I'm finding that I have a love hate relationship with the people who come into the shop clutching their book club lists and looking only for the specific books on the list. I love that people are reading and thinking about and discussing books. I love that they come to Tea & Tattered Pages looking for the books on their lists. However, what I don't love so much, is that the books are usually newly published or on the lists of so many book clubs that, even if I have the titles, I run out of any copies I may have had very quickly due to the club members who shop early and then I don't get more in until the books have been read and discussed.
What really dismays me though is that the people who come in looking for the books on their list don't browse for any other books. Sadly they seem to be reading just that one book and not discovering other books by the same authors on their lists or other books which are similar in style or subject matter to the books on their lists. They seem reluctant to round out their reading experience by straying from the path the leader of their club, or the NY Times bestsellers list, or friends or families are leading them down. And that is just sad.
I know that everyone is busy and doesn't always have time to read a lot of books. And I also know that not every book is worth reading. But who made the rule that one MUST read many, many books in a short period of time or that one MUST finish an unenjoyable book? Maybe I believed this at one time but when I was a teenager my Mom told me that if I didn't like a book there was no reason to finish it. How liberating. I could move on to something I do like. And since it took me the better part of 10 years, or more, to read The Source I certainly feel no need to tear through books just to say I've read a huge number of them. Which brings me to the subject of the customers who brag to me how many books they read a week, but I'll save that for another day...
Tell me, what book has it taken you the longest to read? Why did you stick with it?
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2 comments:
I think the book that took me the longest to read was Gravity's Rainbow and when I finished I wondered why I bothered. That was the point at which I decided if I don't like a book it goes in my "stupid books" bin.
I also stopped shopping in the remainder catalogs because of the number of "stupid books" I would be conned into buying. I would read the cleverly written blurbs and thought "what a fascinating sounding book, I just have to have it" - only to find out the writing was tedious, the plot was nonexistent and the characters were usually people with too much time on their hands and too many inner thoughts.
On the other hand, experimenting every once in a while has introduced me to some great new authors I might never had the opportunity to appreciate. And that benefit has always outweighed the risk of being disappointed by a writer.
Reading should be something you do because enjoy it - not a chore or a duty because you think you should.
Just found your blog, hence the late comment. I have been reading Anna Karenina for about 3 years now. I know, stupid right? I just refuse to give up and have it beat me. Not sure why I feel that way either. I find it a tad overdescriptive for my taste. (I know shocking right?) Other than that 1 example, I learned to not finish a book I don't enjoy awhile ago. The story itself, buried in the Russian politics of farming and whatnot, seems to be a good story. Perhaps I should check out the cliffnotes. :-) Enjoying the blog!
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