Looking for a resolution? Resolve to read

I draw two basic conclusions from this: 1) People still read and 2) the format in which many people read is undergoing a fundamental change. The book, in whatever form it is consumed, continues to be a thriving medium of communication.

I have a Kindle, but I don’t use it much. I like it fine, but for me the printed book remains superior. Its portability, durability and ease of use remain unmatched by its electronic competitors.

Thousands of books take up space in my house, and more come in the door all the time. Just the other day I was in a Savers thrift store when I came across a real gem — a beautifully printed hardcover called “I Love Books: A Guide Through Bookland” by John D. Snider. Originally published in 1942, my copy, the 15th printing, was produced in 1955.

Although I happen to be a collector of “books about books,” I had never heard of this one. I couldn’t be happier to have found it — and to have paid a mere two bucks to take it home. The book is essentially a love letter to reading. It advises on several fronts: “Why We Should Read,” “What We Should Read,” “How We Should Read” and “When We Should Read.”

I’ve always been a strong believer that reading good books can make you a better, smarter person. Reading has the potential to engender admirable traits such as humility, tolerance, skepticism and the ability to place events and issues in proper context. In “I Love Books,” Snider reinforces this belief. “Of all the multiplied opportunities our modern era offers young persons,” he writes, “the most precious is the opportunity to own and read good books.” He adds: “Books are of the people, by the people, for the people. They are no longer a luxury; they are a necessity.”

Leaving no flowery phrase unturned, Snider makes the case for reading: “To learn to read is to gain the power to make all other minds tributary to our own. It opens before us a universe that lies hid until we acquire this art. It unseals the past and makes its treasures of knowledge easily accessible.”

Snider is particularly charming in the section titled “When We Should Read.” It is here where past and present collide. “The world is moving so rapidly these days,” he writes, circa 1942, “that, like Alice in Wonderland, one must run fast to stay where he is, and there is no time for tinkering with many things or for trifling with even one.” He advises taking advantage of those “little nooks of time that usually pass unaccounted for” to “engage in a program of daily spare-time reading.” “Keep an interesting book always within easy reach, and you will soon read it during odd moments without loss of time from work.”

This old-school bookworm actually makes a great case for the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Consider that if you always have your e-reader with you, you have a book — or a hundred books — “always within easy reach.” Depending on your mood, you can dive into a work of history, fiction or poetry, or catch up on a newspaper or magazine.

I don’t necessarily recommend it, but I keep track of the books I read. I’ve been doing this for a decade now, and it’s interesting to look back and see what I have accomplished, how my interests have changed and how reading one author has led me to another. I generally read 50 to 60 books a year. I completed 48 in 2010. Here are a few that I recommend from this year’s reading:

— When most people hear the name George Orwell, they think of his novels “Animal Farm” and “1984.” But while there’s certainly nothing wrong with those allegorical classics, the best Orwell for me is found in his essays. One of the great writers of the 20th century, Orwell never gets old. The clarity of his thinking on so many topics, not just politics, is as refreshing today as it must have been for his readers in the ’30s and ’40s. A fine way to become acquainted with Orwell is to read two recently published volumes of his essays, “Facing Unpleasant Facts” and “All Art Is Propaganda.”

— Memoirs and biographies are effective and entertaining ways to learn about history and the human experience. The more of them you read, the more you realize what all of us — across the world, and across the ages — have in common. This year, I was impressed by several: “Open” by Andre Agassi; “Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life” by Robert Hilburn; “Hitch-22” by Christopher Hitchens; “Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen; and “How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer” by Sarah Blakewell.

— Good fiction is an essential part of a reading habit. Most novelists don’t set out to educate or advise readers about the world and its varied inhabitants, but the best ones end up doing so anyway. I read several fine novels this year: “Homer & Langley” by E.L. Doctorow; “That Old Cape Magic” by Richard Russo; “American Rust” by Philipp Meyer; “The Imperfectionists” by Tom Rachman; “The Angel’s Game” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; “Citrus County” by John Brandon; “Super Sad True Love Story” by Gary Shteyngart; and “Lean on Pete” by Willy Vlautin.

— Not every book fits neatly into a category. “My Reading Life,” by best-selling novelist Pat Conroy, is a series of essays about how books and book people shaped his life. “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon,” by David Grann, is a history of exploration in one of the most dangerous and mysterious parts of the planet. “Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language,” by Robert McCrum, examines how English came to be spoken on every continent. Bill Bryson’s “At Home: A Short History of Private Life,” surveys the evolution of the house through the centuries.

OK, so here’s my suggested New Year’s resolution: Read more. Snider shows the way:

“Make up your mind that you will devote at least 30 minutes each day to reading a portion of some good book. As you go to work, mentally review what you have read and try to get every shade of its meaning. If you will do this, you will be surprised to see how many worthwhile books you can read and digest in a year, and your friends will quickly notice that your speech and your personality are growing more interesting.”

Geoff Schumacher (gschumacher@reviewjournal.com) is the Review-Journal’s director of community publications. His column appears Friday.