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#SwellBookClub #books #BookReview #AuthorInterview 📚

@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:54

Hello James Mustich, 1000 Books To Read Before You Die

article image placeholderAuthor James Mustich
I'm so happy you're here to talk with us about your passion for reading and sort of as an ice breaker. I have a question for you that's a little tangential to what you've written, but more about the physicality of reading. It's a personal fascination for me, because sometimes if I get too comfortable reading, I admittedly nod off. And I've always been looking for the perfect physical space in which to read my books and be alert and enjoy

@jamesmustich #author #publishing let’s crack those books open! https://s.swell.life/SSKVJvI9y8F8f91

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@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 1:35
There's a lot of natural light coming in through big windows at my back and sitting there in the quiet of the early morning light and reading before the house gets busy and I feel pressed to engage in other activities is perhaps my most productive and favorite reading setting. That said, I am reading all the time. So standing up, walking around in any room of the house, I do particularly like reading on trains. If I'm going on a train ride
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:56

The mix ...@jamesmustich

Jim, your description just made me think of my father, who passed away several years ago. And now my mom is reading in the same kind of easy chair that he used to read. And it's very special to have that chair that you look at. And you have memories of what you've done in that chair. All the books you've read. I have a question about fiction versus nonfiction
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@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 4:33

#themix #whattoread #bookshelflifestory https://www.1000bookstoread.com/

So as you note, I recommend both, and I believe that what's most nourishing to a reader, generally speaking, is what meets your appetite at the moment, because we do have different appetites and different amounts of time, different types of attention in the introduction to the book. In fact, I say that I believe that we read the way we eat. And some days we want a fancy meal in a fine restaurant
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:48

To those who are challenged by reading ...

And I'm bringing this up because I want to speak with you about the perception of reading and who reads and who doesn't. And I know you probably have run up against this with the kinds of readers that read your book and the kinds of readers that read the books inside your book. Can you speak to just the history, from your perspective of your relationship to reading and seeing that it might not invite all kinds of people because of the literati aspect of reading
@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 3:24
But for me it's the wrong way to look at things. What's important in the exchange between books and readers is the person reading. And no matter what we're reading, reading allows us to enrich and expand the longest and most important conversation we have in our lives, which is the one we have in talking to ourselves
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:28

Giving the gift of a book 🎉

Because I know it's which books to choose, but it's a great gift. And I was wondering if you have, like, a gift guide for to say, here's a good way to give a book, maybe some ways to discern which book is great for the right person and how to choose that book. Thanks so much for that
@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 2:51
When you give a well chosen book and by well chosen, I mean one in which you've tried to match it to the interests or the needs of the recipient. It means so much more than just about anything else you can give because you are honoring their own attention, if you will, and saying to them, I think that this is worth your time. And I've taken my time to decide that I want to give this to you. I used to with my daughters who are grown now
@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:14

classics...and this is now OPEN to all. @Upod @AnnieH @tourist

Someone alluding to something, and you don't know what that means. And I'm always really sensitive to that. And I'm always making sure that I don't say things that are missed by somebody. But to that effect, I do want to get your opinion on maybe the top three or four classic novels that you consider classic. And for whatever reason, you consider them classic that you think somebody should read to get a sense of where we come from, as a civilization
@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 4:41

#classics #middlemarch #donquixote

In thinking about Dorothea, the young heroine, we want to know what she's going to do next, but the way the book is written also makes us take stock of where we are in our lives and what we're going to do next. So this is a book I can't recommend too highly. It's long 700 pages. It's not a fast read, it's not a particularly difficult one, but it is long and it takes dedication
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@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 5:00

#theplague #mrsdalloway #virginiawoolf #tonimorrison #beloved #jamesbaldwin

Second, also brought to mind by the pandemic world. We're living in a surprising way because it surprised me when I discovered this Virginia Wolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway, which I'd known was in part a novel written in the aftermath of World War I and that tragedy, but also it's right there on the second page of the book
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 2:56

#themouseandhischild #russellhoban

But Oban went on to write later his career very sophisticated novels of speculative fiction, the most famous of which is probably Ridley Walker. But in between he wrote a novel, as I say, for young readers. And it was his first full length novel. And it is a full length novel of about 280 pages or so called The Mouse and His Child
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:16

So so grateful!

If there's anything you want us to know about the book itself, please tell us here and also perhaps start a open swellcast about the book so that people can know where to get it and link to it. You can put the link in the description. So looking forward to going to your channel and hearing all that stuff. So grateful, I'm listen to this again. Now
@jamesmustich
James Mustich
@jamesmustich · 0:09
Thank you, Deborah. I enjoyed it, too. Happy New Year, to you and to anybody else. Listening
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:32

@jamesmustich Childhood favorites & contemporary fiction authors

So I have just a couple of questions for you if you're able to answer first, I'm really curious if you have any memory of what the first book was that you truly fell in love with and maybe was part of what began your journey as just a lifelong voracious reader. And then my second question is if there is a contemporary fiction author that you admire or you could say is currently one of your favorite writing today. Thanks in advance for letting me know
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