One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was, "Life is too short; only read the good stuff." I heard this one year after graduating with an English degree and starting a career in publishing. At the moment I was packing a large box with things I stole from the book rooms, the take shleves, and anywhere else I could find "free" books in the office. I was leaving a much sought-after job at Penguin Group, and leaving sooner than I wanted because, in part, I had stopped reading. I had chosen to pursue publishing at first because I wanted to write, I wanted to be a part of the creative process, and I wanted to be close to the action of making words into worlds. But over time I became discouraged by the feeling that there was simply too much to attain. There are thousands of books published every year, and all are marketed as something like, The Next Ground-Breaking Work of American Fiction. But in hearing this advice, I had an answer to the question of how to relate to the library, the used bookstore, or the a box on a curb. It takes work to sit down and read something, especially literary fiction. And the people who do it have a niche hobby - not a common hobby. There are plenty of pools to drink from in life, and to drink from one is to waste the opportunity to drink from another. Because of my education, it became easy to view literature as a conquest, to have every book on my shelf as a trophy. But the truth is, much like songs, only one of a hundred stories will be truly enjoyed. There's nothing wrong with putting one--hell, even ten--books down before finding something worth the time and effort. I'm glad that I gave up on those Game of Thrones books. I don't think they're that good, and I get it. All the good character die too soon, die suddenly, die before they win the game. So do we. I'll enjoy my time with something else. *** #books #literature #stories #reading #literaryfiction #art #illustration #subwaydrawings #nycurbansketchers #urbansketchers #subway #commutesketch #people #sketchbook #instasketch #sketchbookdaily #molotow #markers #moleskine #lightmotiondetector (at Brooklyn, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/BviZUkFAmuT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=c6r3c8g7f1w5