Are you well read?

That’s a question I keep asking myself. What does it mean to be "well read" in an era when the choices range from 140 character postings, 700 page Swedish thrillers, and increasing digitization of all the best literature ever written?

My life has always been wrapped up in reading: as a kid I loved going to the library (thanks Mom and Dad!), English was my favourite subject in high school, and indeed became my major in university (well, literary studies, which looks at works in translation alongside English). After graduating I worked in magazines and as a freelance writer, often doing book reviews which led to a lot of reading.

Now in addition to working as a writer and editor, I’m doing a PhD in English literature, which, not surprisingly, involves even more reading. Part of the program involves actually trying to read “comprehensively” in the fields you’ll be studying, a funny process that makes you think about what constitutes comprehensiveness. Believe me, after you've completed the process you've read enough that you do feel somewhat comprehensive.

But as you move on and continue to read new texts in a field that you thought you knew comprehensively, you start to think, what is comprehensive exactly? Are you comprehensive because you’ve read the major texts? What’s considered major? What’s considered a text? My dissertation focus is on nineteenth century Canadian magazines so I’ve thought a lot about the fact that these writings have had little audience beyond the months that they appeared given the inherent disposability of the format.

So do I feel well read? Sometimes. Mostly I don't. As a result I’ve decided to give this whole “well read” question a little more thought. I’m going to try and spend each month approaching this idea from a different angle. As I gear up for this project, I’m going to look at what’s out there in terms of people writing about reading, and share some sites and links to good reading sites. I’m also interested in suggestions, so please email me at sue@codeword.ca.

In September (back to school so a great reading time) I’ll start by sharing the books out there about reading itself. I’ve long had on my bookshelf a copy of Alberto Manguel’s A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader’s Reflections on a Year of Books (I’ll also reread his A History of Reading) and will look for other books on this subject to read and share with you.

For the rest of the year I’m going to look for other ways to explore being well read, either immersing myself in that activity or kind of writing, or talking to others who have or both. Here are some of the focus areas that I’ve thought about trying out each month:

• well read by era
• well read in the media (ie news savvy)
• well read in new media
• Reading books that talk about the big ideas that everyone’s talking about
• Catching up on classics I haven’t read
• well read in a professional field
• well read in sister genres such as film
• well read in bestsellers
• well read in a particular genre
• well read seasonally (ie reading the hot fall books or the summer reading list)
• connecting and sharing with a book club
• contributing to reading through writing

Do you have any other suggestions?