literature" humbles me every time as a reader

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I’ve never forgotten some of the moments in “Good Readers and Good Writers”!

[@JeannyMeyer]

I am probably buying the diaries of Samuel Pepys soon. I came across some of his entries on books and his own library and they were so charming.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Oh, yes! I first read about Pepys’s diaries in a book of reviews by Michael Dirda. I’ve been on the lookout ever since!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

What luck! I went to the bookstore today and found a selection of Pepys’s diaries in hardcover for $0.75!

[@JeannyMeyer]

Leaf by Leaf that’s a coincidence after my liking :)

[@TheCollidescopePodcast]

I don't have this grazing habit you describe but sometimes if I'm between books, as it were, I start something that can easily be stopped, such as a poetry collection, story collection, etc. Also known as 'bathroom books' lol, although I often bring whatever I happen to be reading at the time into the bathroom with me anyway. I just started a 'between-book,' Paul West's The Secret Lives of Words. Nice quick meditations on the etymology of various words for a master writer. I want to start Gaddis but not before I finish three reviews I need to do but not before I finish a section in a section in (repetition on purpose) Echoes that seems to get longer and longer. See the dilemma? But soon baby soon!!! A note on titles taken from Billy: I often see listicles naming Pale Fire and Infinite Jest, suggest they don't know the context for each novel explains that the title were taken from Billy flippantly, especially in Pale Fire where the author can't think of a title so he asks Will for help. I'd have to agree that, in most cases, it's pretty lazy to get one's title this way.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ah, yes, I failed to mention the art of toilet reading! I think I need this Secret Lives of Words. Really, now. As for Gaddis, do see to your other obligations first (especially your writing!) because opening Gaddis to tantamount to crossing an event horizon. DFW taking the title from Hamlet flippantly?! O_o *facepalm*

[@TheCollidescopePodcast]

@@LeafbyLeaf excuse my idiotic typos lol

[@TheCollidescopePodcast]

@@LeafbyLeaf Got another one for you since I just referenced it twice while writing a story within a story about a cryptozoologist. Borge's The Book of Imaginary Beings. I read it through but it could also be a bathroom book, etc.

[@bedet]

I keep Stan Tekiela's Tree Guide (Ohio) in my hiking backpack. It's great. I don't use his bird guide, but I should. And ditto The Sonnets and Borges. As for ones you didn't mention, I love to dip in and out of Finnegans Wake and Marguerite Young's Miss Macintosh My Darling.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ah, great choices! Great to hear from you, Dan!

[@aikolactaotao]

Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi and The Anatomy Of Melancholy by Robert Burton are my favorite books for 'grazing.'

[@LeafbyLeaf]

SOLID choices! There is a reading group going on right now on Twitter that reads 5 pages of Zibaldone a day for a year. I wanted to join but I had to pass this time. That book is high on my list. I have read Burton’s great work though.

[@michellecostley7878]

I keep The Alexandria Quartet on my bedside table for grazing.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Those are gorgeous books!

[@TheCollidescopePodcast]

I used to visit a pair of woodstorks at the park all the time (pre-COVID). Beautiful creatures. Also love the anhingas and white ibises that hung out there, often big flocks of the latter.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Oh, yeah. I remember going to the park. And the library. And work.

[@TheCollidescopePodcast]

@@LeafbyLeaf My wife says you have "quarantine hair; it's getting longer and longer" lol. Maybe you can try one of those man buns.

[@wesleyallen2593]

I like smelling my books, too. Gotta do it sometimes.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Are we one step away from bibliophagia?!

[@wesleyallen2593]

@@LeafbyLeaf I hope so, my friend. We can aspire to amend our diets.

[@wesleyallen2593]

@@LeafbyLeaf in a sense, you already devour books.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I have quite a stomach ache right now because of Gaddis. But, like eating too many wings, it was worth it!

[@mikemauro3119]

Cool video, and a neat window into your reading process.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! Free-range reading.

[@adreamofanisland7021]

I never understood what my, Fowler’s, was for. Thank you! And.. The Oxford Writer’s Thesaurus, seems like something I should have. I love love my Roget’s circa 1960’s (hardcover), and the first ed, from 1852 (digital). I’ve been falling into and swimming around in the OED, for a spell (first ed., digital copy); And can’t wait to get my own set. An old set of Gibbons’s; is another I covet to hell and back. I want to consume the heights of human thought; and you are much further down that path. For instance; I did not know who Cormac McCarthy was (rip). I’m now consuming, The Road. You are an awesome enthusiastic fountainhead of literary erudition; and know so so so, much more than me. Please keep making videos.

[@astrumdeus7098]

The Importance Of Living.... By Lin Yutang is a great book for grazing

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks for the rec-looks solid!

[@littleredflying-fox]

A book I like to dip into is The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, edited by Clifton Fadiman. Most of the entries are hilarious!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Oooooooo, I’ll have to get my hand on that-thanks!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Just ordered a like new hardcover!

[@littleredflying-fox]

@@LeafbyLeaf Great! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I've been perusing my copy the last couple days. Perfect grazing material. Thank you so much for this recommendation!

[@littleredflying-fox]

@@LeafbyLeaf I'm very pleased it has met your expectations.

[@danasheys9300]

Great video...worth watching more than once..i go for The Devls Dictionary Ambrose Bierce

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! In a similar vein, I recently got Cirlot’s A Dictionary of Symbols from NYRB.

