I read some lady's blog the other day and it pissed me off. If I felt like being nice about it, and considerate of my readers, I would say instead that it angered me. Poor lady. I'm certain, absolutely certain, that she is a very nice lady, but she unblushingly stated that she often doesn't finish reading books. Sometimes she just reads them until she's gotten what she wants from them. What she wants from them? I thoroughly disapprove.
I preceded to post on facebook that I don't like people, and have decided to become a misanthrope. It made my husband laugh, especially when I tried to use every form of the world I could think of. "Are you amused by my misanthropy? Isaac, I am going to put you down for your nap now because I am feeling very misanthropic."
Before you walk away in dread of incurring the wrath of Kelly because you don't finish every book you read either, I will tell you that I do not typically judge those people who I know and interact with in the same way as I would some nice lady I have never seen or corresponded with. I also acknowledge that there is such a thing as a legitimate reason for reading only part of any given book.
The thing that I think bothered me about this woman was the idea that she could start a book, presumably from the beginning and make the sovereign determination that she had gotten all she needed or desired from the author. It didn't for one moment occur to me that she may engage in careful examination before making the decision to move on. The way I interpreted what she said bothers me because it indicates certain assumptions about reading which I can neither agree with or condone, and because I have this peculiar conviction that I haven't really read a book unless I've read it's every word. "I've read that," I might say, but I have to add the qualifier that I read the abridged version, or that I only read the chapters on forgiveness, or that I skipped fifty pages of philosophy at the end. I'd have to explain why I'd read part but not all. I couldn't bear to give the impression that I knew the book if I hadn't taken the proper space and time to get to know it.
So now I have to talk about what I consider the legitimate reasons for reading only part of a book, and I have to explain what that underlying assumption was that I referenced before. I have to tell you that, yes, it is okay if you get half-way through a book and decide not to finish it, as if you needed my permission to do so. I have to confess that I have done the same. These will be the subjects of another day. Want to know how I know? Because I think that if I stopped trying to write about reading and writing I might combust, and that wouldn't be of benefit to anybody, though it might make an interesting experiment.
3 comments:
I have very little patience with reading. If an author doesn't grab me quickly or if I am not already primed to persist with the reading, I will discard a book pretty easily. But, once I "get into it," I'll usually finish the books I start, even if I feel like the author has said everything that he has to say. But, many times, I'm pissed off about it.
Considering that you read mostly fiction, you probably haven't encountered this much, but I've noticed that many non-fiction books contain a lot of words, but say very little. I continue reading, not because of any feelings of humility--as you seem to be describing. But, more out of anger, as in "Surely this guy eventually is going to get around to developing another point. Look at how many pages are left in the book." When I read those books, I come away thinking, "That should not have been a book. It would have made a very good pamphlet, but it was mediocre book."
So, very often, when I recommend a book, I will tell people things like, "Just read Chapter 7. The rest is redundant."
My Dad says something similar. I have actually been reading a lot of non-fiction lately, most of which has been content heavy, but I also concede that as a lover of books as books, I don't read for the same things that you or my Dad do. I rarely read a book for which I cannot find some redeeming value or quality.
You would benefit from the Inspectional reading techniques described by Adler. They would save you time and frustration I think. More on that later (I hope!).
It's funny, the first book I thought of when reading your post was the Adler/van Doren book. Nice juxtaposition of posts, you misanthropic one.
The premise of How to Read a Book was illuminating for me. What different types of literature require different reading strategies? Where had this information been all my life?
Some writings (e.g., journal articles, textbooks, phonebooks), I don't feel compelled to read in their entirety. With other writings (e.g., novels, self-help/instructional, biographies, poetry) I feel the need to finish to get the real benefit or message. You know,"the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."
I use to feel this way about albums, too, but not any more. Probably iTunes and MP3's have been the demise of well-craft intentionally mosaic albums.
On a related note, I often feel obligated to not critique a book I didn't finish.
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