Reading

I think it was Borges who said that the books he had read constituted a far more important experience than the books he had written. The problem is that this idea comes from a quote I might have read a decade (or so) ago so I am not really sure that's how it goes but I remember the main point which I find rather fascinating.

This time I decided to google the idea but the search wasn't specific enough so I just came across this below which might be what I read many years ago...or it might not...

""What I have read is far more important than what I have written. For one reads what one likes-- yet one writes not what one would like to write but what one is able to write." 

Not that I spent much time searching mind you.

The second idea of the quote is a bit different to what I am reflecting upon right now but it complements it nicely.

You see, I was thinking about readers, assiduous readers I might add and I remembered this guy I saw for a couple of times who was angry at me for something really trivial. I was puzzled. He was surprised I had made him angry because....I read so much! He actually confronted me with that argument. I must say that the argument was original. I had never heard anyone telling me that because people are well read they should be as a matter of course...well, perfect.

Today I thought of that strange argument whilst reflecting upon the reading experience. Why do people read? What is their main (real) motivation? Does it make us better human beings in general? Reading...

For me it's...

                               necessary.

                                           The world 

doesn't make sense 

                                     without books....

and as you might have gathered, all this thinking has brought Mallarmé and his dice to mind.