New to me doesn't have to mean new

Thoughts about getting round to reading things eventually

Photo by Tsvetoslav Hristov on Unsplash

Someone recommended an article on Substack recently with an apologetic comment that it was from a couple of months ago, but they had only just run across it. Unless you’re reading up-to-the-minute journalism it’s a pleasure to find writing you enjoy, however long it’s been available. I have subscribed to so many Substack publications now that I can’t keep up with them as they come out — all it takes is one busy week and I’m way behind. But I try to get to them eventually and I do like digging into the archives where they’re available.

One of the things I love about libraries and charity shops is that the books you turn up are not necessarily new and not necessarily the ones you’ve heard of. I’ve read some really enjoyable novels that I doubt I’d have found in the local bookshop anymore (if they were ever there), and I wouldn’t have known to search for them online. The fact that it was 5, 10, 50 or 100 years since they were first published didn’t stop me liking them. This, I suppose, is the thinking behind the Backlisted podcast — another thing I’m behind on, it’s been months since I last listened.

I understand why initial book sales and a flurry of publicity are important, and how the bestseller lists impact authors’ careers, but at the same time I think it’s a shame that this overlooks the slow burners. There are books that are big hits but very of their time — they capture a moment or are written by someone whose name was made elsewhere. Twenty years later a new generation of readers doesn’t recognise the name and doesn’t feel the vibe, and the book has had its day¹. Then there are others that might sell the same number of copies, but over a period of years not weeks. Still connecting with readers decades on.

Another writer was recommending the ‘most popular by year’ function on Goodreads², to look up books from the year you were born and see if there’s any that pique your interest, in part to see what’s changed or what hasn’t during your lifetime. Of the top 15 from 1978 I’d heard of 4 and read 2 (the Stephen Kings), though I had also heard of a couple of the other authors. That may be a function of my ignorance but I hope there’s also an element of serendipity, that some books from 1978 that weren’t big hits or whose authors have faded away have become popular recently due to a podcast, a blog post or word of mouth.

Today there will be someone reading the works of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams for the first time and absolutely loving them. And is there any better feeling as a reader than knowing you don’t have to wait a year for the next book to come out, because you’ve got the whole back catalogue to go at? So don’t be afraid of missing the moment, and if you manage to create a buzz about your new favourite book a year after its release, you might even be doing the author a favour.

Here’s a few Substack publications that I know I can come late to and still enjoy, as they’re full of nature photography which is refreshing even if it’s out of season:

• Life in The Real World from

  Karen Davis
  in the USA

• A Quiet Moment from

  Whitney Barkman
  in Canada

• Urban Nature Diary from

  Thomas Winward
  in the UK

1. I remember a George Orwell essay, possibly Inside the Whale, where he talks about a lot of important and/or popular writers and I hadn’t heard of half of them when I read it 60-odd years later

2. I don’t use Goodreads but I assume this means most popular among people who rate books on Goodreads rather than bestsellers