[@joshjohnson98]

YES a Book of Fantasy! Ursula K Le Guin is fantastic. Her Earthsea series is wonderful

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It’s a different mode of fantasy than, say, GRRM, but a foray out of reality nonetheless! The only UKLG I have is Left Hand of Darkness. Now to read it.

[@joshjohnson98]

Leaf by Leaf Yes, much different in tone and theme, and quite tamer.

[@avoidbeing]

nice, you're the only other person besides steve donoghue ive seen read anatomy of bibliomania; sometimes its' genius supercedes Burton himself despite being a pastiche of him

[@rickharsch8797]

Meditating on endorheic (2 alternate legit spellings)

[@donaldmartineau8176]

I love your videos. If someone asked you to curb your enthusiasm about books, I think you'd opt for walking the plank!:)

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Aye! 😁

[@alhasanalalawi7055]

hello leaf by leaf. I just wanted to tell you ive been watching and loving your videos for a decent amount of time and have tried to express my gratitude before but my comments never seem to show up (I know because I look for them with another account). so regardless of whether you see this or not, I just wanted to say thank you for being so consistent and continuing to make such interesting and great videos. I have three questions for you in case you see this: 1.what do think of the new Cormac McCarthy books coming out? personally im very excited and I think ill actually preorder them! the only other book im excited for currently is the translation of solenoid. 2.what do you think of Gödel Escher Bach if you've read it? im expecting it soon and it feels like something you would enjoy. 3.to the left of the visible corner of the bookshelf, three rows down to the right of the orange books, you seem to have a multi-book set of what looks to be a series of books. they look pretty interesting and I can't seem to pin down what they are or even the publisher. could you tell me what they are and whether you would recommend them or not? again, thank you for being there and being so reliable; im excited to see what you do next!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hey! Yes, I just noticed this morning that KZbin has apparently hidden a bunch of comments over the last couple of months. I just approved them all for visibility. Sorry for that! I preordered them both a couple days back. I, too, am ecstatic! And, yes, I'm dying to get my hands on Cotter's Solenoid translation! Wow, yes, GEB is one of my favorite books of all time. If you go back to my second ever video on Hofstadter's Le ton beau de Marot, I talk about GEB in it. That set of books is the memoir of Casanova, put out by Johns Hopkins University. I found them mildly interesting, but I would recommend the abridgment from Everyman's Library unless you are particularly interested in Casanova's life and thoughts.

[@bookmark_kl]

Many thanks for the list

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My pleasure!

[@OttoIncandenza]

Man I love your videos. I graze on them haha

[@LeafbyLeaf]

🙏🙏🙏

[@mrl9418]

The other way around in Italian, ch is the hard sound. Che = ke. Ce = che ;)

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ahhhhhh! Grazie!

[@mrl9418]

@@LeafbyLeaf prego and lol, I just got to the part where you talk about pronunciation. Great video btw, informative and the part on Fowler is corruscating

[@LeafbyLeaf]

😁

[@Kyle-ys3cv]

Insofar as life has a purpose, it is life.

[@gregorywhitehead9068]

The Book of Disquiet, Pessoa

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I keep delaying that impeding (and guaranteed) gratification--but one day...

[@Mompellion]

What edition is your Book of Fantasy? It looks lovely and I can’t seem to find it online!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It was hard to track down for me, too. My edition is the 990 by Carroll & Graf Publishers.

[@tsvetelinmonchev624]

Hi Chris, how much do you spend on books yearly, roughly? And do you ever buy used books?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I'm terrified to calculate (even approximately) how much I spend on books in a year! O_O Yes, I do buy used books fairly often, if they are in great shape.

[@jaykumar9369]

In one of your videos you said you read the first two volumes of Knausgaard's My Struggle in an evening so I have wonder how big of a patch you actually graze at once

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Oh, yes. That was a very singular occurrence. I could not put those books down and stayed up half the night. Very, very rare. But something about those books really connected with me. My average with books I’m reading with sustained focus is around 100pp/day. But the grazing books in this video are more like a page or two here and there, if that.

[@eshatzer]

Cool video!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! 👊

[@sadeepprabodha7074]

Most important video

[@LeafbyLeaf]

🙏🏼

[@rickharsch8797]

That was a blast

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks, Rick!

[@liquidpebbles7475]

Poetry and short stories are my go to, hiwever i want some good written nonfiction,like non fiction with literary merit. Any recommendations?

[@BardSonic]

Take a look at his William T Vollman videos

[@LeafbyLeaf]

What genre of non-fiction specifically? Biography, science, nature, philosophy, journalism, travel?

[@liquidpebbles7475]

@@LeafbyLeaf philosophy, travel and journalism sound more like my cup of tea

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I recommend William T. Vollmann’s non-fiction (Rising Up and Rising Down, which you’ll have to get in abridgment, for philosophy; Imperial, Poor People, and Rising Toward Everywhere for journalism; The Atlas for travel). Also for travel, Barry Lopez. Philosophy: Michel Serres; William Gass’s On Being Blue; Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy; Browne’s Religio Medici. Literary biographies: Monsieur Proust; Quest for Corvo; Monsieur Proust; Life of Johnson. History: Gibbons’a Roman Empire.

[@liquidpebbles7475]

@@LeafbyLeaf Thanks, will check tru them!!

[@EveryoneWhoReadsitMustConverse]

Poetry is my favorite grazing. Nice list! I could branch out in this area, aphorisms and such. Thanks!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks, man!