Some aren’t great at all, but we love them anyway. In today’s On the Square , R. R. Reno considers the books that are not great, maybe not even good, but nonetheless of tremendous personal importance:
Some books are great: Middlemarch by George Eliot, for example, or Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason . They’re historically important, influential, and seminal. But the monuments of Western culture are not the same as personal touchstones. It’s not just the intrinsic value of certain books—their “greatness”—that makes them existentially arresting; it’s also the time and place when they happen to fall into our hands.
That’s why mediocre books, or at least merely good books, can be important for us if we read them at the right time and in the right place.
Read the rest here . Relatedly: George Orwell on “ Good Bad Books. ”
Middlemarch is, of course, the greatest book ever written, both in its perfection and in its ability to move its readers. So if you haven’t read it, there is no time like the present to buy a copy and then perhaps buy more copies for all your friends so that you can start a book club where all you do is read Middlemarch. If you and your friends all have Kindles, it’s just a dollar! Even if you have twenty friends, that’s a pretty good deal. Once your book club is done you can all watch the miniseries and criticize the casting together. It’ll be great.
Also, you can discuss such important and eternal questions as: Will Ladislaw? Really? Him?
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
