Source: Six Books We Could and Should All Write – The Paris Review, by Anthony Madrid
1. The Diary of Samuel Pepys
2. Aubrey’s Brief Lives
3. Palgrave’s Golden Treasury
4. Flaubert’s Dictionary of Received Ideas
5. The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon
6. Li Zhi’s A Book to Burn
Six books anybody could write. You wouldn’t need any talent to produce these. All you’d have to do is stick with it.
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Just to refresh: I’m saying one should compose (1) a book about oneself, (2) a book about others, (3) an anthology of favorites, (4) a book about words, and now I’m adding (5) a book of lists. [(6) a book of completely unacceptable views]