/lit/ - Literature

So, a few questions:

>How do books innovate and influence others?
>Do you, as e/lit/ists, have an easy time of noticing where this influence is and isn't? Can you usually read into most of the symbols and such that artists place in their works? Or do you use other sources of criticism to explain things? (Example: Joyce seems pretty dense on imagery that might be difficult to understand without his personal perspective being explained.)
>If you can, did it develop through reading books hand-in-hand with criticism or with just a lot of reading?
>How many books do you read a year?
>When/how do you set aside time for reading?

Just a bunch of questions from a /mu/tant trying to see how similar our forms of expression are.