I have added a still partial list of our history books at expoetical. I realize that it's just a list of books but it has meaning for me at least. a writer reads (I don't know the degree to which this might NOT be true). some readers are quite scholarly, tho I imagine there's a point where you must choose one or tother for fullest commitment. Ron Silliman writes of taking years to read DuPlessis' Drafts, at the expense of lengthy works by Waldman and Fitterman and whatever other works. both Pound (according to Williams) and Samuel Johnson (according to Boswell) admit that it is not necessary to read everything, their scholarship ran that way. I have been amongst these books (everything listed here), in whatever degree, for the past 35 years. roughly for that long have I been collecting books as a writer, with that determination. these are books I have devoured, have learned from (or hope to), have felt obliged to read, have read and disliked, have somehow 'related' to. I know I haven't read all the Civil War books, but even so the Civil War is an interest of mine, as the list may indicate. I can't always point to how, in my writing, these books have consequence. mostly it's just the sense of marching towards something. I would say, for instance, that anyone with a lot of spiritual books (like the numerous books on buddhism that I have), indicates a restlessness. if I were 'more buddhist' I wouldn't want and/or need them. my pile of poetry books suggests my learning path (not expertise) in the craft. you can see that particularly in the writers NOT included. the main point to this list is as a catalogue for my own benefit, so I can find books. we will be moving in the fall so this is a logical time to perform the task.