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snugglekittyMy question for the day is: Do you always finish the books you read? Or do you sometimes abandon books mid-read?
A while back, I read Nancy Pearl's Book Lust. In general, I wasn't a big fan - her reading tastes and mine did not match up. But I took something fairly important from the book. She writes that with the volume of literature well beyond the limits even of someone who devotes their entire life to reading, we can't afford to spend our time reading books we don't like. She suggests that if, after fifty pages, you still don't like the book, you should put it down. She suggests that readers over the age of fifty should subtract even more pages based on how much older than fifty they are, as they may be running out of time.
That spoke to me. There are more books in the world than I will ever be able to read, even if I could speak all of the languages they're written in. I shouldn't waste my time on mediocre books, or even ones that just aren't right for me. Originally this idea seemed like blasphemy, especially coming from a fellow librarian, but it's been sinking in over time, and the more I consider it, the more reasonable it seems.
Recently I've stopped reading several books in the middle. Specifically:
The Moor by Laurie R King
The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think: The Foolish Guide to Personal Finance by David Gardner and Tom Gardner
A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe by Michael S Schneider
I don't expect to pick up the Laurie King book again. I was reading it just for fun. I didn't expect it to enrich my life or educate me, I only wanted it to entertain. It didn't (the moor setting was very dreary and the plot seemed to be going nowhere) so I closed the covers and returned it to the library with nary a qualm.
On the other hand, I do expect that I will read the other two books completely. I started on both, and thought that they were interesting and well-written. But I realized that it was not the right time for me to learn to understand personal finance or sacred geometry. So I returned them to the library as well, hoping earnestly that I won't forget their titles and that I'll be able to find them again when I need them, when the moment is right.
The difference, it seems to me, is whether you think that you can get more than just entertainment out of a book. I think this applies even with fiction. I finished Reading Lolita in Tehran partly because I knew I would get a feeling of superiority when people asked me what I was reading recently and I brought up a sophisticated book that deals with global issues. Not to mention the fact that I gained a familiarity with Nabokov without actually having to read about the famous rape of the twelve-year-old that many people still seem to feel has something to say about female sexuality.
I used to finish all the books I read. The first book that I didn't finish was a book called Blaze. It had originally seemed (in the library while I was looking at the cover) to be a story of tomboyish independence, which naturally appealed to me. It turned out to mostly be about the tomboy's German shepherd. That didn't work for me. At the time, not finishing the book seemed somewhat blasphemous. I still have to have a fairly compelling reason not to finish a book, and usually leaf ahead to make sure that I'm not about to miss something great.
(Sometimes I even skip ahead to the end of a book and read that. Yes, it's true. The last book I did this with was Mercedes Lackey's The Gates of Sleep. Twenty pages into the book, the heroine is captured by her evil, prudish aunt who wants to torment her by forcing her to wear tight-laced corsets and an all-black wardrobe. [I'm not kidding.] I leafed ahead to figure out how soon the heroine would escape. I discovered that she was being tormented for a hundred and fifty pages. At that point, I made the decision to proceed directly to the happy ending without passing Go. I'm still pleased with that decision, even though it felt naughty.)
I think one of the main lessons I've gained from adulthood is that you usually get multiple chances. If you don't sleep with someone now, there's always a chance you'll get to sleep with them later. If I can't finish a book right now, I'm pretty confident I can come back to it. I guess I've gotten a little more relaxed in my reading habits, as well as having more faith in the future.
What are your reading habits like?
A while back, I read Nancy Pearl's Book Lust. In general, I wasn't a big fan - her reading tastes and mine did not match up. But I took something fairly important from the book. She writes that with the volume of literature well beyond the limits even of someone who devotes their entire life to reading, we can't afford to spend our time reading books we don't like. She suggests that if, after fifty pages, you still don't like the book, you should put it down. She suggests that readers over the age of fifty should subtract even more pages based on how much older than fifty they are, as they may be running out of time.
That spoke to me. There are more books in the world than I will ever be able to read, even if I could speak all of the languages they're written in. I shouldn't waste my time on mediocre books, or even ones that just aren't right for me. Originally this idea seemed like blasphemy, especially coming from a fellow librarian, but it's been sinking in over time, and the more I consider it, the more reasonable it seems.
Recently I've stopped reading several books in the middle. Specifically:
The Moor by Laurie R King
The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think: The Foolish Guide to Personal Finance by David Gardner and Tom Gardner
A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe by Michael S Schneider
I don't expect to pick up the Laurie King book again. I was reading it just for fun. I didn't expect it to enrich my life or educate me, I only wanted it to entertain. It didn't (the moor setting was very dreary and the plot seemed to be going nowhere) so I closed the covers and returned it to the library with nary a qualm.
