It’s kind of a personal archeology. Exploring the terrain of one’s own mind, that is. Back in January, I mentioned my “deep backlist,” which is actually my “to read” list stored on an online book vendor site. When it comes time to buy (or provide a gift request for) a new book, this list is my first stop. I started the list in 2010. Since I’m cautious about book buying (believe it or not), there are many items on that list that never got purchased. And if I go back far enough, I have to confess to myself, there are books I really don’t want to read anymore. At least not at this time. That list, however, is a snapshot of my interests at the time an item was entered. I don’t delete things from it unless I actually get them. Life has taught me that when interests fade it’s usually not permanent.
Neat as a pin.
" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-image-title="IMG_4283" data-orig-file="https://steveawiggins.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_4283.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 4S","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1561353808","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.28","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.05","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="1020" data-medium-file="https://steveawiggins.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_4283.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://steveawiggins.com/2019/08/19/book-culturing/img_4283/#main" alt="" height="765" class="wp-image-14374" data-large-file="https://steveawiggins.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_4283.jpg?w=1020" />Sometimes I think I should be more intentional about my reading. When I was writing Sleepy Hollow as American Myth, I was adding lots of books related to the subject. Many of them came off the list as I purchased and read them, but not all. Although I’m currently involved in my next writing project or two, I don’t remove the remaining Sleepy Hollow-inspired books because I may well, depending on length of life, come back to them. The same is true of all my books from Holy Horror on. Depending on where I am on that list, I can tell what book I was working on, and not a few that never got finished. An accountant once told me that if you are writing books to earn money (as paltry as those earnings may be), the books you buy may be tax write-offs as business expenses. Such is the mind of capitalism.
My wishlist is a personal archeology of some poignancy. It took me many years after being shunted out of academia (no matter how dark) before I found employment stable enough to allow for me to start writing books again. Weathering the Psalms was started around 1997 or 1998. It was published in 2014. Even after that it took a couple years to realize that I could write Holy Horror. And there are other books that, if I’m honest with myself, I know I won’t have time to write or finish. I find scrolling through my “deep backlist” an inspiring but melancholy exercise. We all have layers, and strangely enough, even the books that we wanted to read, or just remember, can speak volumes about who we are.
