I'm guilty

I've noticed that I have a particular bias in my reading. It is a bias of recency. I tend to read books that were published in the current year or the few years before. I admit this is because I am easily distracted by shiny object so when an interesting new book comes out, I want it. This wouldn't be a big deal except that I am missing so much great stuff from the past. Sure I do read older books,but this is often back catalouging, the reading of older books of authors I already know.

The problem is, how do you find out about it? There are some ways like asking friends about favorites, going to Powells or other well staffed booksellers and getting recommendations, but I need something more scalable like the review press which bombards me with NEW titles over and over again. A great source was A Common Reader, but it is no more. If you can scare up a copy of their catalog you will likely find some gems of which you were unaware. I suppose something like Book Lust would come in handy, although I have only flipped through it. The author mentions the wonderful Lee Child thrillers, which I would never have read if a friend hadn't given me one. So maybe she has more gems up her sleeve.

In the spirit of recommending something old, rather than the latest buzz item, I recommend Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road. It is a story told in correspondence between the author (a New Yorker) and a British bookseller. The story begins as Hanff looks for a few books and advice on authors. It becomes a decades long dialogue about books and reading. It will give you the warm fuzzies.