My sister Amy posed an interesting question - if you begin a book, are you obligated to finish it? How much should you read before giving up - the first chapter, the first 100 pages, a quarter of the book? In other words, what (if anything) does the reader owe the author?An argument can be made that the reader has already discharged any debt to the author by picking up the book in the first place. So maybe the real question is what do you owe yourself as a reader?
With respect to fiction, I can count on one hand the number of books that I started but didn't finish (I've been working on Ulysses for the last 6 years but I refuse to give up). Of the books I don't plan to finish, the one that surprised me was Wideacre by Philippa Gregory. It turned out to be a total piece of trash. I was surprised because I had really liked The Other Boleyn Girl and generally like historical fiction, but the first couple chapters were so awful I couldn't justify reading through to the end.
The others - Bleak House, The Charterhouse of Parma and A House for Mr. Biswas were, respectively: depressing, dull, and depressing and dull. They certainly weren't trash, and I got at least 100 pages into each of them, I just didn't want to spend the time it would take to finish them.
I read a lot, always have. Does the fact that I've finished all but 5 of the books I ever started make me a 'good' reader, one who reads to the end regardless? Or does it mean that I am a 'safe' reader, selecting only those books I'm sure to like? I'm not sure, but I do know that I'm not likely to start another book with the word 'House' in the title.
2 comments:
I think this makes you a "generous" reader--to have finished all but 5 books demonstrates a lot of good will. I guess the real test would be to ask whether you can name books that you've finished, but didn't like at all.
I, for instance, cannot name a single book that I didn't like but that I also finished (unless you count the titles I was required to read for a class). That is, I am a very un-generous reader. Especially when it comes to biography, a genre that is easy to do wrong and hard to get right. In this category, I'd say I only finish about 30% of the titles I pick up. For a moment there, as I was reading your blog, I thought, "Hey, yeah, maybe I'm cheating myself by being so uncharitable!"
And then I thought, "Nah."
A possible factor in all this is whether one has paid money for the book in question. Nearly all of mine are from the library, so it's easy for me to cut the investment off at the 25% in mark. But if I'd put cash into it, I might be more motivated.
Then again, my willingness to bail on a book is the main reason I don't buy them until they are known entities. . .
AP!
Interesting question - books that I've finished that I didn't like at all. Well, other than required reading for class, I can't think of anything that I've finished that I really disliked.
I'm not sure if this means that I'm too limited in my reading or that I just know how to pick what I want to read. I defnitely learn from my reading. High school was useful - I learned that I don't like Hemingway and I really don't like Faulkner. So I never picked up another book from either.
That said, I also think I have pretty wide ranging interests when it comes to fiction. The only requirement is that it be reasonably well written (I can't read Grisham) and that it entertains me. I don't mind a sad story but it has to at least be interesting.
Anyway, I seem to be able to enjoy most of what I start and when I find something new that I like, I try to track down other titles by the author. With the exception of Ms. Gregory, that system has worked fairy well.
So I guess I'm a generous as well as a not too picky reader. An author's dream...
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