Currently reading
The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers
The Name of the Rose
Ghostwritten
To the Lighthouse
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Perfect Wrong Note - Learning to Trust Your Musical Self
The Prince
The Varieties of Religious Experience
Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy
How to Read and Why
A lot of why I liked this book is because it gave me a few books to add to my queue. This is my first exposure to Bloom and my impression is that he's sort of a charming character. He's erudite and opinionated without being condescending or abrasive. I found his passion for books and literature contagious and criticism insightful. After reading this, I've started Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and I'll probably read Blood Meridian after that. How to Read and Why gave me a new, or renewed, appreciation for memorizing poetry and by 2030 I'll probably have successfully committed Tom o'Bedlam to memory. Bloom also strengthened my resolve to read more Shakespeare and introduced me to Turgenev, a Russian I really look forward to reading. I was pretty skeptical at first, but after reading it, I'd consider the book a success. It's helpful at understanding why literature is so important and is a great introduction and primer on how to read some of the world's best works.