You can know a bunch about music, art, and your city/town without necessarily needing to have read a lot of books by just exploring a bit. That is stuff that is fun and 100 percent its own intelligence.
And then you can piece by piece try and read one of the actual classics as a side quest if you really want(you can always stop and read something else you like better if it sucks.)
6d ago
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Critical analysis of literature is the same as anything else, so applying general critical thinking concepts can start you on a rewarding path. This is one of my favorite little infographics that you can apply to anything from a news story you saw today to something written in a time you can barely imagine. If you can't answer the applicable questions, you just need more information and/or time to form an opinion. Thinking hard is actually incredibly fun and rewarding, especially if you do it with a friend or lover
Nov 21, 2024
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I think a lot of people can find reading really intimidating because they feel they have to read the literary greats (which can be linguistically inaccessible), and while I believe those have tremendous value I also think they aren’t requirements. If you want to read exclusively romance, or YA fantasy, or murder mysteries, go for it. I think when we put parameters on what should or shouldn’t be read we make it feel like a chore or an assignment. But I think there is infinite value in your airport paperback as long as you are finding true enjoyment. Anyways this is basically a long winded way of saying, read what you want and don’t feel like you aren’t as good of a reader just because you aren’t reading Hemingway.
P.S. this is my professional opinion as a real life librarian
Jan 13, 2025
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I've recently really been trying to educate myself and enrich my mind instead of defaulting to scrolling in my free time - here are some of the specific activities I've been trying/thought of (in addition to just reading in general/going to museums/watching educational videos etc)
reading:
- reading multiple books in the same sub-genre to explore (eg. gothic)
- reading a book and its inspiration (eg. jane eyre + wide sargasso sea)
- reading books in my second language and noting down new words
- read reviews/analysis from literary journals after finishing a book then writing my own review and noting favourite quotes
other:
- listen to album and make notes on each song + explore references (eg. literary references in hozier songs)
- learn how to crochet/edit videos
- read/watch all of an author's/director's work to see how their style and themes developed
- subscribe to jstor daily free newsletter to get an interesting selection of free journal articles
- use archive.vn to access to paywalled newspaper/magazine articles or libby to access magazines through your library
if anyone has any other ideas in this vein i would love to know!
Feb 27, 2025
Top Recs from @jrpaperstack
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Even if you end up having to go somewhere else, there still will be culture to get involved in, people to meet, things to learn, realizations to be made. All of that is still right there for you and it will be open in a way you won't even realize until you've done like a year or two. So it's truly still exciting times. As long as you feel generally good about the place you ultimately choose, your time is coming.
Mar 26, 2025
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Currently the new kids been doin it(see also Friko and Lifeguard) Shouts to Kara Jackson, Finom, Dehd, and Chief Keef tho who have been holdin it down.
Aug 26, 2024
Hidden in a neighborhood in a building designed by Ando, lots of rotating exhibitions often involving queer art and history, digital art, and bigger art and architecture retrospectives. Prob as close to a secret big art space as you can get in Chicago.
Feb 25, 2025