

(Note to self: When you get to the Oxford Book of English Verse, these are the poets Hemingway cherished the most: Yeats, John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Robert Browning, Rudyard Kipling, Shakespeare)Īlmost a year later, in February 1935, Hemingway published his "the best of the books" list for the Esquire with few variations compared to the handwritten note.

Some may bore you, others might inspire you and others are so beautifully written they’ll make you feel it’s hopeless for you to try to write.” “They represent different types of writing. Hemingway told the young man who wanted to become a writer. “If you haven’t read these, you just aren’t educated,” Hemingway gave Samuelson the below list of books. We'll go up to my workshop and I'll make out a list you ought to read."

“I liked Stevenson's Kidnapped, and Walden Pond by Thoreau." “What writers do you like to read?” Hemingway asked the young fellow. The books:Ī warm April day of 1934 in Key West, Florida, Arnold Samuelson, a 22-year-old journalist graduate knocked on the door of Ernest Hemingway hoping for a conversation about the craft of writing. and never go down the netflix/youtube/socialmedia rabbit holes in Walden.)įollowing Ernest Hemingway's lead seems to be a good start ( here is why), so I read the books he claimed to be the greatest of all time (up until 1961, that is). The challenge is to use that free hour for reading literature. On good days, she falls asleep first and I have an hour for myself. I have a son who wakes before the birds and a daughter who never really falls asleep. I dreamed up this challenge in the Brazilian summer of 2018 when both kids were in bed before 9 p.m. "Mice: But reading all the good writers might discourage you.
