Uncanny how parallel our reading paths were. I too read almost exclusively nonfiction until high school, naively thinking at the time that fiction was a waste of time and it was better to learn from nonfiction. Then in 11th grade a particular literature class and teacher had a big influence on me, and soon thereafter I discovered Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan. For a couple of decades I gorged on the classics (I'm 65 so quite a bit older than you) and read almost no contemporary literature until I saw that same NYT list from 2006 and began reading from that list as an intro to good quality contemporary lit. Weird to come across your video and someone who did the same things in about the same way. Today I read a good blend of things and I'm glad for the new NYT list. Thank you for this video. I'll be sure to check out some of your others.

I never was enough of a reader to be shaped by such a list (or even notice one). You were already a strong reader when you came upon that list. I found new authors either in an anthology or a mention, probably in an introduction (which already indicates “classic” as opposed to contemporary category). You as a BookTuber are in a position to create your own list, and I might trust your 100 before the motley crew that developed the New York Times list. I’m still deficient on contemporary authors, but I’m short on pressing reasons to try improve myself.

I conflated Gaddis and Gass as well though I’ve never read either. Great discussion Jack.

This was such a joy. I loved hearing about your early reading. My own early reading was all over the place, and I could have probably benefited from a similar list. 😅

Man, that NYRB collection is amazing. I recently read their editions of The Vet’s Daughter, My Death and A Month in the Country. All were fantastic.

Great library behind you. Plenty to keep you busy there. Best wishes.

Really enjoyed your thoughts on the list and on particular books you mentioned! I'm looking forward to reading Gaddis for the first time next year

Reading Ulysses on an airplane sounds like having a root canal on an off-road safari. Although I remember spending a long flight reading Absalom, Absalom!, which has become my favorite Faulkner novel. Maybe modernism works best in transit. I remember being very influenced by that previous list as well. Although now that I've read more widely, I think it's an unforgivable oversight that Pynchon's Mason & Dixon was not included. That might be my vote for the greatest American novel.

Great ramble, Jack.

Another great video, thanks for sharing! I was wondering, do you have any plans to film a collection video for your Library of America editions?

The thought of creating this arbitrary list of checkpoints and groundwork to read other books and unlock other parts of the canon is *so* real. "Can't read X until I read Y and probably Z too for context, and maybe W to make sure I might like X"-- and so on. This strategy has dominated the last three years of my life-- and even when I try and shrug it off and just read what I want to, I wake up from a daze and realize my little mini tbr's are just don't the same thing. But even as you illustrate in this video-- it's not usually a waste of time. And yet it always feels like a diversion (to me at least). I wish I understood why this is so engrained in my decision-making making and that lists like the NYT (and even the one The Atlantic just put out for the Great American Novels a few months ago) "notable books" didn't drive so much of my reading. Side note-- I don't think any author saw more backlash on my side of Twitter from the list than Richard Powers. Everyone seemed to universally clown The Overstory as a "Pulitzer for stupid people". Never heard a word of negativity before this list and now all of a sudden he's like a Malcolm Gladwell-level pseudointellectual. No idea if that's just my niche or if I didn't get the memo that Powers is out.

I love this discussion

My wife wants me to read Chabon too. Keep pushing it back. Starting JR next month.

Jack, I have a question and a comment. First , I did what you did only I found that there were so darn many of the books on that list that I not only didn't like, they either bored me silly or I just was not interested, so I stopped reading the list! However, I do have another question for you: Have you ever seen a Classics List? A true Greek, Roman, Mary Beards, Mary Renault, Homer, the guys in the 12 Caesars books. Those books on ancient history and the ones the 'classist" folks read? Those are the ones I can craving at the moment. Even Google hasn't helped me. Thoughts please!! I have my notebook and pen out (yep, I have read 90% of the Penguin books on the subject. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!! Oh there is one person "Goldsworthy" who does history of a particular time period and mine is on its way. Really appreciate any ideas and suggestions. Lee

On a sentence by sentence basis, Updike is one of the greatest talents in our recent national literature. But man some of his novels are just bad despite being stylistically so good. I wrestle with the question: Is Updikes recycling of themes (religion/adultery) for 50 years a demonstration of his lack of ingenuity or is it noble that he stays true to what he knows? I've read a dozen of his novels, poetry collections, non-fiction, etc. and it remains a love/hate relationship.

too long a lead in, quit out of it