On the other hand, I do expect that I will read the other two books completely. I started on both, and thought that they were interesting and well-written. But I realized that it was not the right time for me to learn to understand personal finance or sacred geometry. So I returned them to the library as well, hoping earnestly that I won't forget their titles and that I'll be able to find them again when I need them, when the moment is right.
The difference, it seems to me, is whether you think that you can get more than just entertainment out of a book. I think this applies even with fiction. I finished Reading Lolita in Tehran partly because I knew I would get a feeling of superiority when people asked me what I was reading recently and I brought up a sophisticated book that deals with global issues. Not to mention the fact that I gained a familiarity with Nabokov without actually having to read about the famous rape of the twelve-year-old that many people still seem to feel has something to say about female sexuality.
I used to finish all the books I read. The first book that I didn't finish was a book called Blaze. It had originally seemed (in the library while I was looking at the cover) to be a story of tomboyish independence, which naturally appealed to me. It turned out to mostly be about the tomboy's German shepherd. That didn't work for me. At the time, not finishing the book seemed somewhat blasphemous. I still have to have a fairly compelling reason not to finish a book, and usually leaf ahead to make sure that I'm not about to miss something great.
(Sometimes I even skip ahead to the end of a book and read that. Yes, it's true. The last book I did this with was Mercedes Lackey's The Gates of Sleep. Twenty pages into the book, the heroine is captured by her evil, prudish aunt who wants to torment her by forcing her to wear tight-laced corsets and an all-black wardrobe. [I'm not kidding.] I leafed ahead to figure out how soon the heroine would escape. I discovered that she was being tormented for a hundred and fifty pages. At that point, I made the decision to proceed directly to the happy ending without passing Go. I'm still pleased with that decision, even though it felt naughty.)
I think one of the main lessons I've gained from adulthood is that you usually get multiple chances. If you don't sleep with someone now, there's always a chance you'll get to sleep with them later. If I can't finish a book right now, I'm pretty confident I can come back to it. I guess I've gotten a little more relaxed in my reading habits, as well as having more faith in the future.
What are your reading habits like?
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Date: 2005-04-06 04:40 am (UTC)For example, I've wanted to know more about railroads since the bike trip, 4 years ago. The perfect book didn't fall into my lap within the next couple of years, and now the topic is far back in my queue, with much more pressing interests in politics, history, and spirituality having superceded it. If a book isn't addressing something I want to learn, I have no problem with ditching it. If it's a good book but I'm not in the right place for it, I have no problem setting it aside for later. It's rare that I'm not in the middle of two or three books simultaneously.
I'm faster at fiction, though, so I'm more tolerant. I'll give fiction a long running start to catch my attention; I'll finish fiction I'm not hugely enjoying, especially if it came recommended to me. It's pretty frequent that I'll have been chugging along in a non-fiction book for a week or two, then pick up some fiction and alternate chapters or sections for a while, then get engrossed in the fiction and finish it up within a few days, then turn back to the non-fiction.
This post demonstrates one of the reasons I like you, by the way: you think a lot about what, why, and how you read. And, y'know, you have a background in literature, and children's books are important to you, and we have complementary tastes, and all that. I think I hadn't realized how much I need to talk with people about books, though it's pretty evident in, for example, my recent LJ post about thinking outside the box...
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Date: 2005-04-06 04:44 am (UTC)What blessed, blessed relief.
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Date: 2005-04-06 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-06 12:58 pm (UTC)Hmmm. I can understand that. My approach is usually to order lots of books on a topic from the library (I just did this with books on dyeing things at home), look through them all and then pick the best one or two. Usually, after I read a book or two on a topic, my understanding is expanded, and I often realize that the other books I had originally picked out are going to be redundant. And by that point I usually have a pretty specific idea of where I want to go with a particular topic.
If the library doesn't cover the topic, or they don't have the books I want, I will then browse at bookstores trying to find the right book. A lot of bookstores will let you order a book without a deposit, with the understanding that if it's not what you wanted, they'll try to sell it to someone else.
I've been thinking about the topic problem wrt buying books about knitting and crochet. What if I get bored with them and have all these leftover books? I don't think it's going to happen, though. My interest is expanding, not waning.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-06 02:18 pm (UTC)thankfully i've gotten much better in recent years about choosing books i will enjoy.
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Date: 2005-04-06 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-06 03:34 pm (UTC)i can only speak for myself, but trying to read my own rambles from those times is painful.
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Date: 2005-04-06 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-06 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-07 03:08 am (UTC)The author won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It may be great literature, but it sure wasn't a good book for me.
Often I will put a book down in the middle but intend to finish it; eg Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson is on that pile right now. This was quite different.