ReadingAnimals

One of the reasons I read (mostly) non-fiction is because I like having both the text and the evolutionary history of the words and ideas at hand in the form of citations.¹ I adore library research inspired by such reading because I can follow long, winding, sometimes unexpected paths provided by citations. I end up backwards, sideways, even completely off course relative to where I began. And this is in addition to the gift of the text itself.

So why bother with a post just about reading journeys? Because I think they speak to what will emerge and evolve here at ReadingAnimals. I expect many posts will be about specific texts or passages - even specific words. Such posts will be more or less self-contained expositions about a feature of a particular landscape, perhaps like the placard at a scenic lookout. Other posts will be about the evolution and interpretation of a given mental landscape, maps of one or many routes to a scenic lookout.

Then, of course, there will be all the rest, including what I hope others might be willing to contribute…

And with that, I think ReadingAnimals is inaugurated.

Tonga soa! ["Welcome!" in Malagasy]

Soava dia! ["Have a good journey!" in Malagasy]

So grab a book and let the reading begin! Why wait?

As Jeanette Winterson (fiction recommended by friend Dipika) notes:

Never mind the theories or the criticism or the exam questions and the dissertations just open the book.

¹Because I am mostly a science geek, I do not do the same with fiction. Forgive me.